ARC read 2025 --> Book Sirens
Josie is a librarian she loves the holidays and is a ray of sunshine on the outside everyone sees her that way but inside she is a little bit lonely she lives above the library and doesn't have anyone "special" in her life.
Wanting to get away for a bit of holiday fun she goes up to a mountain cabin with some family then the first day they get there they decide to go on a hike to see a frozen waterfall where they get separated in a sudden snow storm. Josie gets brought back to a cabin by a stranger who at first doesn't even want her to know his name he has hidden secrets and has enjoyed his solitude for too long she shouldn't be up here with her warmth and holiday cheer.
Weylan Frost is grumpy and he also isn't fully human he is a guardian of the mountain and keeps the cold from consuming the town below... Josie's town. In his "guardian" form he is some kind of Yeti/abominable snowman and used to many being frightened by him is surprised that Josie is not only not frightened by him... she continues to want to get closer to him while he spends a good portion of the book trying to keep walls up around his icy heart and her at a distance.
Weylan worries about Josie becoming too comfortable in his home... she can't stay it's not her place and he doesn't want anyone to be stuck in his current position as a guardian (which he's been for an unknown amount of time but it's been hundreds of years (?)) he has watched everyone he loved come and go and he remains it's better to be by himself watching over the town from a distance... but what if she wants to stay? How would that even look for this guarded guardian with the heart of gold? He did go out into the storm to save Josie after all --> it's almost like he was drawn to her before he even met her.
This is a sweet romance that has holiday magic along with paranormal/mythological elements and shows that sometimes you just need to let a little love in to warm your frosty heart. This is part of a series but this is the only one that I've read so far and found it to be fine as a stand alone.
I did find myself confused at times during the book I felt that I might have missed something our characters would be in the cabin then they would all of a sudden be talking about walking around outside... when did they go outside? they were in the cabin then no transition. There is a lot of mentions about the glowing boundaries and the wards etc... but it doesn't give much back story about how Weylan got into this position or how long he's been doing this, I would have liked more information on that.
I had no sense really of how much time was passing in the story throughout most of the book and Josie doesn't seem to be all that concerned about if the family she went up the mountain with got to safety while staying in the cabin with Weylan it's not brought up she seems more concerned about making the cabin they are in more festive for the holiday season. Also questions popped up for me about how well stocked with food his cabin was it seemed at one point they were just drinking cocoa but then he had supplies to make sugar cookies with sprinkles... does he go to the grocery store in town regularly (?) are they eating anything else? Or are they just eating cookies and drinking cocoa?
The characters were likeable but sometimes the storyline felt a bit choppy I did receive an advanced copy and some of these issues may be worked out of the final book.
*Grumpy/Sunshine *Yeti/shifter romance *Mountain Guardian *Age Gap ;) *Holiday magic
*some spice *Strangers --> More *Fated Mates *cozy quick holiday read *forced proximity
*ARC Read *Book Sirens
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