Avery Flynn has recently become one of my favorite authors because of her ability to deliver the feels with a side of cuteness and a gut-punch. With her excellence in mind, this book simply failed to achieve those goals.
Shelby accidentally let slip a secret that now has the entire Ice Knights team on edge. Ian Petrov and Alex Christensen, who were best friends, apparently share the same dad, and though Ian was kept in the dark, Alex knew all about it. And now Shelby and Ian are forced to spend a few days snowed into a cabin because of a scheduling mistake. If it wasn't bad enough that they had animosity between them, they now have sexual tension too.
Let's begin.
First of all, I have got to say that everything about the blurb is a banger. I was so incredibly excited about this book. But little did I know that the blurb was a misleader.
Because they're only snowed in for three days. They are literally only in that cabin for a few chapters.
Nothing fucking happened in this book.
They were just strolling through life, existing, when all of a sudden, they were in love. Where was the slow growth of character? When did the animosity transform into tension transform into love? Where did I fucking miss the point where they actually fell in love?
Avery Flynn tried to give Shelby some really cool characterization, and I was all for it. She had some trauma at a young age, she used to be an alcoholic but has now been sober for six years, she has an incredibly high voice but is tatted up and has a shaved head? Bruh, YOU CAN'T GIVE ME ALL THAT AND THEN DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WITH IT.
Genuinely, I am so fucking confused. Flynn set up so much for Shelby. . . and then just fucking did not deliver. NOTHING about her trauma was explained. We didn't get anything about her alcoholism. It's fine. We don't need to dwell on that. In fact, it's good that it focused more on her recovery. What about her contradictions? What about her intricacies? Where was her fucking characterization?
Now Ian Petrov was literally the same. It was very clear where his trauma stemmed from. But it was glossed over? It was mildly skated over at the end? What was the point of including it at all?
Sister, the book literally went like this. Oh look, I'm Shelby and you're Ian and we're in a cabin. Let's have sex because we're snowed in. Nothing of consequence occurs over the next few chapters, but we do have sex a few times. Oh, fuck we're in love. Spicy ending to try and save the story. The end.
Riveting, right?
Please don't get me wrong. I have read plenty of books that are worse than this. This book wasn't even that bad. But Avery Flynn usually serves me a whole lot more.
There were plenty of redeeming qualities. No one was an asshole. There were some cute scenes. It was clear that the other characters from the other books were still spicy as hell. The book progressed in a relatively easy-to-follow manner. I found myself getting through the pages easily.
Yet the spark I wanted? Yeah, it wasn't there.
And I'm out.
June 6, 2020
Seriously, I keep coming back to this book on my TBR shelf because when I hover over it, it says "Published in 2020." But then I click on it, and BAM, there I am. Disappointed yet again.