ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I usually love quick short stories especially by authors such as Aurora Rey, Erin Zak and Elle Spencer.
The first story is called Ice on Wheels by Aurora Rey. It stared out as a fun read about two rival Roller Derby teams, especially how the main characters meet. Let’s just say Riley takes Brooke out, literally..lol.
It ends up Brooke hating Riley and then not only does Riley become a teammate but a co-worker as well. Towards the middle of the book the story kind of lags and was tied up in a quick neat bow..too quick. It felt like Brook hated Riley most of the book.
I love Rey and will continue to read her books but this wasn’t my favorite.
3.5 stars

The second story by Erin Zak was not my favorite, but it’s Zak and I am fan of her other books. It started with a great premise. Who doesn’t love a hot ice queen professor falling for a student. Dr. Atlanta Morris is the ice queen professor that’s starting a new mentorship program in Sendona. Because she has had a prior history with a student she’s taken on the approach of being cold, because she doesn’t and will not ever let that happen again, until she meets new student Caroline Stevens. Caroline is a former head trauma nurse who decides due to a bad incident in the hospital and recent divorce from her long time husband, that it’s time for a change. That change is to go back to college to get her teaching certificate and teach other future nurses.
The premise is great but I couldn’t get into the characters at all. Atlanta was so mean to Caroline even I wouldn’t date someone like that. The drama was hot and cold and I literally would ask myself when would these characters grow up. It just wasn’t believable to me.
2.5 stars

The last book was the best of the bunch, Closed-Door Policy by Elle Spencer. I read another review and agreed that I so wished this story was a full length book. Julia Whitmore is the ice queen successful venture capatalist and Cassidy is her trusty assistant. Cassidy has had a crush on her boss for the whole 6 months she’s been her assistant and can’t believe when that cold exterior changes and Julia starts to want to know more about her.
It also doesn’t help where not only does Cassidy have feelings for her boss but totally in love with her bosses little girl Lily.
Can Julia also been feeling the same as Cassidy this whole time? Is it more important to keep her amazing assistant or be her lover? I wonder what she chooses.
Love this book and just wished it was longer.
4 stars

ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a compilation of novellas by three authors I like, so costing it as an ARC was a no brainer.

The first story is by Aurora Rey and features MCs Brooke and Riley who are in opposing roller derby teams and then become team mates, they also end up working together. Both characters are likeable, but Brooke does not like Riley for most of the story, and watching Riley work around this was pretty fun. I enjoyed the roller derby stuff too, it’s not a sport I’ve ever read about in lesfic before. I wouldn’t have minded a longer version of this. 3.5 stars

The second story is Close Door Policy by Erin Zak, and was the weakest of the three. It features MC Atlanta, a tenured professor about to teach an extension course and Caroline, who used to be a nurse and is now trying to get a teaching certificate. The premise was interesting in that though this is teacher/student the student is older. Atlanta had a issue with a student relationship previously and is therefore a bitch to Caroline to try and hide her attraction. This doesn’t work at all because everyone but Caroline knows about it. They also don’t need to hold out very long to make this an non-issue once they admit feelings for each other (2 weeks) but still can’t manage it. This is one of my biggest pet peeves. It’s hardly likely with what was on the line, that two grown ass women wouldn’t be able to hold off on the sexy times for two freaking weeks. Anyway, I didn’t like most of their relationship, so I didn’t care whether they got together or not. 2.5 stars

The final book is Private Equity by Elle Spencer, and it was easily my favourite. It features Julia, who is a corporate big wig and her chief of staff Cassidy. They’re in Seattle (with Julia’s 5year old daughter Lily) to do work on some business deals. I loved both characters and how their relationship unfolded. Lily was a delight and the side story with Cassidy’s parents was also interesting. I really wish this had been a full length novel, I’d have liked to see what Spencer did with those storylines with more time. 4 stars.

Overall, I liked two of these quite a bit, and would have read the longer version of both. The other not so much. Probably 3.75 overall, rounded up.

Well well well, my favorite storyline in this genre. The good ole "Ice Queen" who gets tamed by the usually sweet, girl next door type. Who does't like that?? I of course needed to give this book a read. Overall, all the stories were interesting and well written. I did have a favorite, but that's not to put the other two down.

Note for everyone, the summary of the book has them out of order from where they are in the actual book. It goes Ice on Wheels, Closed Door Policy, and then Private Equity. I kind of found that annoying, but maybe that's just my OCD.

