Snowed In

Love and Fame

De: Navessa Allen

Narrado por: Sophie Daniels, Matt Mercurio

Ella Jones knows what to expect from the long, hard winters in the northern reaches of Maine. Mostly boredom and monotony, broken up with a bit of skiing or quality time spent with her family. Which leaves her utterly unprepared for the arrival of Benjamin Kakoa, an ex-football star turned advocate in need of a break from fame and notoriety. For Ella, it's crush at first sight. But with a rocky past and an uncertain future, Ben's walls are tougher to tear down than she ever could have imagined. And once they fall, Ella and Ben will have to come to terms with the potentially tragic reality of their love.

©2019 by Navessa Allen. (P)2025 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Love! Love! Love!!!

Such a beautiful love story! I think it’s great that Navessa shines light on some hard and dark topics. I love her writing and have laughed out loud during every book I’ve read of hers so far!

Beautifully emotional!!

📖 & 🎧
Very mental health forward.
FMC~Ella~
MMC~Benjamin Kakoa~
Ella is part of a beautifully blended family, and every character in this book is a dog lover.. 👍🏻🐾👍🏻🐾🐾
Ben is a former professional American football player and recently lost family members to a horrific car accident caused by his brother (also a football player) having a Traumatic Head injury related seizure behind the wheel.
This is a highly emotional story, Put me through the winger. 😭

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – A Cozy Romance That Melts the Snow and Your Heart

If you love:
✨ Heart-warming, character-driven romance
✨ A slow-burn that pays off beautifully
✨ Soft emotional moments that linger
✨ Adorable dogs who make everything better

Great story

I like that they faced real issues and discussed real coping mechanisms. It made the story more believable and relatable. I’m so glad they realized their love was worth any struggles they may face and that they wanted to face them together. I really liked all the supporting characters and family dynamics as well. Overall a great story!!

Navessa never disappoints

But get the tissues ready. Such a good book with so much feeling. And the banter is the best. She does it so well.

Really sweet but emotional story with great mental health rep

Admittedly, Navessa Allen really never misses with me. Whether she’s writing hilarious takes on dark romance or touching stories of friendship, compassion, and difficult mental and physical health topics.

If you’re looking for something sweet for the holidays, this is a great option! I was surprised to find this book addresses the difficult topic of the physical repercussions of one of Americas favorite sports to the longevity and quality of life after. A topic I have found interesting for a while, considering how it’s downplayed and often ignored. This book explores the inner workings of a family that has been impacted drastically by these repercussions and continue to feel the threat of future impact as we move through the story. I felt Navessa took special care in this story to make space for mental health, grief, and choices many are forced to make.

I say all that not to overshadow the really endearing romance that develops, but because their friendship to flirtation to talks of serious commitment are weaved throughout these medical and mental struggles. I wouldn’t necessarily call this a light read, but definitely a touching one. Special shout out to all the puppies in this book! So cute! Cuteness overload!

The narrators did a really nice job here, and I really enjoyed both portrayals of the characters. The ONLY negative specific to the audio is that sometimes the quality of the male narrators voice/recording would change, and I never got used to it so much that I didn’t notice when it happened. In my head I imagined these were “reshoots” maybe. As they would pop in and out as you progressed. The narration was still good, but it was like he was a different distance from the microphone or something? It made it feel a little disjointed I think. I’m hesitant to dock any stars for that, since it didn’t impact my feelings of the book, but it is something I noticed.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to listen to this ALC. I truly enjoyed this story so much!

Went in blind

Went in blind ! Had a slow start. It was cute but slow but then started picking up and laying details down and even though the burn was slow once it burned it was hot!!! 🥵 the plot twist!!!! I definitely wasn’t expecting that to go the way it did. But some how that made it even more real and just better. This book definitely had more realistic aspects then her other books and I enjoyed that even though I love her heavily spiced ones this was love building and unconditional love .

The Enotions

From the beginning you have two people who start a friendship and it was funny and awkward. I laughed out loud several times. In the middle of all that there is a serious situation(s) dealing with death of family members (off page/in the past), CTE, depression. So they build this friendship and there's also a mutual attraction that you have to get through. I listen at a high rate of speed so maybe the last hour to hour and a half is when the MMC decides to get tested and then it gets really emotional.

It does end in a HEA, I actually wish we could have gotten two epilogues, one maybe 10 or 20 years later but I was extremely happy with how it ended. I did cry, because that last bit was very tough and it is something that happens. A lot of research seemed to have been out into the medical side, a lot of thought and sincerity.

I loved it and you definitely get the comedic relief as well as the emotional side

unexpected for this author

its unexpected for this author
its very emotional it an unexpectedly sad way
way I'm not sure i liked it.
I feel it was quite jarring and umm 😐 I just left the book feeling so sad and depressed... sorry I was unprepared

Cute but real

I fell in love with this story because of the realness of the characters. Having worked with people with both Alzheimer’s and TBIs, I enjoyed these characters and loved the happy ending.