Book Review: Let it Snow by Heidi Cullinan

Let It Snow: Minnesota Christmas, Book 1
by Heidi Cullinan [Hoopla eBook]

One of my favorite tropes for a romance novel is strangers trapped together in a blizzard. You’re welcome.

Frankie is a hair stylist from Minneapolis who easily gets lost while driving. Throw in a blizzard and he’s pretty well guaranteed to lose his way. He’s traveling from Duluth, Minnesota, after a visit with his parents, when he takes a wrong turn, then crashes into the ditch while trying to avoid a moose. He finds an unoccupied cabin and tries to settle in for the duration.

Except the cabin is not unoccupied, but is owned by Arthur, who shares the cabin with two of his best friends – Marcus and Paul. They work as loggers for a local company, though Marcus is actually a lawyer who was treated badly by a boyfriend in the Twin Cities and has returned home to lick his wounds, and Paul and Arthur are talented fix-it men who would like to open their own repair shop. The cabin is located outside of Logan, MN, the small town where they grew up. When they return to the cabin they are surprised to find Frankie sleeping on the couch.

The guys aren’t trapped in the cabin for the duration of the book. After the first blizzard, they use their snowmobiles to return to town for supplies, and to assist their fellow residents deal with the aftermath of the first big snowfall, and prepare for the next one arriving in a few hours. They help evacuate people to the town shelter during the power outage, deliver food from the local restaurant and grocery store to stranded townsfolk, and shovel sidewalks. And we meet Marcus’ mother who is in the dementia unit at the local nursing home. All this is going on while Marcus and Frankie get to know one another.

Cullinan’s romances always end happily, so while the ending is a given, the journey is the point. Her characters are believable, three-dimensional people who are working through some kind of personal issue. Family and friends, and community responsibility are among the values her characters possess.

This is the first book in the Minnesota Christmas trilogy, but in reality there are five books to date that revolve around these core characters and the town. Each of the three guys gets their own book (my favorite is Book #2, Sleigh Ride where Arthur falls for Gabriel, the world’s best librarian as far as I’m concerned) and the characters populate all of the books.

This is a fun, engaging, quick read with a guaranteed happy ending.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try A Fortunate Blizzard, by L.C. Chase.] [ official Let it Snow page on the official Heidi Cullinan web site ]

Recommended by Charlotte M.
Bennett Martin Public Library

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

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