I haven’t read the previous novel, but the defining conflict that shaped Missy’s decision to go on this trip is explained, several times, so I don’t think I missed anything that would affect this story.

I picked this up because it was set on a tour of Scandinavia, and because of that, I would’ve enjoyed more travel descriptions. As it was, it felt like they spent a lot of time on the tour bus, (and a lot of time with Missy sleeping on the bus!), though maybe that’s exactly what happens on these tours! There’s not much tension, as we already know who the bad guy is, and while there’s a little bit about a possible co-conspirator on the trip, there’s not really much time spent on that, either.

“She also wasn’t quite sure what she’d been thinking when she agreed to meet Rik for a ride. Whatever that meant. Past Missy knew what she would like for it to mean, but Present Missy tried to subdue Past Missy with a chokehold. No fucking somewhat random strangers. She was done with that part of her life. Fizziness, okay. Fucking, not so much.”

At 35, Missy has realized that she’s not proud of the person she is, and this trip is meant to be a chance for her to find herself. Sleeping with Rik is exactly the kind of thing “old” Missy would’ve done, so she, understandably, blew hot and cold on her relationship with him. Rik, however, unlike the guys she’s used to, is very sweet, and is confused by Missy’s freezing him out. At the end of the story, though, I did believe that they had a chance for a HFN relationship, and I would’ve liked to see more of it.

Overall, I liked this, but it just felt compressed. I wished it had been a full-length novel instead. But still, I enjoyed what was there, so I’ll give this 3.5 stars, rounding up to 4.

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I was interested in this book partly because of its setting and partly because it promised a mystery set against the locations of Nordic noir. Sadly, it lived up to neither of these. The writing was patchy, ungrammatical in places (certainly in terms of British English) and flat. The characters promised much but were ultimately inconsistent and under-developed. Perhaps the book needed to be longer to allow the writer time to unfold them and the plot.

Poor Missy Karlsen, she’s booked a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Scandinavia to rediscover herself after ending a bad friendship. When she arrives in Copenhagen, she barfs all over her tour guide’s shoes (honestly one of the most crushingly awkward moments ever to start a romance!) and is assisted by fellow passenger Rik Scholz. After that beginning, there’s a slower few chapters with quite a bit of exposition about Rik’s real purpose for being on the tour. One of the things I like best about this novella is that Missy is doing quite a bit of soul-searching about herself as a person---she was a bad friend, and she lost people she loved as a result. The dilemma of the novella is if Missy can balance her goal of focusing on herself with this new, exciting romance. The narrative style tells more than it shows, which isn’t my personal favorite; but I always enjoy a story where the main character is evaluating and taking stock of her life.