Merry Christmas, Mr. Miggles

[3.25] i liked it at first, but then the big overarching conflict with false child sexual harassment accusation + poor investigative protocol adherence = a real doozy

Well I guess I'm officially an [a:Eli Easton 7020231 Eli Easton https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1425767966p2/7020231.jpg] fan. Who knew? I really, really liked this and [a:Tristan Wright 8421246 Tristan Wright https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] does a wonderful job narrating. Win. Win. As per usual I didn't read the blurb, sold by the gorgeous cover, and I'm glad I knew nothing as I read/listened. If you're looking for hot, sweaty, and sexy this isn't it. This is more of a quiet romance between two absolutely beta guys, but it's not like they're schlubs. Toby is young and beautiful like any 24 year-old and Mr. Miggles, in spite of the whole “older guy” rep, is only some 10 years older and keeps the tall trim fit of a former basketball player, but there is no macho posturing, they're not super buff or anything close. Like good librarians they're good at looking up stuff they don't know and, in Toby's case, asking for help when needed. Isn't that refreshing. I really liked all of the community dynamics, the folks who use the library, and Toby's family. The Bad Thing that happens took me by surprise, as I was settled in for a gentle romance, and then I got pissed off, but not at the book. I felt that Mr. Miggles was too readily believed suspect & shamefully treated by the police not because of the crime he was accused of committing but because of who he is/was. A gay man. Chief Brubaker is quick to arrest him, and as Toby says : "... why did he have to handcuff Mr. Miggles at the library? There was an element of purposeful subjugation about it that made me sick." It made me sick and ragey too. I don't feel that those who rushed to believe the accusation, were apologetic or contrite enough towards Mr. Miggles, and the subject wasn't broached, rather it got folded in to a town board politics scheme, which ... meh. My last niggle is that Tristan Wright, though he gets everyone else perfect, IMO, overdoes, just a tad, Mr. Miggles' voice as an older person. He' really not that old, 34 maybe?What kept my heart warm was the sweet and playful banter between Mr. Miggles and Toby, Toby's literary references and how much he loves his family and how certainly they love him. There's no angst about being gay, in spite of this being a sort of small town story. Yippee!!!