This box set contains the first three books in the Snow-Kissed Love Series.
Craving for Love -
Determined to get over Jason and find a man that wants a family, Casey Cassidy moves to Breckenridge, Colorado. Landing a job skiing every day, Casey finds Blaine Johnson - a wish come true. A hunky surfer turned ski instructor, he checks off every requirement on her list. Except for the one she forgot to add.
Blaine has a secret. A secret so big it keeps intimacy smoldering, when Casey needs fire. No matter how hard she tries, the embers won’t ignite. Can she live without passion to get the family she craves? When Jason comes to town, Casey questions everything she wished for. Their consuming love threatens to explode and ruin her dream, leaving her with the choice between a family and the love of her life.
Lease on Love -
Headed for the Olympics, figure skater Lori Langley's destined for the gold. But when her sordid affair with her abusive and controlling coach is plastered all over the tabloids, Lori's world spins out of control. Now, after three long years, Lori is ready to move on. Trading in her skates for skis, Lori reinvents herself as a ski instructor in Colorado. Unprepared for what the slopes have in store for her, Lori comes face-to-face with sexy and sensitive snowboarder, Kaleb Wakefield, who jumpstarts her heart, allowing her to finally explore love again. When an avalanche from her past comes back to bury her, Lori's newfound freedom is at risk--and that risk has a price. How far must Lori and Kaleb go to fight for what they want?
Rush for Love -
Olympic hopeful Gretchen Nickelson doesn’t do love. Men exist for sex and a good time. Snowboarding is her main priority and a clingy boyfriend will only get between her and a spot on the Olympic team. Dark and dangerous Derrick Hamilton is all for the physical approach. His carefully guarded heart likes it hard and fast. Meeting an adrenaline junkie like Gretchen suits his sexual needs just fine. But when a steamy relationship races out of control toward love, tragedy is inevitable, and hearts aren’t the only collateral. Their accidental love threatens Gretchen’s chance for gold, and the destruction changes everything.
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I got this as a free ebook from BookBub and it included three different stories. I don't read romances regularly but the selling point of this book was that the women in these stories moved to Colorado and the mountains, and the mountains are where my heart is.
Craving for Love was about Casey who was moving out to Colorado to look for love. She was leaving her ex, Jason, because he did not want a family. She found a wonderful guy named Blaine who would make an excellent husband, but he was obviously hiding something. When Jason moved out to Colorado as well, Casey had to choose between the two.
I was not impressed with Craving for Love. I thought that the love story was bland and it didn't really do anything for me. The author focused on talking up Blaine so as the audience, I was rooting for the Blaine dynamic up until the "Big Reveal" of what he was hiding. The secret was too clean. It wouldn't be in a real world setting, but it is in a romance where a love triangle is the main focus. It was like the author asked herself "what could they do to leave all of the characters likable and not make anyone mad." Unfortunately, real life isn't that clean.
Lease on Love was about Lori who was an Olympic bound figure skater who's dreams are dashed when an affair with her controlling coach is plastered all over the tabloids. After three years trying to stay out of the spotlight, she moves to Colorado to reinvent herself as a ski instructor. She meets Kaleb, a snowboarder and quickly falls for him. But when her past comes back to haunt her, it puts her new life in jeopardy.
I loved Lease on Love. I loved Lori. I loved Kaleb. I loved the entire dynamic of this story. It was intense and exciting, and my favorite part, it had a girl who saved herself. She didn't need a knight in shining armor, she became her own savior and I love that. Lori was adorable. Even with her past, she is the most innocent girl in the whole lot but that doesn't make her any less of a badass. A lot of the portrayals of strong women in stories show the woman as being hard, but that wasn't the case with Lori. She's tiny and cute and innocent. Out of all three of the stories, her's was my favorite one. (Oh, and Kaleb was fictional boyfriend potential which is always a bonus.)
Rush for Love is about snowboarding Olympic hopeful Gretchen and her steamy romance with Derrick. They both prefer the physical approach and try to avoid anything that looks like a real relationship which makes them perfect for each other.
