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Twelve Days of Squidmas

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Jack Marsh has twelve days to pull off the perfect Christmas.

Even though his beloved grandmother has just passed, his rotten family is expecting him to host in her place. He already hated this time of year, and now he has to decorate, bake cookies, wrap presents, and create a delicious holiday feast.

Enter Xorvash, an interdimensional tentacle creature from another plane of existence. Thanks to a minor kitchen mishap, Xorvash comes crashing into Jack's life and promises to do the impossible. Jack suspects Xorvash's interest in him goes far beyond merely wanting to help him deck the halls, and he's having trouble resisting Xorvash's unique charms. With some luck and a sprinkle of holiday magic, Jack might get some sweet tentacle romance for Christmas—plus a little miracle or two.

Twelve Days of Squidmas is part of the Tinsel and Tentacles multi-author collaboration and a complete standalone. Expect to find a grumpy human and a sunshine tentacle creature, lots of silly snark, smexy tentacle times, and a magical happily ever after. Want more tantalizingly tentacular winter holiday romances? Grab the whole series!

167 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 15, 2023

16 people are currently reading
78 people want to read

About the author

K.L. Hiers

55 books391 followers

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5 stars
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
Profile Image for Poppy || Monster Lover.
1,704 reviews452 followers
December 9, 2024
3.5 stars
This was all silly over the top “true meaning of Christmas” vibes. I enjoyed the learning to set boundaries stuff and Xorvash’s and Jack’s ribbing based relationship, although it did get repetitive

Spice: 3/5

Triggers: death of family member from cancer, narcissistic parents and siblings, discussion of bullying
Profile Image for K.C..
Author 22 books259 followers
December 17, 2023
Christmassy, cute, and very tentacled story filled with baking cookies, making new friends, hateful family that get what they deserve, a loving (bad-ass) grandma, and a love story full of feels and tentacles ♥️🐙🎄
Profile Image for Nicole.
1,001 reviews148 followers
February 5, 2024
I really enjoyed this one a lot overall. It was kind of grumpy/sunshine and with tentacles. It was third person single POV, which isn’t my favorite, but the author did a good job. I felt bad for Jack, because his family was awful. Him meeting Xorvash was a Kiss-mas gift, and they were a good match. I liked how they argued, even some at the end a bit, but they were more lovers than fighters. Even though Jack had a history of fighting. I don’t blame him after everything he dealt with with his family besides Sandy. She was a sweetheart.

I would have liked an epilogue or something to show these two living happily ever after together. We saw them making plans for the future, but we were left to draw our own conclusions about what would all happen. I was also curious what would happen with Sandy’s house, etc. once they left. I will definitely be adding more of this author’s books to my TBR. I’m not even close to done with them yet. I’d probably give this 4.5 out of 5 stars, but rounding down because of wanting a little more at the end and wanting Xorvash’s POV so bad.
Profile Image for Kat Moreid.
435 reviews
January 5, 2024
Jack's family are assholes and I have no idea how he is still talking to those monsters. They are selfish to the core. It's no wonder he's so grumpy! Xorvash is a freaking delight! "Little meat cake" is my new favorite endearment! I loved the banter between Jack and Xorvash, it was so much fun. I loved this story, it has it all, some angst (because Jack's family is awful), lots of banter, sweetness, sexiness, and love. I recommend!
Profile Image for Cris.
530 reviews10 followers
October 13, 2024
I loved it; it was a short and cute story. Loved the idea of a Grinch character trying to set up for Christmas, loved the morbid pet names and especially loved Xorvash. He was such an interesting character with clear wants and no hidden agenda but a clear demonish personality.

I think it was a perfect dark christmas novella.
832 reviews3 followers
January 10, 2024
Maybe it was me just not being in the mood for this, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I’d hoped. (This series has wound up hit or miss for me. I enjoyed several a ton, and I DNF 2 or 3 of them because I just couldn’t get into them at all.) Jack and Xorvash were hard for me to like, especially at first, and I had trouble really getting into the mindset of what Jack was actually doing this for his family. His family was *so* selfishly terrible it seemed OTT, and I couldn’t quite suspend disbelief. I got hung up on things like Xorvash scaring people away in the grocery line—probably meant to be silly and funny, but I’m thinking of *those* people’s equal right to be doing things on Christmas Eve and wondering how meant Christmases just got ruined….

