3.75
A sweet and chilly second chance Sapphic romance with plenty of cute dogs.

Getting dumped before a trip is the worst, but Avery decides to go the Yukon anyway only for her ex-girlfriend Summer to show up as one of the other guests at the lodge.

I love the setting. The Yukon adventure was really neat, and I loved a lot of the personal growth Avery experienced. She seemed to be stuck in a spiral, which is realistic, but it was kind of repetitive to read. A lot of the conflict focused on Summer's issues which was a little weird since the entire book is from Avery's POV. I know it's a romance, but I didn't love that Avery decided one thing then immediately went the other way with it. Overall, it's a cute holiday read.

This might be a strange time of year to read a book set during Christmas, but honestly I feel like there's no wrong time for a wintery comfort read. And this proved to be super comforting!

I've read from this author before, but it was YA fantasy (The Valkyrie's Daughter and its sequel). I loved those books, so I was hoping her adult romance would be great as well, and it was! I thought this was really well written. It was cosy but with a good amount of emotional depth and character development, and a good balance between the romance and a focus on growing back to who you truly are. I also just have a soft spot for second chance romance, it tends to work so well for me.

But who truly stole the show were the sled dogs!

This book was exactly what I wanted to read at exactly the time I wanted to read it. I was looking for a nice cosy, queer romance that I could just cuddle up and read for a couple of days. Something easy and simple but still with a great story. And that’s exactly what this is!

I loved the characters, especially Summer, I felt she was a really interesting person. I loved how she pushed the other characters to be a bit more daring. If I had to criticise though, I would say that the book was maybe more focused on her and her issues in a relationship than on Avery’s. The arguments about their relationship were a bit too one sided with Avery coming off as perfectly innocent, when usually this sort of things involve mistakes on both sides.

Really though that’s only a minor complaint. I enjoyed the book immensely and would definitely read it again or read something else the author has written.

I thoroughly enjoyed Snowed In With Summer!! The characters are beautifully realized and the setting is stunning. This book is charming, sweet, and full of adventure and fun. Fully recommend!

3.5 ⭐️
This is a fun second chance romance to read wrapped up on the sofa, or even better, sitting in front of a warm fire. It's set in the Yukon Territory in the run-up to Christmas, in freezing temperatures but with lots of frolicking huskies, powdery snow, and a comfy yurt. The MCs are Avery, who was dumped by her boyfriend the night before their trip together, and her college girlfriend Summer. As teenagers, they both dreamed of seeing the northern lights on the Yukon once in their lives.

Avery doesn't let it get her down and sets off on the trip anyway, only to be hit on the head again. Because as luck would have it, or was it Cupid? Here, of all places, she meets Summer again after seven years. And all the pent-up anger and disappointment that Summer left her unexpectedly come to the surface again and threaten to spoil their vacation. Or is it a chance to finally put things behind them? Or is it even a possibility for a new beginning?

The POV is Avery's, which lets us know a lot about her as a person, which is good, but on the other hand, Summer is a little bit left out. Besides all the fun, beautiful surroundings, attraction, and romance, the story is about staying true to yourself and not changing yourself for a partner. Compromise, yes, but don't change. This is exactly what Avery learns the hard way. Only to immediately fall back into old patterns. Sometimes it takes a lot of soul searching and work to finally be yourself again.

Summer also has a lot to deal with and has to overcome her fears to finally stop running away.

Make yourself comfortable and enjoy the entertaining story, with all the ups and downs of Avery and Summer.

Thanks to Ylva Publishing and NetGalley for receiving an ARC for an honest review

An ice cold, second chance romance with a gorgeous backdrop. Get adventurous and dive in!

I received an advance copy from Netgalley for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Avery is ready for an arctic adventure with her boyfriend Nolan. A week of sledding with huskies, watching the Northern Lights and snowmobiling through the gorgeous nature of Yukon. Right before they are ready to leave, he dumps her. So, there she is, alone, heartbroken and miserable. Avery decides to travel alone, hoping that the trip will bring some clarity. When she meets the tour group outside the airport, things only get worse. Part of their tiny four people group is Summer. Her first love and the one that broke her heart into a million pieces when she left Avery to go travel the world. And of course because they are both there alone, they have to take on all the activities together as well as sharing a cozy yurt.

The relationship between Avery and Summer is absolutely freezing in the beginning. It is fun to watch them each thaw out while the trip continues and they find out that both of them have learned a lot in the past ten years. Avery discovers she changed herself to make her relationship with Nolan work, ignoring her inherent adventurous needs. Summer may have traveled the world, but meeting Avery again stirs up some long repressed feelings.

