Full Review by Lupe Farkas

Some books make me sit there analysing structure, prose, pacing and all the serious reviewer things.

And then some books make me think:

Welcome to On Frost Moon Lake. 😂

I had so much fun with this book.

Grace is exactly the kind of protagonist I enjoy following because what makes her interesting is not some sudden transformation into an unbeatable fantasy heroine. She arrives with the skills, knowledge, habits and slightly chaotic confidence of a woman from our world, and then proceeds to apply them somewhere they absolutely do not belong.

Watching perfectly serious military men discover the terrifying possibilities of modern organisation was one of my favourite things in the entire book.

And underneath all that humour, something much warmer slowly develops.

The North Stars were a huge part of that.

Alexander, Bryant and Christopher each bring something completely different to Grace’s life, and their relationships with her gradually become some of the most enjoyable parts of the story. There is loyalty, teasing, protection, exasperation, friendship and that wonderful feeling of people slowly deciding:

Bianca deserves her own mention because I adored her.

Every fantasy world needs at least one woman who looks at two emotionally incompetent people and decides that somebody clearly has to take control of the situation. 😂

And then there is Leon.

This man could turn emotional repression into an Olympic sport.

Watching him slowly thaw is where the title really started working for me. He is so committed to being controlled, responsible and completely unaffected that watching those walls begin to crack becomes enormously satisfying.

The romance works because it takes its time.

It grows through tiny things. Attention. Protection. Irritation. Concern. Those moments where somebody clearly cares far more than they are prepared to admit.

And apparently everyone can see it except the two people involved.

What surprised me most was how much emotional weight the story eventually accumulated.

The beginning has a lot of humour and fish-out-of-water energy, but gradually the book starts asking much bigger questions about belonging, responsibility, sacrifice and what loving someone actually means when what they want may conflict with what you desperately want for yourself.

That emotional shift worked for me.

The book is long, and there were moments where I felt certain ideas could have moved forward a little faster. Some emotional beats are revisited several times, and I occasionally wanted the story to trust what it had already shown me.

But I kept caring.

I cared about Grace.

I cared about Leon.

I cared about this ridiculous group of terrifying military men who somehow became one of the most affectionate found families I’ve read recently.

And by the final part of the book, I was completely emotionally invested.

No spoilers, because this is absolutely one of those stories where you should be allowed to discover what happens for yourself.

I will only say this:

Rude.

Effective.

I approve. 😂

On Frost Moon Lake: The Price of the Thaw gave me humour, romance, friendship, fantasy, ridiculous amounts of emotional repression and one of the most unexpected demonstrations of the military potential of office administration I have ever encountered.

And somehow, underneath all of that, it has a genuinely tender heart.

★★★★☆ 4 stars.