A MelanieM Release Day Review: Snow & Secrets (Stanford Creek #3) by R.J. Scott as Rozenn Scott

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

First comes trust, then love… then the fight to stay alive.

Pop star Tyler Hart is desperate for peace after a humiliating public scandal. It seems like Stanford Creek may well be the place to lay low. After all, it worked for his friends and former bandmates, Cody and Danny. He borrows a cabin and settles in for a quiet Christmas…well, not quite.

Garrett Campbell is on the run. Wounded in the line of duty, he escapes to the only place he feels safe, Stanford Creek and his brother’s cabin. Only he doesn’t realize he’ll have a roommate, and a sexy one at that.

Amid snow falls and winter winds, passion burns bright. When danger threatens to follow Garrett, he has to decide whether to run again before his secrets could kill him and the man of his dreams.

I’ve not read the other books in the Stanford Creek series but as it turns out, thats fine. Snow & Secrets, the third story by RJ Scott writing as Rozenn Scott, works great as a standalone.

Scott loves to combine romance and action/adventure in her stories and Snow & Secrets has plenty of both. Tyler Hart, pop star and member of a popular band, went through a bad breakup. His actions post breakup? Well, they led to a drunken night at a bar that ends in a blurry, misguided bathroom hookup…that went straight to the tabloids. Outed to all, its affected his band, his friends and Tyler is pressured to the point of panic attacks to get away from it all.

I love how deeply the author is able to get us into the wounded mindset that is Tyler Hart. He’s in a bad place in every way and the author is able to let us feel his pain and connect us to this troubled man.

Next up? Garrett Campbell who’s carrying enough emotional baggage (to say nothing of his physical injuries) to fill a 747. Garrett’s last tour of duty, a secret mission, was one of nightmares. Garrett carries the mental and emotional scars with him, unable to put it and the questions he has about the mission behind him. Unable to continue to work as he has, he too needs peace. And both men end up in a remote cabin in Stanford Creek. Turns out they have close connections that lead to their being roommates.

Scott gives us two perspectives here, Tyler’s and Garrett’s. We get to see what has driven both men to this point and place, we watch them juggle with their pasts which continue to haunt them, their desire for each other in the close quarters, and the passions and strengths that come out when danger follows one of them into the woods.

Its not just the main characters we get to fall in love with. No, RJ Scott (as she is always so good at), gives us a cast of believable warm human beings to pull close around us like a comfortable, snug blanket. We connect with everyone here. Sisters, brothers, friends…enough that, even though this works as a standalone story, you want to go back and read the other stories because Stanford Creek has become real and inviting. And yes, that’s exactly what I’m doing next. Gong to pick up and dive into the stories I missed next.

I’m hoping that, since some of the mystery was left open-ended, that RJ will be taking this thread involving Garrett and extending it into the next story. Fingers crossed. I’d loved to see that happen.

Either way, here’s another RJ Scott story to love and one I recommend. Pick up Snow & Secrets, grab a blanket to wrap up in and prepare to enjoy a wonderful romance.

Cover art is very much in keeping with how I pictured the characters.

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