The descriptive imagery of the beautiful surroundings of Yukon makes you grab another blanket to stave off the freezing temperatures described, even though you might be reading within the warmth of your own home. And even the smell of the enormous pack of dogs that live at the resort is almost too real. The dialogue between Avery and Summer and between the other guests is quick witted and fun.

I loved the way Avery and Summer reconnect without losing themselves in the process. Their relationship is a good model for a pairing that only builds the other person up without making compromises. And the spicy scenes, are indeed, very spicy! I liked that the two women remembered the good times they’ve had in the past, and not only the struggles.

Put on a warm hoodie and dive into this arctic love story that will leave you all warm and fuzzy inside!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I really liked this story and the setting. It was a quick read (i read it in 2 days, and I'm a slow reader). I had the feeling that I was on that trip with them because the author described it so good. A perfect, cosy read for the winter :)

Thank you for this story Tiana Warner, I'm really excited to read your other books <3

Gorgeous setting and sled dogs aplenty (3.5 stars)
Readers wanting hot and steamy scenes in their romance books can get it here along with humor and cold weather shenanigans. I'd suggest it to younger adults although older ones may enjoy it as well. It took me a while to find an appealing or relatable aspect of main character Avery to latch on to. I rooted for her to grow and heal as an individual more than I wanted her to pair off with anyone romantically. Both Avery and other main character Summer have some necessary conversations - and questions in part relating to their past romance that are raised in the narration and some of their dialogue are universal - but overall the book seems geared to younger adults (in their twenties and early thirties) wanting to read about aspirational characters doing atypical activities. Avery and Summer are both juvenile at times, reckless and even manipulative of each other so I wasn't wishing for a romance between them. There are some fun secondary characters and plenty of dogs to make up the rest of the cast of characters who appealed to me more than the main characters.
I always appreciate when authors depart from the handful of cities worldwide most lesfic stories are set; here the Yukon territory in northern Canada is a great choice and novel one as well, so to speak. Yukon is a picturesque setting for the story; its sights and sounds and wonders may inspire a reader or two to travel there or at least research what it has to offer for year round adventures and entertainment.
I do wonder what destinations the author has in store for future stories and will read them when they're published even though this book wasn't for me.

On the eve of a winter solstice Yukon vacation that she has been planning forever, Avery was dumped by her (ex)boyfriend and is forced to go alone. She figures that she can still make the best of it, until she realizes that not only is her ex-girlfriend Summer also on this trip, but they get paired up together as the only single travelers. This forced proximity brings up a lot of unresolved feelings for them both, but also the accompanying issues and hurts. They realize that nothing has changed, but also everything has.

Snowed in with Summer was an excellent novel that perfectly accomplished everything that it was trying to be. This novel had me spanning the whole range of emotions, empathizing with and cheering for all of the characters, and reflecting on some of life’s big questions and my own choices. This novel was a lot more than I expected, in the best way. It was sweet, spicy, sad, and heartfelt all in turn. The writing was top notch. Taking place in a remote part of the Yukon with a small cast, this novel was essentially a bottle episode yet at no point in time was it anywhere near boring or simple. I would recommend this novel to any romance reader, with gusto!

As always, possible spoilers below:

The Highlights for Me:
-This novel is a perfect case study in the proper execution of the enemies-to-lovers trope, as I want to see it (and second chance as well I suppose)! Their past history and baggage, what caused the conflict, is solid and significant. The set-up is perfect, completely believable, and justifiable. The journey, as they work to resolve their issues, is sufficiently long and in depth that the eventual payoff is EARNED. Lots of novels throw in the enemies-to-lovers trope as a side dish and it falls flat but that was not the case here; the trope was essentially the entire novel and no aspect of it was phoned in. By pure coincidence, I just read four enemies-to-lovers novels in a row and this one served to highlight the weaknesses in all of the others and driving home how well this novel was done.
-The relationship (the central point of the novel) was very well done as well. I cared about the characters and felt like I had stakes in if their relationship was going to work out or not. This novel demonstrated relationships excellently as there was a near-excessive (in a good way) amounts of communication as they worked through their feelings and history and needs. The relationship wasn’t simply driven by plot elements or circumstances but rather by the characters themselves, and it was great to see.
-This novel was an excellent analysis/investigation of how people can take different paths in their lives, and each has their own advantages and disadvantages. In this case it was the “travel the world for adventure” vs the “put down roots and establish a stable life” dichotomy. I liked this as it is something that a lot of people struggle with, particularly young people, and are often left with a feeling of missing out on what-ifs. This novel showed very well how neither choice is better or worse as each has its own benefits and drawbacks. The best solution may be a balanced life where you can’t have it all but you can have a bit of everything.

