Title: Unsteady
Author: Nicole Northwood
Genre: romance; novella; contemporary
Synopsis: (from Goodreads) When Lincoln’s ex-girlfriend attacks him outside of the bar where he works, he doesn’t expect the confrontation to be thwarted by a baseball bat-wielding nursing student from the Collège de Saint Laurent.
As Molly Catherine takes Lincoln to her apartment and treats his injuries, a surprise New Year’s Eve storm sets in and turns the city of Duchamp into a blanket of snow and ice. Downed tree branches and power lines cut off electricity, and in the dark of the long night, MC and Lincoln quickly connect both emotionally and physically. When the power finally comes back on and the plows begin to dig out the city, MC and Lincoln are left to decide what will melt first: the snow, or their instant connection.
Review: 3/5 stars
Content Warning: physical partner abuse (the ex).
This was cute! A super quick 50 page read with two likable main characters. I don’t typically read romance novels with first person point of view, and even more rare – alternating firsts point of view. That said, I think Northwood created two characters that create a sweet, albeit fast, relationship.
While reading, I was looking for something a little deeper to grasp onto with both of their characters. Lincoln has more backstory than MC gets, but I was still hoping for a little more. There were quite a few things attached to both their characters that went past trope and landed into cliche territory. There’s 100% a place for cliche in romance (I mean that in a great way), but some of the expected pieces in romance, in my opinion, just did’t get fully developed.
There was a crazy ex, cheating, a bartender, a will they-won’t they, a love at first sight line, a “are they even into me?”, a “you can’t go out in that storm”, a text breakup, and drunken (maybe not) a one night stand. I absolutely love these tropes but in only 50 pages, they didn’t get a whole lot of page time.
There was also repetition in the little details – “cranberry” is one that comes to mind immediately. “Gin” is another. There were a lot of reminders that both MCs liked gin, and that Lincoln smelled like the cranberry juice from the bar – where he made cranberry vodkas all night.
All that said, I honestly really enjoyed the slice of life style of a novella. The intimacy is sweet and nervous and full of cute banter. The hookup felt authentic, and it was just a fun read all the way around.
I received a free copy of this book from the author and am provided an honest review.
chelsea usher 