Him Improvement

Do you feel like skipping Halloween & Thanksgiving and diving right into a non-treacly non-Christmas Christmas tale? Look no further than this sweet tale from [a:Tanya Chris 15067939 Tanya Chris https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1477705931p2/15067939.jpg]. Reminiscent of A Christmas Carol, but without copying it beat for beat, [b:Him Improvement 45882778 Him Improvement Tanya Chris https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1558245376l/45882778.SY75.jpg 70710831] follows a sort of remaking or awakening of Gregory “Mac” McPherson.Mac is a real estate developer, and his company focuses on rehabilitating underutilized neighborhoods or, as the people who live there might say, paving the way for gentrification. Mac's current project is in Ball's End, whose residents are decidedly on the lower-income spectrum, and therefore have been easy to relocate via buyouts, non-renewal of leases, or other methods. The one holdout is Hailey's Comic, which despite its name, isn't strictly a comic book store but a rambling used book store. In order to expedite the emptying of this last storefront Mac decides to employ the personal touch and brings himself to 502 Main Street where he meets Hailey Green, the bookstore's owner, and it's basically lights out. There is a strong element of, if not insta-love, at least insta-lust which quickly morphs into the former, at least on Mac's part, but I didn't mind. Refreshingly Mac isn't conflicted about his attraction to Hailey due to his gender, Mac's been out as bisexual to his friends and family since college, and the sexual attraction isn't really ever in question. Hailey likes/wants Mac (a.k.a. Greg to Hailey) and isn't coy about it. Once Mac starts a relationship with Hailey, he's not only exposed to Hailey's views on life, capitalism, and urban planning, but he also gets to meet and spend time with the people of Ball's End. Lives that were once abstractions in a report are now living, breathing, flesh & blood. This is the source of angst in this story. Mac getting to know those who are affected by his company's projects and Mac wanting to be worthy of Hailey. At heart Mac is a good guy, and he also happens to think that Hailey hangs the moon. This leads him to revise or scrap the way he does business in order to embrace the needs of those already living in these areas and not just the new residents his company is hoping to attract.The story is told from Mac's P.O.V., and very much centers on Mac continually questioning if Hailey would approve or what would Hailey do? He shouldn't worry so much. Hailey is also just a good guy trying to do, what he believes is the right thing. To that extent he's been using the bookstore as a community center that covers everything from after school babysitting to an informal AA meeting place. The only thing he hasn't been able to do is turn a profit, because he's terrible at business. Anyway these two men, who on the surface are opposites, make a pretty good whole. I enjoyed that their external appearance didn't restrict who they were in the bedroom. As usual [a:Tanya Chris 15067939 Tanya Chris https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1477705931p2/15067939.jpg] delivers realistic relationships full of heat and sensuality. I liked that in spite of their radically different upbringings and likely politics, each man respected where the other was coming from, their goals and motivations. I only have two quibbles with this story which can absolutely be ignored by everyone else. One is Hailey himself. Granted we know him from Mac's P.O.V., but he seemed almost too perfect. Also I questioned his decision to plant his flag in a mostly minority neighborhood. I'm not a particularly PC person or at all, but it struck me as a bit of White Savior or White Martyr? I'm not saying his intentions are nefarious or any such thing, far from it, but maybe making the character something other than a white guy looking for purpose amongst underprivileged minorities would've sat better. My second quibble is said minorities. Some of them seem to exist to prop up Hailey's bonafides as a do gooder or as part of Mac's education in social diversity, and the other part had a whiff of the Noble Savage. I'm sure I'm wrong but it did cross my mind. Of course you can skip my previous paragraph and just enjoy a sweet story about two adults who find a way to live in each other's different worlds, and enrich each other's lives because they've fallen in love. Isn't that what we all want in the end? Merry Early Christmas. xoxo