To Aspen

by N.J. Gray

Aspen Holly is spending Christmas break alone in her dorm room. At least, that’s the
plan before her best friend, Henry, invites her to stay with him and his sister, Clara, at his cabin
in the mountains of Aspen, Colorado. But as she arrives at the snowy, lux cabin, Henry reveals
some unpleasant news—his sister can’t make it.

Henry inviting three of his rich and arrogant friends in Clara’s place is less than ideal,
and Aspen all but turns around and hightails it back to New York when she finds out she has
to spend her break trapped inside the same four walls as the person she loathes the most.

Baylor Frost lives up to his name. He is cold and mean, and his green eyes can pierce
through you like an ice pick. Aspen is stubborn and competitive and refuses to let Baylor know
he gets under her skin. Together, they are a heated disaster. A fuse, ready to blow.

But a lot can happen in two weeks. And the longer Aspen is forced to be near Baylor,
the harder it is for her to hate him . . . and even harder for her to ignore the way her body
responds to him.

As games are played and boundaries are pushed, Aspen and Baylor’s chilly disdain for
each other begins to melt, and newfound passions ignite. A calm and quiet Christmas is all
Aspen wants this year, but what she gets is so much more.

Genres: Christmas, Enemies To Lovers, Novella, Romance, Forced Proximity, Holiday, Contemporary

137 pages, Paperback

Published November 14, 2022

About the author

N.J. Gray is a #1 Amazon Bestselling romance author, dog mom, cool auntie, and dessert enthusiast. She writes angsty, hard-fought romance novels with tattooed MMCs to swoon over and empowered FMCs that you can root for. Her raw and heartfelt stories will latch onto your soul and never let go. When she’s not writing you can find her watching hockey, reading under a pile of blankets, or walking her rescue dog, Korra. She writes from her home in Minnesota. Please visit her at www.instagram.com/thenjgray.

Reviews

[monica ✨ romantasyreader · Rating 2 out of 5]

SHE HAS THE PERFECT SET UP FOR A WHY CHOOSE OR FRIENDS TO LOVERS AND SHE MADE THE FMC GET WITH THE ASSHOLE? Immediately no.

[christty · Rating 3 out of 5]

чому в світі, де існує Генрі, дівчата все одно оберуть подібного Бейлору 🙈

[Kait · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute enemies to lovers holiday novella.

Aspen is spending the holidays in Colorado with her best friend and his sister. Or so she thought. When she gets there, his sister is nowhere in sight but her biggest enemy is. Baylor hates her and she feels the same about him. There’s no way they can spend 2 weeks together in the same house.

A sweet romance. I enjoyed Aspen’s spunk!

I do wish Baylor groveled a bit for how he treated Aspen in the past.

[пустунка · Rating 1 out of 5]

взагалі не сподобалося, нічим не зачепило. грубий чоловік і жінка, яка мліє від нього, але виставляє це ненавистю. от за що вона його обрала? Генрі плюс-мінус (друг), але не розкритий персонаж, нічого толком сказати не можу. так нормально й не пояснили, чому Бейлор протягом років так паскудно відносився до Аспен. ніби смикає за косу в школі, але в дорослій версії.

1/5 ⭐️

[Oleksandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Не очікувала отримати стільки позитивних вражень від цієї історії 🤭

Аспен за запрошенням свого друга їде в засніжений котедж в горах святкувати Різдво і неочікувано дізнається, що там також будуть троє його друзів. А один з них ну дуже сильно її дратує 🤭

Потяг одне до одного запалюється поступово, розкриваючи всю накопичену напругу))

Аспен іноді вела себе занадто безрозсудно, але вона була дуже вогняною і не давала робити з себе посміховисько. Побачила її в якомусь романі з босом мафії або ж в повноцінній книзі з мільйонером.

Про Бейлора багато сказати не можу без спойлерів, але він ну такий сексі меееен, потребую повноцінну книжку з подібними героями.

[Anastasiia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Чому не Генрі?
Мені якось все дуже різко змінилося між ними, і недружню поведінку головного героя якось так собі пояснили, можливо тому я мені хотілося саме від друзів до коханців)

П.С. Захотілося покататися на сноуборді, треба знайти свій в комірчині (щоб подивитися на нього і знову заховати)

[Steph (Teacups & Tropes) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved everything about this. It just hit me in all the right ways.

I randomly found this book in a new release post on IG and I’m so glad I downloaded it because otherwise I would’ve missed out on Baylor and Aspen 🥹

[Literary Child (Tania) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Дайте мені, будь ласка, багатого друга, який покличе з собою в Аспен

[Lynnzie (lynnziebooks) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was cute! Short and sweet and I liked the couple well enough. I really liked Baylor and how protective he was over Aspen. He was always trying to help her when she did stupid things which I loved seeing him rescue her every time. I wish it was slightly longer but as a novella I think it did well to tell their whole story!

[sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Where to find a friend who will invite you to his cabin in the mountains for Christmas...?(crying)

[AL · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been dying to read The Piece That Fits by NJ Gray but haven’t gotten to it yet. That said, I was delighted to find that she’d be releasing the novella, To Aspen, this season.

