Winter Wishes and Coffee Kisses

De: Ana Ashley

Narrado por: Alexander Cendese

In the heart of Maplewood, love is just a wish—and a kiss—away.

An anonymous one-night stand was just what I needed before moving to Vermont, to open my very own coffee shop, Special Blend.

Happy new year to me!

I've lost the only family I had. So when the locals welcome me with open arms and empty cups, I know Maplewood is truly home.

But it’s my neighbor, Nate—the tall, rugged lumberjack-type next door—who really gets my heart racing.

Have we met somewhere before?

He’s a little grumpy, but that’s just froth on the cappuccino, right? My muffins, ice cream, and coffee can melt any heart, so I'm sure they'll work on him too.

As things heat up, strangers arrive with a revelation about my past– one that Nate seems to know, leaving me torn between my growing feelings for him and the fear of being hurt again.

With the Winter Wishes Festival in full flow, I must decide: can I trust Nate to be the love I’ve wished for, or will this brew the end of us before we even begin?

With the highest percentage of LGBTQIA+ residents in Vermont, Maplewood is a town where everyone belongs. And with festivals year round, there’s always something fun happening! This multi-author, low-angst queer series features ten standalone romances—each set against the backdrop of a different festival. Come for the celebrations, stay for the happily-ever-afters!

©2025 Ana Ashley (P)2025 Ana Ashley

I love small town romance

Just like every Ana Ashley story, this one was sweet and magical.

Honestly, at this point I expect every story based in Vermont is a guaranteed HEA.

Caspian moved to Vermont to open up his own coffee shop. He met Nate at a bar on New Year’s Eve and despite both of them wearing masks, their chemistry was instant. They had an anonymous one night stand only to end up being next door neighbors.

Nate is apprehensive about starting a new relationship since the last one he had left a sour taste in his mouth, but he cannot deny the attraction he feels for Caspian.

With a little holiday magic and the town-folks constant showers of love, Caspian and Nate find out that when two people are meant to be, the stars will align to bring them together.

Winter Wishes & Coffee Kisses is book one in the multi author series Love in Maplewood. Get ready to fall in love with Caspian and Nate.

Great story

I love small town romances! This one is even better because I love Ana Ashley’s characters. Caspian and Nate were easy to fall in love with and root for their happy ending. I love Caspian’s attitude and his determination for a new start.

Narrator Issues

I love me some MM romance, especially with some smut thrown in for good measure. And in general, I enjoyed this first entry I this new-to-me series by this new-to-me author. I enjoyed the characters and the setting. I think I’d like to continue with this series.

That said: I can’t say that I was a fan of the narration by Alexander Cendese. By all accounts Cendese is a prolific and well-regarded narrator of audiobooks, and a trained actor in his own right.

That didn’t come through on this recording (to me), however. In general, I really enjoy MM novels with a split first person narration. But those either need two separate narrators (optimal choice, but obviously more cost prohibitive), or that single narrator needs to create distinctly different character voices for the two separate narrators so the listener doesn’t get lost.

Cendese doesn’t pull that off in this work. I listen primarily in my car while driving, and I was forever losing track of who was telling the story from chapter to chapter. Nate & Caspian’s voices were just too similar. (Other supporting characters had very different-sounding voices, so this seemed to just be Cendese’s acting choice.)

I’ll be looking carefully at the rest of the books in this series to see who’s narrating now, before I commit to purchasing.

Cheesy, but fine if you want that

This is super Hallmark-y. There's the manic pixie dream guy opening a cute coffee shop, there's the moving into a magical small town, there are the quirky neighbors and mind-reading friends/family who encourage the MCs. I was a little annoyed by it because it feels unskillful and overdone, but I am not personally offended.

Loved how steamy and sweet

It was a sweet steamy story wonderfully narrated by Alexander Cendese. Loved the main characters and how one night of anonymous sex leads to a real relationship.