I enjoyed the decorating and Jack and Xorvash spending time together and Xorvash trying to understand the holidays as they worked to fulfil his ritual requirements. The interactions with the neighbours was one of my favourite parts. I still sort of want more consequences for the terrible family, but I did feel like Jack and Xorvash would be off having a wonderful life so it wouldn’t really matter.
2,765 reviews3 followers
January 10, 2024
a few quibbles in a well written and emotionally balanced story

Rating: 4🌈

There’s so many great things to like about K.L. Hiers’ Twelve Days of Squidmas, one of the Winter Tentacle Holiday collection. It’s got a truly poignant storyline about loss and the damage that years of family abuse does to a person. It talks about someone who’s watched and been a caregiver for someone dying of cancer. Then the reader is there, as the funeral is over, the grandmother’s death so deeply devastating that her grandson is having trouble moving forward, and his family is descending like vultures.

Bright and happy a start this is not.

But Hiers brings into this realistically portrayed scenario of a grief stricken young man alone with his loss and house, a new wild card that upsets everything Jack Marsh thought he knew about his grandmother. Jack summons Xorvash, an interdimensional tentacle creature who was his grandmother’s best friend.

Hiers has such fun and does a fantastic job capturing both the essence and power of the demon Xorvash, especially his impact on “Cuddles “. While there’s an amazing effervescent energy and joy that comes from this character and his scenes, Hiers still manages to bring in the smallest detail of Jack’s painful background and the emotional damage he’s suffered in ways that are fleeting but powerful. Then it’s onto a scene that’s familiarly funny and satisfying for the season.

I enjoyed the many side characters and storylines, especially the next door neighbors. I wish that aspect could have been more developed as a few details were left unexplored.

Same went for the ending. It wasn’t exactly satisfying. Jack and Horvash go to all that trouble to boot the family out of the house and then what? They leave and what happens to the house? That was an important narrative loose end that was left flapping around. And it should have been a simple one to explain or tie up.
Things like this make me wonder why, when the rest of the piece is so well written and emotionally balanced.

I’m recommending Twelve Days of Squidmas: A Winter Holiday MM Tentacle Romance by K.L. Hiers because even with these quibbles it’s a pleasure to read.

Tinsel and Tentacles (11 books)

- [ ] Jingle Bells and Elder Gods by Kiernan Kelly
- [x] All I Want for Christmas is Tentacles by Chloe Archer ❤️🫶
- [ ] Tentacles and Other Stocking Stuffers by Delaney Rain
- [ ] Tentacles Rock by K.C. Carmine
- [x] A Sucker for Christmas by J.P. Sayle
- [x] Kraken Klaus by Charlotte Brice
- [x] Twelve Days of Squidmas by H.L. Hiers ❤️
- [x] It’s a Tenta-ful Life by Amanda Muewissen
- [x] Rebel without a Claus by L Eveland
- [x] Cthulhu for Christmas by Meghan Maslow ❤️🫶
- [ ] Tentacle Wonderland by Reese Morrison
Profile Image for fishreads (on indefinite hiatus).
582 reviews22 followers
January 21, 2024
(3,5 stars rated down) Jack Marsh is still mourning the death of his beloved grandmother when he receives a call from his sister, informing him that the whole family expects Jack to host a Christmas party in the house his grandmother left him.

Jack's grandmother took him in after he had enough of being treated horribly by the rest of his family. In the past few months, Jack quit his job to take care of his grandmother, who was dying of cancer. The last thing Jack, who hates Christmas, wants to do is host a Christmas party. However, he decides to do it anyway to honor his grandmother's memory. During his attempt to bake a test batch of his grandmother's famous cookies, Jack accidentally summons Xorvash, a tentacle being from another dimension.

Jack strikes a bargain with Xorvash. Xorvash will help Jack with all the preparations for the Christmas party, and Jack will help Xorvash gather all the ingredients for the ritual.

The banter between Jack and Xorvash made for such a fun read from the first moment they met. Xorvash was an amusing, quirky character. As for the tentacles, he has plenty of those and knows how to use them. Jack, on the other hand, had a lot of personal demons. His issues were only superficially explained by his family treating him horribly, but he could have possibly benefited from some therapy. While I enjoyed the story for the most part, I did think that the part with his family was a bit on the weaker side, as they all came across as caricature villains.

Despite heavier subjects of grief and child neglect, this was a lighthearted funny story about the true meaning of Christmas and found families.

