Review: Blaze of Winter by Elizabeth Barrett

Title: Blaze of Winter: A Loveswept Contemporary Romance
Series: Star Harbor, #2
Author: Elizabeth Barrett
Published: September 10, 2012
Pages: 318
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Source: NetGalley
Rating: B-
Reviewed by: Ellie

Favorite quote: "Clearly he hadn’t grown up with a sister or he’d be better equipped to handle the verbal warfare at which she and Emma were so adapt.”

summary from Goodreads
Frustrated with her job in Boston, social worker Avery Newbridge welcomes the opportunity to reassess her life when family asks her to help manage the Star Harbor Inn. Trying to figure out her future is overwhelming enough, but she doesn’t count on distraction in the form of one Theo Grayson, the gorgeous, green-eyed author who she knows is trouble from the moment he saunters into the inn.

Not only does he have a talent for writing swashbuckling adventures, but Theo also has a soft spot for big-hearted damsels in distress, especially a woman who’s great at helping everyone—except herself. Avery’s demons challenge him, but for desire this hot, he isn’t backing down. With every kiss and heated whisper Theo promises her his heart . . . if only Avery is willing to open up and accept it.

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Ellie's thoughts:
We are introduced to Star Harbor, Massachusetts and the Grayson brothers In Deep Autumn Heat the story continues in the great follow up Blaze of Winter. BOW picks up about a month after DAH leaves off with Theo Grayson back in Star Harbor trying to get some inspiration for his next book. Theo has never struggled with writing and is desperate to find something to shake his writers block when he is urged to check into the Star Harbor Inn. Theo is dumbfounded to find the Inn’s owners niece Avery Newbridge running things and before he knows it Theo has found his inspiration.

Avery Newbridge was a social worker in Boston until she had a bad situation with a patient and she is taking some much needed time off to figure out her life while helping her sick aunt run her inn in Star Harbor. The small tourist town seems like the perfect place to figure out her life until the sexy Theo Grayson checks in and decides he wants more than just a room. Avery guards her heart and her past fiercely and refuses to fall for Theo’s sexy charm but the writer refuses to take no for an answer and won’t stop until he captures her heart.

I dove right into Blaze of Winter after finishing Deep Autumn Heat and was so excited to get Theo’s story but I found myself not being able to connect with Theo and Avery like I did with Seb and Lexie. For some reason I liked Avery but I didn’t love her and after a while I got frustrated with her and her actions towards Theo. At one point I was glad when Theo got mad at her but I wanted Avery to open up more not just to Theo but to me as a reader. I found it much harder to get into this book than the first one.

Theo is a true Greyson and when he figures out what he wants he goes for it until it’s his. I really loved him and sadly didn’t like him with Avery until the very end. There were a few times when he did things that I thought could be taken as very romantic or very creepy and the line was very thin between the two. I am interested t see how the relationship between these two plays out in future books.

We are again teased with information of the legend of the Curse of Lorelei and the shipwreck that happened off the coast of Star Harbor. I am dying to know more about this crash and how the keys that have been found will tie into what we do know. I am hoping that we get more about the Lorelei and less about the drug smugglers that have taken up home in Star Harbor. Unfortunately with Cole and Val’s books coming up next and the fact that they are a cop and a DEA agent I have a feeling that storyline will only get bigger. I am eagerly anticipating the next two books in this series and would love a novella of Emma and Jimmy’s story.