A New Favorite Found Family!

 

TITLE: With Love, from Cold World

AUTHOR: Alicia Thompson

PUBLISHER: Berkley

PUBLISHING DATE: August 1, 2023

PAGES: 400   

SOURCE: ARC

FROM GOODREADS: 

Lauren Fox is the bookkeeper for Cold World, a tourist destination that's always a winter wonderland despite being located in humid Orlando, Florida. Sure, it's ranked way below any of the trademarked amusement parks and maybe foot traffic could be better. But it's a fun place to work, even if "fun" isn't exactly Lauren's middle name. 

Her coworker Asa Williamson, on the other hand, is all about finding ways to enliven his days at Cold World--whether that means organizing the Secret Santa or teasing Lauren. When the owner asks Lauren and Asa to propose something (anything, really) to raise more revenue, their rivalry heats up as they compete to come up with the best idea. But the situation is more dire than they thought, and it might take these polar opposites working together to save the day. If Asa thought Lauren didn't know how to enjoy herself, he's surprised by how much he enjoys spending time together. And if Lauren thought Asa wasn't serious about anything, she's surprised by how seriously he seems to take her. 

As Lauren and Asa work to save their beloved wintery spot, they realize the real attraction might be the heat generating between them.

MY THOUGHTS: I read this author's first book, Love in the Time of Serial Killers, and thoroughly enjoyed it so I knew I had to give this one a go as well.  I am really glad I did and it was a fun way to spend some quiet time over the weekend.  And little did I know I would soon have a new found family to love.

Lauren and Asa both work at a winter attraction in the middle of hot, humid Florida.  Asa has been there ten years compared to Lauren's two but despite not knowing each other than long, they've been together long enough to know they don't really like each other.  Lauren grew up in the foster care system and Asa grew up in an unaccepting family environment and neither have really overcome their personal issues.  However, they are forced to work together to come up with some new ideas to make Cold World more profitable and more marketable and in the process, just might find out they don't hate each other after all.

I'm always on board for an enemies-to-lovers trope and this book has one out in full force. It also has a touch of close proximity thrown in for good measure as well.  From the start, the reader knows Asa and Lauren don't really hate each other, they just think they do.  And by working together, and some intervention from a great set of friends, not only do they grow as a couple, but they also grow as individuals. I will mention Asa has a great set of friends he resides with, thus the found family, and the author would love to see the author write a spin-off or two on some if these side characters.

I also learned something while reading this book.  Because Lauren wants to help children with similar backgrounds as her, she becomes a Guardian ad Litem.  In all the states I have worked with, to be a GAL you first had to be an attorney.  Since it bothered me so much I looked up Florida's regulations and found that is not the case there.  It made me feel much better.

So if you like enemies-to-lovers and found families, I would definitely recommend this book.  In addition, since I did like the author's first novel just a tad better, I would also recommend it too.

RATING: 4 PAWS