It's Craig Coulter's 30th birthday and what he wants least of all is the party is friend Ron throws for him. He goes off by himself, ignoring everyone, and spots a woman who catches his eye for no particular reason other than (perhaps) her vulnerability.

Mollie is on vacation in Montana and dealing with drama when one of her friends posts on her blog all about Mollie's break up and heart ache. In the post, her friend says she'll be hooking Mollie up with some guy who is suppose to be at the party. Actually...it's the birthday boy!

Their meeting is cute. I really enjoyed the two of them together. A bonus is Jack, Mollie best friend since childhood. Jack is a tough cookie who doesn't put up with BS, and she knows just what to say every time. Her dialogue was genius. Whenever Jack was around, the story was that much more enjoyable. I liked the main characters, but Jack and Ron did overshadow them.

What starts is a sweet love story and then things go wrong quickly with several misunderstandings that happened shocked me.

**spoiler** And, I have to be honest, the things Craig says at this point made me so angry. I wouldn't have forgiven him so easily. And the misunderstandings aren't explained when the two declare their love again. Everything is explained afterward, which didn't quite make sense to me. **end spoiler** That was the only thing that bothered me. Otherwise, this is a great romance!

Elizabeth knows how to create multi-dimensional character with clever dialogue.

Polar Night takes place in Alaska during winter and follows the events of a supernatural mystery.

Maria Triebel was kidnapped by a tall, strange, powerful man named Aleksei, who wants Maria to be a the woman he loved and lost, Natasha. And he fully expects her to be Natasha, to replace her, not just pretend to be her.

Danny Fitzpatrick is investigating Maria's disappearance, which is just like another one that happened three years ago when Anna Alexander vanished. We follow Danny as he searches for answers, and Maria as she endures her captivity. We also get glimpses into Aleksei. An unexpected player is Amanda Fiske, a jumpy librarian who knows more than anyone about these disappearances. As her character grew, I found myself liking her a lot. And liking her relationship with Danny.

It took me several pages to get into this story, but once I read Chapter 2, which was in Maria's POV, I was intrigued. We learn of Danny's haunting past and Aleksei's dark past.

Julie Flanders crafts a paranormal mystery with a good balance of detective investigation, suspense, and the supernatural that will not bore and will keep you turning the pages.

I noticed spelling errors with a name a few times (Christine to Cristine). There's also some head-hopping when we're in one character's POV. The only thing that had bothered me slightly was how Tessa, the other detective, wasn't as involved with her case that Danny took over. He should've worked with her instead of going off alone in the beginning.

This was a very enjoyable read with nice twists and a satisfying ending.

This book is more like an introduction for writers wanting to educate themselves on how to write about characters unlike themselves, but, of course, it’s not complete (it’s very short) and is lacking in some areas. This “practical approach” should be looked at as a beginning, before delving deeper and seeking further information.

I thought it had a good beginning on white privilege, etc. for people wanting to open their eyes, but a lot of it I just didn’t connect with. Mostly, I think that’s because I’ve read a lot of books on these subjects and also because of the writing style. It was hard for me to form a connection with the authors’ voices/styles. I also didn’t care for some of their examples.