Rating: ★★★ | 208 pages | Self-published (formerly Harlequin) | Contemporary | 5/1/2014
A few weeks ago my power went out and I decided to read a few pages of each of the um…literally hundreds of books I had on my Kindle Paperwhite and Coming In From The Cold was one that took my attention. I’ve had this book forever, Bowen is one of the first romance authors I ever read and made me really see the potential of the New Adult genre.
During a winter snowstorm in rural Vermont, Willow Reade finds herself stranded on the road with the smooth-talking Dane “Danger” Hollister, a professional alpine skier. Their chemistry is immediate and they agree to one hot night together but neither of them are prepared when it turns into so much more.
Bowen is still one of my favorite romance storytellers but Coming in For the Cold kept me in the cold. This book was originally a Harlequin e-exclusive and reads very much like a condensed Desire or Blaze.
I was kind of so/so on the romance. I loved Willow and wanted all the best for her. The men in her life keep dragging her down but she never lets it get to her and keeps on keepin’ on and doing what’s best for herself. I was rooting for her. On the other hand, I could not with Dane. To get into the details I’m going into mild spoiler territory so…
*spoilers, ahoy!*
At about 40% into the book Willow finds out she is pregnant and Dane freaks out because there is a chance he might carry the Huntington’s gene (the name of the disease is treated like a reveal but you can tell pretty early what it is). He’s watched all his family die from it and he’s never told anyone about it and he gets mad at Willow for being pregnant when he’s really mad at himself for what he may have passed on. I was so frustrated that he wouldn’t explain to her why he was so upset she was pregnant.
Don’t even get me started on the part where Dane gets Willow’s doctor friend to secretly test him to see if he even has the gene and when Dane finds out he doesn’t have it he freaks out, calls the doctor friend a bitch and then gets so angry he has to be sedated. Sorry, dude there isn’t a big enough grovel in the world.
I listened to part of this on audiobook, Joe Arden and Maxine Mitchell were both good although I think Mitchell had a little something extra, she’s been added to my go to list of romance audiobook narrators.
Actual image of me trying to figure out if this is a Pepe and Stella cover
