I enjoyed this first book in Annabeth Albert's new series. Great main characters as well as supporting characters. I love how she builds her communities and am eager to guess who will be in the next book in the series. Enjoyed the scenic descriptions and how both main characters dealt honestly with their struggles and worked to share them with each other. Can't wait for book 2!

3* Great descriptions of Alaska made me want to visit, but the romance is a slow burn... if it is actually a romance in your book, pun intentional.

If you're looking for a full-on romance novel, that's not what you'll be getting here. Instead, it seems to be a tale detailing the physical beauty of Alaska for the most. I was a bit surprised by it, didn't love the book, but did wonder about visiting Alaska - I mean, if characters from Holland can make the trip for 10 days, so could a Brit. I'm not sure if the author has visited and has a special love for the place, but she's done a pretty good job for the tourism aspect of the state.

The leads weren't at all suited on the face of it. One, River, is an ex-supermodel who's now a successful travel writer and whose first book is about to have its movie premiere. I'm not quite sure if he's come to Alaska to escape his demons - he has an eating disorder and perhaps detachment disorder, as well as the usual social vices, though for the most I think he's left those in the past - to kick back, to gather more stuff for his writing, or all of the former. The other, Griffin, is an alcoholic, ex-military pilot who doesn't really seem to have much aim in life other than to help out his family - grudgingly it seems, because they run a tourist business and he doesn't like interacting with people, though he does do other stuff for them - and to build his own place in an isolated plot of land.

Griffin is called in at the last minute to take a 10 day trip with a bunch of tourists and River happens to be part of it. I didn't really see sparks between the guys, though I read that River was doing his teasing best to get Griffin into bed. But, these guys' sexuality was refreshing, as neither was completely defined, and one was out and the other wasn't not out, but also wasn't that out about things - sorry that sounds confusing but read and you'll understand more. It was a nice change to see it wasn't all about getting to the prize in MM tales, i.e., the guys getting full-on sex on; in fact, neither seemed that up for full-on anal and they ended up opening up a lot to each other and discussing what they liked/not and the whys behind those likes/dislikes. Both had very different reasons, both guys' reasons were equally valid, and it actually felt believable. But, I couldn't see actual out-and-out attraction between them. It felt like River pursued, Griffin being sex-starved gave in, they had some time in bed and feelings grew. I am not meaning this as a criticism as neither was your average MM romance lead, leaving all tropes behind and simply being RL guys with pasts and experiences that had formed them into what they are today.

I can't truly say that I liked either guy and that I was rooting for them; they seemed to have many demons, were trying to overcome those demons, but what gave rise to those demons and made them the men they are today, was not given page-time. Yes, we fleetingly get told why River has an eating disorder, but that's no great surprise given that he was a supermodel. We don't get to really find out why Griff is an alcoholic and what caused his limp, so I didn't have much insight into him, other than that he was a loner and stubborn.

Like I said, I enjoyed the descriptions of the flora and fauna more than I did the romance, because the romance felt like a couple of guys coming together as they both happened to be in the same place at the same time. And the author tried to introduce a family vibe to the tale, both with Griff's full-on guys and with River getting in touch with the dad he's alluded as being estranged from, but those kind of seemed a bit isolated, even with the (abbreviated) wedding ceremony that takes place in the final chapter of the book. For people who meddled in Griff's life, his family didn't seem very meddling and his mother and sisters' ogre stance when they first saw River petered out into nothing, literal nothing. A couple of days after they meet fleetingly, River is invited for dinner, and it's as if the ogres part of the storyline had been forgotten... I'm not sure why the author went there and then didn't go there, unless she actually forgot to up the angst or edited it out in error. Sigh.

Overall, it is readable, as the author has a way with words. The next tale in the series is out in June 2019, featuring a young guy who's mentioned a couple of times in this book. I will no doubt pick it up, but this tale doesn't have me dying to read more in the series.

ARC courtesy of Carina Press and NetGalley, for my reading pleasure.