Picked this up on sale and read through it yesterday as a change of pace from a dense nonfiction I'm working on. The setup is simple - a grieving widow is visited by a god of winter in human form, and if she chooses to love him quickly enough, he will be hers. This all happens over the course of a few days, so it's darn close to insta-love, but it was a fun read nonetheless.

I particularly liked the bits with Owen and his magic, and those where the magic of the other gods affected the story. The rules for the world were clear and set up and followed, which is always a good sign, and they were interesting as well. Megan was realistic and struggling, both with her grief and her joy throughout the book, and despite the compressed timeline I found her character perfectly reasonable. I also appreciated that she took Owen's magic in stride, but still was awed and delighted by it, which was a nice mix.

Standard level of sex scene, with a variety that was well written, but nothing particularly noteworthy. Solid R rating overall.

I enjoyed the book and read through it in an afternoon. I'll likely pick up another in the series next time I'm looking for a fluffy read. Give it a try!

Probably my least favorite of hers out of the three I've read so far. I'm wavering between 3 and 3.5 stars. It wasn't bad at all, very well written and edited, and I really did like the characters.

My complaint is, considering the subject matter (woman grieving her dead husband, man is a snow god made man just for her), it was all just too easy. She accepted this new guy too quickly, she accepted what he was too easily, and other than one afternoon where she couldn't face telling him she loved him because she feared losing another man

Spoiler

(after which he melts in a shades of Frosty the Snowman scene)

, then they made it better and it was all ok.

It was more than twice the length of Hearts in Darkness, but I think it had like half the depth and heart.

I enjoyed this book, but I didn't love it. The premise of how Owen came into Megan's life was really cute and I liked both characters, but somehow it felt too easy. Megan's so desperately in love with her dead husband she's been mourning him for two years, and yet Owen shows up and suddenly everything's different in less than a week? Not to say I wasn't happy to see her moving on, it just cases of insta-love like this always bug me a little bit.

I loved the way Owen's powers were displayed and his limitations really made him more believable for me. Yes please, build me an igloo! I really enjoyed that he wasn't all powerful. He was very sweet with Megan. I think part of what took this story down a bit for me was that we really don't know much about Megan other than her history with her husband. Because she's all alone at the cabin her interactions with friends and family are minimal at best. I would have liked to see everyone interacting together to get more of a sense of who she is as a person.

Still this is really great quality of writing and I enjoyed the story as I was reading it. I just didn't really fall in love with the characters where I'm just loving them to pieces. I'd look to another book eventually I think. I'm curious how the rest of the series shapes up.

If you have followed along with my blog or reviews you have probably figured out by now that I don’t read contemporary. I just don’t like it; my everyday life is ordinary so I want my books to be extraordinary and take me somewhere else! Before all of you contemporary lovers get offended, let me just say that there is nothing wrong with the genre at all. It is just not for me. I bring this up because North of Need did have fantastical elements that I loved, but it read much like a contemporary novel would. I was hesitant going in just because I had heard that about this book, but I was happily surprised by how much I enjoyed reading North of Need. I would classify it more as a crossover book between fantasy and contemporary and it had just enough of the supernatural to keep me content.

The mythology in North of Need was fascinating; I remember hearing a little bit about the Anemoi from reading Greek mythology, but I immersed myself back into the subject after reading this book. Laura peppers the mythology through the book at just the right moments so you get just enough information to follow along with who is who and how gods in this world came to be, but you are not overwhelmed with information. I appreciated the balance between the mythology and real life relationships that formed throughout this book.

The main relationship we see develop is between Megan and Owen. Megan is a widow who still mourns her husband two years after his death. She has been living a half-life since he died. Filled with grief, she still carries the burden of his death on her shoulders. I cannot imagine what kind of emotional turmoil she must be feeling when she meets Owen and her heart reacts to his presence. The guilt she feels is overwhelming at times and my heart broke for her. She feels as though she is betraying her husband by wanting another man and is having a hard time moving past that lump in her throat. Laura paints Megan’s pain so well; it is hard to not empathize with her situation. I loved watching Owen learn how to help her heal and realize that she can be happy again.

I knew I loved this book because whenever I picked it up to read it I had a smile on my face. It is a great book to just get lost in for a while. The best words I can use to describe this book are: warm and sexy. The male protagonist is just the sweetest man, err I mean god. He is so careful with Megan, treating her like she is the most precious being on Earth. That love seeps out of the pages and right into your heart. There was not a slow burn with Megan and Owen though; their passion was white hot from the beginning. But lust quickly turned to love, and Owen slowly mended Megan’s broken heart one piece at a time. The fact that it releases in November is perfect since Owen is a god of winter. While reading, I found myself wishing for snow to fall so I could curl up by the fireplace and sink into this world.

Overall, I am in love with this book. I did not go in expecting to enjoy it half as much as I did, but Laura sucked me into the lives of Megan and Owen so fully I could not put the book down. I am so interested to see the other three stories of this series when they are released. If you are like me and don’t read a lot of contemporary but want to just test out the genre, this book would be a great opportunity to do that. Or if you mainly read contemporary but want to have a little fantasy in your life, than North of Need fits that mold as well. It has a little something for lovers of multiple genres and one I will be on the lookout for in the future. I can’t wait to see whose story the next book, West of Want, will bring us.

This was a sweet Christmas romance, which was just what I was looking for, and what I have come to expect from [a:Laura Kaye|4805272|Laura Kaye|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1313725122p2/4805272.jpg]. Owen was hot, the romance was hot, the sex was hot, the weather was cold. :P

I really loved Owen actually. He was so silly and light-hearted. He acted like a child sometimes and I thought it was adorable, as did Megan. Definitely my kind of guy. As she wished him goodnight, he asked her if they could have ice cream for breakfast. Haha, how cute! And of course she couldnt say no to him. Who could?

The story and mythology behind it was really interested and added a twist to a story that could have easily been contemporary. And I really enjoyed Boreas too. The only problem for me was the way Megan accepted her situation. Some random guy shows up at her secluded cabin and she lets him in, lets him stay even though he has hardly given her an explanation as to why he knew her name. And when she wakes up the next morning to find him sleeping on the floor next to her bed, she doesnt freak out. And once he does give her an explanation for why he is there, she just accepts it. No problem believing in the paranormal. It was a bit of a stretch, but I really enjoyed it nonetheless, and it had a great HEA. I cannot wait to read the sequel, [b:West of Want|13090964|West of Want (Hearts of the Anemoi, #2)|Laura Kaye|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1355035930s/13090964.jpg|18262688]. This is my third Laura Kaye book and I have loved them all so far. Check her out!

2.5 stars
The audiobook saved this one for me.

Utterly Fantastic!

After reading of such pain, loss, and devastation, to then read of such a beautiful gift, one truly from the Gods, was healing and intensity beautiful. I without a doubt recommend this book! Such a blessing to read!!

3.5 stars