Can she save Christmas with hot chocolate and s’mores…?Cherie West’s Christmas plans included snow, a romantic mountain ski chalet, and a giant white diamond on her waiting third finger. Instead, she got a cheating boyfriend, a solo vacation, and new plans to drown her sorrows all festive season.That holiday in Vermont couldn’t come fast enough. She called all her friends, but a trip to the USA … all her friends, but a trip to the USA at Christmas was way outside their budgets. She’d paid, though, and it was non-refundable.
Now Cherie is alone and looking for adventure on the most meaningful holiday of the year.
After three seasons in Vermont, Brant Bryant has learned an important fact. City slicker couples who come up the mountain with no idea how to manage, make his caretaker’s life hell. His newest couple is no exception. Who doesn’t know how to start a fire?
When the events strand his right-hand man, it’s up to Brant to make the one-mile trek to the chalet next door. You’d think the drive there and back would be simple, right? By the time he arrives, the blizzard of the century threatens. By the time he’s ready to leave, there is no leaving. No one with his deep fear of falling off the mountain would risk it.
To complicate matters, his city slicker couple is just one well-padded woman. As the fire warms the room, her layers peel away. They talk. She flirts. He warms to her. When she presents her version of hot chocolate, he’s lost.
They only have to survive one night together. How bad could it be?
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A wonderful Christmas storyline with amazing characters. This was well written and they storyline kept me entertained. Cherie gets an unexpected surprise when she goes to her boyfriends office and finds him with his secretary. A solo trip to Vermont, a sexy cabin owner and an unexpected blizzard.
This meet cute puts our unlikely couple in the perfect place at the perfect time to get up close and personal with one another while Murphy’s Law and Mother Nature reign supreme. I found this story to be fast and fun. And despite Mother Nature getting b!tchy outside their cabin retreat, it’s filled with plenty of heat. I loved the time spent setting the stage for Cherie and Brant to get to know one another. I did think the ending came about a little too quickly though, especially when only one of them is contemplating major life changes.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author.
This sweet ‘trapped in a blizzard’ book was entertaining and sexy.
Three months after Cherie walks in on her boyfriend she finds herself alone on the Vermont Christmas vacation she expected to have with him. But the trouble she is having at the cabin she rented is anything but the picture of perfection. Thankfully the handsome owner comes to the rescue.
Brant is used to his renters not being able to figure out the workings of the cabin but he didn’t expect to be trapped in it with a single woman in the middle of a surprise blizzard. As beautiful as she is getting involved with her would be a mistake since she will return to Australia and he’s made a home here in Vermont.
I received an ARC and voluntarily offer this review.
Whirlwind wintry connection: wow, do they move at breakneck speed!
3.5-4stars
I thought the first half of this novella set the stage for a good romance, with a traumatic break-up and an anticipated perfect New England holiday that seems jinxed from the moment the heroine arrives. I liked that the alternating point of view actually provided some overlapping perspective as Brant, the Vermont resort manager, comes on the scene.
The good foundation in the first half devolved into a rushed ending. The heroine travels all the way from her Australian homeland to Vermont for a wintry Christmas holiday and only plans on staying at the resort for two days, with or without a fiance? That did not make sense. And this couple jumps ahead from first meeting to heating up a frigid cabin and talk of a shared future in such a short span of time. I just think I would have found more time passing and a few extra chapters getting to know one another more satisfying and realistic.
Anticipating a marriage proposal, Cherie books a vacation in faraway Vermont, thinking it will be the ideal location for a romantic getaway. When her hopes and dreams are dashed, she finds herself taking a solo trip. Upon arrival, things do not go well and when the gruff and somewhat impatient proprietor of the cabin arrives to sort out the problems, things get worse before they start to improve. This contemporary romance is lighthearted and witty and can easily be read in an evening with characters that really need each other. It is also a standalone and comes to a happy conclusion. I received a copy of this book as a gift and this is my honest and voluntary review.