Sarina Bowen - Coming In From the Cold

Alpine ski champion Dane “Danger” Hollister does not do relationships, though he has an excellent reason. No woman would ever say “I do” to a guy whose faulty DNA will eventually cost him everything: his spot on the US Ski team, his endorsements, and the ability to fly downhill at 90mph.
While Willow Reade moved to rural Vermont to get back to the land, that wasn’t meant to include a night stranded in her vehicle during a blizzard. Luckily, the hot ski racer she practically ran off the road has granola bars and a sleeping bag, and is happy to share. Maybe it’s the close quarters, maybe it’s the snow, but soon the two are sharing a lot more than conversation.
Yet neither can guess how their spontaneous passion will uncork Dane’s ugly secret and Willow’s tentative peace with her own choices. Only their mutual trust and bravery can end the pain and give Willow and Dane a shot at hard won happiness.

Comment: I've started this book because it would suit a challenge prompt I'm doing in one of my GR groups, namely the fact it has a snowy setting. I had also read books by the author, some I loved, so I was eager to have a good time, but this one I must add to those I wasn't as happy with by her.

This story begins with a snow storm and Willow Reade is caught in it as she was trying to go back home after buying food for her animals. On the same road, and pretty close to a collision with her, is Danger Hollister, a skying star with the US team, back to Vermont for training and to visit his ill brother. When their cars get immobilized and no help is going to arrive that quickly, they use Danger's jeep, which is better to keep the cold out and spend the night together, sharing a lot more than what any of them would assume. In the morning they go their separate ways but in the following days they keep seeing each other and things progress in a sweet way. However, Danger believes he has no real future and Willow thinks she might have a new life somewhere else, so when something surprising happens, will they be able to be a team of two?

The premise of this story reminded me of those old little harlequin books I used to buy and while this book was published by harlequin, I'd not expect the author to develop a story so obviously similar to a traditional harlequin plot. I say this because having read other books by the author, I've come to expect a certain style and "voice" and I don't think I've found it here. Perhaps there's a reason for this story's existence, but I have not investigated enough if that is so.

The book isn't big, and there are some serious issues being dealt with here which, in my opinion, would have been more suitable for a longer book, where perhaps a bigger page count would have helped to develop some things better. I'd say all the necessary information to make this story work is here, but of course most things happen or are developed at a more concise pace and while this doesn't have to be a negative aspect, I felt it didn't help me appreciating the novel.

Willow is in Vermont because of a previous relationship that didn't work out. However, leaving won't be that easy but she has other dreams so when she meets Danger and seems to share something special with him, it's not as if she has many expectations but perhaps they could be friends, even after Danger leaves. I feel Willow is a very stable character, who comes from the foster system, and I got the feeling this was used to show her vulnerable side, so she could also have more in common with Danger.

Danger's issues are different, his mother died of Huntington's disease, his brother is getting there and Danger feels his own life has a time limit, so he lives as dangerously as he can while his body allows him. Of course that in romanceland things aren't this basic and as the story develops, we learn a lot about these two, and I will have to say that apart from the obvious to carry on their motivations, there wasn't a lot about them or about their interactions that convinced me this was an epic love story. It was only OK to read about them...

The relationship is actually not that believable nor as romantic as I expected. I can understand their personal issues (which I feel weren't developed well enough) getting in way of their reactions to the other person beyond the initial hook up. Neither thought the connection would last much longer, but since it did, now they have to deal with each other and that does affect them in a different way, but while in the end everything is sweet and amazing, the road until then wasn't. I think that the author wanted to contrast personalities and mind states in a situation vs another, but the result to me was one of exaggeration.

I would say that to me, the way this was written doesn't feel like the author style, or at least the one I came to be used to read. Perhaps this did play a bigger part in my experience reading this book, but the result wasn't one I will remember fondly. I think, as I often do, that the elements were good, interesting and special enough to make the story feel special, but the execution could have been better.

Grade: 5/10