Title: A Wexford Carol
Author: Peadar Merrigan
Publisher: Nightsgale Books
Release Date: November 3, 2026
Genre(s): Small town romance
Page Count: 244
Reviewed by: Crabbypatty
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Blurb:
Going home for Christmas was expected of him.
Falling for his best friend wasn’t part of the plan.
Twenty-eight-year-old Liam Breem left the small Wexford town of Killyglen years ago for Dublin, with a career in fine arts and a vibrant city life.
Connor Crowe, Liam’s best friend for more than twenty years, still lives in Killyglen, running his family’s carpentry business.
When disaster leaves Connor’s workshop flooded and his flat uninhabitable, a shared cottage turns an old friendship into something neither of them were expecting.
As Connor fights to save his career, and Christmas closes in around them, Liam realises that some things are worth more than he can put a price on.
But the question remains: could this be anything more than a holiday romance?
Tropes:
Forced proximity
Only one bed
Childhood friends to lovers
Small-town romance
Boy next door
Christmas MM romance
Liam, employed at Darby & Darby, Fine Art Auctioneers and Valuers in Dublin, is the sort of guy who has a favorite pocket square and carries a back-up just in case. Connor, his best friend from childhood, still lives in their home village Killyglen (about 2 hours from Dublin) and works with his da at their carpentry workshop Crowe’s. “Connor never escaped Killyglen the way Liam had. He’d never wanted to.”
The author really brings the village to life – a close-knit community where neighbors help neighbors, everyone knows your family, and the community hall hosts a Christmas Nativity pageant combed with singing and dancing, a visit from Santa and “three goats wearing reindeer antlers.” About this pageant – Mary and Joseph come on stage, pulling a stuffed donkey nailed to a skateboard, with Mary saying “Oh em gee, Joseph, we’ve been walking for days […] my poor wee feet hurt.” Absolutely charmed, I was.
Maybe it’s the season, or maybe it’s the single bed scenario where Liam and Connor end up staying together at Liam’s great aunt cottage (extensive water damage at Liam’s flat and a warring married couple at Liam’s house whose husband takes over his bedroom), but soon Liam and Connor find themselves in a relationship that is, although there’s no on-page sex, very hot. The relationship itself is fairly low-angst with just a bit of miscommunication, but bottom-line Liam is a city boy with a job that involves travel and Connor thrives in Killyglen. How can they continue what they have when Liam is returning to Dublin after Christmas?
This book has a nice steady pace, as the reader becomes enthralled and charmed with Killyglen and its inhabitants and Liam and Connor’s love. There is little in the way of deep introspection and serious angst from either MC, but in the context of the story, it works. This debut novel by the author (and published by an independent publisher) is a charming slice of a life that is warm and cozy, sweet and hopeful with a nice ending, and that definitely works for me. 4 stars.
Buy Link Amazon Global GoodReads
Advanced Review Copy
About Peadar Merrigan
Peadar Merrigan was born in Derry, Northern Ireland. He studied English and Creative Writing in London, and returned to Ireland after twenty years abroad.
He now lives with his husband in Co. Tyrone where he writes fulltime.
