I loved the variety in this novella bind up. Each story had something new to give and I would recommend it to someone who wants fast reads

I loved all three stories. The roller derby enemies to lovers by Aurora Rey, the student/profesor story by Erin Zack, and the Ice Queen/her employee and admins assistant by Elle Spencer were all equally sexy. The quality of the writing from all three authors was excellent and I keep hoping that there will be sequels for all three stories.

Did not Finish.
I think this book didn’t connect with me. I saw well known authors whose works I’ve read and enjoyed, on the front page and had high expectations. However, this book wasn’t it.

Super strong finish.
Three tales to tell, all different obviously. All three authors have delivered interesting stories in a short space of time, the last of which brought enough emotion to have me in tears.

Ice on Wheels - There was a point where Brooke was so antagonistic toward Riley, I had no idea how they would get together. But the author pulled it off - made it very believable.

Closed Door Policy - I’m getting the idea that the reason the anthology is called “Hot Ice” is because at least one woman runs cold, then hot, then cold again, etc. This one was a tad too much - with little of significance going on in between. Still, it was very well written. And we certainly got the idea of each woman’s motivation.

Private Equity - This was delicious - all the misunderstandings and the pining and the sacrifice - and then the ending - wow!

Such a great trio of stories!

Hot Ice by Elle Spencer, Aurora Rey, Erin Zak

3/5 Stars

Fun, Sexy with just the right amount of steam!
I liked the fact that all 3 stories were short and to the point. What is not to love when a book has romances


Thank you #NetGalley and #bdstrokesbooks for this book in exchange for my honest review

What do roller derby, lesbian nightclub and a college professor have in common? They are in this book! The three short stories are not interwoven, nor share the same stories. The ice refers to the main characters that are in the short stories and they are ice queens. In all of them, there is also a main character that can chip away at that ice and that is when the excitement starts, If you are looking for not your average stories with not your average characters, check this one out!
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Ice on Wheels by Aurora Rey

A month ago I wouldn't really have understood the roller Derby part of the story at all. Fortunately, thanks to ‘Tough Girl in a Jam by Larry Loebell’ I have some knowledge of the sport so the lack of explanation didn't worry me and I could concentrate on the romance. Brooke loves her roller Derby team and her job as an estate agent but struggles to adapt to the new member, Riley, who used to be her rival. Riley doesn't understand how Brooke can be so cold and attractive at the same time.

Enjoyable story but it could have ended a few pages before. I wouldn't normally advocate this but there was a moment before any steamy parts, which felt like the perfect place to stop. The rest seemed a little heavy-handed.

Closed Door Policy Erin Zak

Dr Atlanta Morris has an ice-queen reputation among her students but she is still their favourite lecturer. Caroline Stevens has returned to college in her fifties to get a teaching degree but ends up with Atlanta as her lecturer. She is not Caroline’s idea of a good lecturer.

There is a lovely amount of tension between the two and Caroline is a great character. Where Rey’s story was over-done, this was a little under-done and the tension kind of fizzled out.

Private Equity by Elle Spencer

This was my favourite. Written in first person, Cassidy is ice-queen Julia Whitmore’s personal assistant. On a business trip Julia invites herself to one of Cassidy’s friends birthday party. It’s totally not what she expected.

The best thing about this story is Cassidy’s thoughts about herself, her job and her boss. First person really works in this instance because it keeps Julia as the archetypal ice-queen for as long as possible. Loads of information is packed into a few pages as well as quite a few well-rounded secondary characters.

Book received from Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for an honest review

I loved this little collection of stories, super sexy and perfect romance.

My favourite was Elle Spencer’s Private Equity for sure. The chemistry was insane. Every single interaction between Julia and Cassidy was dripping with sexual tension but at the same time there was something so sweet about their relationship.

I also really enjoyed Erin Zak’s Closed Door Policy - it was my first time reading one of her books and I can definitely say it won’t be the last!

I received an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Three short novellas, all three with seemingly opposite characters.

Ice on Wheels by Aurora Rey, is a roller derby centred story. Brooke meets Riley during a tournament when Riley blocks her thus making Brooke's team lose. Brooke can't let go of the resentment and it only gets work when she finds out Riley will be working at her company. Not being a fan of roller derby this novella didn't really appeal to me.

Private Equity by Elle Spencer is a boss-employee dynamic. Cassidy is Julia's personal assistant and favourite person of Julia's daughter. One night Julie invites herself to tag along with Cassidy to a party at a lesbian club. Before Cassidy is aware they are fake dating which soon turns to more. This one was my favourite novella of all three.