Themes: single POV, human/tentacle being from another dimension, strangers to lovers, grief, Christmas
Profile Image for Juniper.
3,341 reviews24 followers
December 15, 2023
Jack’s in a rough spot at the beginning of this story– he’s lost the one family member who really cared for him; he’s stuck with a bunch of family members who don’t, and are awful and entitled to boot; it’s the holidays; and a botched Christmas cookie recipe turns into some kind of summoning…which actually isn’t a bad thing. As premises for a holiday story go, this is a fun one. Xorvash is an extraterrestrial entity with disastrous fashion sense, a complicated relationship with Christmas lights, and a genuine “fish out of water but plenty of arrogance to compensate” charm– he’s exactly what Jack needs and their chemistry is sweet and a tad spicy (tentacles) as well a chock full of a unique take on the holiday spirit. There’s also some extreme wish fulfillment to be found here: comeuppances for toxic family members, good deeds for worthy supporting characters, and lots of fun and odd (oddly fun?) takes on a variety of seasonal activities. (I either really do or really don’t want to go pick up a Christmas tree with Xorvash, I haven’t decided yet.) All in all, a fun holiday romance.

*I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.
Profile Image for Mandy.
4,657 reviews46 followers
January 5, 2024
Even though his beloved grandmother only recently died Jack Marsh has only twelve days to pull off the perfect Christmas according to his selfish family. Suddenly he has to decorate, bake cookies, wrap presents, and create a delicious holiday feast. Xorvash is an interdimensional tentacle creature from another plane of existence. Jack accidentally calls Xorvash who comes crashing into Jack's life and promises to do the impossible. Jack suspects Xorvash's interest in him goes far beyond merely wanting to help him deck the halls, and he's having trouble resisting Xorvash's unique charms. With some luck and a sprinkle of holiday magic, Jack might get some sweet tentacle romance for Christmas.

This was an interesting concept of a story although I did struggle as to why Jack was doing the whole Christmas thing for his family given their behaviour towards him. I was pleased at the end that the family were sent packing and a satisfying HEA was on the cards. Easy to read and understand. This was an MM story with mature content.
Profile Image for Flick.
968 reviews8 followers
December 19, 2023
Xorvash and Jack may be my favourite Christmas couple

This was awesome. I love KL’s books on the best of days but this was pure perfection for me. Xorvash is the ideal tentacled/summoned boyfriend. I loved the way he and Jack were together and the fact that he brought some fun to a time in Jack’s life which was looking pretty dark emotionally. Plus there’s not only tentacles (when are tentacles not an exciting addition to a story?!) but the delightful comeuppance to Jack’s hideous family. Xorvash had me giggling for a lot of this and Jack made me want to squish him in a big hug and fight off all his awful family whilst possibly also stealing Xorvash for myself… maybe Jack and I can share him?
Profile Image for Cheryl_cajun .
1,212 reviews28 followers
December 13, 2023
Thank you for the ARC read, I voluntarily give this book an honest review. Oh this was such a great little Christmas (bless you) read!  Anyone can relate about the feels that have  those types of family members like Jack's, think Xorvash shoulda totally jumped to the left and stepped right..well with maybe the explanation of the Robert.     
Jack and Xorvash, Oh sweet meat cakes! I loved every time Jack got a bit grumpus the compliments came out.  Who knew while cursing out cookies in his grief, Jack would be visited by a irritating ruler of the second gate (what ever haha) or he would be able to brighten up Krissmas this year. Someone's heart grew with little cheery cherub next door.
1,924 reviews13 followers
December 15, 2023
When Jack's beloved Grandma died, he got to meet her secret best friend, a tentacled interdimensional monster named Xorvash. He promises to help Jack put on Christmas for his family in exchange for Jack's help restoring his Grandma to life. In the process of making a Christmas celebration, love blooms between the man and the sweet monster. Horrible relatives, trying holiday traditions, humorous exchanges, a grumpy man and a cheerful monster. This is a bright treasure of a book, a true Christmas present from "Kat". Short, but oh so sweet and a perfect Christmas celebration. I received a copy of this book and this is my voluntary opinion.
Profile Image for Demetra Roussakis.
1,417 reviews14 followers
December 16, 2023
Loved this. Jack moved in with his grandmother when he was young due to his family. He quit his job to take care of her when she got sick. With 12 days before Christmas, his family is expecting him to cook and get everything ready to celebrate Christmas even though his grandmother passed. With him trying to make cookies, he accidentally summoned Xorvash, an interdimensional tentacle being. What follows is a funny, sweet story as they got closer and finally got closure with his family. Great world building, heat and chemistry between the MCs.
Profile Image for Latecia Jennings.
2,261 reviews10 followers
December 21, 2023
OK...I was not prepared for this holiday (Kiss-mas) romance. Just from the beginning, I was pulled in with Jack's grief and all his angry emotions...then he meets(accidently summons) Xorvash... a very sassy tentacle monster then the entertainment begins...12 days of Squidmas...LOL...LOVED it...a lot of feel good moments...some sad moments but over all you will have a blast reading this delightful holiday story.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.
156 reviews
December 23, 2023
A holiday miracle

Plot: Sad, grumpy Jack accidentally summons Xorvash, a sweet tentacle monster who turns his world right-side up
Feels: All the sweet wonderful holiday feels…made me want to binge watch all the cry-worthy hallmark movies after
Drama: As the author warns at the beginning, total family drama
Heat: 3/5
Characters: Both MCs are adorable and I love how Xorvash calls Jack his sweet little meat cake
Pacing: Fast
Length: Novella sized
Ending: Magical HEA
Profile Image for Rissa.
2,179 reviews3 followers
March 21, 2024
3.5 really!

