Book Review ~ Snowed In - Ross and Ashton by J.V. Speyer
Snowed In – Ross and Ashton
by J.V. Speyer
Publication date: January 5th 2019
Genres: Adult, Contemporary,
Massachusetts State Trooper Ross Huber is giving one last sweep of the roads before heading in for the night. The nor’easter hitting the Boston area is worse than expected by an order of magnitude, and the governor has just issued a travel ban. He finds a wrecked car half buried in a snowbank and rescues its human and canine occupants from carbon monoxide poisoning, but is forced to take shelter with them in a vacant or abandoned house when the roads are blocked.
When he gets the victims indoors, he thinks the human looks uncomfortably familiar…
Ash Machado has been through a lot in his career as a war correspondent. Sidelined by an injury, he’s returned to Boston to take up a job as a news anchor. After he loses control of his car on an icy road, he wakes up in an unfamiliar home, looking into the face of the guy who broke his heart in college.
Neither Ross nor Ash are the same guys they were in college, but they’re trapped in the abandoned house with no place to go. Can they get past old hurts long enough to get through the storm, or will the same misunderstandings that drove them apart years ago make this confinement unbearable?
3.25 Stars
Ash and Ross dated in college, but they went their separate ways when they couldn’t agree on the terms of their relationship. Ash wanted monogamy, while Ross wanted an open relationship, and Ross wanted Ash to come out, but he refused, with good reason. When the two men meet again and get snowed in together will they be able to make the romance work this time around?
I loved the premise of the story, but the execution was flawed. First, Ross was a complete and utter ass throughout most of the story. No matter how many times Ash tried to explain what drove him to accept the open relationship in college, the fear of losing the man he loved, and his valid fears for not coming out, Ross was stuck on stupid. He just kept arguing that Ash had agreed to the open relationship. Yes, and he told you why. Geeze, get some Q-tips and clean out your ears, asshole! I wanted to throat punch Ross so many times!
What really didn’t work was, as I said, that they fought pretty much the entire time they were stranded, so they didn’t get the chance to really talk, to get to know one another again and reconnect, so them ending up together, even if it is just a HFN, wasn’t all that believable. I wish the author had cut out some of the arguing and let them talk calmly without screaming at one another.
The story was a good start, but it needed more substance, in my opinion. The ending was too abrupt. Still, this was a quick and easy, somewhat enjoyable read.
*copy provided by author/publisher in exchange for an honest review*
4 Stars
This was a cute story about second chances, and I loved it. Sitting at home with it snowing outside, I felt as if I was right there with Ross and Ash. It kinda made me twice as cold, to be truthful. I needed things between the two men to be OK, and well, being stuck together inside that house wasn’t helping.
Ross was a cute character with an open mind that caught up to him in college but has since smartened up.
Ash was a character who knew what he wanted and what was best for him even if it hurt him having to move on; I really liked him. The places he went to for his work sounded both scary and eventful; it takes guts to face danger in the line of getting news to the world.
I love Porthos; that pup helped make this story so good. He was sweet and so protective of Ash that I wanted to sit and pet him for hours.
This story was both similar to, and so different from, the first book by JV that I read not too long ago. But even with those differences, I found I loved both a lot and I can’t wait to be able to pick up another book by JV soon as possible.
*** Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie for my reading pleasure, a review wasn't a requirement. ***
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