When Aidan Flynn walks into Cluny’s Restaurant, he can’t take his eyes off his new boss, Annabel Frost. With his heart set on winning her over, Aidan can think of nothing but getting beneath her cold exterior.
Known as one of the toughest women in the business, Annabel is impervious to Aidan’s many charms. His compelling grey gaze and persuasive Irish lilt do anything but captivate her.
But Aidan senses there’s more to Annabel than meets the eye. And he’s not going to stop until he reveals all…"
Rating: 4/5
You can buy Melting Ms Frost as a paperback or an eBook now.
I do love reading a debut novel, finding an exciting new voice in fiction that I haven't tried before. Although this technically isn't Kat Black's debut novel, this is her first book with publishers Avon. I really like the cover, it's bold and simple, and suits the book perfectly, you can well imagine that the woman on the cover is indeed Annabel Frost! I'd heard things about this book, such as 'if you enjoyed Fifty Shades of Grey then you'll love this' and that it was a bit of a naughty read, so I went into it with my eyes wide open and I'm pleased that I did!
Annabel Frost is certainly a woman who suits her name - her frosty nature doesn't entice her to her colleagues, and she prefers not to fraternise with her employees either. When she has a small week's leave, she comes back to find that the restaurants owner has hired a new barman without her knowing, Aidan Flynn. Aidan is sure that there is more going on behind Annabel's cold facade than meets the eye, and is determined to make her crack and find the loving side to Annabel he's sure is there somewhere. However, Annabel isn't going to let someone in that easily, but it might prove harder to resist Aidan than she first thought....
I'll be honest and admit I found the book quite hard to get into at first. It was very heavy on narrative, with a lack of dialogue, and it seemed to get a bit bogged down at times with it. I had to put it away for a few nights, then go back to it in order to really get into the book. After about a third of the book, I had warmed up to it and finally felt like I was engaged in the story and wanting to read on and find out more. Annabel was a tough character to like, she seems very hard-faced and not at all easy to warm to as a leading lady for the book. Perhaps this is why I found it a bit hard to get into - I prefer main characters that I can love and sympathise with, and I just wasn't there at all with Annabel.
Aidan is most definitely the most likeable character in the book. Yes, he's a bit forward with Annabel, much more so than she would like, but he's got a good heart and I just hoped she would open up and let him in her life a little bit. You get the feeling there's more to Aidan than meets the eye, and I was right, but I liked how things are revealed in the book. The relationship between Aidan and Annabel takes a long while to get going, again it feels a little bit dragged out but I was pleased when things finally got moving. As it progresses, the book starts to b e littered with more and more sex scenes, and these are very well written. There's nothing too smutty in here, but they were fun to read, and I felt Black has handled well, and other reviewers are right, I'm sure you will enjoy this if you liked 'Fifty Shades'!
For me, the book was a good read. It's a long book, perhaps a little bit long for my liking but it certainly picked up towards the end half of it. I really liked the twist that came in the final quarter, it really allows us to see a much more different side to these characters and I enjoyed this bit far more than any other part of the book. The setting of a restaurant is good, although we spend a lot of time there, there isn't a huge amount of detail about the restaurant, food or anything, mainly things about Annabel's job as the manager and Aidan's as the barman. Kat Black's writing is easy to read, although perhaps a little too heavy on the detail for me, I prefer a little more dialogue between my characters. There's a lot of different emotions going on in this book, and they're handled well with their characters and the storylines involved. It was a fun read, lots of sex so not for the faint-hearted! A very good debut.
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