Chasing Frost by Isabel Jolie – Book tour review

Chasing Frost, by Isabel Jolie, was an entertaining book to read. It kept up a really good pace and it was unusual enough to grab my attention. I say unusual, because although it is written from the alternating points of view of the two main characters – Chase and Sydney – I feel as if I got a much closer look at the inner workings of Chase than I would usually get of the main male character. And I really enjoyed that aspect of the story.

Chase works for an accounting firm, where he’s a very popular guy. Everyone knows him and he is the guy that knows the names of all of his fellow employees (as well as those of their spouses and their three kids). He is always upbeat and cheerful, as well as having a bit of a devil-may-care attitude. The fact that he wears a t-shirt (complete with whacky slogan) under his jacket to work each day at his accounting firm (and gasp! sometimes he even wears jeans!!) demonstrates his light-hearted side and reluctance to confirm. In his own words, “I’m an extrovert in a cubicle minefield of uptight introverts. It works for me.”

Sydney is the newest employee at Chase’s firm. Unlike him, she presents herself as being very serious, holding herself at somewhat of a distance. But Chase doesn’t let this deter him – he is immediately attracted to her ‘frosty’ countenance. His early internal descriptions of her are quite funny, as are his mental musings on just how much of a chance with her he stands. Let’s just say, he isn’t lacking in self-confidence!

Chase is rather arrogant and sits kind of right on the edge of being annoying, without quite tipping over. He has the potential to be a bit of a loudmouth; like he’d be the annoyingly noisy guy at the party that always wants to be the centre of attention. The saving factor is that his intentions are good. I did find it a bit wearing though, that he makes repeated references to himself as being ‘short’ (because apparently being ‘sub 6 foot’ is short?). But overall, he is pretty likeable. (Although I didn’t always understand his t-shirt slogans!)

Sydney, however, doesn’t take too well to Chase at first. She comes out with a few snarky, even rude, comments, in their earlier meetings. Usually unprovoked. But she herself acknowledges that she is doing it, and apologises. Chase accepts her apology, noting to himself that although she has been ‘beyond uptight’, he believes he can wear her down eventually to find her softer side. (It doesn’t hurt that he’s busy admiring the view whenever she walks past, too.)

While Sydney is working hard to maintain her cover, Chase is trying hard to be nice to her and help her make friends. With this in mind, he starts including her in social outings. While this is going on, the two of them start to get closer and the lines for Sydney gets more blurred between what is real and what isn’t.

There is some violence in the story, but it isn’t explicitly described. There are, however, some mentions of some rather heavy summaries that come out of the violent section of the story. The violence itself is over in a couple of pages, and the discussions about it later are purely factual recounts, but it is worth mentioning.

One other aspect of Chasing Frost that is worth mentioning is Chase’s assistant Rhonda. She was fun. It was the most unlikely assistant/boss relationship, with the way the two of them speak to each other! But Rhonda’s interactions with Chase, and their overall relationship, is without a doubt the best way of determining that regardless of whether he’s being loud or silly, he’s a good guy underneath.

This book is #5 in the West Side series. Although it does reference previous events, presumably from other books, it definitely can be read as a stand-alone story without it detracting from the enjoyment at all.

Thank you to the author and Xpresso Books for my copy of Chasing Frost in exchange for an honest review.

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