3.5-4/5 stars. The first half just really dragged on for me. I was really really hoping something would pick up but it took a long time for that to happen. Once it did, I did really love it! I was also getting tripped up through the entire book that the FMC was named Jasper. My brain had to work hard to remember that she was female.
I liked the small town aspect because that really developed Jasper as a person. She always felt like she had to hide her true self from everyone, including her family. I really appreciated learning about and reading from the POV of an autistic person. I felt a lot of her struggles and inner thoughts were relatable!
It was around Act 2, Scene 5 that I was still thinking not much had happened between Jasper and Arthur. No banter or tension. VERY slow burn. But like I said, after it picked up (around the time of the documentary showing), I really enjoyed it. A lot of great quotes and I loved Arthur.
I loved seeing Jasper's growth in this, along with the people in her life who learned more about her and how to love her and let her be herself.
"It was not pristine, but it was love."

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

This was just a beautiful Christmas story with all the feel-goods I love during this time of year especially. Jasper is a neurodivergent who is autistic. Those on the spectrum have some degree of lacking the ability to socialize without some awkwardness due to overstimulation in certain social settings. What I didn't like is that her mother made sure that she knew she was "imperfect" so Jasper carried that label with her, culminating in her not being able to be her authentic self. But she is caring and nurturing and a genuinely good person. I thought her character was well-developed and I really felt for her plight, but she had self-growth and learned to stand up for herself and who she is.

I have been provided with a review copy of Some Like it Cold from NetGalley for an impartial review. This book was just so easy to get lost in. I completely got lost in the story and I just loved getting to see these new characters come together. I just absolutely love this story and I just didn’t want to put it down. I can’t wait to see what’s next from this author.

I really appreciated the main character in this book being a neurodivergent female. It will always continue to be my favorite heroin as I myself am a neurodivergent female! 😁

This book was super cute and while I was disgusted with Jasper's family quite a few times I really loved watching all of their stories unfolding. Such a cute read and I suggest every one gives this book a shot! ⭐⭐⭐⭐ From me!!

Jasper heads back to town after 18 months away at school, thinking she'll be saying goodbye to this beautiful town where no one can accept her. Arthur is her high school nemesis and she can't help but run into him again since his family runs the local theater. I couldn't understand why everyone in this town seemed so mean but yet it's billed as kind of a Christmas wonderland? I was invested in Jasper and Arthur getting together but there were some moments where I was thinking that both of them needed to run away ;).
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in return for my honest review.

Some Like It Cold is such a heartwarming story. It reminded me of Lessons in Chemistry and Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder….a leading lady who has challenges but that makes her endearing. Sometimes it’s nice to read a story through a different lens and feel that innocence of the main character. The world can be more difficult but the love they feel is so real and genuine.
Jasper came home to say goodbye to her hometown only to be sucked right back in. Arthur has a job to do and has no plans to revisit the past or his feelings for Jasper. Both Jasper and Arthur have supportive and loving families but they each have their own challenges to navigate and aren’t looking to add to the pile.
The story is written in several voices which gives you dual perspectives which I liked. I loved the pure innocence of the characters and the warmth the author makes you feel while reading it. If you’re looking for a feel good story look no further!

Sadly this is a DNF for me.
I could not bring myself to continue it, the story just didn’t grab my attention the way I was hoping.

If you are looking for a good to read on a cold winter day, this is it!

Some Like It Cold follows Jasper, a girl who returns home for the holidays (to a small town, no less!), but is planning on a new life away from her family, who struggles to understand her.

She runs into Arthur, her old childhood enemy, and the sparks ignite! I love enemies to lovers, so this checked a box for me in terms of fave tropes. I really enjoyed this book, and think it's perfect for the winter season!

I feel like this book is a bit mismarketed, or maybe I just misunderstood. It read less like a romance and more like a coming of age novel, focusing particularly on Jasper’s neurodivergence and her place in her hometown. Her family is pretty insufferable; honestly, pretty much everyone in the book is insufferable. Not my taste for sure, but I know there are folks who will enjoy it.

This fell flat for me. I really wanted to fully love it but I just couldn't. I however did love the atmosphere and setting ALOT.

Thank you Wednesday Books, SMP, NetGalley, and the author for the gifted electronic copy.

“𝘏𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘴, 𝘑𝘢𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮.”

