Trapped With the Ice Queen

The Ice Queen #1

by Emily Hayes

A cozy cabin with only one bed, an Ice Queen CEO, and a snowstorm...

Dive into The Ice Queen series for all the frosty CEOs, all the thawing, and all the steamy scenes. (Oh, and the Happy Ever Afters!)

When high-maintenance CEO Vivienne Blackwood’s luxury Christmas getaway goes off the rails, she finds herself trapped in a cozy cabin during a snowstorm with the grumpy yet very attractive Olympic snowboarder Alex Carter. As an ice queen who hates everything about Christmas, Vivienne clashes with Alex's down-to-earth, no-nonsense attitude, but they’re stuck sharing a bed in close quarters. With forced proximity, witty banter, and undeniable chemistry, this ice queen romance heats up as Vivienne begins to wonder if the woman she initially dismissed just might be the key to her icy heart.

Can a cozy cabin with a gorgeous snowboard champion in a snowstorm at Christmas melt even the coldest of hearts?

Genres: Romance, Audiobook, Lesbian, LGBT, Contemporary, Christmas, Lesbian Fiction

1 pages, Audio CD

Published May 13, 2025

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

Reviews

[Victoria]

As a fan of the "ice queen" trope, I get that certain traits are necessary for a character to fit it. But when you're stuck in a car during a raging storm, with no food or enough clothes, and someone comes to literally save your life, yet all you do is act grumpy and glare at them? That’s not being an ice queen—that’s just being rude and ungrateful.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

He leído la cantidad suficiente de libros con ice queen para saber que este libro no tiene ninguna. Y eso es decepcionante porque es en realidad toda la premisa en lo que se sostiene la historia. De lo demás hablaremos después.

[Miss KittyKat · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.50 stars rounded to 5. The things that I liked about this book that made it fun to read were as follows. Age gap, Ice queen, CEO, Outdoor woman who lived almost like a hermit. Snowstorm strands CEO in her car and outdoor woman to the rescue. Small cabin, one bed, Christmas. And ice melting sex. Vivienne, the CEO, was the Ice Queen and older than Alex, but both Vivi and Alex had hearts that needed thawing. All in all a good story. I wanted another chapter to see what Alex thought about the city and how the two made the decisions on living places. Good epilogue. This is a sweet and spicy story.

[Violet · Rating 2 out of 5]

2/5 - sapphic, contemporary, ice queen, age gap. Meh, didn’t buy into the relationship at all, mostly because Vivienne just kind of sucked… I’d say this stretches the ice queen tag since she’s giving rude “let me talk to your manager” vibes more than anything else. Overall light on plot as well.

[Cael Bass · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 stars. I almost did not finish this book, which is not my usual. I will almost always stick it out till the end. The only real redeeming quality to this is some of the actual writing. There are good lines, varied sentence structures. But so much of this felt forced and somewhat incoherent. There are repetitions of similar sentences every couple of paragraphs or between scenes. Coffee is cold to demonstrate distraction here, two pages later the same usage and intent.

But the real problem with this work is this is a character-driven book with little to no characterization. Both characters are just sketches, the absolute bare minimum. We know one is a CEO from a privileged background and one is an Olympic snowboarder, and that's pretty much it other than their fairly basic internalized monologues, very little to set them apart. There are so many unrealized opportunities to do more to let us know who these characters are. There are books on a table. Tell us what books so we can know more about that character. We are in a character's house and could learn more through more deliberate description of place: what color/pattern is that quilt, is there art on the walls, is the couch situated to look out a window? All of these small things could give us something to connect with. Instead, we get some background story of how they have been hurt, again a basic outline, and how one is capable of taking care of basic needs and the other is not. There was just no connection here to keep me going through this. I don't care about the characters because I don't know them. I just wanted to get through this and have it be done so I could move on to my next read. I was interested in the author's firefighter series, but I will not be pursuing it now.

[Whitney Thompson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, Fmc1-Vivienne is insufferable. And I just couldn’t get over that. There’s a difference between being an ice queen and being a moronic, ungrateful wench.

I feel like the romance didn’t make any sense, Vivienne lacked any common sense, appreciation, or kindness; she exuded pomposity and condescension; and Fmc2-Alex is interested in her?! It just didn’t make sense.

This book felt both too short (in that they feel for each other so quickly that it felt like they needed more time together to explain that) and too long (in that I couldn’t wait for the book to be over).

I listened to the audio book and the narration was mostly fine EXCEPT the spicy bits. When FMC2-Alex would say things during throes of passion, the narrator struggles with the voices/intonations for that , and it came across weird to me.

[Zayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very sweet and cute, I liked it. Two women who are, at first, at odds with one another and who are literally trapped in with each other. It's a kind of standard story style for the winter reading fans, but it is very fun and cute and there is some angst and passion for each other that you could feel very early into the story.
I've read a lot by Hayes at this point, and this is definitely one of her more sweet ones that is entertaining, funny, and enjoyable. With likeable characters and thoughtful, complicated situations and natural progressions in their relationship.

