I liked the premise, but the execution completely failed.
This was insta-love – definitely no slow burn. The main characters never even had a real conversation until after they were semi-dating, which was also well after Graham was calling Zoey his dream girl. Graham had no idea why Zoey came to Alaska, what she did for a living, or what her hobbies were. They literally just never spoke about anything other than what was immediately happening in that moment.
From Graham's perspective, Zoey was definitely cast as some kind of special snowflake straight away. However, the only thing “different” about Zoey was that she wasn't rich, and yet for some reason Graham immediately decided she was “special” and “not like the others”. He kept going on about how she was completely perfect for him, but I had no idea why?? Because as previously mentioned, he knew nothing about her!!
I also came to hate Graham. He was just immature and annoying, and said things like this:
"if I'd meet you in college, we'd have fifteen babies by now."
He said that on like, official date #1 or #2. Gross!
Also, I know this will vary from person to person, but I hate it when a man calls a woman “gorgeous” (as in: “hello, gorgeous!”). Graham started calling Zoey that straight away. If a man I just met used that as my pet name, I would definitely be a bit grossed out and want to keep my distance. It feels too “I'm coming on to you”, and from a stranger would just make me uncomfortable.
I think I expected to get more details about Alaska itself and why it was so special. All we really got was Zoey looking around, seeing mountains, and going “OMG this is my dream!” And okay, fair, I'm sure they're beautiful… but I thought we'd get more from Graham about what it's like to live there, the people, etc.
Ultimately though, it was the complete lack of depth in the characters that made the book flop for me. Graham's dog was the one really bright spot.