Rating: 5 stars
Buy Links: 
 Amazon | All Romance
Length: Short Story


Sock it to Me, Santa! was a sweet little short story offered up by author Madison Parker.  If you are ever in need of a quick read to dispel any bah humbuggery you may be feeling, you need look no further.  Trust me, dear reader, this one is guaranteed to make you smile.

The plot revolves around Ryan, a gay high school student who is doing his best to hide that fact from everyone—after all, this is high school and it is brutal enough without having everyone know you are “different.”  He is fairly successful at keeping it secret until one of his teachers, Mrs. Keats, decides the class should do a Secret Santa gift exchange in order to get to know one another better.

Ryan ends up getting Jaime Peterson—the out and proud young man that is hated by most of the boys and fawned on by nearly all of the girls.  To make matters worse—Jaime knits.  With a sinking heart, Ryan realizes that Jaime is going to be his undoing if anyone finds out that he is the boy’s secret santa.  So the story unfolds with a wary Ryan slowly falling in love with the one boy who could break his secret wide open.

I simply fell in love with Ryan.  As he struggled to come to terms with his being gay and the moments when he would have to admit to his Mom and the class that he was indeed just like Jaime, my heart just became his.  He was so sweet, so earnest, so confused—you just wanted to wrap him up in a hug and reassure him that all would work out.

Author Madison Parker captures the angst and drama that is the high school years perfectly in her short story.  Jaime and Ryan come to life on the page and you cannot help but hope that they both not only survive the nastiness of their peers but rise above it to be proud of who they are.

Sock it to Me, Santa! is a gem of a story.  It will make you warm all over and, if, like me, you happen to have children of your own—it will make you hug them just a little tighter this Christmas season.  Dear reader, pick this one up and enjoy!  Consider it a little present written just for you!