Review of ‘Heart of Ice’ by T.B. Markinson & Miranda MacLeod

‘Heart of Ice’, the second romance by co-authors T.B. Markinson and Miranda MacLeod, is an entertaining lesbian ice-queen romance in the world of finance. Laurie Emerson (49), known in business circles as the Hatchet, returns to the business world to run her own successful company after a sabbatical to get over the grief and loss of her wife. Now she is back, or rather, the shark is back in the tank.

Everyone fears her, including Jack Kennedy, one of the portfolio managers and twenty years her junior. She’s only been working there for about 10 months and knows Laurie just from hearing about her, and that’s not very flattering, the woman has a block of ice where there should be a heart. At the lowest level of the company, she hopes that her dedication and her ability will finally be seen and rewarded.

When a blizzard paralyzes the whole city of Boston, the two women meet that evening by chance in a bar. They spend a super hot night together in the last available room of the nearby hotel, without knowing who the other is. And as satisfying as the night was, the two were sure that they would never see each other again. But the “Goddess of Work” had other weird ideas.

In my opinion, the Markinson/MacLeod duo has written a fun and entertaining ice-queen story. Jack is a lovable, down-to-earth, hard-working woman who wants to work her way to the top. She is not deterred by Laurie’s sometimes impossible behavior, but she has her principles and is loyal.  And she challenges Laurie in business and private matters. Her somewhat quirky and weird mother also plays a special role.

Laurie is a fascinating, sometimes annoying, and then slowly melting ice-queen. She is often ruthless, sharp-tongued, and has an unpredictable temperament like an angry bull. But she also shows vulnerability when it comes to love and her lost wife, sometimes she just doesn’t know how to deal with the growing attraction to Jack and can’t put it into words. I don’t think I could have lasted as long as Jack under her thumb. I am a person who needs a team that works together at eye level and a boss who pulls the same rope. Only in this way can I deliver my best work

The romance is written beautifully and fluently, the tempo is perfect and also the insight into the financial world is interesting and not entertaining. The attraction between the two women is palpable and the sex is hot. But although both claim that it’s just sex, it goes deeper than that from the beginning. I loved that both main characters allowed insights into their desires and also showed their vulnerabilities. The characters are very well developed, I loved Jack from the beginning and Laurie slowly crept into my heart despite her harsh and sometimes unfair behavior.

Recommended to all romance lovers who like a story with not much angst and drama. My rating 4.5 stars

Thanks to the authors for providing an ARC for an honest review.