Cover Image: An Alaskan Christmas

An Alaskan Christmas

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This wasn't that great of a read for me. It was slow-paced and it was a bit boring. It also lacked Christmas.

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This is probably one of my favorite Christmas romance novel to date. Dr. Erika Sheraton is at a cross roads in her life, not knowing fully what she wants and how to obtain whatever that may be. Top surgeon in Anchorage, Erika is forced to take a vacation, trading in her scrubs and workaholic ways for a winter coat and ski suit in the small town of Wild River, Alaska where she visits her friend Cassie and counts the days until she can reunite with her job. But what she doesn’t count on is running into her childhood friend and first love, Reed—Cassie’s brother. Through the snow, scenery, and quiet moments, Erika finds herself enjoying life, rekindling friendships and lost loves, and finding what is truly important for her.

Okay I absolutely loved this story. It was exactly what I was looking for to snuggle in during the Christmas season and dive into while the temperatures outside drops. Though the beginning took some time to envelope you, Snow has a way of pulling you into the story with her crisp descriptions and fast pace scenes that were cranked up several degrees when read while listening to the audiobook.

I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Erika and Reed both together and individually. The chemistry between the two was something dynamic and deep; not to mention the sexual tension is a1 steak sauce.

All in all, this was a nice romantic winter-set read that I wouldn’t mind reading again during the winter months. If you are looking for a search and rescue romance set in the brisk outbacks of Alaska, I highly recommend you give the Wild River series a try!

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A sweet Alaskan set Christmas story that was a sweet story. A Christmas romance that took me to another state.

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This is an interesting story of a surgeon returning to her hometown at Christmas. She has the chance to reconnect with her best friend, and she comes to see her best friend's brother in a different light. It also gives us a chance to see the workings of a search and rescue team which I found interesting. I have two complaints, both based on personal preference: first of all, the minor characters were almost non-existent. I think they add depth to the story and therefore this story was not as complex as it could have been. Also, again a personal preference, I prefer a little sex with my story, not a little story with the sex. This book was an example of the latter and frankly, the sex scenes got boring. For these two reasons, I'm giving this book 3 stars.

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Erika Sheraton is a head surgeon who has never had a vacation. After some complaints at work, she’s sent on a two week vacation. She goes back to her hometown of Wild River to see her childhood best friend, Cassie. Cassie’s brother, Reed Reynolds, works as part of the search and rescue team for the mountains around Wild River. He’s surprised to see Erika has grown into a beautiful woman, but she seems like too much of a snob for him. Eventually they have to give in to the chemistry between them, but they have to wonder what will happen when Erika’s vacation ends.

Before reading this book, I didn’t know anything about search and rescue operations in Alaska. I’ve never been interested in outdoor sports and I’ve never been skiing before. I loved the intensity that this added to the story. There were some serious life and death situations that were scary to read about and imagine. I learned a lot from this story.

The romance was steamy right from the beginning. It started soon after the main characters met, so there wasn’t any waiting for the romance. The stakes were high for Erika and Reed, because they had issues with their parents that they were working through as well. I loved the romance between Erika and Reed.

This is a steamy holiday romance!

Thank you Harlequin for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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This book had a great story backing it. An overworked doctor goes back to her hometown to visit her best friend. The best friend has an all-grown-up brother. He's Search and Rescue and she's a doctor. Sounds like a nice little fluffy Christmas read. Right away, practically on the first page, there is talk of chemistry. Then we get lots of fantasizing and a day or so into her trip her friend has to leave. Then it's full-on descriptive sex and dirty talk. I hate when an author doesn't leave that for us to imagine in our own way. I skipped 6 pages hoping to get back to dealing with the characters and where their lives had taken them. No. More skipping of pages. A couple with conversation and then MORE SEX! I always try to honor an author and make it through a book to find something positive but I am wasting my time. The premise sounded great but I'm not into erotica.

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Once again, I'm kicking myself for not going to the University of Alaska for my undergrad--all these Alaskan-set romances make it sound amazing :)

An Alaskan Christmas is an enemies-to-lovers / best friend's older brother / holiday romance--so much catnip in there! (Christmas isn't actually a huge part of the story, though, so be warned. The title makes it sound a lot more Christmas-sy than it actually is. Yes, story events take place during the Christmas season, but the holiday isn't really a part of the plot at all, which did make me question the choice of title here.)