It was everything I imagined-sexy, fun, angsty, SEXY!! If you’ve got a day to yourself and want to take a ski lodge getaway - here it is and you’ll enjoy every second.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

So Cute!!

Within the first 20 pages I knew I was going to love this one! Such good tension and banter between these two! So glad I chose this to kickoff my holiday reading this year!

[Tonya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this in a few hours. 120 pages. Easy read.

Enemies to Lovers. 🔥

For a short book it didn’t lack details or a great storyline.
Absolutely loved it and recommend!

🖤🎄🖤

[Daria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh написана історія через лише одну дику фантазію авторки ( сцена зі скутером ) Генрі мені дуже сподобався ( і він не гг ха!)

[Cass Delay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Do I know the point of this book? No. Did I enjoy it? Yes.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

unexpectedly good

I certainly did not expect this novella to pack such a punch. Enemies to lovers through and through. Boy it was the perfect blend of hot and heavy, cloyingly sweet and an absolute riot.

[Crystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Y’all!! This deliciously perfect, steamy, enemies to lovers novella has been sitting on my shelf FOREVER. 🥲 Now I’m mad I’ve just read it. Sometimes it’s hard to get the timing right in novellas, especially with an enemies to lovers but this was absolute perfection.

“𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝑰 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒛𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆. 𝑰’𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇, 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒘𝒂𝒚, 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝑰 𝒎𝒆𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝑨𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒏. 𝑴𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒓𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂 𝒃𝒐𝒏𝒖𝒔.”

Aspen and Baylor are 😮‍💨 and don’t even get me started on her sweet friend, Henry. 🥹 I love that Aspen can put the boys in their place and they all have fun banter throughout the whole book. I need more! 🥲😂

𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓭 𝓲𝓯 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮…
🙅🏼‍♀️ Enemies to lovers
❄️Friendsmas
😮‍💨Steamy
💁🏼‍♀️All the banter
🏔️Mountain cabin

[Erica · Rating 5 out of 5]

love😍

Another great story from this author. You always fall in love with the characters. Can’t wait to see what else she writes!

[Caitlin (Thecaitlinchapters) · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I’m done pretending. You deserve to be loved by someone who’s not afraid to tell you how much you matter to them.”


Read if you like
- novellas
- winter cabins
- enemies to lovers
- forced proximity
- secret pining
- guy falls first
- stubborn / strong female

[huh_lena · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love, love, love, love this short, sweet, angsty, enemies to lovers holiday novella. I really want more from this world. There’s so many stories here!

The dynamics of this group of friends really made me think, this novella would be a “why choose”, but it’s not, we get one couple.

“𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚢 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚠𝚑𝚘’𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚊𝚏𝚛𝚊𝚒𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖.”

From the beginning, we get high angst from the fiery duo of Baylor and Aspen. I was on pins and needles for these two and their constant witty remarks.
Low key, there is a friendship dynamic you pick up from Aspen and her best-guy-friend, Henry, who’s an amazing friend and potential suitor. Just trust the process and journey because you’ll fall in love with all the characters.

As I mentioned, there’s a world of stories from this group of friends, and I’d love more!

[Thank you to N.J. Gray for an ARC.]

[Amber Gordon · Rating 5 out of 5]

“𝙄'𝙢 𝙙𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜. 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙮 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙤'𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙖𝙛𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙢𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢."

This short holiday novella had everything you’d want in a book, banter, tension, and spice (just the right amount for a novela, I will never look at a snowmobile the same ever again 🥵). Aspen and Baylor are the perfect what I would call push and pull. She pushes he pulls and vice versa. She is too stubborn to see the attraction he has to her and he’s too stubborn to let it really be known so the only way he shows it is by being rash with her and breaking her down piece by piece getting her to open up. The plot was perfect, I really wasn’t sure where it was going till the last few chapters, it kept me on my toes and I was pleasantly surprised with the ending. This is my first from the author and I enjoyed every second of it. There was so much packed into this little novela that I could see some branching off and creating more stories about the characters and honestly I wouldn’t mind, I’d love to read more about Henry and well really all of them.

𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲
❄️Holiday novela
❄️Enemies to lovers
❄️Mountain cabin setting
❄️Angsty
❄️Forced proximity
❄️Secret pining

[Cindy thismomreadsbooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so happy I finally read this one, it came highly recommended and did not disappoint! It was a short and sweet Christmas novella with a few spicy moments in there for us too!

Aspen is spending her 2 week holiday break with her best friend Henry at his parents ‘cabin’ in Aspen. What she doesn’t know is that he invited his other 3 best friends (Luke, Jesse and Baylor). Aspen is not thrilled, these boys have always teased and bugged her-and no one more than Baylor. These 5 have a fun friendship and dynamic and I was here for it!
I absolutely love and good enemies to lovers romance, and Aspen and Baylor really knew how to own that title. They challenged and pushed each other never truly getting along in the two years since they met. I couldn’t get enough of their banter and comebacks! But, something has changed, and Aspen doesn’t quite understand why-all she knows is Baylor is being a little more caring and sweet, but is this all part of his game and she will be left embarrassed?

