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

by Laura Kaye

[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.