I enjoyed Erika and Reed's story, and loved Diva, Cassie's (Reed's sister / Erika's friend) narcoleptic husky puppy, who managed to add a lighthearted note to the story even when the main characters weren't always putting their best selves forward. Both Erika and Reed had some pretty significant individual work to do before they could get to their HEA--she needed to brush up on people skills and figure out how to work *and* have a life; he also needed to work on prioritizing and they both had family issues--so though they got over the "enemies" portion of their romance rather quickly, getting them all the way to the relationship finish line took some doing and made for a sweet ending.

Reed's work on the search and rescue teams was a real highlight of the book; I'm hoping that future books will feature his teammates--surely they all deserve HEAs too? ;)

Jennifer Snow was a new-to-me author; I'll be keeping an eye out for the next book in the series to be released--fingers crossed that it'll be Cassie's (and Diva's!) story!

Rating: 4 stars / B+

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book

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An Alaskan Christmas had a wonderful synopsis and that cover is so beautiful I was willing to jump right into reading. What I found was a wild and exciting setting and two characters that fit one another both in the bedroom and out. They were written fairly well overall and the steam was hot, hot, HOT.

When Erika and Reed made their way out of the bedroom and everywhere else their passion caught them, there was a great connection made with the place as well as between the two of them that didn't revolve around sexy times. They definitely worked on a sexual chemistry level, and I liked when their relationship focused on the other side of things as a balance. It was a little imbalanced, but not so much that I didn't believe in them together.

There were quite a few bits of the book that were interesting, but soon became non-starters and were left as frayed threads. They weren't really essential to the plot, well not all of them, but they were missed opportunities for integration and connection.

One other bit that could have been improved upon was the transition from who Reed and Erika were before and who they became throughout the course of their evolution. I was not keen on Erika at all when we first met her, but was a fan by the end. It was the part in the middle that needed more finesse so as to create a bridge between the two versions of her rather than expecting us jump the canyon of difference between them. Similarly with Reed, there were things that seemed important yet dropped off or were just left unexplained. I would have liked to connect with both characters more than I did.

The wild setting was one of my favorite parts of this book. With great descriptions of the town and the outdoors their dates and jobs that took them to it was easy to sink into the story. If the individual characters' depth had been given as much thought and consideration this would have been a fantastic story.

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This is one of those holiday romance books that you really hope gets a movie adaptation. Set in Alaska you've got Erika, a doctor from Anchorage who takes a much needed vacation in the wintery wilderness with her childhood best friend, Cassie still lives. Cassie's brother is a Search and Rescue out there, and while he and Erika had a less than friendly past, there was one incident that built the start of a connection that gets a chance to grow during this short, time-limited time she's there.

Erika and Reed have heaps of chemistry. I enjoyed reading chapter by chapter as they grew closer and began to really fall for each other. When their time came to an end, it was nail-biting to see how things might turn around and work out for them.

Excellent read, and perfect holiday romance to bite into now that the weather is cooling down.

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it was a good read but wasn't as interesting to me as other books were. The characters were interesting and I enjoyed the sertting.

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A lovely breezy romance tale narrating the story of how incorrigibly workaholic Erika finds herself in the middle of more than what she bargained for, when she reluctantly signs up for an adventure tour run by her best buddy Cassie. Bumping into Cassie's brother Reed did not fit into Erika's plans, and Reed isn't far away from being blown away by what he encounters either. I loved reading this tale, and my thanks to Snow and Harlequin for this ARC.

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A little bit of Christmas but a whole lotta steamy cheer. I was hoping for a lot more of the Christmas vibes with this one, because when I pick up a book with the word Christmas on it thats what Im looking for, but this one was lacking in that department. But it did deliver in the romance and steam and for that I give it 4 stars.

