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A review by angieinbooks
One Walk in Winter by Georgia Beers
4.0
I've now read this twice, so maybe time for a review?
First things first, because this is the type of thing that bothers me. The title of this novel hinges on a walk the protagonists make where they meet unexpectedly--the only two people walking in the woods--on a snowy morning in November. It's the first thing that happens in the novel and the last thing referenced at the end of the novel. And that final reference, along with the title, mention a "winter" walk. But last time I checked, November (and November before Thanksgiving) wasn't in the winter. And ugh. It's such a simple thing and I know--I KNOW--I'm being pedantic but it's not a hard thing to get right. And it just irks me.
Okay, now that that's out of my system...
One Walk inAutumn Winter is the first Georgia Beers book I ever read, and it's wonderful. It's Georgia Beers at her best because now that I've read several of her books, I've not read one that quite lives up the expectations this book has set in terms of what Beers is able to do.
The premise: Olivia meets a stranger meet in the woods one early snowy morning and it's one of those moments for these women when you know that your life has changed forever. There's attraction and in invitation for coffee, and a promise that life is a little bit better after this stolen moment in the woods. That is until Olivia discovers later that morning that the attractive, life-changing stranger, Haley, is her new boss and has taken the position Olivia has patiently and steadfastly worked hard to to earn, having spent years as the assistant manager under an incompetent manager. And now that the position is open, she's heartbroken when she isn't offered the promotion. It hurts even more when she learns that Haley is not even competant in her new role. So there's tension and bad feelings, but there's also attraction.
Beers does so many things right in this novel. There's drama and miscommunication but it all makes sense within the structure of the narrative. Mingling this tension with real attraction makes it all the more satisfying. Beers could have made Olivia an absolute bitch or Haley a stuck up trust-fund baby, but Beers manages to avoid those pitfalls and gives us multi-dimensional characters who must navigate an unfair and impossible circumstance. The question is: Can their attraction override everything else?
I loved this the first time I read and loved it when I read it again. And it's the perfect time of year to read this, as it takes place just before Thanksgiving in November and ends on New Year's Day. We even get an epilogue, which I've come to not expect in Beers' novels, so that's nice, too.
First things first, because this is the type of thing that bothers me. The title of this novel hinges on a walk the protagonists make where they meet unexpectedly--the only two people walking in the woods--on a snowy morning in November. It's the first thing that happens in the novel and the last thing referenced at the end of the novel. And that final reference, along with the title, mention a "winter" walk. But last time I checked, November (and November before Thanksgiving) wasn't in the winter. And ugh. It's such a simple thing and I know--I KNOW--I'm being pedantic but it's not a hard thing to get right. And it just irks me.
Okay, now that that's out of my system...
One Walk in
The premise: Olivia meets a stranger meet in the woods one early snowy morning and it's one of those moments for these women when you know that your life has changed forever. There's attraction and in invitation for coffee, and a promise that life is a little bit better after this stolen moment in the woods. That is until Olivia discovers later that morning that the attractive, life-changing stranger, Haley, is her new boss and has taken the position Olivia has patiently and steadfastly worked hard to to earn, having spent years as the assistant manager under an incompetent manager. And now that the position is open, she's heartbroken when she isn't offered the promotion. It hurts even more when she learns that Haley is not even competant in her new role. So there's tension and bad feelings, but there's also attraction.
Beers does so many things right in this novel. There's drama and miscommunication but it all makes sense within the structure of the narrative. Mingling this tension with real attraction makes it all the more satisfying. Beers could have made Olivia an absolute bitch or Haley a stuck up trust-fund baby, but Beers manages to avoid those pitfalls and gives us multi-dimensional characters who must navigate an unfair and impossible circumstance. The question is: Can their attraction override everything else?
I loved this the first time I read and loved it when I read it again. And it's the perfect time of year to read this, as it takes place just before Thanksgiving in November and ends on New Year's Day. We even get an epilogue, which I've come to not expect in Beers' novels, so that's nice, too.