The Coldest Winter. Brittainy C Cherry at her best.

Synopsis

I didn’t know he was forbidden until after our one night stand…

I met Milo Corti during his self-destructive era, and he met me at the beginning of mine. That night when we crossed paths at a college party, we only had one goal: to feel good during our hell storms.

After we parted ways, I’d planned never to see him again. That was until I showed up for my first day as a student-teacher and found him sitting right there before me. Now I was forced to cross paths with the person meant to be nothing more than a fading memory.

The more time we spent together, the more drawn I felt toward him. When his world shifted for the worst, I couldn’t help but to lean in closer.

I’d always done the right thing. For the first time ever, I wanted to do something very wrong. I wanted to fall in love with the one person who was off-limits.

The problem with falling for something forbidden? Once you began to descend, you were destined to crash and burn.

Review

“She was the next act of my play after the interlude that I’d seemed to be stuck in for years.”

5 stars

It’s no secret that I am a big fan of Brittainy C Cherry and this story reminded me of Loving Mr Daniel as we have a “nearly teacher”/student forbidden relationship.

That book was a rollercoaster of emotions, that had me snickering at the banter one minute, swooning at the romance the next and then bawling my eyes out like a baby at how unfair life treated Milo!

When Milo met Starlet at a party, the goody two shoes Star will let loose with bad boy Milo as she had been betrayed by her boyfriend. The attraction is immediate!

Milo was the dirty talking bad boy, offering mind blowing sex to Starlet.

And even if it was only a one night stand and even if Milo postured as a confident womanizer, Starlet couldn’t help see something else. Something sad.

“He was the most attractive person I’d ever seen, with eyes packed with such sorrow. I wondered if he knew that his eyes looked like that—so painfully sad.”

When they’ll meet again later, Starlet has been tasked with tutoring Milo who is struggling in high school! Star is in her last year of college and Milo is in high school… talk about the forbidden fruit.

But of course knowing Brittainy, we have other tropes than teacher/student romance.

That book is heavy with grief.

Starlet has lost her mother as a teen and Milo has lost his mother one year ago. She was his world and he is completely drowning in grief and depression. To complicate matters, his father has turned to drinking to forget his loss. Milo has no mother and an absent father.

It was hard reading about Milo’s despair. He is adrift. Numbing his sorrow in sex, alcohol and recreational drugs sometimes. I just wanted to hug Milo so hard! To tell him that everything would be ok in the end.

And that’s when Starlet will be his guiding light. This is also a beloved theme to Brittainy. How the woman can save a man. And she writes that trope to perfection!

We will see bad boy Milo bloom thanks to Starlet, feeling joy again, thinking about the future and wanting to finish high school. These two will be absolutely adorable together.

“Before you, I was sleepwalking through the coldest winter of my life.”

But life is not finished throwing lemons to Milo and there is another big ordeal ahead, one that had me screaming! It was so unfair!

“He was learning how to breathe again. How dare the world try to make him drown once more?”

I won’t say more about the story, just know that as usual with Brittainy, it’s full of heart and emotions. Switching between tears and smile, swooning for these adorable lovebirds , I crossed all my fingers and toe, hoping they get their HEA.

I also loved the humor in that book and the hint at Mr Daniel’s story : ““Sorry, but, uh…you slept with your student! I’m pretty sure I read a romance book about this.” She rubbed the side of her chin. “But don’t worry, it ended with babies and a happily ever after.” I giggled when I read that!

Honestly, Brittainy at her best!

“I believe we don’t need to live a perfect life to be happy. We only have to live a real one.”

Thanks for reading!

Sophie