Crystal Rainey is aghast when she realizes her new year’s resolutions haven’t changed one whit from the previous year. Wanting to escape a future as dreary as a Pacific Northwest winter, she walks out on her dead-end office job, despite her tenuous savings account.Stumbling across a job opening posted by a wilderness guide outfit, an intrigued Crystal bluffs her way into the position. With … With handsome fellow guide, the stalwart Conner Oakes, she leads a corporate retreat on a snowshoe hike to a majestic alpine chalet.
But when the company’s detestable owner turns up dead in the snow, she fears her new life and budding romance slipping away. She finally has something worth fighting for and is determined to solve the murder and grab her chance at happiness before it’s too late.
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I really enjoyed this book and hated to see the story end. I was hooked from the first page and tried to savor and not read too fast but I also could not wait to see how it ended.
This author has a new fan/follower in me and I am looking forward to his next book.
A New Year’s Resolution for Her.
Crystal is just becoming aware that her life is not going anywhere in her current life and decides to change that with a new year’s resolution. Applying for a job becomes critical when she realizes how much experience cost her by living by herself. Hired as a local guide for Emerald City Outfitters, she never imagined her life would turn upside down on her first assignment. Suddenly realizing this was going to be more than she expected, she hurries to buys what she needs a few miles away for a competitor. She meets Connor, and he gives great pointers and advice with what she needs. Connor, however, is a fellow employee of her new job, and she now must scramble with the truth to keep her job.
When Connor and Crystal make it to the destination with their clients in tow, the fun is not what happens when a fight ensues, and someone goes missing.
They struggle with the truth of what happens, while they were in the staff quarters. Their guests are lying to the police, and they intend to find the truth. I loved how these two characters play in their roles of guide, friends, lovers, and detectives in this wonderfully written engaging story.
this was a really great book! she finds a new job and things are going great until a owner turns up dead. now she is playing detective to find out what happed to him. read to find out what happens.
I enjoyed Winter Takes All. This is a fun, interesting book. I like the characters. The mystery had many twists and I was kept guessing until the end.
a really fun read! fast paced interesting story with complex characters. Lots of snow! lol! I loved the ins and outs and twists and turns. A wonderful light read I received a copy from Netgalley and this is my hones review
romantic, cozy-mystery, situational-humor, verbal-humor
She spontaneously quit her awful job and got a new job she was totally inexperienced in, what could possibly go wrong?
While shopping for snowshoes she meets a yummy guy who offers to teach her the skill, then it turns out that they work for the same company of winter guides. On the very first trip, the guests don’t get along, drink to excess, and one of them winds up dead. The cozy mystery is pretty well done, the budding romance is entertaining, and the humor is really giggle worthy!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Wild Rose Press via NetGalley. Thank you!
Crystal has decided that she needs a major change in her life, so she quits her job and takes on another that she has zero training or knowledge about. As a Wilderness Adventure Guide, her first task is to guide a snowshoeing tour. All is good, except for the fact that she doesn’t own snowshoes and doesn’t know the first thing about them.
Imagine her surprise when she learns the snowshoe salesman turns out to be none other than her new coworker!
The story is a fun cozy mystery involving a murder and there is a little bit of romance included. The story is well-written, keeping the reader guessing as to who the guilty party is – right up to the very end.
I truly enjoyed reading this story. If you are a fan of cozy mysteries, this one is a GREAT read!
I received an advance readers copy and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.
This review is for the audio book.
This is the first book by this author that I have read or listened to but I really enjoyed it so will be keeping an eye out for more books written by ML Landon. It was an unusual job for the main character of a cosy mystery so made it intriguing. The characters were fun and interesting. It did jump about a bit but it worked as the main character was being questioned by the police about what happened that day but rather than tell the story twice we hear it for the first in the interview. The mystery was good and with lots of characters there was plenty of suspects with motives. There was every thing you could want in a good cosy mystery a murder, a love interest and a bad guy everybody loves to hate.
When Crystal realises her New Years resolution is exactly the say as last year she vowels to do something about it. She just hasn’t planned on walking out of her job quite so soon but her boss from hell catches her at a bad time. When she calms down she comes to the conclusion that leaving before she had a new job wasn’t her best idea and so starts the job hunting. Fed up with office works nine to five she fudges her qualifications and lands a job as a wilderness guide. The only problem is she doesn’t know a thing about the outdoors apart from a few camping trips as a kid, so she sets about studying. The only problem is not even studying could prepare her for what happens on her first trip out. One of the clients is murdered in a snow storm. The lawyer are worried the company is about to get sued and all the guilds get put on reduced hours until the murder is solved. The police man in charge is inexperienced and Crystal worried her small non-existent bank account will be depleted before he has even decided it is a murder, sets out to solve the murder before she get fired. With the man’s wife and all his work colleagues at the lodge at the time of the murder she will have her work cut out for her questioning them all.
I liked the narrator she was clearly spoken and used a lot of emotion in her voice to make the story interesting.
There is nothing much better in the world for me than an incredibly well written cozy mystery that combines romance and sleuthing. This book was a pleasure to read.
I immediately loved Crystal and the relationship with Conner was superbly written. The mystery was a true homage to the classic pot boiler, and it will keep readers guessing.
Compelling at times, heart warming, funny, romantic, and intense. The detail of the outdoor scenes was written with great realism.
Indulging in this book is like opening a great box of chocolates and settling down under a blanket with the one you love. A book I can’t recommend highly enough.
My Rating: 5+ stars
“Winter Takes All” is a fun mystery! I read this book in one sitting, because I couldn’t put it down. The story is believable, and the characters are well-rounded. We root for Crystal and Conner and wish them the best. And the remaining characters add the perfect blend of humor, quirkinesses, and menace. I’m looking forward to more books by this author.