Cold Comfort by Audra North
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is a light, easy, charming read about a couple who don’t like each other very much at first, but are manipulated by Mr Patel, Monica’s father and Josh’s boss, to drive together from the Silicon Valley to Connecticut, where Josh is returning home for Thanksgiving and Monica is starting a professorship at Yale.
Though they are attracted to each other, they resent each other because Monica’s father has been singing praises about Josh to Monica and bragging about Monica to Josh. On their road trip, they find out that their perceptions have been skewed, learn to like each other, and decide to be honest with each other. It’s the beginning of a friendship that moves into the bedroom and develops into real feelings.
The complications are mostly internal. Josh has gotten used to prioritizing work over relationships in order to survive, while Monica has felt the pressure of making her dad proud all her life. They challenge each other’s paths in life and inspire each other to go after the things that will really make them happy.
Josh is a great guy-handsome and respectful. He cares about Monica’s safety and feelings, and doesn’t want to hurt her, but since he values his work too much, he feels conflicted. Monica is a smart, gutsy gal, but feels restricted by her father’s expectations and her need for her father’s approval and love.
COLD COMFORT is a solid, entertaining, contemporary romance with likable main characters, who bravely fight for their happy ending and make each other better people. The novel doesn’t have many sex scenes and isn’t very emotionally intense, but had lots of sexy banter. I liked Monica’s confidence with her sexuality and Josh’s gentlemanly assertiveness.
*ARC received from the author in exchange for an honest review.