---- > “Every seized opportunity comes with a cost”

Nitpicks:
-My only real nitpick is, as it often is, that I wish there was more at the end of this novel. The ending was perfectly satisfying, and I understand why it ended where/how it did, but I would have still liked to see more of what happened after the point where it ended. After following the characters journey, I like seeing more of the destination. The ending section could have been a bit longer as well; it wasn’t rushed but it also didn’t take as much time as it could have.

Thank you to NetGallery for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received this book from Netgalley in return for an honest review.

I picked this up because I adore a polar/arctic vibes book, give me snow and stark landscapes with the northern lights and I’m there.

This book is about Avery who dreamed of going to Yukon for the Winter Solstice since she was with her ex -girlfriend Summer in high school.

Fast forward to the present day and Avery has just made the flight to go on the dream trip… but she is alone. Her boyfriend, Nolan, suddenly dumps her just before the trip and now she has to fly and socialise with strangers with a broken heart.

But when she arrives at the lodge, she discovers that her high school sweetheart is also there, and they happen to pair singles up in a yurt…

This story has a forced proximity, second chance romance, with some spice. I really enjoyed the setting and the huskies! I enjoyed how the book was about self discovery and growth. I loved how you could really tell how torn the characters were and how Summer was so troubled and struggling to vulnerable, it made the characters more real because they had faults.

I would have given the book a higher rating if the book was more developed and longer. I wanted more characterisation and description, wanted more of the polar landscape. I would have loved some more moments getting to know the other characters too.

Also *spoiler incoming*

I felt that the main character really did need longer to be single than the book allowed. The ending was cute but I wish it wasn’t so soon, I felt it was too quick and I don’t feel like all the problems would have been solved like that. Also we didn’t need the Nolan love triangle, I felt like he couldn’t have been left out as the reader didn’t really have enough to care that he was even there.

I started this one after work and ended up reading it in one sitting. The setting is quite easy, which draws you immediately into the story. I wish I were on that trip to Yukon as well, it sounds truly wonderful. The second chance romance is really well executed and even if it was fairly predictable, I didn't feel like I was reading some cringe queer romcom. Would definitely recommend if you are looking for a book with bi-representation, that is easy to read or the perfect winter holiday read as the writing is so fluent.

<i>Thank you to Ylva Publishing and Netgalley for this eARC</i>

After really enjoying the last Tiana Warner title I read I jumped for joy when I saw this one up the other day. Sadly, it didn't grab me as much as [book:From Fan to Forever|60856500]. There was absolutely fantastic things <i>about</i> this book, but at the same time, there was a point where I almost DNF'd it, so I'm not entirely sure I know where to classify this one.

First the good. Hands down, this book has some of the best descriptions of the Yukon wilderness and the beauty of winter I've read in quite a while. I don't even like winter in Ontario and yet the descriptions of dog sledding and snowshoeing in this book made me want to book a trip.

The supporting cast was also lovely. Hannah, Trevor, Chantal, Craig, the Muffins, all great. I loved them.

Finally, I did like Avery and Summer, and honestly when they were getting along, their chemistry was wonderful. They were also one of the biggest sources of frustration in the reading of this book. For one thing, I felt like I was getting whiplash being in Avery's head as she flipped back and forth between happiness to have Summer back in her life and worrying about their past, their future and how the past will affect the future. I get it, I understand that that worrying about people leaving her is a key aspect of Avery's character, but understanding that and reading it felt like two different things. I didn't really feel like she did enough work on that (although, granted, the book takes places over a week, but still). Similar to Tiana's last book, I thought the resolution following the dreaded third act break-up was rushed, and not entirely earned (worse, I may have felt through much of the story that the two of them were just <i>too</i> different, and had trouble believing they could get to a HEA). That said, when Summer was near tears, so was I, so in that sense, the emotions were absolutely effective.

