Never fall in love with your best friend’s little sister…
Contractor and army reservist Jake Foster fell in love with Dani Minelli when she was a colt-legged high school senior. He knew he was too old to even look at her, let alone touch.
Dani’s been trying to get his attention since returning to Pine Harbour a grown woman—and failing miserably at every turn.
This winter, everything is going to change. And when the snow stops falling, Jake and Dani won’t be able to hide from their attraction any longer.
The first book in the Pine Harbor series:
Love in a Snowstorm covers one of my favourite romance tropes: the (only slightly) forbidden lust/love of the brother’s best friend/best friend’s younger sister. That premise alone is enough to make me at least sample a book. Needless to say, after reading the opening chapter (the prologue) of Love in a Snowstorm, I was quickly sucked into the romance between Jake Foster and Dani Minelli.
One of the reasons I love this trope so much is that the wanting by one of the romantic leads (usually the hero) is only surpassed by their need to bury those desires. Hence the denial, the inner conflict and the struggle. That’s what Jake goes through for years. He’s not proud that at the age of twenty-five, he started noticing the way a seventeen-year-old Dani looked in a snug pair of jeans. Three years later when she’s in college, his feelings for her haven’t changed, and when he and his brother go to a party to drag their younger brother, Sean home, guess who else is at the party? Yep, Dani, and things almost come to a head.
He let out a harsh exhale and released her arms only to slide his hands into her hair and pull her face toward his. But his kiss landed on her forehead instead of her lips, and Dani’s heart cracked. “Go back to college. Forget that your brother’s friend is a dirty old man who likes the way your hips look in blue jeans.”
Fast forward five years, which puts Jake at thirty-three and Dani at twenty-five. Perfectly respectable ages for two grown adults to hook up, right? Not exactly. At least in Jake’s mind. He’s still very skittish because of the whole family connection. Plus a mutual family friend has just died. Everyone is devastated. It doesn’t matter that his feelings for Dani still haven’t changed. Nor hers for him.
And that’s what I really loved about Jake. I love that I knew exactly how he felt about Dani. I loved being inside his head and I loved that I was able to experience his inner conflict and torment. Dani is more an open book. She’d have Jake in a New York minute if he gave the word. But after years and years of pining over him, she’s determined to move on. Life is too short. Nothing like the death of a young mother to emphasize that point.
But as much as Dani tells herself she needs to get over her long-time crush for Jake, what he said to her five years ago won’t allow her to give up hope. So she decides maybe a healthy dose of jealousy will do the trick. Personally, I’m more than good with that. Sometimes a guy’s got to know what he’s at the risk of losing to some other guy. Things heat up from that point on and the heat is hot. Zoe York knows how to write some temperature-raising love scenes. 😉
Of course the road to true and everlasting love isn’t smooth and one particular issue comes up that threatens to derail Jake and Dani’s romance. There’s also the remarriage of Jake’s brother, Rafe, and his ex-wife Olivia. Their second-chance romance is the first book in the series, and is titled Love in a Small Town. The second I finished this book, I had to purchase that one. As soon as I scrape together a little reading time, I’ll be diving in to find out what went wrong with Rafe and Olivia’s first marriage.
I really enjoyed the cast of characters in the Minelli, Foster and Howard families. Big families who love and are fiercely loyal to each other fall into one of my many soft spots. The interaction between them is endearing and genuine. And I’m really really looking forward to reading Ryan Howard’s story. He’s the one whose wife was killed. He’s a heartbroken man and I love watching them dig themselves out from under their grief to finally get their HEA. Makes me think of Texas! Chase by Sandra Brown, which I loved. Needless to say, I’m invested in the entire Pine Harbor series and looking forward to reading more books.
Reviewed by Bev
Heat Level: Hot
