Despite this book being a romance, thus guaranteeing a happy ending, it had me on the edge of my seat. Not a small feat.
Plot: Angel loves to cook. After her boyfriend cheats on her and causes her restaurant to go bankrupt, she does what every sensible person might do and accepts a posting cooking for a crew of scientists in an outpost in Antarctica. Non-science types are only welcome in the summer though, because winter in Antarctica is simply beyond the capacity of anyone with sense to endure, and between the cold weather and the hot scientist so friendly she’s dubbed him the Ice Man in her head, she’s maybe probably ready to start cleaning up the mess waiting for her in Pennsylvania. The universe has other plans though, as a plan apparently in the making for some time unfolds on her last day, resulting in the murder of two of her colleagues and her abandonment alone on a continent about to become entirely uninhabitable. Only, turns out the Ice Man was left alone too, and he figures there’s a slightly more than zero chance of survival if they can make it to the nearest science station. 300 miles away. On foot. With a team of mercenaries on their tail trying to recover a discovery that, in the wrong hands, could be literally apocalyptic. Shenanigans ensue.
This book is insane. When you’re learning creative writing, one of the pieces of advice often given is to just imagine how a scene could go wrong, and then let that happen. Anders doesn’t plan in the shallow part of the pool though, so her process is clearly more along the lines of “imagine how a scene could go the absolute worst, then think of a worse way it could go, and let both of those things happen.” We’re not talking about misunderstandings or blatant mistakes the characters are making, either. Every single person on the page is exceptional at their job and more than willing to roll up their sleeves as needed outside their job description. You will learn so much about surviving at low sub zero temperatures and geology. Sure this book is a romance, but the real eroticism is in the unrelenting competence porn. The reality though is that given the utterly Kafkaesque circumstances Anders throws her characters into, even everyone’s very, very best is only ever enough to just barely, by the skin of their teeth, and not without significant losses, evade a certain and horrible end. It manages to make you forget that things must end well, because how could they? The journey you take with Angel and Ford across the ice is gripping in a way few books have succeeded, at least for me, across any genre.
I think a big reason this book is successful though is the emotional core of the story. Anders takes an interesting tack with the characters, in that we don’t ever really get a deep dive into their pasts. Angel’s generic Bad Boyfriend Screws Best Friend And Ruins Career backstory doesn’t get any deeper, and neither does Ford’s Dad Was An Alcoholic And Mom Was Dead So I Joined The Army Out Of Spite narrative. Instead, Anders focuses on their emotional lives. Their fear of intimacy after failed attempts at connection and the way they both crave and loathe the distance they’ve created between themselves and the world around them. The immense effort it takes for them to shed their baggage and the way in which though actively trying to kill them, the Arctic ice actually created the space they needed to heal.
This book is about courage. The courage it takes to walk into the unknown with nothing but yourself to count on, the courage to do things and endure things you never thought you could, and the courage to open your heart to another person, even if it gives them the power to hurt you. It’s a good read, just don’t expect the overarching plot to resolve – this is a series so there is at least one more journey into the unknown before we can say that an apocalypse was averted.
TW: severe injuries described in great detail, loads of violence, parental abuse, parental death.