Blog Tour Review: North of Need – Laura Kaye

North of Need by Laura Kaye
Series:  Hearts of Anemoi #1
Release Date: November 1, 2011
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Page Count:  234
Source:  NetGalley
Buy the book at: Amazon 

While attempting to escape the agonizing memories she associates with Christmas, twenty-nine-year-old widow Megan Snow builds a snow family outside the mountain cabin she once shared with her husband and collapses in tears against the snowman at the sight of what she’ll never have.
Called to life by the power of Megan’s tears, snow god Owen Winters appears unconscious on her doorstep in the midst of a raging blizzard. As she nurses him to health, Owen finds unexpected solace in her company and unimagined pleasure in the warmth of her body, and vows to win her heart for a chance at humanity.
Megan is drawn to Owen’s mismatched eyes, otherworldly masculinity, and enthusiasm for the littlest things, and her heart opens enough to believe he’s a Christmas miracle. But this miracle comes with an expiration before the snow melts and the temperature rises, Megan must let go of her widow’s grief and learn to trust love again, or she’ll lose Owen forever.

Megan Snow, still grieving the loss of her husband two years ago (on Christmas day) in a car accident, heads to the mountain cabin she and John shared to spend the anniversary of his death in solitude.  She heads outside, deciding she needs the physical activity to stop her mind from remembering John and how his death was her fault. 

In the middle of a blizzard, she builds a snow family.  A snowman with mismatched eyes, a black knit cap and John’s old flannel shirt.  Next she builds a snow woman and the child.  But it’s the snowman that calls to her broken heart.  Seeing John’s things on the snowman, she breaks down clinging to the snowman.

It’s Megan’s grief that sends Snow God, Owen, to help her.  But she also is his chance at humanity.  If he can get Megan to admit her love for him, before the snow melts, then he’ll be able to stay with her forever.  But for Owen, winning over Megan must be done is days instead of the weeks he thought he had.  He’ll charm her, woo her and worship her body like it’s never been worshiped before.  But can he show Megan that she should give up her grief and start living life again?

Laura Kaye is fast becoming one of those authors that I will immediately buy.  Why?  Because she creates characters that you can immediately connect with.

Megan was a broken woman.  Her grief seemed to leap off the electronic pages at you.  She blamed herself for her husband’s death (since he ran out to get her the missing eggnog) and couldn’t seem to get past the fact that he was gone.  So it was a little surprising when she immediately reacted to Owen.  Sure he had the body of a Greek God, but I think innately her soul was drawn to it’s match in our her the Snow God.

Owen knew his soul purpose with Megan was to get her to love him in order to obtain is humanity.  But he was drawn to Megan and almost immediately realized that she was the one for him.  He choose the harder path in winning her heart.  He made her laugh, he put her first and made sure she knew that she was the most important to him and she always would be.

A heartwarming story that will remind you how important it is to say “I love you” to those you love.