Reviewed by Carissa
TITLE: Snowman 
AUTHOR: Isabelle Rowan
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 276 pages
BLURB:
We all find ways to run away. Some do it in seclusion, others in the arms of lovers.
Since the death of his long-time partner, Caleb Maguire lives a quiet life in Australia’s Victorian high country with only his dog and horses for company. Each day is the same. There are no surprises—good or bad—until a major snowstorm hits his mountain and Caleb is called out to rescue a stranded tourist. The late night snow brings with it a lost soul who forces Caleb to reassess his solitary life.
Paul Turner is a barista in the trendy Melbourne suburb of Carlton. He lives life totally in the moment, but a life of no commitments is about to change for this city boy. Three days is all it takes for Paul to fall hard for Caleb, and Paul returns to the city with a promise he’ll be back after turning his life around… but only when all the roads are clear.
REVIEW:
Paul Turner is a barista with a love of partying and making the most of each night (and each night’s hook-up). Caleb Maguire is…not. When Paul accidentally runs himself off the road in the middle of a snowstorm, Caleb is called in to go rescue him. And despite the fact that he is still mourning his partner, and that Paul is just about everything that Mike was not, Caleb finds himself drawn to the animated man from off the mountain. But they only have three days together before Paul must head back down off the mountain and back into real life. Which is fine…it’s not like you can fall in love in three days. Right?
I have been in an exceptionally Aussie mood lately so when I saw I could get my hands on this book I was thrilled. I loved A Note in the Margin, the first book I ever read by this author, and from the blurb this one sounded just as interesting. And pretty much the same things I loved about Margin, I loved about Snowman.
The relationships in both books are not easy. Here you have Caleb who is still mourning Mike, his partner in all senses of the word, and has isolated himself up on the mountain with just his dog and a few horses to keep him company. The house where he lives is one that he bought with Mike, made a home with Mike, and ended up losing Mike as well. There are so many memories in that house that you could tell that Caleb would never really be free of them. Not without something major happening in his life.
Paul is like the opposite of Caleb. He is younger, less settled. He works as a barista, but that is hardly his life’s ambition. It isn’t until he gets trapped on the mountain with Caleb that he sees there is a better way to live his life. That he sees there are other paths he could take…if he wants. But no matter what it is going to take work. If he wants to be a better person–not for Caleb, or his best friend, Stewart–but for himself, Paul is going to need to learn how to walk away from his past, and walk towards something of worth.
Unfortunately, that also means he is not going to be able to stay up on Caleb’s mountain. He has to go back to his life in order to fix it. And this means for a large portion of the book, the two characters are barely even in contact. This might bother some people, but for me it just worked. And worked well. Not only does Paul need to figure out who and what he is outside of the mountain and Caleb, but Caleb needs to actually mourn Mike. These two need to walk their own paths, and yeah, it would have been nice if they could have walked them together, but it was not all that feasible. They live in different worlds, and if those worlds were ever to intersect they had a bit of walking to do to get there.
But even while they are apart you can tell that they have not forgotten each other. Through pain and hardship and some damn stupid decisions, they grow closer to each other and to themselves. This book takes time to grow the characters and the relationship, and that is something that I really like. I’m not one to believe in the quick love, I want something that can burn steadily over time, instead of being just a flash in the pan.
I can see where this book can cause problems with other readers. The length of time they spend together is probably only a third of the book. The sex is definitely more fade-to-black than it is thirty-page-sex-romp. The characters do very stupid things for very depressing reasons. But to me, all this and more is why I love this book. The characters are so real, with real life struggles and questionable decisions, that I can’t help but fall in love with them. Not that I fought that falling very hard. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would have no problem recommending it.
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