My biggest gripe, how, will include spoilers. <spoiler>So, during their final night together, Avery desperately wants to talk to Summer about the future, and Summer keeps distracting her with sex. Words, a kiss. Words, a touch. It honestly made super uncomfortable how much she was avoiding communication. And I would never call what happened as anything like dubious consent, it sort of gave me those kinds of vibes, if that makes any sense? Anyway, I was so uncomfortable that was when I nearly DNF'd. I dunno, YMMV on that.</spoiler>

Spice-wise, I'm not sure entirely how to classify this. There was a lot of sex, when it finally starts happening, but at the same time it was sort of muted because the author didn't seem to want to use any names, proper or slang, for genitals, which seemed strange to me. Not a pro or con, really, just strange, like a parental feature was on or something.

All in all, I'm giving it a 3.5 stars, rounded up for all the positives.

This was a cute, second-chance sapphic romance, lots of adorable animals and sweet moments. A funny but very casual style of writing that I wasn’t personally a fan of, still it was easy and pleasant to read.

This book was nothing new or exciting, poor Avery is broken up with right before taking a romantic trip to see the northern lights before Christmas. Deciding to go on it alone she isn’t too happy to discover not only is her childhood sweetheart there.. but the sites policy dictates they couple up, share a Yurt and buddy up for all of the excursions.
There are a lot of unresolved tensions and anger from how Summer broke up with her and left years before, but a romantic getaway with huskies, sharing sleds/snowmobiles and watching the northern lights each night set a pretty good scene for rekindling old feelings.

This was not very well written and uses a lot of lists and questions that I found irritating, but it was sweet and satisfying. I recommend if you want a simple heartwarming romance.

Avery, after breaking up with her lover Nolan, she decides to go ahead with her Yukon vacation anyway, barely catching her plane.

Arriving, she's shocked to see a former girlfriend, Summer Joshi. Worse, as both of them are there alone, they have to share a cabin.

Good, fun read. Avery is a sweetheart, and you really feel for her as a reader. I didn't like Summer to start with, but she grows on you.

Good writing, descriptive, and the situation was fun. I've always wanted to do the far north too, so that was a treat.

I really enjoyed this.
I loved the whole location it sounds so magical I really would love to visit,
I loved how much creativity went into the story it wasn’t just a little and a lot of romance it was a lovely mix.
I loved Avery and Summer their second chance romance was adorable. I was so happy they got their happy ever after.
It’s such a sweet cute story with some lovely characters set in the most magical place

This is quick, fast-paced, cute winter read, love that it was set in Yukon as well. I enjoyed my time reading this and getting to follow Avery. Not gonna lie even tho I had a good time read this book the indecisiveness between the main characters were kinda annoying but its honestly something that would happen in real life ( so I can’t really fault it ), it was just stressful sometimes and entertaining tbh. I loved the side characters relationship so much they had me laughing and giggling with their antics. Overall, if you don’t mind what’s stated above I would say give it a try you might end up liking/loving it.

Btw. that epilogue was really cute.

(Dog)sledding into love: a second chance f/f romance
Clever title, delightful romantic setting: The Yukon in the middle of winter and a yurt (talk about close proximity) is where Summer and Avery meet again.
I really loved the easygoing vibe and winter adventures like dogsledding, icefishing, Northern Lights of this romance. Warner lets the snow and ice sparkle throughout the book. The second chance romance is well done - with good secondary characters, adorable dogs and some sprinkles of more serious topics.
If there ever was a „beach read“ set in freezing temperatures this is the one. So get yourself some hot tea, settle into your favorite chair and enjoy.

I received an ARC. The review is left voluntarily.

Snowed in with Summer by Tiana Warner
3.5 ⭐️

A cute little winter romance perfect for reading on a snowy winter evening with a cup of tea ❄️

Avery gets dumped by her boyfriend right before a trip in the Yukon wilderness and if things couldn't get worse she gets paired up with her high-school ex-girlfriend she hasn't seen in a long time.

I really enjoyed this romance, it was a fun read but i didn't give it 4 ⭐️ because the issues between Avery and Summer become too repetitive, besides that it was really enjoyable.

I want to thank NetGalley and the author for providing me this arc

This is definitely the best book I’ve read in a long while! I loved the setting, the chemistry and history between the two main characters. Loved the glimpses of their past being retold and seeing them reconnect. Super spicy too, the sex scenes were on point and the chemistry was palpable! I thought this story was excellent and I loved the author’s voice. Excited to explore more of her works! 5/5 stars for me!

This cute, lighthearted, character-driven novel has a quiet plot and a leisurely pace. I enjoyed the author’s voice—it immediately immersed me in the story.