Ice on Wheels: Good story. I thought for some reason the ice queen was going to be Riley (the "butch" one) when it first started, even though the summary said differently. Not sure why, it was just the vibe I got during the first chapter but then it sorted itself out. I also had a little issue with the jump in character perspective from one paragraph to another. I'm old school and like them separated by chapters. I did really enjoy the roller derby component, and you can tell that the author clearly knows her stuff when it comes to the sport.

Closed Door Policy: Again, good story but I had some minor critiques. There was so much depth to this story, that I actually felt like the length on this one was a disservice. It made it feel rushed, like it was trying to cram itself into a certain length. For example, there is a big deal about this being an expansion campus, but you never really find out if it worked out. I really liked that Caroline was so much older and going back to school, but I did find it weird that all of her friends were 20/21 years old. That didn't make much sense to me. I barely have things in common with 21 year olds and I'm only 15 years older. I thought she would be more motherly to them, and not on the same emotional plain. It was still a fun read, nonetheless.

Private Equity: I hate having a favorite when the authors are so talented, but this one was the one. I think it's because Elle Spencer just keeps getting better and better with her writing. This is also the only story where I felt the "IQ" wasn't necessarily acting like a b*tch for the sake of acting like one. She just had a strong personality and was hard core at business. Another plus, it felt like it was the correct length, yet I still wanted more just because it was so good. The attraction between the two MCs was not only hot, but adorable so I couldn't stop reading. Well done!

Received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for a honest review. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own

In “Ice on Wheels” by Aurora Rey I found Brooke to be annoying. It was such a small little thing to get angry over, and it happened 4 months before. It’s sports, sometimes you lose and sometimes you win. Holding a grudge against someone who beat you fair and square in a competition is childish. Get over it!
I would not describe Brooke as an Ice Queen, more as a childish, jealous and bitchy woman not being able to let go and move on. Her friends saw it as a crush, I saw it as being childish cause Riley bested her and took the “spotlight” when she showed up at practice and work.
And I don’t get the 180 in Brooke’s attitude. One minute she’s bitching to her friend about Riley, the next she wants to know Riley’s life story and plays games with her. I do not see the attraction, from either side. It just happened without any real build up in my opinion. There was no chemistry between the MCs.
I don’t feel connected to this story and I barely managed to finish it. I would have given this 2 stars if I read it on its own.

“Closed Door Policy” by Erin Zak. I’ve read 2 Erin Zak books before, one I really loved and one I felt was just okay.
Already from the first page I can tell that I’ll love this book. I really loved MC Caroline and her family. I caught myself smiling like an idiot several times. I really loved 55 yo Caroline’s friendship with the 20-something Kate,Kelli and Michael. I liked the difference in ages of all the characters. I really loved Caroline, she’s light and fun. Really loved the build up between the two MCs Atlanta and Caroline. I also loved that not everyone in the story was lesbian/gay. It annoys me when the MCs (obviously) and every single of their friends is gay, so this was refreshing to read. I love that there isn’t really any panic and thoughts like “omg I have feelings for a woman, I’ve always been with men, does this mean that I’m gay now?!”.
Only thing I found annoying is that they could have waited. It’s always nerve wrecking when people do stuff they can get fired for.
But I really loved this short story and would have loved this as a whole book with more build up and more romance. But all in all I would have given this a solid 4 stars on its own.

“Private Equity” by Elle Spencer. I’ve read 2 Elle Spencer books and I loved them both, especially “Casting Lacy”. I usually love the way she writes, and they way she builds up the chemistry and the characters. The emotion and angst that she puts into her stories.
It took me a little while to get used to the writing style in this book, but once I did I really liked the story. I liked the relationship between MC Julia and Cassidy, and the relationship between Cassidy and Julia’s daughter Lily. Sadly there wasn’t much time to get a real build up and depth to the characters. But it was a cute story, I just wish it was a lot longer :) I would give this a 3 on account of the length and not much of a build up :)

All in all I would rated this as a solid 3 :)

I received an ARC copy of this book from the Publisher via Netgalley and voluntarily leaving my review.

This book has three novellas and the theme is about Ice Queens.

First story is written by Aurora Rey

Brooke is a likable person to everyone but when it's comes to Riley she as cold as ice. Brooke doesn't like Riley because she still bruising from Riley beating her in derby. When Riley transfers to Brooke team Brooke isn't happy and stop it all Riley is working at the realtor company Brooke works at. Riley moves to help her sister and she loves Derby because it helps release tension from life she doesn't understand why Brooke doesn't like her. As Riley tries to get Brooke to like her things change one night and Brooke begin to thaw after she talk with her best friend Mel and they begin a friendship that turn into something more.

