This takes place at an amusement park? Sign me up! Cold World is in Florida, and sounds like it’s in a big ol’ warehouse, with a snow globe and ice skating. Cold World isn’t exactly a major park, more of a minor one, but the employees seem to enjoy it and the owner, Dolores, is a nice lady who enjoys the holidays.
The book focuses on two employees:
- Asa, a longtime employee and jack of all trades, who gets along with everyone, runs the holiday gift exchange, and has cool blue hair. Asa is bisexual and from a religious family who kicked him out for his bi-ness, and he’s been estranged from them ever since and isn’t sure what to do when his sister wants to reconnect. He also volunteers at a hotline, which is sweet.
- Lauren, the bookkeeper. Lauren is rather prim and proper, uptight, not great with people or holidays. She grew up in foster care and is alone in the world, and is trying to volunteer to work with other foster kids as an advocate. She also has the hots for Daniel, the owner’s son, who is good looking but otherwise a complete waste when you get to know him.
Ash and Lauren find each other attractive, but also things have been awkward at work ever since Lauren suggested getting rid of the gift exchange. She’s not a Scrooge, but given her background, that sort of thing is not her skill set.
Dolores assigns Asa, Lauren and Daniel to work on a project to come up with new ways to improve the place. Lauren looks at the money, Asa looks at getting the snow globe to drop actual snow because Lauren said that would look magical, and Daniel wants to spend a billion or so on setting up skiing there, something Lauren, despite her crush on Daniel, thinks is ridiculous. The book jacket makes it sound like this is a “save our business” plot, which it tentatively is, but that’s really not focused on much in this book like I was expecting, and the business seems to do its usual middlingly fine throughout.
The book is about the romance between Asa and Lauren, which starts to defrost and bud when they both end up accidentally locked in the building and can’t get out. I found myself getting more and more into this as the book went on because it really entwined Asa’s family issues and Lauren’s lack of family issues, and Lauren’s kid client, and it was really endearing. I found myself falling for the relationship, and while there’s a requisite Big Mis/temporary breakup I thought was a bit much, it quietly works out happily in the end. Lauren starts out as “this girl seems un-fun, I dunno how into her I am,” but darned if the author doesn’t make her work.
Four stars.
Comments