Ice Crystal Bloom by El Frito

A recent exchange between my good friend Jocelyn Adams and I on the subject of … cold weather. If you read all the way through, you’ll have an opportunity to win her most recent novella, Touch of Frost!

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Standing next to Jo, here, we’re a lot alike, but freakishly different. You see—

::Jo elbows Aimee out of the way::

Ms. Laine over here is always telling me I’m crazy.  In most respects I’d agree with her.  However, on one point of contention, though, I feel a need to plead my case, which brings me to the reason why I’ve invaded her blog space this morning. I love winter.  I love the snow.  I love the cold.  There, I said it.

Yeah, gotta interrupt you there, Jo. I so totally don’t love the cold that I think you’re completely NUTS! But back to you.

Go ahead and get your disbelief, your ranting and raving, your stories about when your car that wouldn’t start and the day your furnace broke when it was -30, out of the way now before I go on to tell you why I love it.

You’re sick, darling.

No, I haven’t forgotten to take my meds.

Yes, yes, yes you have.

Pfft.  Yes, I do go outside during the winter.

Which is ridiculous given where you live!

Arg, you’re so stubborn.  And yep, I know the roads are often brutally slippery and cause dangerous driving.

Exactly! Why risk that?

Us Canadians know how to drive on snow unlike you Southerners.  Done?

::Aimee rolls her eyes::

Okay, good.  Now it’s my turn.

First, I have to take into account where I live.  While technically Muskoka is considered Southern Ontario—

Southern, my ass. *I* live in the south.

… we’re really on the border of Northern Ontario solidly on the rocky shelf of the Canadian Shield.  We’re surrounded by forests and lakes and spectacular stone cliffs.

COLD stone cliffs.

Yes, cold.  Lovely, crisp cold.  And it snows … a lot.

It rarely snows here and when it does, it melts away in 3 days. Perfect to get the need out of the kids’ systems and to deal with cabin fever.

That’s not winter, that’s spring.  Geez.  Okay, so we have a landscape that’s naturally beautiful on its own in any season—

We do too … without snow.

…Pfft.  Light weight.  Now add snow to every tree limb, every pine bough, and an ice waterfall to every rocky shelf and you have a stunning sight that never ceases to give me the shivers.  And no, they’re not from the cold.

Okay, I do have to admit some of my favorite, favorite, favorite images are of cold/ice covered trees.

See?  Told ya.  The next time it snows hard, I dare you to go out and stand in it.

Noooooooooooooooo! Can’t I sit in my house and stay warm? Pleeeeeeeeeease?

No, you can’t.  Just trust me for a second.  Take in the silence of it.  Let yourself get lost in the sense of isolation it brings.  Let the flakes fall on your upturned face like little kisses.  It always affects me in a profound way, one I can hardly describe to you.  I find myself thinking deep thoughts and feeling deep emotions.  It humbles me, grounds me, reminds me that the world still has gentleness in it.

Awe. See, now? Now I’m getting all emotional.

And so you should!  There’s also a crispness to the air at night that seems to do something to our ability to see the stars.  They’re brighter, clearer and seem to be as happy about the season as I am with all of their sparkling.  Go out and look for yourself the next cold night.

Um … okay.

Watch the sky blink back at you, let it fill you with awe and a respect for beauty only nature can pull off.  If you open yourself to what you’re seeing, I bet you won’t give a thought to the temperature around you.

Bet I will … but I … might give it a try.

I guarantee you’ll love it, though where you are, it doesn’t get cold enough to make a difference.  Nana!  And finally, living in Muskoka means I have to deal with bugs in the spring and summer.

I think we pretty much only deal with ants and ticks and the occasional mosquito. See why where I live is better?

Better?  Ha!  ::ahem::  Um … what was I saying?  Oh yeah, I hate bugs.  With a flaming passion.  Mosquitos.  Black flies.  Horse flies.  Dear flies.  Ick.

Makin’ my case here, girl.

In the winter, there are no bugs.  We sleep with our windows open to let the cold into our bedroom while we snuggle under a down duvet.

Okay, now that I do, too, but our temps, once below 30 degrees F mean the windows stay closed. CLOSED I tell ya.

Even at -20 degrees C our windows stay OPEN.  And … no mosquitos buzz in our ears.  There’s none of that sticky humidity in the air that makes me sweat buckets and wake up every hour like you have down there where you are.  Yuck!

Well … I do have to admit we have that in spades. Shovels of humidity.

I know it.  When it’s cold, I sleep better than any other time of the year.

So now, when the snow falls down outside your window, I hope you’ll look at it a little differently.  Go out and enjoy it.  Play in it.  Stare at it.  Bask in its silence and soft caresses.  A little nip of frost and the weight of winter clothing aren’t too big of a price to pay for that, is it?

Still think I’m crazy for loving winter Ms. Laine?

Yes. But, technically, I think that about you in general. Now I know why. So this why you wrote Touch of Frost? Because the intensity in your words here are thoroughly shown in that novella. Seriously. I felt like I was there.

Gah!  I’m going to have to get you up here in the winter one time so can experience a real Canadian one so you’ll know what you’re missing. 🙂  And yes, a lot of those deep emotions in Touch of Frost came to me while I stood under a gray snow amongst a flutter of flakes, just listening and feeling.

Okay. Someday. Maybe. Probably.

I must say, Jo and I agree on one major thing: Willem Frost.

Touch of Frost by Jocelyn Adams

Here’s what this little novella is all about:

Even the simplest of touches between Will Frost and Lauren McLean are forbidden.

To share love will surely mean death.

Since her granddad’s passing, Lauren has existed a few steps out of sync with the world. Desperate to feel the love only he offered her as a child, Lauren returns to the haven they once shared — a snow-covered cabin at the foothills of the Rockies.

It’s not the memory of her granddad that warms her ice-cold, frost-bitten body after being caught in a blizzard, though. It’s the man in whose bed she wakes.

Along with bringing life to her soul, Will stirs deep-rooted memories in Lauren and brings out the love she seeks.

What Will knows about himself — the secrets of his kind — he keeps hidden, forcing Lauren to search for answers, to question and ultimately put her life, and his own existence, in danger.

In love, though, there is always a way.

Can Will get around the rules? Or will Lauren give up her life simply to have one last touch from Will Frost?

If our little conversation above doesn’t get you interested in this author, check her out at all these other places:

So, what do YOU think of the cold? Share in the comments for a chance to win a copy of her ebook novella, Touch of Frost. Post your comment by February 15th to be entered to win. We’ll pick a random commenter at 5:00 pm ET!

Or … you can buy Touch of Frost, right now!

Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads

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