Long Winter by Rachel Ember

Rating: WARTY!

Someone named 'ember' writing about a cold winter ought to have something going for it, unless of course the author's name is as fictional as the novel is, but "On one snowy day, Robbie gets an unexpected call to pick up Lance, his little brother’s best friend" Lance? Seriously? Why not call him Prong?! But he gets to say that classic line "Meet my little brother's best friend!" before he guns them all down. Oh, wait, wrong story.... "Realizing Lance has nowhere else to go, Robbie invites him to stay at his ranch. And in their close quarters, their long-buried feelings for each other ignite." You know, I'd have no problem with this had Lance not been described as his 'little bother's best friend.' It makes it sound like Lance is a child and that's just creepy. Could it not have been described as 'his younger brother’s best friend', or better yet, just as 'his brother’s best friend'? Maybe his brother has a case of dwarfism? Or maybe his brother really is little and young, and his little brother's friend is a pedophile? Another book blurb fail.