Rating: 3 stars
Buy Link: Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Novella
Reno was in love with his brother’s best friend, Tate, when he was a teen. He tried to get over it, as he thought he was crushing on a straight guy. Then, Tate kissed him. And then Tate left early for university and Reno never heard from him again. Now, it’s a decade later and Reno is at a snowy inn for a speed dating event and he really doesn’t want to be there. Well, that is until Tate sits down at his table.
Tate was just figuring out who he was when he kissed Reno. But he didn’t have anything figured out then and running seemed like the best option. Now, when he sees Reno again, all those teenage feelings come roaring back, but Reno is skittish around him. When an avalanche and snow storm strand the men, they have plenty of time to figure out that first love may just be forever love.
As part of the Snowed Inn multi-author series, Breakfast Included is a standalone book set at the same snowy inn as the rest of the stories. If you have read the other books in the collection, there are probably glimpses of other MCs, but this book works fine without have read the others.
This story didn’t draw me in from the start and, having read other books by the author, I wasn’t expecting that. I never was able to fully embrace the story of Reno and Tate. Their history is in the past and we hear about some of it, but their connection came across as weak to me as it relied on too much that happened off page that never came through enough for me.
It was all fairly standard, which could have been fine, but the story also lacked that punch of emotion or heart and the plot line seemed tired. The men go through the formulaic journey of being surprised to see each other, being cautious, getting together, and then having an end of the book bout of miscommunication that detracted more than added for me.
Friends to lovers getting a second chance is a favorite trope of mine, but Reno and Tate’s story didn’t win me over with any special snowed in holiday feels. If you are really looking for a shorter snowed in story set in a shared universe, you could explore this one.
