January is dreadful. Just as dark and dreary as the month before, but somehow we’re expected to endure it with fast-dwindling leftover holiday chocolate and no fairy lights. One activity that always makes me feel better this time of year is reading about the incredibly posh polar explorers of yesteryear. Captain Scott. Sir Ernest Shackleton. A dude genuinely called Apsley Cherry-Garrard. All sitting in their little tents in -50 eating one measly block of pemmican and then hauling a sled another few feet closer towards the magnetic pole. But while I still love a good frozen toe fest, this January I’ve delved into the joyous world of shared body warmth that is cold-weather Romance. 

Adriana Anders, Whiteout

As the title suggests, Anders’ 2021 Romantic Suspense is set in the honest-to-god Arctic where a team of researchers find themselves in an even worse predicament than Scott’s doomed expedition. Angel is our fresh-start-seeking cook extraordinaire, joining the ultra-isolated hub for the season. She’s crushing on Ford, aka the Ice Man, a glacially featured research scientist who won’t give her the time of day. Which is extra annoying in the land of round-the-clock sun. However, when the two go on the run together, the Ice Man’s lava-hot interior is bound to erupt, right? Or, at least crack open? Let’s just say it’s an icey burn. These two can’t even unzip their puffy parkas without risking death. I don’t think I’ve ever read a novel where the main couple consistently can’t bang because they will die. Literally die. Not a huge Romantic Suspense reader before, I was impressed with how Anders’ pacing and peril kept these two absolutely parched for each other without ever feeling artificial. Eventually they are subsumed back into the insane conspiracy that sent them running in the first act, but Angel and Ford are always best when it’s just them against the elements. There’s a follow up adventure – the global criminal syndicate won’t defeat itself – also set in the Arctic.

Heather Guerre, Cold Blooded

Next is a chilly read from a new favourite, the subgenre juggernaut that is Heather Guerre. Is there anything this author can’t write? I’ve already read her sweet fantasy succubus romance Demon Lover, her bittersweet homecoming romance What Could Have Been, and her absolutely delicious urban workplace romance Preferential Treatment (read it!) Any of these books qualify as great January reads imo as all Guerre leads are Wisconsin-bred women who say ‘welp’ and know how to put on snow treads. But it’s for her paranormal series started in 2020 that Guerre ventures into the Alaskan winter and a small town with a closely guarded secret (spoiler: they’re shifters). Grace is our outsider haunted by a past relationship and Caleb is the hulking hottie who sniffs her rather than conversing. For me, it was the setting rather than this pair that made this book. While I can’t comment on the indigenous representation, I appreciate the author crafted the fictional town around waves of diverse immigration and did not whitewash Westward expansion (or, you know, Northward expansion). While I prefer Guerre’s sexy femdoms and struggling small town sweethearts, Cold Blooded wins the survivalist sweepstakes.

Alexis Hall, A Lady for a Duke

Finally, I’ve chosen a recent release from one of my perennial favourite authors, the wonderful Alexis Hall. This gorgeous Regency Romance made waves when it came out last year for being an Historical Romance with a trans heroine released by a major trade publisher. That’s definitely one reason I was excited to get my hands on this book. I really trust Hall to do the work to make this critical representation sing. And he does that work with some of the most incredibly honest, beautiful, and hot sex scenes. What I wasn’t expecting was that A Lady for a Duke is also capital-r Romantic. From the first moment we enter the hero’s forbidding castle in the dead of January, I got Gothic goosebumps. (I would pit a comfortless coastal castle in the North of England against any polar desert for austere beauty.) The Duke of Gracewood haunts the castle, self-medicating after the death of his best friend. But then Viola shows up and, though achingly familiar, she’s not a ghost. God, do I love this classic melodrama trope of the dead loved one’s return! While the story unfortunately leaves the castle, Hall invariably brings this emotional romance to a very satisfying and organic HEA. Alas, I really didn’t like the audio narration. Viola’s vowels weren’t posh enough and her sister-in-law sounded like Lady Bracknell rather than a woman who must be all of thirty. I recommend reading this one.

Need more winter Armageddon inspo? Can I recommend the 1983 BBC miniseries Shackleton? No? Fine, maybe just another season of Alone. See, we’re all comforted by others’ extreme and entirely voluntary discomfort.

Next, I’m totally switching gears and diving into sweet, foodie romances with plenty of indie and queer sprinkles on top. See you in February!