Closed-Door Policy by Erin Zak is about the forbidden teacher-student relationship. Which would have been controversial if it wasn't that the student is older than the teacher. Caroline goes back to school to qualify for a better nurse position. She has to take Atlanta's class. Atlanta has a dark past involving a student so she's very closed off and bitchy to all her students to keep a distance. But she takes it to another level of coldness and bitchiness with Caroline. I thought Atlanta was really exaggerating the whole attitude.

I enjoyed all three novellas in Hot Ice, but by far my favorite was the last story, Private Equity, by Elle Spencer. In this story Cassidy Bennett is the chief of staff for venture capitalist, Julia Whitmore. Cassidy has admired Julia from afar and maintains a witty inner dialogue about Julia and the relationship (or frankly just the sex) that she would like to have with Julia. Julia also has a ten-year daughter, Lily, that has a close second-mother type relationship with Cassidy. The chemistry between Julia and Cassidy is sizzling and the cracks in IQ (Julia's nickname from her staff is Ice Queen) are slowly melting. Once Cassidy even slips and calls Julia IQ to her face. But back to their chemistry - it's amazing! I give this novella 4.5 stars!

I would rate my second favorite novella, Closed-Door Policy, by Erin Zak at 4 stars. The age gap dynamic really worked in this story about older student, Caroline Stevens, and her professor, Dr. Atlanta Morris.

Finally, I give 3 stars to Ice on Wheels by Aurora Rey. Brooke and Riley clash on the roller derby rink in this novella. I found it harder to connect with the characters in this short story, but it was still a pleasant read.

The editor of the novella needs to fix several mistakes in the author summary. One summary for Erin starts off talking about her background and then mentions the name Elle several times throughout the remainder of Erin's summary. Disconcerting at best.

I received an ARC for Bold Strokes Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

YUMMY!

This book is a set of three FANTASTIC short stories about Ice Queens by three AMAZING authors!

Ice on Wheels by Aurora Rey is the wonderful tale of roller derby queens. Last year in the championship match, Brook was blocked by Riley causing her team to lose. This year Riley is not only a member of her team but a coworker too! Brook is still holding a grudge and is far from pleasant to the newcomer. How are they ever going to resolve their issues and why is Brook so affected by Riley?

Private Equity by Elle Spencer is my favourite of the three. Cassidy works for the successful Julia who is a smart, beautiful and terrifying woman who demands a lot of not only herself but everyone who works for her. One night Julia tags along with Cassidy to a gay bar for a friends birthday party. Julia is surprisingly at ease and even poses as Cassidy’s girlfriend to keep an unexpected blind date at bay… If only it wasn’t pretend…

Finally in Closed-Door Policy, Erin Zak write the great story about an older woman who goes back to school and has the misfourtune, or is it pleasure of having the notoriously off putting Dr Atlanta as an instructor. Atlanta is determined not to like Caroline, and Caroline cannot figure out what she has done to make the sexy teacher so dismissive of her. She also can’t believe that she is crushing on the woman as well…

I LOVED this book so much! Each story is so well written, so engaging, interesting and steamy. Each one grabs you and keeps you invested as the tales unfold. I can’t wait to read it again!!!!

Really enjoyed this collection of three novellas. My favourite of the three was the second story, I really connected with both leads, they had fantastic chemistry and it was great to see an older lead and an age gap. The story was well paced and well developed despite not being a full length novel (I wish it was a novel so I could have seen more of these characters!). The first story was also engaging and well written, featuring two characters with great chemistry and an enemies-to-lovers storyline. The weakest story was the third - there wasn’t enough character development, the attraction between the two leads felt too one-sided and there were aspects of the story that didn’t seem believable. Overall though I really like these novella collections from BSB and wish they did more of them!

This is a good compilation of short stories. As always, Elle Spencer in Private Equity, has mastered the art of weaving a story that grabs you and keeps you turning the pages. Ice on Wheels gives you an insightful glimpse into the roller derby world...especially how seriously those that play the sport take it. Finally, Closed-Door Policy explores the forbidden teacher-student relationship with the twist of the student being older than the teacher.

I enjoyed all three. Very Hot romance perfect for a cold winter night. Wonderful authors will read more from all three.

I'm a big fan of stories with ice queens, so I was very excited to see this book released. While the stories are short, they are all enjoyable. Each has an ice queen as a lead character and have romance that makes their cold hearts melt. I highly recommend to anyone who likes this subgenre of lesfic.

