Snow Falls

I just got Snow Falls last night and finished reading it this morning. I just couldn't put it down. I love it when Gerri brings back characters from other books that I've loved. I'm glad to see that Morgan and Reese from No Strings are still together.

One of my favorite things about Gerri's writing is her ability to build a romance despite the odds that may seem to exist for a couple. I love the conversations she builds between the characters leading them into friendships before romance.

I also love her details of the scenery. I lived in the area of Colorado she talks about in this book and reading this brought back a lot of great memories of being there. She creates a scene that you can see vividly in your head.

Another wonderful romance. As always, I'm looking forward to the next book that she will be releasing.

While Gerri Hill is one of the better writers of lesbian fiction, Snow Falls was not her best work. There were an exceedingly large number of holes in the story which made it frustrating and lacking in believability.

After Ryan saves Jen from an avalanche and leads them back to her secluded cabin, Jen is in awe of the smart structure, has a prolonged conversation with Ryan about her inability to leave for at least two months, and warms herself by the stove. During their hikes in the knee high snow, Jen is typically out of breath while Ryan encourages her that the hikes will build stamina and is excellent exercise.

When the snow melts and Jen can leave, the trek back down to the road where Jen was stranded after the avalanche will be two hours. The trek back up takes Ryan three hours.

This scenario is insane. How in the world did they ever get back up to the cabin after the avalanche in knee deep snow when it takes three hours without snow? Yes, Ryan had snow shoes, but nevertheless, it would have taken hours in freezing weather to get to that cabin. But, upon their arrival, no one even appears to have broken a sweat, no heaving, and no potential frost bite. Like a walk in the park.

The book has a lot of holes like that. But most interestingly, what is with these recent novels where one of the protagonists is straight and suddenly becomes gay? It just doesn't make sense.

The characters are not well developed and the story becomes stagnant early on. Perhaps more action or interaction would have made the story more enjoyable.

Gerri Hill is a very seasoned writer, with a number of books and awards to her credit. One of her strengths is the ability to create likeable characters which engage the interest of her readers. And, she frequently brings back main characters from a previous novel to become side characters in a current novel. This is the case with Snow Falls, and helps the reader to feel part of the community. Hill is also wonderful at describing her settings, Snow Falls takes the reader back to the mountains of Colorado, with breathtaking descriptions of the winter scenes.

Snow Falls' two protagonists are Jennifer Kincaid, who gets lost on her way to a writing conference. Jennifer was raised by her highly religious grandparents, and had no opportunities to know anyone outside of their church until college. Her very sheltered upbringing has left her cautious and with a curious innocence. Catherine Ryan-Barrett was raised in a famous and wealthy family. She has chosen to live alone in the mountains as a way of avoiding both her family and publicity.

Catherine, (Ryan to her friends), sees Jen's car just as she becomes stuck in a snow drift, and an avalanche closes the road. Rescuing Jen means having a house guest for months until the roads are reopened for spring. The closeness and forced isolation creates a friendship between Jen and Ryan which ends with the spring thaw.

What follows is a wonderful love story between two women who both have emotional scars and trust issues. Hill's great skill with dialogue gives readers a sense of being there as this excellent story plays out.

I like her settings in Lake City and her bringing us up to date on Morgan and Reese. Their characters are favorites of mine. I have read just about everything she has written and read most of them. over and over. A couple were just not my cup of tea, but that is just my opinion. Overall most of what she writes is the best in lesbian romamce and I will buy and read over and over most of her books. She is by far one of the best in this genre.

For me, the concept was nice enough-Two women stranded together in the mountains due to an annual storm and they have to put up with one another for at least 2 months-fair enough. You can do a lot with that plot, well enough to make it a good romance. For some reason though the characters just did not hit the mark for me.

I loved Gerri Hill's other books. Hunter's Way and Target had really good characters and plot. She fleshed the characters out well enough in those books and I could not put them down. Snow Falls, I listened to on audible and found myself bored at times. The Jennifer Kincaid character was kind of annoying at times,and her attempt at humor was dry. Her " best friend" Cheryl was a crappy friend who gave crappy advice. She was not very supportive at all. Ryan was an okay character, not as strong as some of Gerri's other (butch) characters. She was just okay, no real spark to her no "umph" you ended up feeling more sorry for Ryan if anything. I did like that Reece and Morgan from Gerri's other book No Strings were in this though. I have not read that one but I sampled it and liked it so I'll be reading it soon enough.

Another reason for my 2.5/3 star rating was just the stupid things the characters themselves did. I get that you need those dumb mistakes for angst, but really? I don't want to spoil it for those who want to read it, but you'll know when you read it what I mean. All in all it was just an okay read. I was not that fascinated and did not find myself rooting for the characters like I normally would. There just was not enough appeal to both characters to make me care enough, and as an avid reader I need to care about the characters I read about and connect with them, that was not the case here.

I have bought Gerri Hill books for years and thought I'd take a whirl with this one. The story was kind of angsty and concerns a woman from a prominent family who has been taken advantage too many times in her life and decides to become a recluse in her cabin in the woods. She is fine in solitude until one snowy day her peace is broken by stranded motorist who she rescues from certain death in an avalanche.

To be honest, I wanted more romance and sex in this book and didn't get what I was looking for. There were two sex scenes in the book. The stranded motorist was a supposed straight woman, who was raised by evangelical Christian grandparents and was home schooled, and never met a gay person before. I was never able to fully sink into to this book because I did not feel a sense a romantic connection between the two women, despite them being stuck in a cabin for two months. If you are looking for a light fluffy read, with not a lot of romance, sex or fully developed characters, you'll enjoy this book.

I enjoyed this book. It was nice to revisit some of the familiar characters from previous stories. Gerri Hill is good at drawing out the mysteries surrounding the primary characters. As always, the nature settings are so well described that I felt like I was there. One of my favorite things about Gerri's books is her ability to write wonderful confrontational dialogue. It is so satisfying when an infuriating character is put in their place. I recommend this book for anyone who wants a good love story.

The story and its main characters lacks credibility, the story is booring, romance is poor, sex scenes are scarce.
Don't waste your time and money.

Let me start off by saying I like this author, however I'm so tired of this storyline: lesbians stranded in the snow (usually in remote parts of Alaska, start off hating each other and eventually fall in love. I swear there have been at least a half dozen books in the last year all with the same setting and similar story lines. While it is well written the story is nothing new, compelling or exciting. I hope her next one is something far different from the humdrum, everyday lesbian fiction that we seem to settle for.

I tend to always enjoy a Gerri Hill novel. They typically are pretty formulaic and have some good romance. This one I'd say is just okay out of the many that I've read. I liked that she brought back Morgan and Reese from "No Strings." I actually would have loved to have seen a bit more of those two other than just having them show up to give Ryan advice. I wasn't a big fan of Ryan or Jennifer, and for me the two of them falling in love wasn't very believable. Unfortunately it seemed a bit rushed and out of nowhere...even though they were pretty much cooped up in a cabin together for weeks. I don't know...their "love" just didn't jive for me. It's an entertaining enough read if you're not looking for very much action or intrigue. I preferred "No Strings" over this one though.