Snowed Inn is book 2 in Valerie Bowman’s Honeycrisp Orchard series. I didn’t read book 1 but I had no problem jumping into this series with book 2, so it’s easily read as a standalone.
Snowed Inn is told in first person from the point of view of Maria, who in my opinion, was a spoiled, self-centered character with some kind of chip on her shoulder. I’ll be honest, although I ended up liking this book in the end, if this had not been an ARC read, I probably would not have finished it because Maria was insufferable.
The love interest, Jesse, also had his moments. He had a severe inferiority complex due to his background, and after a while that too was kind of irritating.
I didn’t really feel much of a romantic connection between Maria and Jesse until closer to the end of the book. This was supposed to be enemies to lovers, but although there were lots of scenes where they were at odds with each other, I didn’t feel any sparks between them most of the time.
For me, a lot of the problem in this book was that it was written from Maria’s point of view, and her attitude and inner thoughts were so negative for a lot of the time. It just sucked the enjoyment out of the story.
I did enjoy the festive atmosphere, and the friendships of the characters.
Although this book wasn’t for me, I do think some people will like it. If you like a small town, fish-out-of-water, Christmas romance then Snowed Inn might appeal to you.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Snowed Inn will be available on September 29 2026.
