A.E. Via delivers a lovely hurt/comfort romance with Cold Winter Nights.

Fleeing his high pressure job in Manhattan, Royal travels to a small Maine town for some R&R. When he runs into local Beau "Stone" the sparks start to fly and Royal starts to see what he's been missing. After a wee bit of drama, there's a happy ever after for all.

The audio version of Cold Winter Nights is nicely performed by Ryan West.

If you're in the mood for a quick MM romance with some spice, this one's worth a read. The world-building and characters are enjoyable, though a few editing hiccups and some inconsistent age dynamics left me a little puzzled. It feels like the story couldn’t quite decide if it wanted to lean into the age gap theme or not. Still, it's a fun, easy romance I’d recommend.

I really enjoyed this small town steamy romance. This was a second chance for both Stone and Royal. Royal is burnt out from his corporate job and goes to a small town to regroup. Widower Stone is closed off to love until a chance meeting at the local Bed and Breakfast. This was a great audiobooks and novella. Would read more from this author.

Small Town
#MiddleLifeRomance

WAY too insta love for me. The MC's are instantly in love, while one has been an unhappy widower for years and the other hasn't been with another person in 20. Because it was so fast it felt like we miss out on seeing the relationship bloom.

Very much like the movies from the greeting card company.

I listened to the audio of this and it was alright. The narrator Ryan West did a good job, but as with most dual POV books I would have rather had two narrators or one who created more distinct voices for the MC's.

Hot and spicy in all the best ways. This was my first M-M title and it was different, but not what I had expected it to be. I enjoyed the characters, their love story, and the support of their community.

Loved the narration, only liked the story so-so. I'm not a huge fan of insta-love and this is the epitome of it. The MCs had this big, traumatic backstories, but it seems like we only saw the surface level of their characters.

The minor characters were cute and funny. I just wish the story was a bit longer to help with the development of the MCs and their relationship.

An investment banker quits his job and travels to a small town where he is surprised by the warm welcome he receives. He meets a woodworker and they spark up a relationship despite the worries about how long they will have together.
Since the story is a novella it is sort-of insta love as the format does not lend itself to slow-burn or character development, which was not to my personal taste and I did not finish the book.
Therefore I won't post my review on amazon etc as it would be unfair to drag down the author's average star rating.
Narration was good.

This was a decent ALC. I thought the book was okay, Might have liked it better if I enjoyed the voice of the finance guy. Made it a bit more, meh. The deep voice narration was great.

Spice Level: 3/5 Explicit Open Door

Royal Peterson is a big player in the world of finance from NYC. Fed up with his panic attack inducing life, Royal leaves his fast paced life behind to move to Windeville, Maine, the place where he spent summers as a kid. The town eagerly embraces his arrival. Some of the older residents even remembered his parents.

Beauregard Stone aka Stone is a carpenter / woodworker from the small town of Windeville, Maine. A tragedy almost a decade prior has left him an empty shell of who he used to be. Until one day a man from the big city comes to town and catches his eye.

In a small town, Stone and Royal have plenty of run-ins, which lead Stone to question whether he can love again.

I “read” this book through Audible. This was a shorter story so it didn’t take very long for me to get through it. I honestly didn’t want to stop listening. Even shorter books will take me a few days to get through but I was done with this in two days. This is one of those city boy meets country boy books and it doesn’t disappoint. You wouldn’t think the man with the muscles and steely exterior would be the more vulnerable of the two, and I find that endearing. Even though this was a shorter book, there were a couple satisfying spicy scenes. Overall, I would say sweet and spicy.

I really enjoyed the narration by Ryan West. He narrated the whole book but the timbre of his voice was perfect for reading from Stone’s PoV. This is a really good M M read and I highly recommend it.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Tantor Audio for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was not for me. The characters felt surface level, the townspeople were caricatures, and the big event in the book makes no sense. While this book is supposed to be very Hallmark esque, there was little insight into the main characters and their relationship didn’t feel natural.

The audio was well done and the narrator did a good job.

🎧⭐⭐⭐⭐🎧
Thank you to Tantor Audio and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to and review this book.

Overall, a good book. I always tend to enjoy A.E. Via books; she just has a way of making you connect with the characters and the story.

Stone and Royal are so freaking sweet together. I loved that Royal found Stone. I hate the way it happened because that means he had to go through what he did to get there. But I love that he found the right person to help him be and see who he is.
Stone broke my heart, he is just costing, not even leaving after the passing of his husband. No one can live like this forever, so when Royal comes into his life and shakes things up, it's nice to see Stone come out of his shell. I feel like it was his partner sending him someone to get him to live again.

This is very much a me thing. I dislike miscommunication and the fact that a lot of the angst and heartbreak could have been cleared up if he had just picked up the phone. I digress again; as I said, that's just a personal thing.

