A Copenhagen Snowmance is quite good; good enough that it makes me want to seek out author Pernille Hughes's other books.
Anna lives in London, but needs to pop over to Copenhagen to pick up her cat's ashes; she had left town abruptly a year-and-a-half earlier. Unfortunately, she finds herself in a Snowmageddon situation, trapped in Copenhagen due to a snowstorm, hotels all booked up by trapped travelers. So she winds up at her house--which she is now renting to Jamie, a Scotsman, who takes pity on her and lets her stay.
There's a level of complexity to the characters here that I appreciated. Jamie isn't The Perfect Man; he's made mistakes and he makes mistakes with Anna. Anna has a lot of baggage from her childhood (as does Jamie) and her recent heartbreak. She's in some denial about her life, which makes her a bit frustrating, but in a completely realistic way.
Even the situation itself made sense; the combination of a huge snowstorm and pre-Christmas travel means that it absolutely makes sense that Anna wouldn't be able to catch a flight back for a while. Anna and Jamie both treat the other with some caution at first, as one would when dealing with a perfect stranger. Their relationship built in an organic way, and as a destination romance book, this is aces--you will want to visit Copenhagen and eat all of the food described within. And even though the sex happens off-screen, as it were, Hughes wrote the sexual tension incredibly well; it honestly felt sexier than books I've read where it was all described.
So why not five stars? Some it's vibes, some of it's me being nitpicky. I went back and forth on it being written in the present tense; sometimes I liked it (it felt like a narrator reading the story to me, if that makes sense), but sometimes it grated. Though I loved the descriptions of Copenhagen at Christmas and all the food, the details at times felt a bit overwhelming, with just so many names being mentioned. And even at the end of it, I'm honestly not totally sure how I feel about Jamie; after he forced Anna to have tea with Maiken, who was AWFUL, good Lord, I don't know how much I'd trust him; throughout the book, he clearly sees his view of relationships (i.e., to never give up on them) as the Right Way To Do Relationships, and I think I'd need a lot more from him to show that he understands and won't do anything like that again. I'm not saying that Anna shouldn't be with him, and honestly, given her history, it's not like she's about to jump in and marry him right away.
A bit heavier than some holiday romances, but a lovely escape. Embrace the hygge. Recommend.
Anna lives in London, but needs to pop over to Copenhagen to pick up her cat's ashes; she had left town abruptly a year-and-a-half earlier. Unfortunately, she finds herself in a Snowmageddon situation, trapped in Copenhagen due to a snowstorm, hotels all booked up by trapped travelers. So she winds up at her house--which she is now renting to Jamie, a Scotsman, who takes pity on her and lets her stay.
There's a level of complexity to the characters here that I appreciated. Jamie isn't The Perfect Man; he's made mistakes and he makes mistakes with Anna. Anna has a lot of baggage from her childhood (as does Jamie) and her recent heartbreak. She's in some denial about her life, which makes her a bit frustrating, but in a completely realistic way.
Even the situation itself made sense; the combination of a huge snowstorm and pre-Christmas travel means that it absolutely makes sense that Anna wouldn't be able to catch a flight back for a while. Anna and Jamie both treat the other with some caution at first, as one would when dealing with a perfect stranger. Their relationship built in an organic way, and as a destination romance book, this is aces--you will want to visit Copenhagen and eat all of the food described within. And even though the sex happens off-screen, as it were, Hughes wrote the sexual tension incredibly well; it honestly felt sexier than books I've read where it was all described.
So why not five stars? Some it's vibes, some of it's me being nitpicky. I went back and forth on it being written in the present tense; sometimes I liked it (it felt like a narrator reading the story to me, if that makes sense), but sometimes it grated. Though I loved the descriptions of Copenhagen at Christmas and all the food, the details at times felt a bit overwhelming, with just so many names being mentioned. And even at the end of it, I'm honestly not totally sure how I feel about Jamie; after he forced Anna to have tea with Maiken, who was AWFUL, good Lord, I don't know how much I'd trust him; throughout the book, he clearly sees his view of relationships (i.e., to never give up on them) as the Right Way To Do Relationships, and I think I'd need a lot more from him to show that he understands and won't do anything like that again. I'm not saying that Anna shouldn't be with him, and honestly, given her history, it's not like she's about to jump in and marry him right away.
A bit heavier than some holiday romances, but a lovely escape. Embrace the hygge. Recommend.
No comments:
Post a Comment