Samhain Publishing, $5.50, ISBN 1-59998-608-6
Contemporary Romance, 2007

In Snowbound, we have our heroine Robyn Montgomery in a most unhappy situation. Her ex-boyfriend (who also happens to be her boss, yikes) bailed out at the last minute on hosting a charity auction that’s going to be held at her ten-year high school reunion. Because Robyn volunteered to organize this charity auction thing, she is now seeing horrible flashbacks of her awkward high school years should she show up with a missing emcee. Since the reunion is held at a ski resort, maybe a fling with some cute guy while she’s there may ease the blues.

Sean Trenton, however, is a high-profile former Olympic skier and therefore he isn’t that anonymous fling Robyn is looking for. Then again, judging from Robyn’s textbook Harlequin Blaze antics, she’ll probably find another excuse to angst if Sean is a regular Joe type of person. Sean used to be a hard-partying person about two years ago until an accident forced him to put his career and social life on hold. When he spots Robyn, he’s ready to get back into the ring, so to speak.

I wish I like Larissa Ione’s Snowbound more than I do. The writing is clean and easy to read. Unfortunately, the characters are such familiar stereotypes that I find it hard to muster much enthusiasm for their story. I’m not sure that Robyn loves Sean as much as she loves how a man of his stature allows her to gain some social cachet that she never had back in high school. I am also not sure that Sean will give Robyn a second glance if he hadn’t been medically incapable of partying for two years, since Robyn uses him as a substitute for her spine and self-esteem and it can’t be fun being her boyfriend.

Perhaps I will enjoy this story more if I believe that romance is a substitute for therapy.