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of the individual moments were well-written, but the story as a whole didn’t come together for me. Too many things felt contrived (e.g. no cell signal on the mountain until the plot requires a phone call), I wasn’t convinced by their true love in three days, and wow Vivienne‘s attitude after she was rescued was just beyond the pale. I guess I felt like it either needed to be longer and more carefully thought out, or way shorter so the shortcuts seemed more in line.

For what it’s worth, I listened to the audiobook and the narration was great.

[Lucie · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's being an ice queen and then there's just being a rude bitch. Imagine someone saves you from freezing to death and all you do is complain about everything they do and their house. The sex scenes were too much. I'm not sure if it was because I listened to it and the person pretty much literally growled when it said that but it just made me uncomfortable.

And then I felt like I blinked and they were confessing feelings? Based on what? They had maybe one conversation that wasn't an argument?

[Lindsey Wallace-Galli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Snowed in, in a cabin with someone you can’t get along with. The plot was just a few day stretch between Alex (former Olympian snowboarder who bought a small cabin in the woods far away from people) and Vivienne (business CEO?) I mean who knows because there was hardly any dialogue. By the end of the snowstorm, they fall for each other but I just didn’t understand how when their conversations had no depth to them.

Sorry I couldn’t get with this book.

[Janine Brue · Rating 2 out of 5]

First of all, I typically like Emily's writing.
But this one wasn't it for me.
I liked the first half...but then the story felt kinda rushed. There were a few mistakes, repetitions of sentences, where you question if it got proofread. At a few points the story didnt make sense, so it's sad really, I like a good christmas read, I thought I'm back in High School, reading a wattpad story but there you could look over the mistakes but not with a published book, sorry.

[Kayleigh]

Exactly what the title describes- two women stuck together in an ice storm, one a self described "ice queen" who doesn't want to let anyone take care of her. When Alex, a former Olympic snowboarder rescues Vivienne from being stuck in a snowstorm, the ensuing days are pretty expected but well written. If you're looking for extensive character building or the makings of a healthy relationship, this isn't going to be it but if you're looking for forced proximity and spice, pick this up.

[Robin Kenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

High tension for a CEO in the Co. mountains caught in a snow storm!

Emily Hayes apparently can write any kind of love story! The tension of this story really hits quickly and last a good long time, bringing laughter and tears along with the tension. I really hate icy roads, especially in the mountains. I was sweating with tension. The terror turned to heated arguments then heated contacts! Hot sexy scenes did not disappoint and I got a HEA to boot!

[Shivy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoy the books by this author; I have read most of the CEO collection. I really liked the story and the vulnerability and fragility demonstrated by the characters. However, I believe that in terms of writing style, it could have been better. In several parts, ideas were repeated, or perhaps the same scene could have been presented from both points of view. But overall, I liked the story.

[Shannon Luchies · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vivienne Blackwood, fashion mogul, is rescued in a snow storm by Alex Carter, former Olympic Snowboarder. Despite clashing at first, neither can deny the attraction they feel.

Slow burn, bit low on plot but not bad.

[Mandi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book didn’t flow too well for me
It was really choppy. It didn’t feel like organic progression for me. I felt like not enough buildup was there for certain things.
There was so much potential.
2.75 ⭐️

[Stacktheforest - Natalie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Is she an ice queen if she’s just a rude and unlikeable character with no redeeming characteristics? I truly don’t understand what this book was trying to do. There was no chemistry between the FMCs. So confusing.

[Kerri · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was fine, not special but not horrible. I do like the characters (they were good amount tension and cute) and the snowy cabin setting of the book was very much me. The epilogue was a great ending and defiantly one most people wish they could have, a cozy and loving home.

[Tori · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m more a fan of Emily Hayes’ firefighter series but if you are looking for a spicy read with not much backstory, you have found it with this book. It is a nice easy listen where you don’t mind missing big chunks of the story.

[legallybookish · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve got only one complaint - the book was too short 😅 I finished it in one sitting and would have loved to spend more time with Vivienne and Alex🫶🏻 Can’t wait to read the other ones in the series.

[Donna Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow a great tension with opposites attract. Well written characters

[Kim Tunney · Rating 5 out of 5]

ice queen thawed

Unexpected meeting and being rescued two people worlds apart find attraction love and happiness together in harmony lived thus book🌈🌹

[murph · Rating 2 out of 5]

🧊😠🔌👎👎

[jay · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Erik S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect Emily

Emily this is one of the best Christmas books I've ever read. Very well written and I look forward to #2. Ill never catch up with your great writing your to fast.

[Margarita Cherena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alex and Vivienne were from two separate word but in this love story, they made it work. Although it seems the author was not to clear about it.

[Amanda Alvarez · Rating 5 out of 5]

so good!

It was great, there was suspense, passion, frustration and joy. Surprisingly captivating. And can’t wait to read the next one.

[Cynthia Larson · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
Short.
The editing wasn't great.
Initially it was a origami flower and then later in the book it was a bird....🤷‍♀️🤦‍♀️

[Mrs Patricia Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book carnt wait to see if there’s going to be another one with these characters

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Literally anything narrated by Lori Prince is an automatic 5 star for me. This one doubled it to 10 stars with all the longing and yearning!!