With Love, from Cold World by Alicia Thompson
LGBTQ Contemporary Romance
August 1, 2023- Berkley
ARC

Review by Angela

I almost didn’t read this book, mainly because every time the cover popped up I read cold war instead of cold world and it kept throwing me off. Also, let’s be honest, it’s always chancy going into a book by a new-to-you author that also has a cutesy cover. I’m glad I finally picked it up, because not reading this lovely enemies to lovers, workplace romance would have been a tragedy. With Love, from Cold World might even end up being one of my favorite reads of the year.

Lauren Fox works for Cold World as a bookkeeper. She genuinely enjoys her job and the people she works with at the fun tourist destination. That is except for Asa Williamson. While Lauren is orderly and reserved, Asa tends to be open and friendly. They didn’t start out on the right foot with each other, and now Lauren can’t stand the way he constantly seems to be making fun of her. They verbally spar on a regular basis. When their boss tasks them with a project, during the holidays no less, it will either turn them into competitors or bring them together.

I really enjoyed this book, and while I thought I was going into a relatively light, comedic romance, I was once again surprised to find that this book contained deep subject matter and each of the main characters’ backstories was laden with trauma. But, it also has a cool workplace environment, secondary characters who are really more of a found family, and lots and lots of chemistry between the main characters. I also really appreciated that the author took extreme care in her approach to sexuality, dysfunctional families, anxiety, and foster care.

While this may be an enemies-to-lovers romance, there is never any real malice behind the bickering. More misunderstanding and preconceived notions. When they are trapped together overnight in Cold World, all of those misunderstands and preconceived notions come tumbling down. The two get to know each other, they talk, they play, and they get sexy. They are more alike than they are different- both of them reaching out to help others in ways they didn’t get in their childhoods. Lauren by working with a child in the foster care system and Asa by helping out on a LGBTQ+ youth crisis hotline.

The romance between them blossoms into something quite lovely. There is even a scene when Lauren confronts Asa’s (terrible) parents, that gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling. The HEA was just about perfect and now I’m kind of hoping we see more of the secondary characters in later books. Maybe they’ll get their own HEAs.

Grade- B+

Content notes- Involuntary outing of a character, foster care, off-page parental drug addiction, off-page mentions of death by overdose, and religious intolerance to sexuality