Frigid by J. Lynn (ARC)

Frigid by J. Lynn (the pen name of Jennifer L. Armentrout)
Spencer Hill Contemporary, 240 pages
Expected US Release Date: November 5, 2013
Format/Source: ARC, via Around the World Tours - thank you!
Challenges: Stand Alone Challenge, New Adult Challenge

For twenty-one-year-old Sydney, being in love with Kyler isn't anything new. They'd been best friends ever since he pushed her down on the playground and she made him eat a mud pie. Somewhere over the years, she fell for him and fell hard. The big problem with that? Kyler puts the 'man' in man-whore. He's never stayed with a girl longer than a few nights, and with it being their last year in college, Syd doesn't want to risk their friendship by declaring her love.

Kyler has always put Syd on a pedestal that was too high for him to reach. To him, she's perfect and she's everything. But the feelings he has for her, he's always hidden away or focused on any other female. After all, Kyler will always be the poor boy from the wrong side of tracks, and Syd will always be the one girl he can never have.

But when they're stranded together at a posh ski resort due to a massive Nor'easter, there's nothing stopping their red-hot feelings for each other from coming to the surface. Can their friendship survive the attraction? Better yet, can they survive at all? Because as the snow falls, someone is stalking them, and this ski trip may be a life-changer in more ways than one.
--------------------------goodreads summary

Notable Quote

Andrea snorted. "Guys are totally stupid when it comes to unrequited love. We females pine away and keep our thighs closed for the most part when we love someone we can't have. Guys swing their shit around at anything that has a hole, trying to forget the one they want."

So, there's a passage in Frigid that definitely describes this book and my attitude towards it (so meta.):

What I needed was to lose myself in a good one--one with tons of sex and angst, complete with an unbelievable happily-ever-after that made me love and hate the book at the same time.

Frigid is a good book, with tons of angst and sex and more sex and some love and even more angst; and yes, it has that unbelievable happily-ever-after that toed that line of "good" and "too good to be true." Which all together, makes me really like the book and really hate it at the same time.

J. Lynn does not disappoint in terms of HOTNESS. Damn, Kyler. I feel like I can feel the ridges of his abs, see the tendons that stretch across his back and the sexy runner calves. I mean, seriously - J. Lynn knows how to write a man. A man-whore, sure -- but still every bit as male and sexy and hot and WOO. I'm not even joking when I tell you I hid this book every time my parents came around, because my mom has the tendency to pick up anything I'm reading and just open to a random page and read a bit. And I'd reaaaaally like to avoid having a discussion about this book with her.

Syd was interesting...I liked her for the most part, but her self-conscousness, her underestimation of Kyler and herself and their friendship/relationship just KILLED me for a lot of this book. I just wanted to shake her sometimes and tell her to shut up and stop overthinking. I seriously want to keep this book out of the hands of any boys - not that I think they'll be quick to pick it up (that shirtless man in the snow may be a little off-putting to most men. I'm just saying.), but I don't want men to think all women think these crazy roundabout thoughts! Sure, lots of us do, and I'm nowhere near claiming that my thoughts are all rational when it comes to boys and angst - but yeesh, Syd. Just clear your mind for a little bit. Trust in this friendship that's been built since the playground!

I did appreciate that the plot was more than them just being snowed in together. I'm all for some great romance, but I liked that there was a small thread of terror and threat here, too - it helped give a little more life to a plot that could have been way too ooshy-gooshy otherwise. I thought it was a little unbelievable what was done, but then again, I don't live in snow-town. I have no idea what could and could not happen in snow storms.

This novel did have a step up from the get-go with me though: I freakin' LOVE the winter. I love the holidays, snow, anything that relates at all to December. I have a major soft spot for it; something about that time of year always shrouds it in this ethereal, pretty romantic glow. And Frigid is definitely a novel I'd love to re-read every year when the cold hits.

For anyone else who's read this: spinoff story for Andrea and Tanner. Amirite, or amirite?!

Frigid had some disappointments, but it more than made up for it with some sweet romance and hot New Adult themes. It's not the hardest hitting, most thoughtful book - but would you really pick this one up if you wanted that? If you want a light read with quick emotions, action and love, choose this. It won't disappoint you. Besides, there's a whole section of the book spent on a bed fort in front of a fireplace as it snowstorms around them. Who hasn't fantasized about that?!

3.5 Stars