Annabeth Albert’s holiday gift to us all this year is Deck the Palms, a charming grumpy/sunshine romance set in Hawaii, so instead of snow and reindeer we’ve got surfing santas and light-wrapped palm trees. As is often the case with Christmassy books it skews towards the overly sweet, but the author’s excellent character work shines through, and while nothing gets too heavy in this story, I appreciated the nods to the realities of working in education, to the effects of deployment on military families, and the complexities surrounding the colonial history of Hawaii and the problems presented by modern day tourism.

Jobbing actor Nolan Bell is a New Yorker through and through. He’s worked hard to build a career and has made himself a decent one although he’s yet to see his name in lights or above the title. And like most actors, he has a fall-back option; he’s a qualified teacher, which comes in very handy when his brother, Craig, who is stationed at one of the military bases on Hawaii, asks for his help; he’s being deployed and has to leave his wife, their new baby and their daughters – could Nolan come to the island to help out for a few months? Of course Nolan can’t say no – and as it turns out, he’s able to secure a temporary job as drama teacher and choir director at the local middle school, and he’ll be in charge of mounting the school’s annual holiday production.

Merrick – Merry – Winters is the school shop teacher (I didn’t have a clear idea of what ‘shop’ is, but it sounds like what we on this side of the pond call DT (Design Technology) – woodwork, metalwork, product design, electronics and other stuff I can’t remember now!). He’s a single dad to two boisterous pre-teen twin terrors, Legend and Ryder, who attend the school; their mum left several years earlier because she was “too glam for the island” and her defection has caused Merry to be wary of outsiders. When he’s introduced to the new choir/drama teacher, Merry immediately pegs him as a rich city slicker who is way out of his comfort zone, and wastes no time in making his feelings known. But Nolan Bell proves to be surprisingly down-to-earth and easy to work with, taking Merry’s advice and suggestions in his stride and quickly coming up with a vision for the production that covers all the bases and that Merry can get behind wholeheartedly.

That Nolan is very easy on the eye is not something he should be noticing, but it’s difficult not to notice when they’re spending so much time together, and when Nolan is so effortlessly charming and upbeat and enthusiastic about practically everything. And Merry certainly shouldn’t be thinking about acting on the mutual attraction zinging between them – Nolan isn’t going to be sticking around and he’s been burned once by someone who wasn’t built for small island life. It’s been a long time since Merry has felt so drawn to someone, and between his job and being a dad, he doesn’t have much time for himself. So maybe it’s time to reach out for something he wants, even if it’s only temporary. Maybe a holiday fling with Nolan isn’t out of the question?

Deck the Palms is a fun and fluffy seasonal read with minimal conflict and angst. The initial antagonism between grumpy Merry and sunshiny Nolan isn’t particularly deep-rooted, and it isn’t too long before they’re revising their opinions of each other and admitting to their mutual atrraction. They’re likeable and engaging with realistic problems and insecurities that inform their personalities; Nolan’s parents are snobs who keep on at him about getting a ‘real’ job, so he has to learn to let go of his urge to please them and not to judge things by their standards, while Merry struggles to balance his role as a dad with his job as a teacher and with his fear of having his heart broken again. The only real area of conflict comes from the fact that Merry expects (is even counting on) Nolan to return to New York after the holidays, and Nolan, realising that what they have is worth pursuing, has decided he wants to stay on Hawaii and try to make things work between them. (And here, I have to say that I never really bought Nolan as a dyed-in-the-wool New Yorker; he seems pretty happy in Hawaii from the beginning.) But Merry quickly retreates into his prejudices about outsiders and – quite frankly – acts like a dick towards Nolan for months until he finally mans up, and I admit that I found this part of the story somewhat contrived.

But despite that, Deck the Palms is a delightful read featuring two strongly-written protagonists, a nicely rounded secondary cast and a well-realised setting. It’s definitely one to curl up with on a grey winter’s afternoon when you’re craving some warmth, sunshine and festive feels.