It’s that time of year when our TBR piles see an influx of Christmas-themed romances, and while I’m usually not ready to start getting festive until well into December, I do usually pick up a few of them for review each year, and I’m kicking off 2022’s batch with a short but sexy/sweet story from H.L. Day. Five Night Stand is part of the multi-author Snowed Inn series set at a holiday lodge in Colorado that is cut off when an avalanche closes the surrounding roads for a few days rendering its guests unable to leave. The books all feature different couples and can be read in any order, so you can dip in and out as the fancy takes you.

A couple of weeks before Christmas, author Nathan Nicholls is anxiously awaiting a meeting at his publisher’s. He’s written three pretty successful books and hopes the meeting is to offer him a new contract, or at the very least an offer to publish his latest one, but alas for him, it’s not. He’s told they’re going to pass on it – or at least, that they don’t want to publish the book in its present state because the characters are flat and and underdeveloped. If he makes some substantial changes, then maybe they can revisit it, but for now… it’s thanks but no thanks.

Frustrated and dispirited, Nathan decides to bite the bullet and make the necessary revisions. He sweated blood for eight months over that book, locking himself away and having no life while he made sure to meet his deadline, so he’s loath to chuck it out completely. He’s due to fly to Colorado to spend Christmas with his dad and stepmum and, hoping that maybe a change of scenery might help his creative juices start to flow, he decides to fly out a bit earlier and stay at a hotel for a few days before heading to his dad’s place.

Unfortunately, the different scenery, while beautiful, isn’t having the desired effect, and Nathan’s laptop screen has remained annoyingly blank. On his last day at The Retreat, he suddenly feels the need to be somewhere other than his cabin, somewhere there are other people, even if he doesn’t really feel like talking to anyone. Mooching around the hotel building, he peeks into the room where a speed dating event is going on and almost regrets not signing up for it – the guys look like they’re having fun, which is something Nathan hasn’t had a lot of recently. But he’s leaving the next day and flying home a few days later, so there wasn’t really any point… although when he locks eyes with the gorgeous guy with the generous smile and the camera slung around his neck, he thinks maybe he made the wrong decision.

Realising he’s just standing in the doorway like an idiot, Nathan quickly makes his way to the bar and is surprised when camera-guy shows up not long afterwards and brings him over another beer. He’s a fellow Brit and introduces himself as CJ – and he doesn’t waste any time in inviting Nathan back to his cabin. Nathan is startled. He’s never been one for casual sex and almost says so, but then thinks – why not? It’s not like they’ll ever see each other again, and maybe one night being something “other than a writer who had apparently forgotten how to write” is exactly what he needs.

The sex is fantastic and CJ is surprisingly intuitive, immediately sensing Nathan’s tendency to overthink and helping him to overcome his inhibitions with effortless ease. He asks Nathan not to leave without saying goodbye in the morning – but when it comes to it, all Nathan’s habitual awkwardness comes roaring back and he leaves quietly, returning to his own cabin – right next door – to shower and pack before heading to reception to check out.

But… he can’t. An avalanche hit late the previous night and the roads are impassable. It looks like he’ll be seeing CJ again after all.

Five Night Stand is a fun, steamy and surprisingly fresh take on a couple of well-worn tropes, and I enjoyed it a lot. It’s a quick and very engaging read featuring two likeable, three dimensional characters with chemistry that leaps off the page, and although Nathan’s is the sole PoV, the author does such a wonderful job of presenting CJ through his eyes, I didn’t once feel I was missing anything by not having CJ’s take on things. They’re your classic grumpy/sunshine pairing; Nathan is a bit of an introvert who works hard and doesn’t play very much, while CJ is charming, fun and larger-than-life, open to opportunity and ready to grab the next one with both hands. Spending the days together – as well as the nights – enables them to go to know each other, talking about their jobs and their hopes and dreams, and the affection between them is palpable. Nathan tells CJ about the problems with his book and CJ shares his love of wildlife photography and his dream of one day having a shot accepted by National Geographic. CJ’s love of life, his positivity and his ebullience are infectious, and I loved the way he encourages Nathan to come out of his shell and start to live a little; watching Nathan doing just that, opening up and finding real happiness for the first time in a long while is really satisfying. It’s not all one-sided though. CJ has never really had anyone in his life who understands his love for what he does and supports him in it – his family sees his photography as a hobby, and past boyfriends have been annoyed because he travels a lot – but Nathan gets it. He knows what it’s like to feel passionately about something and is genuinely interested and impressed with CJ’s talent.

One of the things I often criticise shorter romance novels and novellas for is that the relationship development can feel rushed – but that isn’t the case here. Nathan and CJ form an entirely believable connection during their short time together, and I have to give the author kudos for the little nod back to Nathan’s assertion early on, that the characters in his book can’t be expected to change all that much in just five days – when he realises that he has, in fact, fallen in love in just that timeframe.

Five Night Stand is the perfect way to brighten up a grey, wintry afternoon; a tender, funny and spicy love story that’s nicely romantic without being sappy. Recommended.

Buy it at: Amazon

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