Review: Ice Cold Boss

Ice Cold Boss by Olivia Hayle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved "Ice Cold Boss" by Olivia Hayle, which featured one of the best slow burn romances I've read in some time. The banter between main characters Henry and Faye was excellent; they were flirty, but in a way that was totally unique to them. I particularly enjoyed their staring contests and exchanges of random building facts. The workplace aspect of their romance was well-crafted as well. Faye and Henry were both very conscious of the fact that starting a relationship was a bad idea, and not just because he was her boss and it was against the rules. Henry had a lot more money and power than Faye did, but he never used that power against her. Instead, he respected her and her opinions, both personally and professionally, and went out of his way to demonstrate that he had hired her because of her talent and skill as an architect, not because he was attracted to her. In the end, neither of them could resist the pull of that attraction, and all the rules went out the window as they fell in love.

I really liked Henry and the way his character developed over the course of the story. He came across as rather cold and forbidding at first, but that was mostly a facade to protect his tender heart. He proved to be quite warm and kind as he came to know and trust Faye. For her part, Faye was a total boss: smart, funny, independent, and tenacious. I appreciated that she kept fighting for her dreams no matter what obstacles were in her path. Faye worked hard but had a playful side as well, as demonstrated by the conversations she sometimes had with her palm tree, which always made me chuckle. She and Henry were truly a perfect match, and I found it very easy to cheer them on to their HEA.

"Ice Cold Boss" is the second book of Hayle's Paradise Shores series, but it reads as a complete standalone. Henry's younger sister Lily was featured in the first book, and readers who are familiar with that story will enjoy the chance to catch up with her and her fiance Hayden here. I really enjoyed the way Henry and his siblings interacted in this story, and hope that the remaining brothers, Parker and Rhys, will get stories of their own in the future.

Overall, I highly recommend this funny, sweet story for all fans of contemporary romance. I look forward to Olivia Hayle's next book!

*ARC provided by the author via BookSirens. All opinions expressed are my own.

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