Woohoo, new author so all new backlist to explore!

My favorite was Xorvash. He definitely kept me reading. I love all his dialogue!!!

Jack was hard to like and I understood. He was dealt with a lot since he was young and his only person passed away. It's a lot. I'm glad Xorvash was there for him.

Jack's family was horrible. It's really sad that there are people like that in the world.
Profile Image for Monika .
2,332 reviews39 followers
August 5, 2024
I have no idea what I just read (and I'm laughing my head off saying this). I'm pretty sure this story isn't for everyone but somehow I was thoroughly engaged. That was just plain weird, in a good way. 🤣

● Paranormal
● Holiday/Christmas (the most Christmas-y one of the series so far)
● An inter-dimensional Alien (with Tentacles)/Human pairing
● Magic
● Made me laugh my head off (I think I have a strange sense of humor)
● Very touching
● Some really sweet parts
● Family drama (this family got exactly what it deserved for Christmas)
● A sweet neighbor
● Loved the MCs
● And yes Tentacle sex of course (still not my thing at all)
● Made me teary
● Great HEA
● Multi author series
● Can be read as a stand-alone
Profile Image for Melissa.
611 reviews1 follower
December 14, 2023
Take one human grumpisaurs, add one tentacle monster from another dimension, a handful of Christmas trolls, a sprinkle of miracles and a dash of steamy times. Put it all in the blender you got at last years office white elephant and hit frappe.
Jack and Xorvath's xmas is a fluffy romp with a side of moments to hit you in the feels.
Profile Image for Liz Prosser.
300 reviews3 followers
December 16, 2023
Making cookies summons a tentacle monster! Said monster says he can bring back recently departed and beloved grandmother! Lots of cooking shenanigans and horrible family drama mixed with hot tentacle times create a fantastical holiday. Another amazing addition to this wonderful series and to my favorite authors collection of five star books!
500 reviews
December 18, 2023
Such a delightful little holiday adventure. Jack & Xorvash are great together, I laughed & facepalmed along with them. Jack is grumpalicious & Mr Jack's Friend is all tentacl-ly & magicky & stuff. The family is a bunch of jerks, the celebration & love & victory over Christmas lights, it all combines to bring a little joy to the season.
912 reviews2 followers
December 26, 2023
This book was pretty good. I could have stood a bit more “cuddling”, but that aspect was pretty good overall. Xorvath is such a sweetie, and reminded me of Loch. Jack gave me super Alexander vibes, but mellowed into Sloane as the story developed. Since I missed them, that made me happy. Great story with a satisfying HEA. I would have liked an epilogue, that always makes me happy.
Profile Image for Amanda.
569 reviews
January 4, 2024
Twelve Days of Squidmas is a hurt/comfort holiday romance with tentacle monsters and ridiculous, witty banter. The author mixed all these flavors together to make a fun, yet poignant tale about the journey through grief to find hope. Triggers include: extended illness of a loved one that resulted in death, toxic family and grief.

Xorvash was ridiculous and sweet and sassy. He was an awesome tentacle monster who came to save "Kissmas". I loved reading how wholeheartedly he embraced Jack and together they earned their HEA.
Profile Image for Rachel Emily.
4,408 reviews377 followers
December 22, 2023
What a sweet holiday romance! Xorvash is a blast, I love his excitement for things and how sweet he was towards Jack. These two were great together, and I really enjoyed this one!

Sweet, sexy, and fun! Great little holiday novella (with tentacles!) LOL
Profile Image for SJ.
2,321 reviews15 followers
August 21, 2025
a great Christmas tentacle read

This is a great Christmas read. Plenty of tentacles, Christmas spirit, an adorable couple, humour a little drama and a great storyline. I really enjoyed this read
1,031 reviews3 followers
December 15, 2023
It was a fun and sweet Christmas read. Jack and Xorvash are so cute together and compliment each other so well. Such a delight to read!
Profile Image for Lee Hall.
1,142 reviews7 followers
January 12, 2024
A Fun Romp

This was a really fun read! The banter between the two MC’s was hilarious! I really enjoyed reading this story. Highly recommended
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews

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