Baby It’s Cold Outside, a review

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Curling up with a good book with a cup of tea under a blanket is a favorite pastime of mine when the weather gets cold.  It gets even better when the story makes you want to bundle up and keep warm.

 

Baby, It’s Cold Outside by Susan May Warren is a wonderful book for unwinding from your own busy life.  You’ll meet five different characters, each carrying their own hurts and longings, who end up together in an old Victorian home hunkered down as they ride out a brutal winter storm in the days before Christmas in 1949.  By the end of the story, they have faced that which they wanted to ignore and arrive in better places.

 

Who are these wounded characters?

Dottie Morgan is the town librarian who feels like even God has abandoned her after losing her only child in World War II.  She’s also the owner of the house where they end up.

Violet Hart is Dottie’s assistant in the library and longs to connect with a soldier (Alex) with whome she’s corresponded since during the war.  However, she also perceives herself negatively given her mechanical inclinations and years spent serving during the war with those abilities.

Jacob (Jake) Ramsey III is a stranger to the town, come to hopefully reach Violet before she receives her last letter marked return to sender.  He brings with him a secret he’s afraid to even speak.

Gordon (Gordy) Lindholm is Dottie’s long time neighbor who has loved Dottie for more years than he can remember.  However, they keep each other )at arm’s length.  It’s only out of concern for Dottie that has him making the trek from his house to check on her and end up stuck at our house.

Finally, young Arnie Shiller finds himself at Dottie’s, his appointed safe house as he resides out of town.  He often escapes to his own ‘reality’ where he is Flash Gordon trying to save Dale Arden (his mom who is still mourning the loss of her husband during the war.)  He finds his way to Dottie’s house when walking home from school, but does not go TO the house, instead seeking shelter inside the barn where he’s later found cold and barely breathing.

There are a few twists and turns in the story line. Romantic tension arises between the two couples and healing from past hurts eventually happens in the story.  I loved how Ms. Warren wove into the story how Jesus’ coming also brought hope into the world.  Without hope, there would be no reason to live a life filled with suffering.  He’s also our storm house…a place of security we can seek when the world continues to storm around us.   Overall, it was a pleasurable read that held my attention so well that I had to force myself to go to bed (at almost 2 a.m.!) one night.
Baby, It’s Cold Outside (When I Fall in Love) retails for $12.99 in paperback format.  Read an excerpt here and find out the story behind the novel.

 

Disclaimer ~ No compensation was given for this post. I was provided with a copy of the book to facilitate a review.  Any opinions are my own.