Winter Chill (A First Time Gay Romance)

There is nothing wrong, in principle, in beginning a story in a light mood and letting it gradually become darker and more dramatic. Transitions must be fastidiously treated, though, and that is exactly what is not working here.

While whole pages/scenes are neatly written and convincing if read by themselves they simply do not work if read in succession. Mood and characterization do not progress logically: they shift and not always consistently.
The overall impression is that of a disjointed chain of events.

Sex scenes are quite bad. The lovers seem always preoccupied by facts unrelated to their love making and depictions in general read like examples from a safer-sex handbook for gay teenagers.

Indie and Daniel stole my heart! "First time" romances can be difficult to write, they're often too sweet to stomach or rely too much on "love at first sight" with nothing to support the earthshaking and enternal emotional attachment. But Aria Grace and JJ Hunter nailed it with Winter Chill! I love the fact that Indie and Daniel started out as friends. Their connection felt real and believable. I hope there's a sequel! I can't get enough of these two hotties!

Winter Chill started out really slow as it introduced the main character. My interest was waning but it picked up and became involving as the story developed. In the end I would give it 4 stars as a free Prime read, but maybe 3 stars if you were paying for it.

Andrew ‘Indie’ Walker has never had a girlfriend, but he’s never given any thought to the possibility of being gay. When a winter storm forces him to share body heat, and a bed with his handsome roommate Daniel, Indie starts to realize that he is attracted to Daniel on a personal level. The two decide to accompany each other home for the holidays, first to Daniels home where late night walk in the park leads to their first kiss, a heated exchange up against picnic table. But Daniels destructive home life soon gets in the way and Indie flees to his own home town, fearing he’s not only lost his best friend, but lost something he can’t put a name to just yet.

I was pleasantly surprised at just how much content this short story contained. Grace and Hunter give the reader detailed insight into both young men’s lives and emotions. My favorite aspect to this story was the inner monologue for Indie. Andrew Walker, lovingly dubbed Indie by his little sister who couldn’t pronounce his name, is a very confused young man. The story is told through his eyes as he navigates his ever growing feelings for his best friend. A virgin who has never been kissed, much less had a sexual experience with a guy or a girl, Indie slowly comes to terms with the fact that not only is he gay, he is in love with Daniel.

My only issue with the story was how quickly Daniel went from adamantly proclaiming, I’m not gay, to I love you and can’t live without you. Perhaps it was because the focus of the narration was with Indie, but I didn’t quite get the mind change for Daniel. Regardless I was so engrossed in this story about roommates and best friends turned lovers over Winter break. Narrated by Michael Pauley who either has the accent with that slight Wisconsin drawl as an undertone, or he adapted it flawlessly for this story. The tones and inflections he chose for the characters were perfect for their part in the story.

Short, sexy and steamy while being well written, full of content and perfectly told by Pauley. If you are a fan of Gay for you type stories, young love, and stories about discovering who you are then you’ll surely enjoy this book.

* I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review through http://mmgoodbookreviews.wordpress.com *

Ok for starters I had some issues with the begining of this story. I get the whole "gay4U" premise. But let's face it any guy who allows another guy to climb into bed with him while he is JOing to any kind of porn has got to be either gay or at the very least bisexual. I mean even with the whole "freezing to death" scenario he would of at least asked Andrew to wait till after he came or stopped JOing before Andrew climbed into bed with him. Now that I've said that, once past that point I loved this book. Their whole relationship totally worked from the start, mainly due to the fact that they were best friend already. I thought the whole "Stepmother" storyline was creepy as heck. Personally rather than promoting this as "Gay4U" I think it should have been touted as a "Best Friends 2 Lovers" story. That said the writing for this was awesome, I loved both of the main characters as well. Interestingly, I found their respective families reactions quite believable since it is much more likely to happen that way today than back when I told mine. I really felt like Andrew and Daniel's relationship by the end was exactly what it should have been and totally believeable. Over all I really like this story and definitley will be reading more of these authors works.

Winter Chill is a story about two bi-curious college roommates who discover a deep and abiding love for one another.  It is a journey that will lead to self-discovery, passion and a relationship. I promise that, once you start reading this, you will not want to put this book down.

The book started off great and the love scenes were definitely hot, but then the ending came and that was it. I don’t want to spoil the book for those who haven’t read this but the ending brings up questions that I would have liked answers to. An epilogue would have been a great way to answer the questions or a second book. With that said it still was a heart grabbing story!