Overall: 2.5 rounded to ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Readability: 📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥
Humor: A bit – definitely plenty of frenemies banter
Perspective: Third person from the heroine
More character focused or plot focused? character
How did the speed of the story feel? fast
When mains are first on page together: immediately
Cliffhanger: No, this ends with a happy for now
Epilogue: Not really, but they do arrive at the holiday get together at the end
Format: read an e-book through kindle unlimited
Why I chose this book: I loved book 1 of this series, Holiday Games and always meant to come back to finish the series!
Mains: This is a M/F relationship between a cishet hero and heroine

Should I read in order?
This is fine to pick up alone, but the series is kind of happening concurrently as they are heading towards the holiday get together during a winter storm.

Basic plot:
Olivia and Henry are snowed in at the hotel during a blizzard before their Friendsmas event.

Give this a try if you want:
- contemporary romance
- best friend’s brother
- snowed in
- one bed at the hotel
- hero is a cardiothoracic surgical resident
- hairstylist heroine
- holiday romance
- enemies to lovers vibes – not true enemies but definite animosity banter between them
- shorter novel
- medium steam – 2 scenes within a shorter page count

Ages:
- both mains are 33

First line:
Olivia Couper sucked on the minty loop of a miniature candy cane.

My thoughts:
Maybe my expectations were too high for this one, because I enjoyed the first book so, so much. But I didn’t like this one much. It was more of a ‘enemies to lovers’ feel with prior hook ups and it felt like they were just left with bickering and animosity.

I liked the hints of unrequited longing from the hero, but overall I didn’t like much about this story except the sex. Which was great. 😆
I think if you love animosity between your mains, and that back and forth banter you will enjoy this one a lot more than me and should give it a try!

Few random reading stats for this author
# of books read: 3
Average rating: 4 stars
Favorite book: Holiday Games

Quotes

She threw a packet of salt and vinegar chips at Henry. “Since you’re so fucking salty and sour all the time.”
He sat at the end of the bed, bag of chips on his lap. “I actually do like these.”
She watched him with furtive interest as Henry fiddled with his car keys, working the jagged end into the cork of the bottle of wine he’d brought back.
“What kind of wine is that?” she asked.
“Pinot Noir.”
“Hmm. My favorite kind.”
Henry glanced up, his forearm muscles tensed and veins bulged down to his wrist as the cork popped out. “Yeah, I’m aware.”
 

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes, safe sex aspects, consent, pregnancy/child in the story:

 
Safe sex: 

  Heroine is on birth control, but he doesn’t pull out or use condoms 

 
How’s the consent? 

  It’s good 

 
Pregnancy/children in story? 

  No children or pregnancy or talk of future children 

 
40% - remembrance of a prior hook up handy for him (short)
69% - 🔥 sex against the wall in the hotel room
85% - 🔥 oral/fingering for her