Book Review: With Love, from Cold World by Alicia Thompson

Some books just fit the season and With Love, from Cold World by Alicia Thompson is one of those.

While the book is being released on August 1st, it’s one of those books that just screams winter and Christmas to me. Regardless, I feel like it’s also a great one to pick up in summer since it’ll hopefully give you some chilly feelings.

Additionally, I feel like With Love, from Cold World is such a departure from Alicia Thompson’s debut novel which was Love In the Time of Serial Killers. I know that book didn’t get the best reviews yet her sophomore effort seems like a much better fit.

Of course, we’ll get into all of that and more but first, I’d like to thank Berkley for providing me with a digital ARC since I know I’ll be heading out to get a finished copy.

With Love, from Cold Wold is a splendid romance by Alicia Thompson.

Whether you picked up this book because of the author, the concept, or even the cover, what lies inside With Love, from Cold World might surprise you. This book follows Lauren who works at Cold World in the front office, doing the books and she’s your typical Type-A personality.

Of course, she doesn’t mesh with Asa, the attraction’s long-time employee yet things quickly develop between the two. Maybe it’s because of them being paired up for a project together or her realizing that Asa isn’t so bad. Regardless, these two have a romance that would melt the snow in Cold World.

As great as the romance is, I feel like Lauren is one of those romance characters we can all relate to. She’s just trying to do her best and play with the hand she’s dealt while also trying to heal her inner child. Maybe it was just me, but I absolutely loved Lauren’s character and her growth throughout the novel.

As for Asa, he was just such a fun time and a rarity in the romance world as he’s bi. He had blue hair and a love for Cold World that almost usurped the owner. These two couldn’t have been more unlikely, but they ended up being such a force together that upon finishing this book, I wanted to go back and read it again.

Aside from the romance, Lauren and Asa have a lot of struggles. Lauren is trying to heal herself after being put in foster care and losing her mother. She even ends up being a mentor for Eddie who is in foster care due to his mother being in an abusive situation. Asa even ends up helping her to connect with Eddie, too.

Meanwhile, Asa is trying to connect with his sister while still struggling amidst his parents kicking him out for being bisexual. While the story might seem like there’s a lot going on, Alicia Thompson balances everything so well. Considering that it’s set amidst Christmas too, this is just a fun and wintery read that’ll thaw your frozen heart this summer.

My only small complaint about this book was that it felt like Lauren sort of got railroaded by Asa’s friends about her role in the third-act breakup. I just wish we could have seen Asa get a little bit too because that bothered me. Either way, this ended up being such a fun and engaging romance that I know I’ll be revisiting it this winter.

With Love, from Cold World by Alicia Thompson is out now!

Will you be picking up the latest from Alicia Thompson? Let us know in the comments!