This was a cozy YA romance, with the added bonus of some really solid neurodivergence representation.

Jasper is coming home from college for the first time in a long time and she’s hoping not to be back again any time soon. Of course things don’t go to plan when Jasper’s sister Christine gets engaged and Jasper gets caught up in the wedding hubbub. If there is one thing that never fails to be true about wedding planning, it’s that the family dynamics and drama always come out to play.

We get to see how Jasper’s family functions and what those relationships are like. Christine is simply awful. Her parents never seemed to fully accept or adapt to Jasper’s diagnosis. And Jasper just gets walked all over. In the midst of all this we also have Jasper’s BFF (and her boyfriend and her new bestie) in addition to an old enemy(?), Arthur, from high school. Insert our enemies to lovers romance.

Overall this was a super cute and easy read. I absolutely adore small town vibes and enemies to lovers is a favorite trope of mine. Watching Jasper navigate all of these relationships, dynamics, and pressures just made your heart break for her at points. But then watching her own it in certain moments had me smiling and cheering for her. The neurodivergence rep was awesome, especially as the author disclosed that she too is neurodivergent. I do feel like at points it was over explained, but I can appreciate the authors passion for making sure the representation was accurately and respectfully done. There is something special about reading a story told from an “own voices” perspective 💛

Let me start by telling you how much I adored Jasper. She was a main character who made the story, and I loved seeing her small town, her relationships, her present (and her future) through her eyes. She made the story, and I loved that a character like her could be centered. I also loved the small-town holiday romance vibes - It was a great combination of feels, of frustration, and of some good humorous situations. And of course, I loved that it was love, and the slow burn and way it develops was also a delight. I needed some holiday romance feels in my life, and this fit that bill so well. Thanks to NetGalley for the look at this October 2024 release!

Some Like It Cold by Elle McNicoll [St. Martin's Press #NetGalley]

Liked:
- we love a small town romance
- main character is neurodiverse

Not so much:
- Jasper's family is just awful; there's no other way to put it and despite how they sort of redeem themselves by the end - they're just awful people. And until they get called out for it, they truly don't seem to realize just how awful they really are
- Just a lot of mean, vindictive characters within the town itself

I put this book off in anticipation of winter. Once I made it through my spooky fall reads, this was first up on my list. I found that to be a great choice on my part! This book was marketed to fans of Gilmore Girls, and that's exactly what it gave. I have described it to friends as "Gilmore Girls if Gilmore Girls was a Hallmark movie" - this was right up my alley and definitely put me in the winter mood! This was my first experience with author Elle McNicoll, and I think her writing is really beautiful. I looked into her and see that she has an extensive backlog, and will definitely be dipping my toes in a little deeper with her stories.

I really struggled with this one- while it’s YA, the language feels stilted and formal. There were so many unlikeable characters from the very beginning that it made it difficult to root for anyone. I can see how this could appeal to some, but it just wasn’t for me.

Perfect small town, enemy to lovers story to get us ready for winter 🩵

The author did an amazing job developing characters and bringing their stories to life. She touches on more deeper topics including portraying the character being neurodiverse. She writes it well and brings light to something people deal with daily.

Cute and touching start to the winter season.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read and review.

This was really sweet!

Part of this reminded me of 27 dresses, where Jasper’s sister Christine is getting married and she’s a terror to everyone in the town and even worse to her sister, and then in the end she’s completely publicly humiliated.

I related to Jasper in a lot of ways, I thought the writing for her was very well done.

The romance was a slow burn, enemies to lovers (sort of, Arthur has always been in love with her, but pretended to hate her instead.) like it takes a WHILE, with Arthur pining through most of the novel 😂.

Overall I thought this was very cute. If you’re looking for something to pick up for winter, this would be a good one to add to your list. The season doesn’t have much to do with the story, but it’s a good rom com to pick up regardless.

Thank you @netgalley and @wednesdaybooks for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

I listened to Elle McNicoll’s first book, A Kind of Spark, earlier in 2024 and enjoyed how much it dug into the emotions and processes of a young autistic girl taking a special interest and running with it. So I dove into her first YA Contemporary small-town Romance, Some Like It Cold. I enjoyed it. The emotions were gripping, the journeys interesting, the bonds deep, and seeing how these neurodiverse characters deal with being themselves in a small town.

