The Book: Snowed In by Jenna Bayley-Burke
The Particulars: Contemporary romance, St. Martin's Press Swerve, 2016, Digital only, Book 2 in More Than Friends duet

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: It's a long buried ARC that time forgot that I unearthed on my Kindle. My best guess? It was an impulse download from NetGalley because I got sucked in by the blurb. As one does.

The Review: I normally like to focus on my print TBR for the Challenge but for this month's New Year, Who Dis? theme I thought it would be good to unearth a random (ancient) ARC from my Kindle by an author I haven't read before. And since time was of the essence, I wanted something category length.

Marissa Clarke is not that far removed from college and is a burgeoning event planner. She's at her BFF's wedding and like a dope, she let one of their sorority sisters crash in her hotel room when she RSVP'ed at the last minute. Anyway, now Christa is hooking up with a former college "boyfriend" and has essentially kicked Marissa out of her own hotel room. Riding to her rescue is Scott Zimmerman (the blurb names him as Scott Parker but my ARC and the author's afterward say Zimmerman - so way to go St. Martin's copy editors...). Marissa and Scott were friends in college, or so she thought. He was a member of the basketball team, the same team her fiancé was the star player on. Turns out he was a player in more ways than one, cheating on her whenever he was "on the road" and dumping her mere hours before they were set to get married. Marissa was shattered and in the aftermath put some blame on Scott for not giving her a heads up.

Scott realizes he was a first class shit for not telling Marissa her fiancé was a scumbag, but it was complicated. Namely because him squealing would have fractured the team dynamic (not something to take lightly in college sports) and because he's always been more than half in love with her. Well now they're both at this wedding and he decides to shoot his shot. Helping him out in that department? Besides Christa's hormones? Mother nature. He offers her a place to stay (his cabin) after she gets kicked out of her hotel room and showing up shortly after they do? A snow storm. The kind that knocks out power and closes roads.

This starts out pretty great, the getting kicked out of your hotel room by a horndog "friend" is just the kind of thing that could happen when not-far-removed-from-college friends get together. Also the whole wedding hook-up thing is just a fact of life. Unfortunately the whole thing runs very hot and cold after that - namely the heroine. One minute she's prudish, the next she wants to climb the hero like a jungle gym. I'm talking practically salivating to the point of drooling. He keeps pumping the brakes because he wants "more" but eventually they succumb and the tissue-thin plot is propped up by a bunch of filler sex scenes. I'm talking a lot of sex. And it's only a 200 page book.

Once the roads are cleared the author then gets back to some actual conflict. Unfortunately that conflict is entirely Heroine Being Stubborn. Scott is definitely pushing for more and, understandably, Marissa's not ready. She already once twisted herself into a pretzel so her life revolved around a man, and that ended in a spectacular disaster. Nope, she's not doing it again. But here's the thing - is that really what she would be doing? Now that her friend and roommate is married, she can't afford the rent on her own in Portland, Oregon. She has an OK job, but her chances for promotion are stuck behind a boss who needs to leave first. The friend spiffs up her resume and sends it to two places in Bend, Oregon (where she, her new husband and Scott all live). Both jobs want her, pay more, and would be a promotion over what she's doing now. But somehow she sees that as "I'm not uprooting my life for Scott who may break my heart even though I'm crazy about him."

Child, please.

Your BFF lives in town. You've got two job offers that would be a major step up in responsibility, as well as financially. So bloody what if it doesn't work out with Scott?! The author tries to prop this up a bit more by giving Marissa working class parents who have always struggled to get by but that doesn't negate the fact that both jobs in Bend want her, pay more, and would be promotions. Take a flier girl - there's literally nothing keeping you in Portland.

Eventually she comes around but she still wants to pump the brakes with Scott. Yes, they had crazy, wild monkey sex but she wants to get her own place and to actually "date" him. He, of course, gets a little butthurt. While she is stubborn for the sake of being stubborn, he is a railroading hero (my least favorite kind of hero...). Frankly I was annoyed with both of them in equal measure before we even got to the ending.

If you're looking for a snowed in trope with a lot of sex, look no further. This book has both. But I'm well into my Tired Old Sea Hag Era of Romance Reading, and frankly that's just not enough for me anymore.

Final Grade = C

I can see why there are no more books in the series. I found both books to be mediocre at best. Normally, it would have taken me an afternoon to finish a book of this length. In this case, I needed 4 days! I haven't had such a bad and irritating heroine in a very long time. She had her issues with commitment that seemed to sprout from nowhere. Her family situation was bad but not that bad. I agree that Scot should have told her the truth about Chis before their wedding, but she overreacted especially after she admitted that she was also using Chris. The ending felt rushed and abrupt because the heroine spent almost all of the book being anti-commitment, so her sudden change of heart did nothing for me. Scott is either bland character compared to her. He is normal. Not book boyfriend material but a decent guy whom many would want to date. Overall, I wouldn't recommend either book in the series.

I really enjoyed this book. I love stories involving individuals finding love and relationships by being snowbound. This is such a romantic notion. Marissa and Scott had amazing chemistry and I enjoyed reading about their rekindled meeting.

When Marissa agreed to be her best friend's maid of honor I don't think she had any idea the events that would follow, including being forced out of her hotel room and snowed in with her ex's best friend from college.
I would definitely recommend this book and I have to my book club.

Unfortunately, this just wasn’t the book for me. It sounded like fun, but I didn’t make it very far before I quit reading. I’m sure other people will enjoy it, though.

I was unable to read this title before the release date.

Absolutely LOVED this second chance romance by Jenna Bayley-Burke! Readers will love the hot, sexy story with a touch of heart. Definitely recommend!

copy received through Netgalley
This is the second book but can be read as a standalone. I give this a 4 for the sexy banter between Marissa and Scott. They have known each other since college. Marissa was once engaged to Scot's teammate. there were things going on that Scott kept secret from Marissa. She has always blamed him for not telling because out of all the people that knew, she counted him as her friend. Scott has always been in love. so when the opportunity presented itself , he took a chance to be with her. After all she went through, Marissa was cautious. I loved Scott he was fun and knew exactly what he wanted. Marissa was a challenge. I get why she was cautious. However, It got to be a little annoying. It seemed like she had her act together, until the story continued on. She was a little bit of a mess . Overall a fun sexy story with a HEA.