Review: Cruel Winter With You (Under the Mistletoe #1)

Cruel Winter With You by Ali Hazelwood

Published By: Amazon Original Stories
Publication Date: November 12, 2024
Date Read: December 3, 2024
Genre: Adult – Romance
Source: Loaned from KU
Format: E-Book
Pages: 73

Add to Goodreads | Add to Storygraph

For two former childhood friends, a blustery winter storm stirs some frosty—and scorching—memories in a delightful short story by #1 New York Times bestselling author Ali Hazelwood.

All newly minted pediatrician Jamie Malek wants is to borrow a roasting pan for Christmas dinner. Unfortunately, that requires her to interact with Marc—her best friend’s troublemaking brother, who’s now a tech billionaire. He’s the one who got away. She’s the one who broke his heart. Outside, a howling blizzard. Inside, a crackling fire. Suddenly, being snowbound with the man she never expected to see again might not be such a bad way to spend a winter’s night.

Ali Hazelwood’s Cruel Winter with You is part of Under the Mistletoe, a stirring collection of December romances that thrill and tingle all the way. They can be read or listened to in one swoony sitting.

This novella was the entire reason why I decided to give these novellas a go. I’m a huge fan of Ali Hazelwood’s novels. I’ve found some of her other novellas a little hit or miss, but decided as someone who loves everything Christmas, this was definitely one that I needed to try.

I did enjoy Cruel Winter With You. It’s a cute, fun romance set against a wintery backdrop. This novella follows some childhood friends who had grown apart over the years, snowed in and forced to face up to their past. I really liked this as I do really enjoy a good childhood friends to lovers trope. I find it absolutely adorable and that was no different in this one. However, having said that, I didn’t really feel the festive vibes that I was really hoping for in this novella. While it is kind of festive, as in the characters are snowed in… that’s the only wintery vibes we get. The rest of the novella consists of flashbacks of what happened between the characters in the past. While I did really enjoy that and find it super cute, I feel like this was just a typical romance novella… not really a christmas novella so I was really missing the Christmas feelings I was expecting in this one.

Cruel Winter With You is cute and fun with a little hint of spice towards the end. I’m glad I read it, but I wouldn’t re-read this one and I definitely think it’s not worth it if you’re specifically looking for some wintery/Christmas fun reads.