Second story by Erin Zak

Dr. Atlanta Morris is a professor who tough as nails and doesn't gives second chances she also a prodigy she has to be tough because some of her colleagues doesn't believe she belong there especially now she has this program she want to be successful. When Caroline nontraditional student comes in her class she instantly attracted to her which causes her to be cold toward Caroline who there to complete a teacher certificate. Caroline is a retired nurse who looking for a change she makes a few friends in class she doesn't understand why the professer doesn't like her and why she drawn to her when she never look at a woman before especially someone younger then her. Dr. Morris doesn't want to go there after what happen in her past that almost ruin her career but sometimes feeling override everything else.

In third story by Elle Spencer

Cassidy is the chief of staff working for Julia at WhitCap it's dream of lifetime but she also want to get her MBA but working for Julia means putting that on the backburner for now. Cassidy has a attraction to Juila the moment they met but when Julia ask her what weekend plan were she ask her to bring her along and she shock by this request. When she see a different side to Julia she wants to know more she knows Julia is a IQ when it comes to business and even in life because she can't tell wether theses feelings she having are just one-sided on top of it all Julia ex trying to get her back and then her parents suddenly wants to be in her life.

These three stories was a good read my favorite was by Elle Spencer though.

3 Novellas by 3 great authors! The main theme here is Ice Queen and who doesnt love Ice Queens :)

First you have Ice on Wheels by Aurora Rey, which was a very well written novella with 2 attractive MCs fighting their attraction both on a sports team and at the office at the same time! Brooke stood out big time in all of the MCs in the 3 novellas and i really liked her! she annoyed the hell out of me most of the time but still she had CHARACTER :)
Then you have Closed Door Policy by Erin Zak you have an age gap romance between a professor and a student (the age gap in this is somehow flipped so the student is actually the older MC which was very interesting). I really liked Dr. Atlanta in this novella and thought she was too sexy for her own good! The connection between those 2 MCs was the most believable out of the whole lot.
Then finally you have Private Equity by Elle Spencer where the beautiful and very famous Julia Whitmore. i loved Julia's character but i thought this novella was the shortest and i needed a lot more from it! The attraction was a bit forced and rushed but the ending was my favorite. This specific one had a lot of potential to be a kick ass novel!
Overall i found this a very nice read and i really enjoyed it! even though it was all rushed endings and sudden attraction, i still found this read very entertaining!
My rating is a 3.5 rounded up to 4. And i recommend this if you want a break from deep and long reads and want to just relax and enjoy a smooth read involves has sexy Ice Queens and good sex scenes.
"I received an ARC for an honest review."

If you're a fan of ice queens, this set of novellas will be right up your alley! The main theme in this one is definitely about melting the heart of the ice queen, and it sizzles.

As with all anthologies, some stories were better than others, but personally I loved how this only contained 3 stories, all novella length. The extra length gave each author a little more time to set up their story so it didn't feel so rushed. Personally, I thought that Aurora Rey's <i>Ice on Wheels</i> had the iciest of ice queens in MC Brooke, but it wasn't my favorite story in the bunch. I would have to say that I enjoyed <i>Private Equity</i> by Elle Spencer the most, and wish it had been a full length novel. Zak's offering, <i>Closed-Door Policy</i> was a win also though.

All 3 had some small issues, mostly due to the forced shorter length, but overall I really enjoyed this anthology. Solid 4 stars.

**Many thanks to Bold Strokes for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.**

Hot Ice was three novellas written by established authors Aurora Rey, Erin Zak, and Elle Spencer. They each had certain commonalities. There was the one perceived ice queen character who was openly hostile/ unwelcoming to the other friendlier character. There was, of course, physical attraction. In one novella, the attraction was as soon as eye contact was established. But it was also where the ultimate ice queen was present, and her very demeaning attitude and antics. Overtime, the frosty atmosphere in all three novellas gave way to warm hearts and tender feelings.
Each of the storylines were entertaining, but I did enjoy one a little more than the others because of the family dynamics and heartfelt emotions involved.
The authors did a great job with their stories and in stripping away those icy personas within the confines of a novella.

3 Stories by 3 really good authors! The title Hot Ice accurately describes what to expect in each novella. All three novellas had an MC who was an Ice Queen. The Ice Queen I loved the most had to be Brooke from Ice on Wheels. Talk about chilly! She had enough chill factor where she wasn't annoying and enough chill to want to keep reading. If I had to pick a favorite, I would say it would be between Ice on Wheels and Closed-Door Policy. I enjoyed Private Equity, it just took me a while to get use the writing style.

4 solid stars