The story follows two young neruodiverse people in Lake Pristine dealing with huge pressures in their lives. Jasper is a young autistic woman coming home from university winter break, intending to leave forever afterwards. Arthur is a young filmmaker dealing with anger issues and his father’s death. Jasper dislikes Arthur from her teen years, and running into each other on Jasper’s first night back throws her original plans for a turn. The next few weeks might have them see another side of each other. And throughout it all, we explore this so-called perfect small town of Lake Pristine and that it’s hiding many secrets.

In general, I tend to enjoy romance books that has an equally as important non-romantic plot line, such as self discovery or coming to a major choice, adding more depth to the characters than simply falling in love. Much like A Kind of Spark, our protagonists feel that Lake Pristine is suffocating with parental expectations and being forced to mask. Secrets is a major theme in the book, and not even Jasper and Arthur are immune to them. In short, this is an introspective slice of life at the crossroads and finding love in the middle of it.

Jasper herself was an endearing protagonist, and while at first, she’s in her shell, she does things like making goals lists to be brave and vulnerable, and she blossoms into one of my favorites. I do like how we have an idea how autism affects Jasper’s mannerisms and life overall, and since the author is autistic herself, it’s not seen as negative or tragic, but authentic and real. I do like how things like masking, reading other’s emotions and sensory overload are explained in a dynamic way that’s easy to understand for everyone. It was interesting that Jasper and her parents saw her autism diagnosis differently, and was an interesting source of conflict.

While it did take me a little bit to warm up to Arthur, he was great as well, displaying a brooding personality at first due to his background, but we see through his POV, that he’s dealing with his own demons. The romance between Jasper and Arthur was interesting to see grow, as the two slowly transition from adversaries to appreciating each other, all with some fun banter and emotional navigation.

The rest of the cast was fleshed out with great depth and differentiation, which is hard to do in a standalone. My favorite secondary characters were Odette and Christine. I enjoyed how each of them was so different from each other, we see people of all ages, and they felt like they had a long established relationship, which is much how it is in a small town, further enhancing the themes of belonging and acceptance.

The setting of Lake Pristine reminded me of a small exclusive town located somewhere in the UK, and felt cozy, yet restrictive for those that don’t fit in. Between the vivid descriptions and people in the town, Lake Pristine was almost a character in itself. Almost like you wanted to visit, despite the secrets hidden away. I did find it was interesting that this was set in December in a snowy town, as many times, autistics are seen as “emotionally cold”, but it shows that it’s far from the truth. I do like how other flavors of neurodiversity are covered as well.

The prose of this book was smooth and easy to understand, and very cozy as well. It does have that teen romance feel, even though the protagonists are near the end of their teens, which is a good thing.

If you’re interested in seeing neurodiverse characters dealing with how to be themselves in a town that seems to require hiding your true self and falling in love at the same time, as well as authentic autistic experiences, this is for you, especially if you’re autistic and/or ADHD!

Some Like It Cold by Elle McNicoll

This book was just like the old black and white movies that Arthur has been playing at his family's movie theater. Cute and comfortably predictable most of the way. But I have honestly not ever seen a B+W movie turned #yaromcom before. It was very well done. And you know what? It works even if you have never watched any of the old B+W's that Jasper loves to watch.

Can our autistic star of the book, Jasper find her way through the town (not literally) that she has been avoiding for the last year and a half. One thing that has been bothering me about Jasper's character is that at the young age of 18 she has been able to beautifully mask the symptoms that show her to be autistic. I don't think that is reasonable. Can someone so young really be so perfect at that? I don't personally think so. It's a difficult thing to do unless you were an actor. Which she is not.

But this was a cute and well done book otherwise. I would definitely try another book by this author again. It was a fast and fun read.

#netgalley
#stmartinspress
#wednesdaybooks
#somelikeitcold

Thank you so much St. Martin's Press | Wednesday Books for the ARC!

This one was overall cute and since it was a YA, I should have expected this, but it just felt a little too young and immature for my taste. I probably am not the best target audience, but it didn't hold my attention like I would have liked.

Some parts were definitely cute and redemptive and the cover is BEYOND adorable. Be sure to read other reviews, I'm sure I'm in the minority on this one!

It is available as of October 1st!