They called her the Ice Queen.

Anne Winters. Self-made billionaire. Household name. Divorced single mom. Convicted felon. She didn’t let anyone or anything get to her. No one was allowed to breach the walls around her heart except for her own son. She had only one trusted friend: her vacation house neighbor. They’d been walking the beach together for twenty years. Not that this gave him access to her heart, of course…

They called him a man who got what he wanted.

Mack Corey. Self-made billionaire. Dominant world player. Widowed father of the bride. No felony convictions yet, although his daughters had come close. He’d transformed his family company into one of the top 500 by the age of thirty. He’d raised two daughters who dumped him for idiot arrogant French chocolatiers and went off to live in Paris. Hell, he even managed to tolerate his dad. But that Ice Queen act Anne Winters had going was really starting to get to him…

They’d been friends for twenty years. Could they become lovers?

Could a frozen heart be kissed by the sun?

This is the second book in Snow Queen series but can be read as standalone. It tells the story of love at an older age which is not a very common topic in romance novels I have to say. I haven't read anything similar before and while overall, I did enjoy it, I didn't love it as much as the other works of Ms Florand I've read.

The main characters here are Anne Winters, Kurt's mother from Snow-Kissed and Mack Corey, the father of the Corey sisters from the Amour et Chocolate series. What I like most in this story is that get to see all the couples from the previous books coming together of Dom and Jaime'wedding and they are all very happy and very much in love. 

Part of Anne and Mack's story is told in overheard conversations between the other couples. I didn't particularly like this device - eavesdropping to learn more about a character to an event, but still it added a nice outside perspective on the hero and the heroine (it was mostly her overhearing things). Ms Florand drew interesting parallel lines between the love stories of the younger couples and the coming together of Anne and Mack. 

There was a lot of love and joy in this story, mixed with some melancholy and regret. Both Anne and Mack suffered to some extend the empty nest syndrome. It was a newer and unpleasant feeling for him in particular. His daughters were moving away to Paris with their husbands and suddenly the only person he felt connected to, apart from his father, and who remained physically close to him was Anne. And then he knew he would do anything to keep her, even risk their 20-year old friendship. Like most of Ms Florand's other heroes, Mac had to win Anne, he had to conquer her, to break her carefully built walls and practically steal her heart. 

This story of conquest and surrender, of giving in and opening up to love was told in the sensually rich and exquisite writing style of Ms Florand. She carefully mixed together fairytale elements and characters such as
Prince Charming, the Snow Queen, princesses and towers with the everyday mundane reality of life - building multimillion dollar empires, buying houses all over the world and turning them into homes, going to prison.

It's my first time reading romance featuring older characters and I couldn't really connect with them. What bothered me the most was that they had been friends for 20 years and despite having more than friendly feelings for each other, it took them so long to be together. For two ambitious, competitive and very successful people it seemed strange to be so hesitant to act on their feelings. 

Still, it's a beautiful love story exquisitely presented. I'd recommend it to all fans of Ms Florand and to all lovers of romance in general.

My reviews of other books by Laura Florand:
The Chocolate Touch (Amour et Chocolat #4)
The Chocolate Heart (Amour et Chocolat #5)
The Chocolate Temptations (Amour et Chocolat #6)
Snow-Kissed (Snow Queen #1)