Reviewed by Paul
TITLE: Cold Feet 
AUTHOR: Jay Northcote
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 3h 8m
NARRATOR: Matthew Loyd Davies
BLURB:
Best friends snowed in together. When the heat rises, will they get cold feet?
Getting snowed in at a remote cottage in Wales with someone he’d fancied for ages isn’t exactly how Sam expected to spend Christmas. His feelings for Ryan are pointless. Ryan’s straight—or so he thought.
Until now, Ryan’s kept his feelings for Sam buried. Why ruin a friendship over what might only be gay experimentation? Playing it cool seems safer, until a cold snap makes sharing body heat vital. In their Welsh safe haven, anything seems possible.
As Ryan’s reserve melts away, Sam wants more than stolen kisses under the mistletoe. But a sudden thaw means making decisions. They could face the New Year together—unless one of them gets cold feet.
REVIEW:
As a Christmas story this book fills all the requirements and more. Northcote paints lovely scenery and carves out the flawed characters well. The book meanders along at a leisurely pace, which fits the story brilliantly. The waiting and slow development is how you imagine this relationship to develop. The fact that they end up alone together in a backward village in a snowstorm is natural and believable.
The interactions with the other characters is true to form and explain a lot of the MC´s behavior. Especially the family story of Ryan explains to me why he´s so hesitant to allow himself to feel the way he feels. The reader is given an insight into their lives throughout the entire story.
The book has some lovely Christmas scenes in Wales, which give the reader a feel for the true Christmas spirit, with an endearing scene with Mauri, an old lady living nearby, who provides them with a solid Christmas dinner (instead of beans on toast or chicken nuggets)
The ending is a perfect one, where all inhibitions are removed and Ryan and Sam finally are honest to each other and maybe more important to themselves.
This was a lovely read-listen for a stormy winters night and the occasional sex-scene were hot, tantalizing and very life-like. I enjoyed this book from start to finish.
AUDIO-REVIEW:
The narration was ok. For me as a Dutch listener it was fine, but I can imagine for American listeners it could be a bit over-the-top, in terms of accents. It helped to carve out the scene, so to me it was not a big problem. All the characters had their own voice which is always a big plus, if the narrator can flawlessly do so. Davies pace and timbre were fitting to the story. I would certainly buy more books narrated by this man.
RATING: 
AUDIO RATING : 
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