Snow Angels by Sabrina York

Snow Angels
By: Sabrina York
Publisher: Decadent Publishing Company
Published: December 1, 2014
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Length: Novella
Heat Level: Spicy
Reviewer: Dana
Date: April 5, 2015

 

The last thing Wade Masters wants on his month-long getaway to his sister’s wilderness cabin is company. A wounded warrior, Wade is looking for complete isolation to deal with the tragedy of his life and his screaming guilt.

But company he gets, in the form of Lyssa Salk, a spunky, diminutive massage therapist. Who says she can talk to dead people.

Trapped together in the snowbound cabin, Wade and Lyssa have little else to do but help each other heal, spiritually, physically and sexually.

Wade is coming off a long recuperation period, and after agreeing to be Mr. December for his friends' Wounded Vets calendar campaign, Wade just needs a little privacy. Especially from the stalkery-ish women who have been showing up in the most unexpected of places (like naked in his bed) all for a piece of him. So escaping to his sister Val's remote country cabin with his war wounded dog, seems like a good idea. Until she shows up with...that.

Lyssa is escaping her past, and her best friend Val has generously shared the use of her "empty" remote country cabin until Lyssa can get back on her feet again. Except when she arrives at the cabin with her furry cat in tow, she's horrified to see that the cabin isn't as empty as she had hoped.

Wade wasn't expecting anyone, but when Lyssa walked in, his body parts that had been "dead' for a year, suddenly spring back to life. However, he thinks that she is just another stalker after him because he was a Calendar man, so he's less than chivalrous. When Lyssa explains that her car is stuck in a snow ditch, and that she walked a mile to the house, Wade relents and lets her stay the night. When the truth comes out that Val has set them up, Wade is less wary of Lyssa, but he can't shake the ghost of his dead girlfriend, and the fact that Lyssa talks to herself, still makes Wade keep his distance.

Wade is still in extreme pain from almost being blown in two, and when Lyssa offers to massage away the pain, he asks her if she is a Physical Therapist. Her non-committal answer, and her magic hands has him believing he was right. Until Lyssa finally confesses that she is a Healer, and that she is a medium, of sorts.

This is where the book got a little too Sixth Sense for me. I am not a fan of characters who can "heal" the sick with their magic touch, or speak to the dead. But, I overlooked it because of the chemistry that Wade and Lyssa had. Both had baggage that they were dealing with (more than just the clothes they brought with them) and together they are able to deal with it, not to mention consume mass amounts of bacon together.

I enjoyed this book, and I loved that it took the pair a while before they jumped in the sack together. The author did a great job of shedding background light on the characters, as well as having them try and be friends before they became lovers.

I'm a huge fan of Sabrina York, and I've read other works of hers where the character jump each other before getting to know each other, and I liked that she changed it up a bit in this story.