Review: Midnight in the Snow

I always love getting a new Karen Swan books in my hands. She has a summer and a winter book out every year and they’re stories that whisk you away to another part of the world – which is great for these times of no travel. Midnight in the Snow took me to a location that may have been just as chilly as what is outside my own door but was full of snowboarders and the cutthroat competitions in that world – not something I see in my neighbourhood!

Here’s the book’s description:

Award-winning director Clover Phillips is riding high when she encounters Kit Foley; a surfer and snowboarder as well-known for controversy as he is for winning championships.
Involved in an accident that had devastating consequences for a bitter rival, Kit has never spoken about what really happened that day. Determined to find out the truth, Clover heads to the snowy wilderness of the Austrian Alps, sharing a romantic winter wonderland with a man who can’t stand her.
But as she delves deeper, Clover finds herself both drawn to Kit, and even more convinced he’s hiding something. Is Kit Foley really as cold as he seems?

I am very particular when it comes to enemies to lover stories. I just cannot understand when hatred turns to attraction and I realized early on in this novel that some of my worst fears would be realized when it comes to this trope. Clover and Kit hate each other. Hate. Kit thinks Clover ruined his professional life and Clover thinks he’s 100% responsible for the accident of his fellow surfer, Cory, who Clover had just done a documentary about. Kit doesn’t do himself any favours since he doesn’t talk about the accident or his part in it and just takes the blame. The reader knows there’s more to the story, there has to be, and so does Clover. That’s part of why she’s now doing a documentary on Kit. But she’s biased. Again, that hatred. Sure, she can be professional about it and she is trying to get to the bottom of the story even if Kit won’t give it to her. But how did their hatred turn into a Happily Ever After? I couldn’t buy it and it just made me feel…ew.

An aside, Midnight in the Snow is the first title of Swan's winter novels that doesn’t either outright mention Christmas or something related to the holiday (like presents). I’m glad someone made that decision because I was pretty tired of reading these books and the holiday not featuring much at all. Publishers take note: if Christmas is in the title, we expect all holiday, all the time. So, if you were wondering if you could read this one outside of Christmas the answer is a resounding yes. There’s a bit of lead up to the holiday but the last scenes are on Christmas Eve Eve with the Big Day happening after the end of the book. It’s a great winter book since so much of it takes place at ski and snowboard resorts in Europe. I just don’t really know what the heck the title is referring to in the story…

Where Swan excelled, in my opinion, in this novel was in the setting. I really felt like I was on the mountain with Clover and her crew, observing the boarders and trying to get to the bottom of Kit’s story. If I hadn’t felt like I was really “there”, I honestly don’t know if I could have kept at the book since all the emotional parts of the story were not working for me. I don’t snowboard (despite growing up close to a lot of hills) but the world is interesting to me so I really did enjoy being immersed in a story like this one. Made me even more excited for the Olympics, honestly. You know, when everyone becomes an expert at every sport? The best! Anyway…I appreciated that Swan made me feel like I was experiencing the setting right alongside the characters and very much enjoyed that part of the story.

Midnight in the Snow was not a win for me. I’m going to give Karen Swan one more chance, though, because I'm intrigued about the new series she’s working on – a five book historical series set in Scotland.

*A copy of this novel was provided by the Canadian distributor, Publishers Group Canada, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*