I loved these two. Aspen is fun, smart and can dish it out good to these guys! She also has some fun tricks up her sleeve! Baylor was such a pleasant surprise and had a great twist to his personality.

I didn’t want it to end and would be happy to stay in the world for longer. I would not mind having stories for the rest of the guys too, they really are a fantastic group!
This was my first timing reading a book from author N. J. Gray and I look forward to more.

5 ⭐️

[Jess | The HEA Bookworm · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was on my TBR for weeks, and I’m glad I finally found time to read it! This was the perfect little holiday novella. To be honest, the only downside was the fact that it’s not a full length book.

“𝐆𝐨 𝐨𝐧, 𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐲. 𝐓𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐦𝐞,” 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐬.

I was wondering if enemies to lovers could be pulled off in 120 pages, and I’m here to tell you: yes, yes it can be pulled off. The tension between these two was so delicious, and I loved that Baylor made the moves first. We stan a MMC who knows what he wants!

The spice was perfect for the story and I’ll never look at a snowmobile in the same way again 👀 props to the author for creativity there!!

I was, admittedly, slightly disappointed that this didn’t end up an RH 😆 Felt some vibes…wanted them to be explored…but it’s fine, it’s fine.

READ IF YOU OIKE:
❄️enemies to lovers
❄️he falls first
❄️forced proximity
❄️the tension 👌🏼
❄️ holiday vibes - takes place at Christmas but wasn’t in your face; you can definitely read this over the next couple months!

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

4⭐️
I read this book in one sitting and finding that I LOVE this authors writing style! I liked the ski trip winter vibe it gave. I also liked the enemies to lovers a lot and the chemistry between the two was great. I did find it slightly strange the girls guy best friend was in love with her but knew that someone like her supposed “enemy” was the one for her and that he wanted the two of them to stay friends even though he loves her. It was different from anything i’ve read but I do think it was fun and overall i had a great time! It was fast paced, fun and tension filled and overall easy for a fun filler book/novella…

[Kirsten · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 / 5 ⭐️

N.J. Gray has done it again!! This short Christmas novella gave me all the feels and just loved how this short story played out. There was banter, tension, spice, and all around such a great plot. If this was a full length novel, I would still finish the whole thing!

Aspen and Baylor were so darn cute and I love their dynamic together. PLEASE I love how he notices all the little things about her. Also, if there ever was to be a continuing novella for Henry to find love, *cough* cough* I will gladly support *cough*

“You deserve to be loved by someone who’s not afraid to tell you how much you matter to them.”

[Оля · Rating 5 out of 5]

З усіх різдвяних новел, які я прочитала ця зайняла топ місце😍😍😍
Сподобалася взаємодія між головними героями і розвиток їхніх відносин😏
Бейлор прямо мій типаж чоловічих персонажів🙃
Але найбільше, що мене вразило так це дружба між Аспен та Генрі, хоч потім і вияснилося, що вона для нього більше ніж друг. Але він був радий за неї та Бейлора і поставився до них з розумінням🥹
Люк і Джессі - це окрема розмова про них, як про друзів 😂, але я сама виросла та більшу частину життя товаришувала з хлопцями, тож я розуміла головну героїню як ніколи😌
Загалом сніг, дружбани😅, тепла атмосфера та гарячий хлопець - що може бути краще🙈

[Sarah Guzak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short, sweet, and with a dash of spice - the perfect cozy holiday novella that I devoured in just 2 hours.

I love NJ Gray's writing and how she always creates such perfect tension and angst between her MMC and FMC. She makes her MMCs justttt the right amount of asshole while being tolerable and gives the FMCs a nice, fiery personality to fight back. Aspen and Baylor were no different.

I love that we got the story behind why they always "hated" one another. In saying that, I now want a story where another character in this book (*cough - Henry - *cough) gets his own HEA!

Read if you like:
- novellas
- enemies to lovers
- tension/angst
- forced proximity
- set during Christmas time in Aspen
- spicy moments on snowmobiles

[Elsa Gomes (BookishAurora) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rating: 4,5

This was so good. Loved the plot. Loved the best friends and his friends. They were so fun.

And I loved the hero. He gave me a bit of Chuck Bass vibes. I was dying over their banter and their chemistry. So good.

This was a new to me author and I'm really excited to read more of her books, especially her rock star romance that was on my tbr before this one.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enemies to lovers & a whole lot of feels. Didn’t expect Baylor to be so protective over Aspen on so many occasions (especially the snowmobile scene), but it was sweet nonetheless. Also, her playing skills and Henry just sitting back grinning every time someone tries to challenge her at her own game? Gold. Very short and quick read, but it’s definitely worth it.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars for all the enemies to lovers banter. I ate it up! What a fun "holiday"novella. It's set around Christmas but not Christmasey.

Holiday with a bunch of men in the mountains? Is it bad I thought it'd end up being why choose?🙈

The poker scene was probably my favorite but the "late night snack" comes in a close second. 🤭😏🥰🥵