Book Review: Snow in Love

Snow in Love

By: Claire Ray

Published By: HarperTeen

Publication Date: December 2008

Page Count: 304

Buy it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or IndieBound

Source: Purchased by Reviewer

Audience: Young Adult - Contemporary

This is the second holiday novel of the season for me. If Hallmark and the Disney channel collaborated on a holiday movie, Snow in Love, would be it. This is a cotton candy sweet read full of holiday spirit, friendship, and romance.

Jessie Whitman lives in a small town in Alaska. As the winter holidays descend, she finds herself with more free time than usual as she works at her family ice cream shop and enjoys the school free days. She can't wait for her long distance boyfriend, Jake, to arrive, but things go south pretty quickly when Jessie learns that Jake has already arrived in town, but didn't call or text her. She doesn't know what to think and things take a turn for the worst when she finds Jake kissing a beautiful blond girl at a winter festival. Jessie is heartbroken and confused. How can someone break up with you without uttering a word?

Jessie struggles with her heartache and launches a plan with a local boy, Will, to make Jake jealous and show him what he is missing. Jessie doesn't plan on developing feelings for Will during the process, but she soon finds herself stuck between the guys and not knowing which one truly has her heart. I found Jessie to be selfish and fickle throughout a large part of the novel, but I was happy to see her finally start to make decisions and redeem herself by the end.

I never understood what Jessie saw in Jake in the first place. I found her Dad's assertions about him to be spot on. I couldn't figure out what about him was worth fighting for as I watched him mistreat both Jessie and his new girlfriend, Evie. I also loved Will from the first moment I met him and kept rooting for him to get his happy ending. As far as love triangles go, this one was weak and fairly predictable. I'm not a fan of the love triangle, but if it's going to exist, it would be better if both options were strong candidates.

In addition to the wintery romance elements, I loved the friendship between Jessie, Abby, and Erin. These girls support one another even when they don't see eye to eye. It's always nice to see positive female friendships.

Snow in Love also made me want to visit Alaska again. It's been years since I have been and I have never been in the winter, but this novel makes it seem like a magical winter wonderland full of possibilities.

If you're looking for a quick, sweet, cute holiday read, I'd recommend picking this one up. 

One Last Gripe: The town queen bee irked me. She treated her boyfriend and friends like dirt.

Favorite Thing About This Book: The setting

First Sentence: "So, my goal with your dress is total annihilation," my best friend, Abby, said as she pushed a large spiral-bound sketch pad across the table.

Favorite Character: Will

Least Favorite Character: Jake

Summary:

Welcome to Alaska!

A special welcome to my boyfriend, Jake, the cutest tourist I've ever met!

Explore our natural beauties and untouched wilderness.

Jake and I like to hike our great (romantic!) nature trails. . . .

Enjoy our perfect skiing and snowboarding conditions.

Be sure to catch Will Parker doing his snowboarding tricks. He makes all the girls in town melt. (Except for me. Who needs Will when you've got Jake?)

Experience our world-class resorts and spas.

While you're there, find out what's up with that hot girl Jake brought to the lodge this year. She's probably just his cousin or something. Right?!

Get ready for a vacation you'll never forget!