Title: One Winter With You
Collection: Winter Wonderland Story Giveaway
Author: Amy Aislin
Length: Novella
Category: Contemporary Romance
Rating: 4 Stars
At a Glance: Be sure to snatch this story up, watch it all unfold, and try not to melt over the charm of it all.
Reviewed By: Lisa
Blurb: Can the sons of rival coffee shop owners set aside their differences to win their town’s annual scavenger hunt?
Wes needs to win the grand prize money—badly. The equipment at his dad’s café desperately needs replacing.
Jordan needs to win the grand prize money—badly. His goddaughter’s experimental cancer treatments are costly.
One thing’s obvious as they’re forced to work together: there’s more between them than an old rivalry.
Review: One Winter With You is made up of hearty eyes and dazzling sweetness, and it being my second Amy Aislin holiday/winter themed story this season—and my second of her books overall—I’m beginning to wonder if she ever writes anything less than heartwarming and engaging small-town romance into every single book.
This novella isn’t what I’d call an enemies-to-lovers romance, not in the strictest definition of the trope. Does it fulfill the terms if it’s only one of the guys carrying a grudge while the other guy has no idea whatsoever why? All Wes knows is that he could never be friends with Jordan, and he’s committed to that for the past eight years, so why stop now? Even with the much needed twenty thousand dollars on the line.
One Winter With You is very much a second chance romance, though, in every single way, as Wes and Jordan slowly discover they’ve got what amounts to a small army of friends and family bent on playing matchmaker for them, which culminates in the perfect setup for a little forced proximity. All’s not easy, of course, what with the warring families angle added to the friction, but the word count allows for Aislin to get her characters where they need to be with a minimum of fuss.
I loved the scavenger hunt within the scavenger hunt vibe to the story as Wes combs through his memories and searches for clues as to how Jordan can possibly be so charming and seemingly undeserving of the box labeled ENEMY Wes has forced him into. The “big moment” in this delightful little romance doesn’t come as a misunderstanding—that’s already happened years before—but as a truly gentle reminder of first love and its sometimes keen sting.
One Winter With You is another free story in the Winter Wonderland multi-author giveaway, so be sure to snatch it up, watch it all unfold, and try not to melt over the charm of it all.
You can buy One Winter With You here:
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