Rush for Love was mostly smut. The physical part of their relationship was the main attraction, and that was obvious in the story. Some women love that in the books that they readd, but I always prefer the story behind the smut. This story was fine and I enjoyed it, but it definitely wasn't my favorite.
My favorite part of all three of these books is the friendships between the girls. They are there for each other through love, break-ups, and tragedy. It's the kind of group of friends that all women hope for but few ever achieve. I loved reading about the friendships throughout all of the stories.
Overall I give this book three out of five stars. It was a nice fluff book to read and a pleasant break from all of the intense stories that I have been reading lately. My favorite was definitely Lease on Love and I can see myself re-reading that one in the future.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Violet Vaughn is a new author for me. Got the series suggestion from Bookbub. I read all three books in one day. I think I liked the second and third book better than the first. I will read the other books in the series.
[This review is for Craving for Love, the first novel in the set. I will not be reading the other two.}
DNF midway through Chapter 12. I have read some really bad romance novels in my time, but this might just be a new level of ridiculousness.
I'm going to outline what I read to illustrate just how scattershot and full of holes this "story" gets.
Chapter 1 - Heroine nearly crashes her car twice, busts the headlight, gets home, gets tipsy, calls her ex to help fix the headlight, seduces him instead.
Chapter 2 - He stayed the night. She makes him breakfast before he has to go plow the snow, falls back asleep, and when she wakes up decides she isn't leaving town today after all, she's going to stay and go skiing with her ex. She considers having a quickie in his truck in the slopes parking lot.
Chapter 3 - They go skiing. They go back to her place. He fixes the headlight. She asks, "Are you sure you don't want to have my babies?" [the reason they broke up, last summer apparently, not even recently, was because he doesn't want kids] He says, "I love you" and leaves. She breaks down.
Chapter 4 - Jump to three days into her drive to Colorado from Vermont (though it doesn't really say how long that is after Chapter 3--did she leave the next day?) Stops at a gas station, looks through a realty magazine to find a local realtor, makes an appointment. When she gets there, she says "I need a job and a place to live," asks about cleaning jobs, offers references, continuing, "I can start tomorrow, and all that I ask is that you help me find a place to live."
a) Realtors aren't temp agencies or help-wanted ads. Their business is not to find people jobs. b) What was her job before in Vermont? It was never mentioned before she left. c) Yes, their job is to SELL you a place to live, not to recommend the boardinghouse his secretary (assistant? receptionist? not clear) happens to run. ISN'T THAT CONVENIENT.
Scene break, then she's cleaning a bathroom in a rental unit because she magically has a job now, and we meet her new friend/coworker, and apparently some time has passed because she says it's nice to be getting enough sleep at her new place because of the curfew. (Yeah, it's a female-only boardinghouse, no drinking, no smoking, no guys, with a curfew. I didn't realize this was the 1940's.)
Chapter 5 - Dinner with her new friend and the friend's husband. HERE WE MEET THE NEW LOVE INTEREST. Who is a surfer-dude-turned-ski-instructor, and he likes kids, and we know he likes kids because there's a sickeningly cute scene with him and the two kids of their friends. Also, he's their godfather. Surfer invites her to go skiing.
Chapter 6 - They go skiing. He's impressed enough that he introduces her to his boss and now she's magically got a job next winter as an instructor instead of a cleaner. That was easy, wasn't it? They keep skiing, get hot chocolate, hang out, and exchange numbers so they can go skiing again.
Chapter 7 - Second ski day (date?) but Surfer brings friends, one of whom is an obvious Jealous Woman Who Wants Him So Don't You Dare Make a Move on Him. All the other friends are super hyped that the Heroine and Surfer are hitting it off, though, because "he needs a girlfriend." At the end of the day, they kiss.
Chapter 8 - Gloss over a few weeks of kissing but nothing more vigorous in the physical department, Heroine is getting antsy. She heads over to his place with wine and a sexy outfit with plans to seduce, but in a scene so badly written it's embarrassing to try to describe so I won't, suffice it to say, things go badly for her while he thinks everything is A-OK.
