I think I – and most folks I know – have had at least a passing fantasy about hot guys in ski resorts. Four Nights to Forever pretty much brings that to life. Add in a mature, newly divorced heroine trying to figure out what she really does want in life, and you end up with story both steamy and poignant.

Newly divorced Cassie Sumner lets her best friend drag her out to the Rockies to celebrate her 40th birthday with a ski vacation. Cassie got married and pregnant before she’d ever really had a chance to strike out on her own, so most of her adult life has formed around her husband’s likes and preferences. Though initially uneasy about vacation and decidedly not on board with her friend’s pretty much throwing her at their superhot ski instructor, Cassie starts to discover that she really does have opinions of her own. That journey alone is pretty much worth the price of admission on this book.

But wait – there’s more! The ski instructor Cassie meets at the outset has some secrets of his own which I won’t spoil here. I’ll just say that even though Doug has baggage of his own, he is also drawn to Cassie from the first. He has set a strict “no dating resort guests” rule for himself, but Cassie has him reconsidering it for the first time. Despite the title, these two don’t immediately fall into bed, but once Cassie’s friend is conveniently sidelined, it doesn’t take long for the situation to heat up.

The chemistry between Cassie and Doug is red hot, and their love scenes are both emotional and scorchingly hot. This isn’t the first time at the rodeo for either of them, so readers get more give and take, and less “Oh, what IS that thing? How ever will it fit?” Sex in real life is often a form of communication beyond words, and one definitely gets that sense from Lohmann’s writing.

And that brings me to my major pet peeve with this book. What Doug and Cassie convey to each other in bed and what they say elsewhere really does not match. I could this at the beginning because Doug has very plausible reasons for why he lives the way he does, and Cassie is a recent divorcee trying to chart out her next season in life. These are indeed big issues.

However, the couple’s steadfast refusal to talk about their relationship and insist they’re only having a fling starts to grate by the time one is halfway through the book. It’s especially irritating since Cassie and Doug have repeated “define the relationship” conversations about how they’re only having a fling. That in and of itself should have clued them in earlier. I got married fairly young, but I’ve got friends who date more and from them I’ve learned: Casual flings are kind of like fight club. The first rule? You don’t have to keep talking about them.

If you can deal with Cassie and Doug’s lingering inability to treat their budding relationship like it might actually be a budding relationship, Four Nights to Forever is a good read. It’s an encouraging reminder that one just might get another opportunity at love. And in a world way too obsessed with perfection, the promise of a second chance is an optimistic one indeed.