I was provided with an ARC of this book by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

The read consisted of three stories featuring "ice queens" with various reasons to have their frost on. I will make comments in the reverse order of my favorites. My least favorite, Ice on wheels with Riley and Brooke who start on different teams then end up on the same team. I watched a little roller derby growing up. The sport never really grabbed my attention but the details and strategy of the sport was interesting to read and the player names were wicket wild. Closed door policy featured Professor Atlanta and student Carolina. Atlanta needs to walk the straight and narrow because of previous behavior. Carolina on the other hand, is looking for a change and an opportunity to embrace life. This age gap romance was interesting in providing self-talk that help the reader understand what and why Atlanta and Carolina were doing what they were doing and why. Private equity with Cassidy Bennett, chief of staff working hard to eventually start her own company or so she thinks and venture capitalist Julia Whitmore not looking for anything but the next business deal. This read was most interesting in my opinion because of Julia and how she behaved. I thought she was well written as the rigid and focused boss. Nice romance in all three.

This is a set of three short novels that have as common denominator, not ice queens, as it may seem by the title or the cover, but angry, mean or bad-tempered women. Because this is what the protagonists are. And the truth is that this does not help the stories to be attractive at first.

As always, each story has the personality and style of its author and cannot be valued together because they have nothing more in common than that unfriendly attitude of one main character. I particularly liked more the last one, that of Elle Spencer, then the second best for me was that of Erin Zak and that of Aurora Rey has seemed the least interesting to me.

It is good in this type of books with several stories that there is always something that you will almost certainly like, but if you expect it to be totally perfect, this may not be the best one to choose.

In any case, it is a perfect book to take up and put down without losing much the thread of the stories.

I find that when I’m given three books in one, there is always one you love, and at least one you dislike. Not this time. All three authors have given me a book/books I really enjoyed.
Ice on Wheels, Aurora Rey. Brooke Landry takes life seriously, even playing with her Roller Derby team ‘Big Easy Bruisers’. They were so close to taking the state championship she could taste it but first she had to go one more round with the ‘Cajun Queens’ who used their star blocker Riley Fauchet to take Brooke down making sure that they were the winners, not the BEB’s. Problem is Brooke thought it wasn’t a fair hit. She doesn’t take losing all that well. Then just before the new season begins she finds that her arch enemy, Riley has now joined her team. Having to practice and play with Riley is bad enough but the topper is when she finds out that Riley is also starting to work for the same company is just too much. Brooke is uptight while Riley is easy going. Now Brroke has no choice but to get along with Riley but can she?
Closed Door Policy, Erin Zak. Caroline Stevens has had enough. She’s worked as a nurse for a number of years but after an incident she’s decided she needs to find another job. Then to top off that life changing decision her husband decides it’s the perfect time to ask for a divorce. It’s clear it’s time for Caroline to try something different. She moves in with her daughter’s family taking over the basement apartment they just happens to have. New city, new home, now she just needs to find a better job than the one she now has, working as a bartender. She would like to continue working in health care but not as a nurse but teaching others who were studying to become health care workers like herself but to do so she need a teaching degree. Dr. Atlanta Morris, along with a few of her colleagues starts giving classes enabling students to receive their teaching degree in only a few months. Problem is she’s also expected to be a mentor in the program, something she doesn't want to do. She loves teaching and her students love her but the idea of actually mentoring is a whole other matter. It’s decided she will only have to mentor two students and of course one of those students just happens to be the student that Atlanta can’t seem to stop dreaming about, Caroline. Teacher and student both have a few lessons to learn about themselves and each other.
Private Equity, Elle Spencer. Cassidy Bennett works at WhitCap, a private equity firm owned by the one and only Julia P. Whitmore. Her job as Julia’s assistant means she works just as hard as her boss, putting in long hours and traveling with the boss. Problem is that even though Julia is a hard task master she’s also showing Cassidy everything she knows when it comes to running a business, she also finds herself dreaming about how much she’d like to be more to Julia than just her assistant. She's in love with Julia and Julia’s five year old daughter, Lily but seeing as Julia’s straight and obviously she’s not, there doesn’t seem to be a future for them. Cassidy hasn’t seen her parents since they informed her she wasn’t wanted as long as she continued life as a lesbian. Now she’s with Julia and Lily in her hometown, Seattle and while she still doesn’t want her parents in her life she still has a chance to meet up with some old friends. And that means joining them at a lesbian bar to celebrate her friends birthday. Who would have thought Julia would like to come along with her. How was that going to work? Both Cassidy and Julia are in for a few surprises while in Seattle.
Here you have three great reads all in one book. I do have a favorite but I won’t tell. Three authors, three great reads. Very enjoyable,.
ARC via NetGalley/Bold Stroke Books

Hot Ice is three steamy Ice Queen shorts by 3 steamy writers. Aurora Rey's Roller Derby story Ice on Wheels. Erin Zak's Closed Door Policy about a college professor and student. Elle Spencer's Private Equity about Lesbian club owner and her employee. There is nothing like the good thawing of an ice queen and all three of these stories were amazing . These authors have given me a book really enjoyed.