When Cheyenne, her sister, Presley and her mother, Anita arrived in Whiskey Creek, Cheyenne was home for the first time in her life. Before Whiskey Creek, they had gone hungry and cold, begged at street corners, and lived just ahead of the law. Their mother did what she had to do, whatever it was, to get by. Life was on the edge, and anything but respectable. When Cheyenne was fourteen, they arrived in Whiskey Creek. It had been home ever since. Miraculously, they were still there as Cheyenne made it through high school. They might live in the river bottoms, but Cheyenne she has real friends in Whiskey Creek. Life is pretty good.

Presley works in a casino, Cheyenne works at a bed-and-breakfast, and Anita is dying. There is the memory of a blond woman alive in Cheyenne’s head, and Cheyenne is afraid she will never know who the blonde woman is, or if she is just a fantasy she’d dreamed up. There are questions Cheyenne is afraid will never be answered.

When Snow Falls is my introduction to Brenda Novak’s Whiskey Creek series. The setting is a unique small town populated by lots of fully-fleshed characters, plenty of small town drama, and lots of stories behind the scenes. Although she has such a miserable start in life and a disreputable mother, Cheyenne is remarkably well balanced, and has a cadre of well-balanced, well-meaning, loving friends, at least two potential love interests (more than what you’d expect for a virgin in her mid thirties) and everything in life looks bright and shiny—as long as she doesn’t look at her mother and their tumultuous past. There might be a few little complications to be navigated, like the private investigator, Eugene Crouch hunting for Anita; Eve Harmon, Cheyenne’s best friend expressing interest in Joe DiMarco, the guy Cheyenne has been crazy about secretly, since she was fourteen; and running into Dylan Amos in the park. Some girls have all the luck.

Highly recommended.

I found When Snow Falls a charming read. One of the best things about a series is that there are lots of characters with their own established realities. Beneath the surface stories, there are more stories lurking. Lucky for me, a reader with a short attention span, I didn’t have to memorize the whole cast, because Brenda sent Cheyenne’s friends on a trip, getting them out of the way so that Cheyenne could deal with the ethical consideration of her infatuation with Joe on her own. Only instead she…
but no! Can’t give away the story!

2 1/2 stars! I feel this rating is pretty generous.

This was the first Brenda Novak book that I almost gave up on.
I found this incredibly hard going.

For starters, the "hero" of this story doesn't make an appearance until around the 20% mark. That is literally a fifth of the book where he doesn't even exist! Then he says one slightly rude thing to the 31 year old virgin and wham! she's in bed with him.

I didn't LOVE the group of friends in previous book. They were even worse in this.
Super judgemental and annoying.
Also seriously? they suspect Sophia's husband is abusive, but none of them actually give a flying you know what to actually help her.
Eve is the most annoying character ever written and I couldn't care less if that character ever gets her love story.

The only remotely likeable character in this whole book was Dylan.
Cheyenne was wimpy and a tad too martyr-ish for my liking. There is also no mystery aspect. She spends the last few pages finding out about her past but made no actual effort herself even though that is supposedly what she wants.

As I write this review I cannot help but wonder if someone else and not Brenda Novak actually wrote this? I usually devour her series of books...now I am dreading reading the others.

Last of all, if you are interested in this author, do NOT start with this series, try reading The Last Stand series or the Stillwater series, they are amazing books.