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RATING: 4 STARS
2019; HQN/HarperCollins

I enjoyed this holiday romance! It is a cute story that I am sure Hallmark would make into a movie. Erika is a surgeon and a workaholic. Taking a forced vacation is making her more stressed out. She decides to head to Alaska where her friend, Cassie owns a tour company. Seeing Cassie means that Erika will see her brother, Reed as well. Sparks fly as the surgeon can't stop working and helps out at Search and Rescue. Could either leave their career for the other? I am looking forward to the next book which I am hoping is Cassie's story.

***I received a complimentary copy of this ebook from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.***

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AN ALASKAN CHRISTMAS, the first book in the WILD RIVER series, drew me in from the first page to the last. I tried to read slower, which is so unlike me, so that I could savor the story and feel every emotion. I reveled in every nuance, felt the cold, the wind and snow, and loved the small town and the mountains. Alaska is a state I hopefully will get to visit one day so I can see with my own eyes what was so vividly described by Ms. Snow.

The characters, of which there were many, all had a depth to them. All were important in the telling of the tale but none more so than Reed, Erika, and Cassie (along with her dog, who was a nice addition to the story.) The different plots in the story were woven throughout and tied together seamlessly. This was an emotional read that had my heart racing and tears streaming when not laughing out loud,especially where Diva was concerned.

Reed and Cassie were siblings and had a close relationship. Their dad disappeared when they were young, and they had no idea if he was dead or alive. Erika and Cassie were best friends growing up but lost contact and hadn’t spoken in ten years. That all changed when Erika, a surgeon in Anchorage, was forced to take a two week vacation and reached out to Cassie for a possible visit. After a few false starts, Erika and Cassie reconnected, but Reed and Erika had an instant dislike for each other …along with some buried attraction stemming from the past.

In the story, Cassie’s business, Snow Trek Tours, and Reed’s leadership role as a volunteer with Wild River’s mountain search and rescue team, played a huge part in the plot. The reader was taken along on many search and rescues to see the teams at work. And Erika seemed always to be in the thick of things. She and Reed became close once they acted on their attraction, and there were more than a few hot and steamy moments between them. But Erika was supposed to return to her workaholic life in a few weeks, so could their relationship go any further?

The story had a nice flow and an absolutely lovely romance. There was wonderful closure, especially with the epilogue. I can’t wait to return to Wild River, Alaska to see whose story will be told next.

Ms. Snow is an author whose books I’ve been reading for many years and always enjoy. I look forward to reading whatever she writes, not just in this series.

A RECOMMENDED READ!

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In Alaska, it’s always a white Christmas—but the sparks flying between two reunited friends
could turn it red-hot…

If there’s one gift Erika Sheraton does not want for Christmas, it’s a vacation. Ordered to take
time off, the workaholic surgeon reluctantly trades in her scrubs for a ski suit and heads to Wild
River, Alaska. Her friend Cassie owns a tour company that offers adventures to fit every visitor.
But nothing compares to the adrenaline rush Erika feels on being reunited with Cassie’s brother,
Reed Reynolds.

Gone is the buttoned-up girl Reed remembers. His sister’s best friend has blossomed into a
strong, skilled, confident woman. She’s exactly what his search-and-rescue team needs—and
everything he didn’t know he craved. The gulf between his life in Wild River and her big-city
career is wide. But it’s no match for a desire powerful enough to melt two stubborn hearts…



Jennifer Snow lives in Edmonton, Alberta with her husband and four-year-old son.
She is a member of the RWA, the Alberta Writers Guild, Canadian Authors Association and
SheWrites.org. Her first Brookhollow book was a finalist in the Heart of Denver Aspen Gold
contest and the Golden Quill Award. More information can be found at
www.jennifersnowauthor.com.

While this is stretching a bit of being a true Christmas book, I really enjoyed the story. The characters are strong and charismatic. There is a true sense of the setting of Alaska, with a couple of authentic-sounding search and rescue missions. I was captivated by the storyline and the romance. If you like deep and searching themes then you will enjoy this book!

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I really enjoyed this book! It’s amazing how we can’t see what we have that’s right before our eyes. Sometimes it takes a disaster to open your eyes and make you quite fighting yourself. Great job! Thanks for the great book!

