"Scott hadn’t dated in years, hadn’t even really thought about it, and now here was Hank, putting all sorts of ideas in Scott’s head just by existing."

Christmas Beau takes us back to the idyllic town of Christmas Falls, where Scott, a single father, is crushing on the director of the community hockey center, Hank. Both of these men are in a phase of transition in their lives, with Scott trying to figure out what he wants to do with the rest of his life, and Hank, who recently moved to town after his second divorce. These two may not be in the right place to start a new relationship, but the attraction between them is strong and they end up falling headfirst into it.

"“Scott,” Hank said so fondly that it made Scott want to both preen and melt at his feet."

This book gave me all the feels you expect from a holiday romance. It had joy and laughter and though these two had some tough moments to wade through, the book maintained a lightness to it even then. One of my favorite things in single parent romances is the relationship between the kid and the parent, and Scott and Teddy had such a wonderful bond. It was also kind of refreshing to see that there was no trauma associated with Scott becoming a parent. So often we see characters becoming single parents because of someone dying or there's some major drama with an ex. It was nice to see that Scott just wanted to be a dad and chose to adopt Teddy when the opportunity arose.

"This man was going to kill him, Hank was convinced of it. The way Scott enjoyed the little things in life was so charming that it made Hank want to spend more time with him, just so he could steal a little bit of that joy for himself."

I loved how Teddy wasn't afraid to tease Scott about his crush on Hank and encouraged him to date him. Scott constantly puts his foot in his mouth and ends up saying the most ridiculous things in front of Hank, and Teddy probably got the most enjoyment out of it.

"Hank’s smiling mouth met his, and there was something about that smile that tugged at Scott’s heartstrings. There was something . . . soft about it, almost awestruck, sending nervous flutters through Scott’s belly."

I also liked how Scott constantly managed to find the silver lining in things. He's going through some major upheaval in his professional life but he didn't let it bring him down. He managed to find joy in the little things and helped Hank do that too. These two are very much grumpy and sunshine, but it works out very well for them. They support each other and are always there with a shoulder to lean on when things get rough.

"Scott was the very definition of cheerfulness. He was sweet and funny and caring and so open, and when he looked at Hank, every doubt Hank had fell away until all he saw was Scott’s smile."

The only thing that I would have liked more of is some more content before the epilogue. They both had some minor family drama to deal with and as soon as it was handled, we skipped straight to the epilogue. The epilogue was really good and we got some adorable relationship and family moments in it. But I would have liked to see a little more relationship building before that. The jump felt a little abrupt to me, but I guess the book is supposed to be like a Hallmark movie where everything is sunshine and roses after the problems have been solved.

“Fallon,” Scott whispered fiercely as Hank shook Santa’s hand and began to lead his incredibly well- behaved dogs toward Scott. “You’re going to make us look bad in front of the hunky hockey director and his NHL dogs.”

Apart from that, I enjoyed this single father, opposites attract, small town romance. Oh and I completely forgot to mention the NHL dogs! Hank named all his dogs after queer hockey players. So if you've read Amy's other books, you'd probably enjoy these references because I sure did!