Better Watch Out by AJ Merlin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’m supposed to be suffering through Christmas with my dad.
Not stuck in our family lodge with my worst nightmares at the door.

When a snowstorm hits days before Christmas and I’m the only one at the house, I’m quickly informed that I’ll be spending Christmas alone, with only my dog for company, but that’s before things take a turn for the worse.

I never would have come if I’d known they’d be here.

Fletcher and Boone, my stepbrothers, were never the family I’d hoped for. They’re the reason I ran away, the ghosts that haunt my sleep. I was promised they’d be too busy to come to the cabin this year, but someone broke that promise.

Now they’re here, standing at my door, intent on making sure I never forget why I left.

What should have been an uneasy Christmas with my dad and stepmom spirals into a game of cat and mouse, as Fletcher and Boone remind me exactly why I fled. With the storm trapping us high in the mountains, there’s nowhere for me to run. And the worst part? They’re determined to make me suffer for forcing them to wait so long to play.

But all I have to do is survive until the storm lets up. 
That’s what I keep telling myself, anyway.



BETTER WATCH OUT is a standalone, MMF, dark Christmas novella. For a more detailed warning, please use the ‘look inside’ feature, as this book may have elements you might enjoy

Better Watch Out

Sexy times with the stepbrothers!

The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 🖤💙💜❤️
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📙📘
World building: 🌏🌍🌎
Character development: 🙂🥰😎

The heroine: Conor – her mom died when she was young, and her dad married a nice woman with two adopted sons. The two boys often teased her and played tricks on her, the last time they were together at their cabin in the mountains, eight years ago, the two boys locked her in the shed overnight without a jacket or gloves. She got frostbite on her hands and had to be taken to the hospital. Conor had moved away not long after that and hasn’t been back since. Though this year she planned to spend Christmas with her father and stepmother at their cabin.

The Story: Conor was not pleased to find out that her father and stepmother wouldn’t be able to make it since their flight was canceled due to winter storms in the area. Conor was already at the cabin and couldn’t leave for over a week until the storms abated, and flights started up again. Though she and her husky, Sitka decided to make the best of it and got groceries in town. While there, she found out that last year about this time, there had been a double murder on one of the nearby trails that she used to hike. She was curious, so the next day she went on a hike, and saw two men around the place it supposedly happened.

The Heroes: Fletcher and Boone – they were adopted by their mom when they were very young. They each came from different bad backgrounds but since they became brothers, they were basically inseparable. They teased and bullied their stepsister, Conor when they were young, but they never really realized they had taken it too far until the night they locked her in the shed. They always looked out for her and still do. They once broke the arm of a boyfriend of hers and they will always stand up for her.

Conor didn’t know that her father and stepmother had invited Fletcher and Boone to the cabin so they could mend fences with her. The guys made it into town when even their parents couldn’t make it, much to the chagrin of Conor. Though it isn’t long before they made up for the past and are getting along better than ever. The guys have always had a thing for their stepsister and are only too happy to be spending a week or more stuck with her.

I actually liked the story even though the guys went about things like psychos at times. Though there were some things that bothered me. I don’t mind the whole stepbrother trope, and I usually like MMF romance, but it was just a bit weird that the two stepbrothers who were adopted by the same woman would get together like that even if they weren’t blood related. I mean they were raised as brothers since they were fairly young and shared a room. It is just a bit to weird for me.

Blog|Goodreads|Facebook|Instagram|Twitter|BookBub

View all my reviews