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Erika is a surgeon working in Anchorage, Alaska who has been forced into taking a vacation by her hospital's board. She decides to head back to her hometown of Wild River, Alaska in order to catch up with her best friend Cassie, since it has been about ten years since they've seen one another. While there, she reconnects with Cassie's brother Reed, who works for the local Search and Rescue team. Erika ends up spending most of her vacation with Reed, and the two have a deep connection that turns into a romance fairly quickly.

Things I liked: the Alaskan setting, the outdoor sports, the scenes involving the Search and Rescue, the secondary characters, and Diva the dog

Things I didn't really like: It seemed like Erika and Reed were constantly having sex or thinking about having sex. They did other things, like outdoor sports a couple of times, and Erika assisted with some Search and Rescue missions. But my gosh, they had descriptive saucy moments ALL throughout the story and I ended up skimming those scenes. Romance stories are best (to me) when I get a good sense of the relationship building part. Meaning, I'd love to read some scenes where the two are getting to know one another or doing fun activities.

I loved the way everything ended for Erika and Reed, and I love that the next book features Cassie. I think what I was looking for at this time was something a little less sexy and more Hallmark-like, probably because of all of the talk of coronavirus and social distancing. At another time, I may have "loved" this one, where I really just "liked" it at this time.


Thank you to Harlequin publishing for sending me a free digital copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my thoughts in the form of a review!

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Take one workaholic surgeon who is forced to take a vacation and one search-and-rescue team member (who is the brother of her childhood best friend) and put them together at Christmastime and see what happens.

The two have very different points-of-view and don’t seem to like each other very much at the start of her forced vacation, but it was fun to watch their relationship develop through the course of the book.

It is quite nice to see Alaska through the authors eyes in a way that most people might not get to see it on their own.


This was the first book in a series set in Wild River and I can't wait to read more!

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Jennifer Snow’s Wild River series is off to a great beginning with the first story, An Alaskan Christmas. She brings together two unlikely people who seem to rub each other the wrong way but fit so well together when you get right down to it. Dr. Erika Sheridan is forced to take a 2-week vacation from her job at the Anchorage hospital, and reluctantly contacts her childhood best friend, Cassie, to visit her in her old hometown of Wild River. What she hadn’t counted on was feeling a huge attraction to Cassie’s older brother Reed, who has definitely changed for the better. Reed not only is a bartender but a leader in the local Search & Rescue team for the surrounding area. When Erika is left on her own for a few days, she ends up going out on a few rescue mission and shows how invaluable she can be to the team, and for Reed.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book because there was substance to the story beyond the budding romance between Reed and Erika. Personal conflicts, family drama and secrets, and the rescue missions, definitely kept me glued to the book. Erika was a workaholic and had a hard time create a balance between her professional and personal life. Her career and research mean so much to her but she can’t seem to please her boss aka her father. You can feel the tension and stress she puts on herself and you shake your fist hoping she realizes sometimes there is no pleasing someone. Reed’s father walked away years ago and he continues to hope and search for him. Both Cassie and Erika knew of his whereabouts and wonder how and when they can tell him without things going sideways. The story was relatable and very realistic to everyday living. The many layers were woven together, nicely with the romance and sex scenes scorching the pages between Reed and Erika.

I’ve read other stories by Jennifer Snow and have become an even bigger fan with this story. The writing is fresh and clear, her characters get developed, the romance sizzled, and there is a diversity of secondary characters and a hint of what is to come. The author said it perfectly herself that sums up the story. How is it that two people who were so incompatible on the surface could be so perfect together at the core? An Alaskan Christmas is an enticing and easily read romance for contemporary romance fans.

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An Alaskan Christmas was such a sweet and swoon-worthy romance.

Erika is forced to take a vacation, and off she goes to Alaska to be with her friend, whom she hasn't talked to in a while. It takes a while for Erika to actually loosen up and be comfortable where she is. I was able to relate a little to her, since sometimes, it can take me a while to become used to my surroundings.

Meeting Reed gave me all the feels. I loved the way he teased Erika, all the while trying to ignore the feelings he had for her. It was so nice to see these two characters come together. I especially loved how Reed truly believed in her.

Overall, a wonderful story to cozy up with on a rainy day with a good cup of hot coffee.

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