How fun to be back in Alaska and hanging out with all the gang in the Yukon Valley!

Newcomer Reggie Price likes things to be precise. He likes lists and order and to follow his plans. He’s in the Yukon Valley for a new job and to train for the Iditarod sled dog race and he’s super focused. When he takes his lead dog to the vet in town, he sees Dr April Katz, who he’d known at university when she was a TA and he was a student. Reggie is attracted to April (always has been) but is resentful of her role in the way he missed out on med school. He’s also overanxious about his dogs and underestimates her vet skills. Gradually the reader finds out why Reggie wants to do the sled race, and what other burdens he is carrying. I was intrigued by him from the beginning, and keen to find out how he would deal with his baggage, and April.

Things are not straightforward for April either. She’s working in her father’s vet practice and feeling his expectations, as her career goals don’t necessarily align with her father’s. April is so relatable – she reads a lot of self-help books and tries to implement the things she reads, and her thoughts spiral as she tries to do the right thing by everyone. I loved how she can admit to herself that she’s attracted to Reggie, even though he’s younger, possibly passing through and so prickly.

I loved the dogs, and the weather, and how the author evokes the isolation of life in Alaska. The setting feels like another character and it informs so much of what happens for Reggie and April. There is enough detail to make everything vivid and fun (the coats, the boots, the effort just to go outside and check on the dogs, the Christmas sweaters). The Valley is full of meddling gossips, but given how isolated it is, it feels understandable that they are all nosing in each other’s business. The action is compressed into Christmas time leading up to the North Pole 500 – a qualifier race for the Iditarod.

I’ve enjoyed all the books in these series, especially as Alaska is a long way from my world in hot and dry Australia. So well done!

Code Blue Christmas is a terrific short read with lovely people doing their best. It’s Book 4 in this series and stands alone although knowing people from the earlier books makes this a richer read.

Thank you Jillian David and Tule Publishing for the ARC. Opinions are my own.

Laura Black is a romance editor, reader and reviewer based in Queensland, Australia. You can visit me on Instagram @laura_black_reads