Arctic Sun

3.5 Stars

This book wasn’t what I expected. But I ended enjoying it. It has a sadness vibe. Or at least this is how it felt to me…It’s the first book in the Frozen Hearts series by Annabeth Albert.

For some reasons, I couldn’t quite connect to the characters. At first, I thought it had something to do with Griffin’s determination to keep his distance from everyone. But after meeting the beautiful ex-model River, he was even harder to approach. It’s such a slow – slow burning.

We get great descriptions of Alaska, some hot scenes, but also angst. The main characters deal with eating disorders and sobriety, as it is mentioned in the blurb…Told in dual POV we get both their backgrounds, and even if I didn’t quite understand some of their choices, I got invested into the story. But it took some time.

To be honest, I think this book could have been shorter. It kind of felt too long and at least to me, it became tiring. But the ending was sweet and the next book will bring Toby’s story – with a silver fox attorney. I’m looking forward to reading it. The excerpt we get at the end of this one made me curious…

I received a free copy through Netgalley and voluntarily reviewed it.

I have heard a lot of good things about this author and when I saw the tour invite for this book come in I jumped on the chance to read it. I really like the set-up for this book and the fact that it takes place in Alaska appealed to me too. When reading the book tough it really took me a while to full get invested in the story. Later on it got a lot better and I enjoyed the story more.

Arctic Sun was very good in places and failed to capture and keep my attention in others. It’s quite confusing actually. I really struggled through the first part, I liked the set-up, with them meeting during the tour, but the story didn’t grip me as much. I am not even sure exactly why, it’s not like nothing was happening, but it felt very slow somehow and I even shortly considered DNF’ing it as there was just something missing for me. I feel like this book was two parts: the tour part and then the second half of after the tour. The first half didn’t fully work for me, but I enjoyed the second half a lot more. And the second half seemed to go by a lot faster.

Griffin and River have this instant attraction when they meet. Griffin is the wildlife guide for the tour and River is one of the clients who goes on the tour. Besides them there are some other side character we get to meet, the author did a good job giving a feel for them, but they’re mostly there for fill-up and disappear completely in the second half. Which makes sense, but it still felt a bit weird and only adds to the feel of two distinct halves. And in the second half other side characters play more of a role.

Griffin is a bit bit gruff and distant at first, he doesn’t do tours or social interactions and prefers his routine and the solitude of his normal job. The only reason he’s doing this tour is for his family. He is attracted to River, but determined to keep his distance. It took me a while to warm up to Griffin, as he can be a bit gruff and distant at first, but I ended up liking him the best of the two main characters. I liked how his love for this place and his dreams shine through. He knows what he wants and is very focused on that.

River comes across as this cheerful guy at first. But behind his cheerful and upbeat personality is a whole more depth and struggles. I liked how River wasn’t who he seemed at first, while he had been a model and liked to look good, he also was well aware of how to dress when going hiking. And he has his own struggles with food, body image and negative thoughts. What I liked less was the way he almost pressures and teases Griffin into having sex with him. I am not sure why, but the tone of those initial interactions didn’t quite work for me.

The whole book is about the romance, but also about a lot more. The romance is a central line throughout the book tough. I struggled with the first half when it came to the romance as well. I didn’t like the tone of their initial interactions and how the progression mostly came from River’s side just didn’t fully work for me. I didn’t feel like this was something griffin wanted as much, even tough he was attracted to River. The initial part of the romance focuses on having fun and made up fantasies to get them off and less on the intimacy and connection they share. I just wasn’t fully feeling the romance in the first half.

That all changes in the after tour part and with them no longer being guide and client and exploring their relationship more it felt a lot more natural and coming from both sides. It also felt more real and serious, with how they both seemed committed to see how this would work even while for along time they believe it won’t, which did frustrate me a bit. I also liked how the second half had much more depth and intimacy to the romance. And there are some great scenes with the two of them and I liked seeing how they are by the end. Even the part where they run into some struggles felt quite believable and realistic.

This book also deals with topics like addiction and eating disorder. It was well handled and I liked the message of how you’re never fully cured of things like this, but you will always stay working with it/ recovering. These topics also mainly played a part in the second half, adding to the feel of depth and also more heaviness in the second half. It almost felt a bit weird how absent the topics are in the first half with only being touched upon, as I would’ve liked to see it being addressed there a bit more too. But at the same time it felt realistic with them having periods of time with doing well and then sliding back down again. I did feel Griffin’s struggle less than River’s and wouldn’t have minded seeing that explored a bit more. And with River I would’ve liked to see a bit more of the process after a certain event. But at the same time I also felt like it was enough part of the story already.

I liked exploring Alaska in this book and wouldn’t have minded a bit more description and bringing the scenery alive. But that’s probably as I love that sort of thing in books and in certain scenes I would’ve liked a bit more to help me visualize this country as I’ve never been there.

To summarize: Arctic Sun was a good read about who men who connect. I did feel very much like this book has two parts the first half which I enjoyed less and is more lighter in tone and the second half with I enjoyed more, which was heavier and had more depth and intimacy as well. I struggled a bit with the first half as it just felt like something was missing to fully keep my attention, I also didn’t like the romance as much as first as it felt one sided with how River tried to convince Griffin to have sex with him. The second half was a lot better with more depth and intimacy to their relationship and I felt their romance a lot more then. I liked both characters and how they have their strengths and flaws and struggles, making them feel real. It also deals with some difficult topics like addiction and eating disorder, I felt like it was handled well. I liked the Alaska setting, although in parts I would’ve loved a bit more description so I could visualize things more vividly.

You never know what you are missing until it is right in front of your face. Griffin finds so much more than what he bargained for when he takes over a guide for his family’s wildlife tour in Alaska. River, a former model who has turned into a travel writer sees so much more in Griff than he sees in himself. When the two connect the chemistry is so hot, but will the former military recluse come out of his shell and continue in a relationship once the tour is over? Can River finally find happiness and stop running away from confrontation? With beautifully written characters and a storyline that had me hooked form the opening pages this was a fabulous read. Once again Annabeth Albert creates characters that the reader cannot help but fall in love with.