Dead of Winter by Melissa Pearl & Anna Cruise

This post contains affiliate links you can use to purchase the book. If you buy the book using that link, I will receive a small commission from the sale.

Title: Dead of Winter
Author: Melissa Pearl, Anna Cruise
Series: Aspen Falls #1
Published by: Indie
Release Date: March 23rd 2018
Format: eARC
Pages: 322
Genres: Contemporary, Romantic Suspense
Source: the author
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2018 #LetsReadIndie Challenge, Lenoreo's 2018 New Adult Challenge, Lenoreo's 2018 New Release Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ IndieBound
My rating:

Blurb:

She’s hiding from her past. He’s the only exception. She’ll get one chance to clear her name… and he’ll try to win her heart.

Rosie’s hometown return is a far cry from triumphant. Broke and on the run from her drug-dealing ex, she’s determined to hide out and save up for a one-way ticket out. But an encounter with a guy she once knew in high school, a guy who is now a cop, just might change everything.

Blaine never thought he’d see the girl who saved his life in high school again, but when he pulls over a speeding car and sees who’s behind the wheel, he recognizes the shattered woman immediately. Rosie Sweet is back in Aspen Falls and now the tables are turned. She needs his help. Desperately.

All Blaine wants is a chance to thank the woman who rescued him, and see if the real Rosie lives up to the woman he’s dreamed about over the years. But Rosie knows her time in Aspen Falls is temporary. It has to be, because her past is catching up with her...and it will have deadly consequences. If Blaine finds out the secrets she’s keeping, he could ruin her. Or could he be the one man to ultimately save her?

Dead of Winter is the first standalone book in a spine-tingling series of romantic suspense novels. If you like small town mysteries, heart-wrenching romance, and gripping tension, then you’ll love Melissa Pearl and Anna Cruise’s white-knuckle thrill ride.

My Review:

I received a free copy through the author in exchange for an honest and unbiased review/opinion.

4 stars — I’m not a big reader of suspense, but when one of your favourite authors delves into the genre, you follow, you know?  And I loved the suspense elements of this story, they hit it just right for me.  And not just the suspense, the mystery was intriguing too.  And even though I had figured out a few little points along the way, and had suspicions about others, I still enjoyed going on the ride and confirming those suspicions and finding out the surrounding details.  It was a great set up for the rest of the series, b/c I can’t wait to find out more about the stories of the secondary characters, and if the mystery elements in this story will pervade in the rest of the series (I’m pretty sure it’s setting up in a certain way).

Now, as for the romance and characters in this story, I thought we got enough of those developments as well.  I absolutely LOVED the flashbacks to the past between Blaine and Rosie.  There weren’t a lot of them, but it really set up who they were and what they were to each other, and how those events might have shaped them (mostly Blaine).

Blaine was adorable.  Like seriously adorable.  I sometimes wondered how Blaine stayed as good as he was with everything he went through in the past.  And I almost wished we’d learned a bit more about his past, particularly with his family…we got hints, but perhaps we’ll get more in Nate’s story?

I was worried about loving Rosie, b/c she makes some really bad choices (both in the past and the present).  But she grew on me.  I wish she’d learned to trust people more, so many things could have gone differently if she had.  I sort of got why she didn’t, but there was always a part of me wanting to shake her.  Ah well.

I will admit, the potential love triangle was a bit uncomfortable for me, and the almost cheating was anxiety inducing b/c it’s a button issue for me.  But in general it was handled fairly well and resolved in a way that I was satisfied.

It’s actually been a bit since I read the story (this is what happens when I don’t write my reviews up right away), but all in all this was fun, entertaining, and I’m ready to see what happens for the rest of the characters we’ve been introduced to!