Who doesn't like a grumpy lumberjack? And who can deny a smart and pretty boy? The answer is no on both counts.

But as usual, there's more than meets the eye. Royal screwed up big at work and led to a nervous breakdown, but his work doesn't give a damn. He went back to the small town that his family used to take him when he was younger. He was so lost, and didn't even know where to start.

While Stone is still holding a light as a widower. Both men have lots of heart to give, but have to get thru the layers of the pain, hurt, and history. He recognize a lost man when he sees one. He was trying to be hospitable, while the town treated Royal the newest shiny toy. Royal finds peace with Stone.

The attraction is strong, there was no denying it. Did not take them long to get together. But then the town was hit by a storm, hard.... then miscommunications here and there.... also unappreciated 3rd act, but no worries, they do have a HEA.

This is my 1st book with this author, so the novella for dipping in is great. She really painted the town very beautifully. Good people in that town to welcome one stranger, and made him one of them, which is what he needed.

Thanks to NetGalley & RBmedia for the audiobook ARC. Really enjoyed the narrator doing a great job w/ the various roles here.

Audiobook - very good narration, which fits the characters well. This allowed me to get through the entire story.
Story - 3 stars. I must admit to being unexpectedly disappointed, as this turned out to be a cheesy Hallmark type of story - which isn't my type of book. The reason for the not-really-break-up was rather childish, although I could sympathise with Stone's insecurities. The townspeople were scarily positive. The story started very strongly, but it didn't quite work for me after that.

I loved this Audio!!! This was my audio with this narrator, but it hopefully won’t be my last! I had read this book last year, so I thought an audio reread would be fun! I wasn’t wrong, I love this book even more now!!!

This was my first AE Via book! I absolutely loved this story and the narration of it. This was also my first Ryan West Narration and really enjoyed his narration style.

A mostly uncomplicated and sweet novella, the kind you read and then mostly forget after, even though you had a good time while reading. The main characters are, like usual with this author, super manly alpha men, but less toxic masculinity this time, which I really appreciated.

Sadly, the main conflict was way too contrived, and instead of evoking emotions, it annoyed me because it could’ve — and should’ve — been easily avoided. It would’ve been a non-issue with any living person, so the conflict felt dumb.

Another annoyance: if one MC’s age is mentioned and the other MC repeatedly thinks about how a ‘younger man’ can want him, then I want to know the age of the second character. Not a big deal, really, but one of those things that sticks out.

Ryan West did a pretty good job with the audio — I think I would’ve enjoyed less without the narration.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for this audio ARC.

4.5⭐️
I requested the book due to the blurb as it sounded exactly like my cup of tea, and I can confidently say it truly was my cup of tea!!
I immediately feel in love with the individual mmc's and their stories. But my love for them grew exponentially the moment they met... *clutches heart and sighs*
The whole setting of the book was truly so beautiful and even made me as a reader feel right at home. Tho I have to confess, there was a short moment where I felt exhausted by the nosey townspeople.
It was also one of the first books I've read in which a mmc puts his mental and physical health first.
In some way I really wish the book would have been longer..
I am confident I will reread/listen to the book again the moment the first snow hits.

Also, I really enjoyed the way Ryan West portrayed the characters. I will definitely be checking more of his work out!

I would like to thank Netgally, Tantor Audio and A. E. Via for providing me with a copy of the audiobook!

A really easy to read gay novella. Royal and Stone as main characters are likeable throughout and even with their main conflict, both remained easy to love. Since this was so short, there wasn't a whole lot after the conflict so there was a bit of rushing but if you're looking for a holiday centric, gay HEA, this is a good pick. The spice is spicy, conversation is easy, and the towns people are every annoying townsperson you can picture in stars hollow.
Would I recommend this to my book club? Maybe not. Would I recommend it to my best friend who loves some smut and can power through a novella real quick? Hell yeah.

Cute little Hallmark Christmas story. City boy-Royal, moves to moves to small town to escape the chaos. The tough, rugged small town man-Stone, falls for him. But when Royal has to make a quick decision without talking to Stone, it all begins to crumble. Will they be able to save their relationship?




The part I can't get over is how Stone has been grieving his life partner for eight years and the author says that Royal makes him feel better than he has ever before. The way its written really diminishes his past relationship and clearly it meant a lot to him if he was grieving for so long.

I love a good wintery book! This was a insta-attraction through and through. Both men felt something immediately. I appreciated seeing Stone have his walls melted by the "city boy". The meddling small town was perfect and for a holiday type read I would defintely recommend this for a Christmas in July audio!

The narrator was great. Sometimes with only one narrator it is hard to tell between two male characters but it was easy and the side characters were done really well too. The tone of this narrators voice is definitely going in the favorites section for me. This is the first time I've listen to Ryan and I really appreciated what he brought to Stone's gruffer voice.