Review: Snowed In for Christmas

Snowed In for Christmas by Jaqueline Snowe
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

2.5 stars 

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

“Becca. Pack a bag and stay with me, at least until the power comes back on.” 

Snowed in for Christmas was a low angst story that had Becca and Harrison getting their second chance at romance due to a blizzard. It's holiday break and sorority house mom Becca finds herself not prepared for the blizzard that just hit. When her neighbor, the school's football coach and the man she had an amazing first date with two years ago but then ghosted her, Harrison, offers her to stay at his place when the power goes out, Becca doesn't want to accept but also doesn't want to freeze to death. With this forced proximity, Becca and Harrison find their chemistry reigniting and miscommunications finally getting revealed. 

Neighbors for four years, one date, one insane kiss, and maybe ten conversations since that kiss. 

This was written in alternating pov chapters from Becca and Harrison, we spend a good amount of time in the characters' heads. Becca has trouble dating because she's so goofy (likes to wear mismatched socks!) and people don't understand her commitment to her role/job as house mom in a sorority. Harrison is worried that he'll be fired after his football team doesn't make a bowl game and can't seem to get his team to bond, he also deals with his parents always making their youngest son, Hank, the golden boy and blaming anything and everything on Harrison and his sister Blair, who he does have a good relationship with. These two have separate issues of their own, and we are told about them a lot throughout the story but I still couldn't help feeling their characterizations were bland. 

She was so unpredictable while my life was built around discipline. I had no idea what would come out of her mouth, and I liked it. 

Leaning into the bland, I'm going to describe these two as nice together. They're a pretty good opposites attract, Harrison with his quiet stoic personality and Becca with her colorful clothes, bubbly, and spouts random facts when she's nervous, did gel pleasantly together. Becca tries to stay standoffish with Harrison because of how he hurt her when he ghosted her after their date. A little before the midway point, readers learn why Harrison never called Becca back, along the lines of not feeling like he could give her the commitment she deserved, and when the second half starts, the two have succumbed to their attraction and decide to engage in some bedroom antics, but only during the holiday break. I'm sure it's no surprise that feelings get caught and after Becca spends time with Harrison and his sister's family, she wants a relationship for real but overhears what she thinks is Harrison saying it's only a fling to him. Harrison of course does want to make this a real, long lasting relationship but a third act breakup has an emergency happening with one of his football players and miscommunication has these two at odds again. 

It’s just a fling. A blizzard-buddy fling. 

This had the snowy cold atmosphere for a seasonal read, a little bit of Christmas celebration with some presents, and a good amount of open-door scenes. I feel this would have worked better as a novella, as there didn't seem to be enough story to support the longer page count; my mind started to want to drift off from the story as Becca and Harrison bemoaned their issues in their own heads one too many times, and their conversations, while cute and sweet in some places, tended to rinse and repeat. If you're looking for something that won't heat up your emotions too hard one way or the other and has snow and open door scenes, this could be your seasonal pick.

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