North of Need (Hearts of the Anemoi, #1) (Heart of the Anemoi, #1)

by Laura Kaye

While attempting to escape the agonizing memories she associates with Christmas, twenty-nine-year-old widow Megan Snow builds a snow family outside the mountain cabin she once shared with her husband-and collapses in tears against the snowman at the sight of what she'll never have. Called to life by the power of Megan's tears, snow god Owen Winters appears unconscious on her doorstep in the midst of a raging blizzard. As she nurses him to health, Owen finds unexpected solace in her company and unimagined pleasure in the warmth of her body, and vows to win her heart for a chance at humanity. Megan is drawn to Owen's mismatched eyes, otherworldly masculinity, and enthusiasm for the littlest things, and her heart opens enough to believe he's a Christmas miracle. But this miracle comes with an expiration-before the snow melts and the temperature rises, Megan must let go of her widow's grief and learn to trust love again, or she'll lose Owen forever.

• ISBN10: 1937044475
• ISBN13: 9781937044473
• Publish Date: 1 October 2011
• Publish Status: Unknown
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Entangled Publishing, LLC
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 234
• Language: English

Reviews

[Angie]

North of Need is like a cheesy, magical, Lifetime Christmas movie, but with gods. Megan is spending the holidays at her cabin alone, since it's the two year anniversary of her husband's death. It's hitting her really hard, so she attempts to keep busy by building a snowman. Next thing she knows, she's built an entire snowfamily, so she heads inside. Then she sees a man stumbling up her driveway during a storm. At first she's afraid, but she hears a voice that tells her to help him. She can't explain why she trusts the voice, but she does, and brings Owen in out from the cold.

Obviously, Owen is the snowman Megan built, come to life. He's one of the Winter gods, and he's been sent by Megan's husband to help bring her happiness. There is a catch though. He can't stay forever. Once Spring starts coming in (and it's coming early!), he'll have to return to the land of the gods unless she says she loves him. Of course, he doesn't tell her all this at first, but she suspects their meeting was not accidental.

Despite the utter cheesiness of North of Need, it is completely adorable. Being a god of snow and ice, Owen doesn't do well in the warmth of Megan's cabin, at least not until he starts gorging himself on ice cream! Those two have the frozen treat for many meals! He also builds an igloo where they can picnic, and there's just generally this cutesy, holiday charm about all of their interactions. And I loved that even though Owen knows he'll fade away when the warmer weather arrives, he never pressures Megan. He is not an alpha male who demands to claim his woman (not to say he isn't affected by her). They move their relationship at her pace. But they do have a lot of sex!

The only reason I didn't rate North of Need higher was because it was a bit too sappy for my liking and it does have my least favorite ending, which was made more annoying by one little detail. Overall though, it's super cute story, and I really liked how some new mythology was used.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[Cocktails and Books]

Megan Snow, still grieving the loss of her husband two years ago (on Christmas day) in a car accident, heads to the mountain cabin she and John shared to spend the anniversary of his death in solitude. She heads outside, deciding she needs the physical activity to stop her mind from remembering John and how his death was her fault.

In the middle of a blizzard, she builds a snow family. A snowman with mismatched eyes, a black knit cap and John's old flannel shirt. Next she builds a snow woman and the child. But it's the snowman that calls to her broken heart. Seeing John's things on the snowman, she breaks down clinging to the snowman.

It's Megan's grief that sends Snow God, Owen, to help her. But she also is his chance at humanity. If he can get Megan to admit her love for him, before the snow melts, then he'll be able to stay with her forever. But for Owen, winning over Megan must be done is days instead of the weeks he thought he had. He'll charm her, woo her and worship her body like it's never been worshiped before. But can he show Megan that she should give up her grief and start living life again?

Laura Kaye is fast becoming one of those authors that I will immediately buy. Why? Because she creates characters that you can immediately connect with.

Megan was a broken woman. Her grief seemed to leap off the electronic pages at you. She blamed herself for her husband's death (since he ran out to get her the missing eggnog) and couldn't seem to get past the fact that he was gone. So it was a little surprising when she immediately reacted to Owen. Sure he had the body of a Greek God, but I think innately her soul was drawn to it's match in our her the Snow God.

Owen knew his soul purpose with Megan was to get her to love him in order to obtain is humanity. But he was drawn to Megan and almost immediately realized that she was the one for him. He choose the harder path in winning her heart. He made her laugh, he put her first and made sure she knew that she was the most important to him and she always would be.

A heartwarming story that will remind you how important it is to say "I love you" to those you love.