Reviewer: Tracy Melting Snow by Leora Gonzales
Series: Braving the Heat #1
Publisher: Lyrical Press
Publication Date: November 21st 2017
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 52
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Series Rating:
Hot
Broke college student Winter Snow wants Christmas to be over. Thanks to her annoying name, this time of year always leaves her feeling Scrooged. The only cheer she wants is cold hard cash from her mall cleaning job—until a surprise offer from a hunky firefighter sparks one sizzling midnight temptation . . .
Hotter
William Holiday needs a replacement elf for his fire station’s fund-raiser. Convincing Winter she's perfect for the part—and giving her some one-on-one training—is a task he’s happy to take on. Because her irrepressible smarts and luscious curves are making this seductive Saint Nick want to deliver all night long . . .
Burn
Winter isn't betting on more than an X-rated Xmas fling. But Will plans to show her they have more in common than their quirky last names—enough to keep their wildest holiday wishes coming true . . .
At age 27 Winter is finally going to college and working part time jobs to help with tuition and rent. One of those jobs is cleaning a small mall at night. While on shift one night she meets a fireman named Will Holiday who will be playing Santa. His elf breaks her leg and Will sees Winter working and asks her to be his elf. From that moment on the pair are together.
This short story started off well and I was hoping for a sweet but hot story. I didn’t get that and I wasn’t impressed with anything about this book.
When Will meets Winter he likes her looks and asks her to be his elf. When he introduces her to the rest of his fire station (they’re decorating the mall for Santa’s North Pole) he quickly stakes his claim by holding her hand. A little forward for just having met, but okay. He then asks to drive her home and within hours of meeting they’re sleeping together. Literally sleeping. What??? I mean, I think I would have understood it better if they’d had sex. By the next day Will is calling Winter ‘baby’ as if they’ve been together forever and telling her he’s going to marry her someday and they’re talking about kids and – oh holy cow!
Events in this book happen at the speed of light. There’s no character development, there’s no true getting to know you period, there’s nothing. This was a meet and screw and be together forever. I just wasn’t buying it. Some authors know how to pull this off, but this story just didn’t manage to do that. Because of my skepticism with the relationship I couldn’t get into the sex scenes either and found them boring. I would have rather seen the two actually getting to know each other but maybe that’s just me.
Braving the Heat
Rating: 2 out of 5