Chapter 9 - Heroine is semi-avoiding Surfer for a bit, but then her ex shows up in town (of course he does??) and they all run into each other on the slopes. She's happy to see Ex, but then when Surfer tries to kiss her in front of him (and the class of kids he's teaching) things get weird. Heroine takes Ex out for a meal afterward and finds out he's already dating again too, though his girl's still in Vermont, but it might be serious enough that she'd follow him to Colorado if he gets a job there. Heroine helps him with a place to live by giving him the realtor's information.
Chapter 10 - Surfer gets super drunk because he's so pissed about Heroine's betrayal about the kiss and her ex, she goes over with fast food for him. He drops the L-bomb but says she doesn't have to say it back yet. She sleeps over without them sleeping together.
Chapter 11 - Chaste birthday party/sleepover with Surfer at their friends' house, because they're watching the kids while the couple is away on an anniversary trip.
Chapter 12 - AN AVALANCHE KILLS THE HUSBAND ON THEIR TRIP. A few pages to deal with that, then a scene break where a month has passed since his death, and Heroine decides to take her friend/the widow out on a picnic.
Yeah, that's where I stopped reading. The book is 36 chapters long, and one-third of the way through, there's a gratuitous death of a minor character. This isn't a romance, it's a soap opera, with drama for the sake of drama, quick scene changes, no coherent theme, no character arcs, just PLOT PLOT PLOT PLOT PLOT with no break to let anything develop. It's ridiculous.
Each book is going to see you enjoy the stories of great friends. Well written and now wanting the next. Enjoy as much as I did. Good fast read! That's all! 😊 no more words... Just read.
Wow what a fantastic three book series. Started reading on a Thursday night and finished reading Saturday afternoon. Great stories. Well written. Loved everything written by this author. She really knows how to weave a story. Really enjoyed throughout.
Well, this really isn't romance. More like a soap opera than romance. Each book has it's gruesome part too. I skimmed through it, because the characters are interesting. Never did grab me through.
I loved all three books. Each book was it's own story with characters from the other books added in. Each of their lives were intertwined together. They helped each other out no matter what. Looking forward to see where they all end up.
Good series and loved how real life events made it seem more realistic. The characters in all three books where very believable and the story lines were very well written. I only wish that some of the snowboarding and skiing terms where explained a bit better. Other than that it was very good. If you enjoy romance you will love these books!
I loved all of these books and I was hooked by each character. They all had success and troubles in their life. The stories had me gripped. Well written and edited. This box set is free, some of the characters appear in each book. They are all stand alone stories with no cliffhanger endings.
I really enjoyed the book series. The books each focus on a couple and the struggle for forever love. The couple featured has their struggles and support from the core group of friends. Each book features the love of a couple learning what they need for a partner to make them happy. Beautiful setting in Colorado.
I'm a sucker for a really good romance and here we are given 3! What more could you ask for? And yet, there's more...3 individual, but intertwined stories with extras to each one. Highly enjoyable and believable. My kind of books. Well done and thank you, Violet Vaughn.
Three wonderful stories about three women who all end up in Breckenridge, CO. Two of them have been friends before coming there. But they all become part of a skiing training group of people. And each find love. Wonderful writing and stories.
This book was amazing! It wasn't just a romance book,it had a lot of mystery and kept you guessing.It really holds your interest and I would read anything from this author again.
I wasn't crazy about this series, I had to force myself to finish reading the complete set. The books weren't terrible, but they were not my style of reading. I felt like they dragged on, and were very predictable because the same style of writing flowed threw all three books. This book set was my first and last read from this author.
3.5 stars A Box set of three connected stand alone books in sequential order. All 3 books are good and the stories are each a little different. Our casts of characters are pulled from the early to mid 20 somethings that have all relocated to Breckenridge, CO to be ski instructors. Book 1 is the story of Casey and Jason and their second chance at true love. This had some truly funny moments as Casey tried to move on with a different relationship. It was sweet to see both characters figure out what is really important and to learn that having open conversations can help people grow as a couple. Book 2 is Lori and Kaleb. Their's is more of a traditional meet cute with a dash of intrigue thrown and bruised ego thrown in. Gretchen and Derrick's story in Book 3 is probably the one I liked least. It wasn't a bad book, I just had a harder time connecting with the characters and getting invested in their story. Overall, this is a fun box set to read and it's definitely worth the time.