This novella was first published in December 2019 as part of Bold Strokes Books’ collection of three novellas, “Hot Ice.”

Cassidy Bennet is the Chief of Staff for Julia Whitmore, a venture capitalist and an ice queen. Cassidy loves her job and has a major crush on her boss. She is surprised beyond anything her imagination could have conjured up when Julia asks to join her at her best friend’s birthday party. She drinks too much to try to calm her nerves, and the party becomes one of the things she hopes her boss completely wipes from her brain.

This is a fun, quick read. The story is told from Cassidy’s perspective so the reader is inside Cassidy’s head. She is funny and her fantasies about her boss are graphic. The reader will find herself smiling a lot at Cassidy’s conversations with herself and might laugh out loud as her fantasies seem to be coming true. Spencer’s writing is, as usual, excellent, pacing is impeccable, and Cassidy is well drawn and very likable while Julia may be an ice queen on the surface, there’s a softer side to her.

Fans of stories about ice queens will love this novella, and Elle Spencer’s fans probably read this story when it first came out but they might want to return to it and read again.

My thanks to Bold Strokes Books for an eARC. ( )