One Walk in Winter Review — Is It Worth Reading?

Updated on October 5, 2026

Verdict: A warm, low-angst workplace romance at a struggling winter resort, with genuine chemistry from the first meeting and a father-daughter subplot that gives it more weight than the cover suggests, held back by a business plot readers call naive and a late crisis almost everyone sees coming.

Best for: Readers who want a cozy seasonal slow burn between two decent women, who like family warmth on the page, and who can forgive a predictable structure in exchange for comfort.

Heat level: ★★★☆☆ (3/5 — romance.io readers rate it “Open door”, on a small sample)

Rating: ★★★★☆ (3.9/5 — a 4.12 Goodreads average across 1,162 ratings and 4.7 stars from 632 Audible listeners, pulled down by predictability)

Tropes: Workplace romance, boss and employee, opposites attract, slow burn, meet-cute before the reveal, class difference, rivals for the same job, holiday season, family redemption, standalone.

One Walk in Winter by Georgia Beers is a standalone contemporary lesbian romance published by Bold Strokes Books in October 2019, set at the Evergreen Resort and Spa in a snowy mountain town in upstate New York between Thanksgiving and New Year, where Olivia Santini — the assistant manager who has earned the top job — loses it to Hayley Boyd Markham, the owner’s artistic, underestimated daughter, and the two have to run the place together after an unexpectedly charged first meeting in the woods.

It holds a 4.12 average across 1,162 Goodreads ratings, and the audiobook, narrated by Lori Prince, sits at 4.7 stars from 632 Audible ratings. Trade and blog reviewers are almost uniformly warm, and “warm” is literally the word Lambda Literary chose. The quieter story in the reviews is a consistent shrug at the plot mechanics. Both halves are worth understanding before you start.

What Is One Walk in Winter About?

One Walk in Winter is a workplace romance in a hospitality setting, which in practice means the romance happens between meetings about occupancy rates, staff and a resort that is not making enough money. It is also a seasonal book. The story runs through the holidays, the snow is constant, and Lesbrary’s reviewer singles out how strongly the setting puts a reader in a winter frame of mind. This is cozy romance, not angst romance, and every reviewer I found frames it that way.

Olivia is defined by work: seven years at the Evergreen, a plan for fixing it, and the quiet certainty that the promotion is hers. Hayley is defined by the family’s view of her as the screw-up — the artist among business people, sent to run a resort as a test she is expected to fail. The book uses three points of view: Olivia, Hayley, and Hayley’s father, Benton Markham. Lambda Literary calls that third perspective unusual for a romance, and it is what turns a pleasant office love story into something about a family too.

What Makes This Cozy Sapphic Workplace Romance Work

Two good people: The most consistent praise is that neither lead is cruel. Lambda Literary notes that Olivia, despite every reason, never tries to undermine Hayley, and reviewers find that decency more appealing than manufactured conflict.
Chemistry before the reveal: The two meet as strangers in the snow before either knows who the other is. Reviewers repeatedly name that first encounter as the spark, and an Audible listener calls the chemistry instant.
The father’s arc: Hayley and Benton’s estrangement after her mother’s death is the emotional surprise of the book. Jude in the Stars and an Audible listener both single it out as the part that moved them most.
Family warmth on Olivia’s side: Olivia’s close Italian-American family, and her mother Angela in particular, are a counterweight to the Markhams’ coldness and a recurring favourite in the reviews.
Low angst by design: Lambda Literary and Lesbrary both stress how little angst there is, which is why it shows up on so many cozy lesbian romance lists.

Book Synopsis

Olivia Santini has never been handed anything. She has spent seven years as assistant manager of the Evergreen Resort and Spa, and she has a head full of ideas for getting bookings up. When the manager resigns, she sends in her application and waits for the formality of an interview. Then the job goes to someone else.

That someone is Hayley Boyd Markham, youngest child of the family that owns the resort. Hayley paints. Her father and brothers make deals. After one public embarrassment too many, Benton Markham freezes her money and sets terms: spend the winter running the Evergreen, show him it can turn a profit, and then he will talk about her future. Hayley arrives knowing almost nothing about hotels, and knowing her family expects her to fail.

Before either of them has done any paperwork, they meet by chance on a walk in the snowy woods, and something passes between them that neither expected. Then work begins, and Olivia discovers that the woman she could not stop thinking about is her new boss. Through a busy holiday season they have to make the resort work together — Olivia with the knowledge, Hayley with the authority — while Benton watches from a distance, carrying his own grief. The question is whether attraction can survive a working relationship that started with one of them losing out to the other.

My Review

The best thing about One Walk in Winter is its temperament. Beers builds a romance out of two people who behave well under pressure, and she trusts that to be enough. Olivia has a real grievance, and the book lets her feel it without turning her petty. Hayley has every reason to coast on her surname, and the book makes her earn her place instead. That is a quieter engine than rivalry or secrets, and it is the reason the book reads as comfort rather than conflict.

The second strength is Benton. Giving the heroine’s father a point of view is a risk in a romance, because it takes pages away from the couple. Here it pays. His grief for his wife, and the distance it has opened between him and his daughter, give Hayley’s arc a reason beyond the bet, and several reviewers name the father-daughter thread as what lifted the book for them. Lambda’s reviewer found him much less likeable than the leads and still valued his chapters, which is a fair summary of how the device works.

Where it struggles is plot mechanics, and this is not just my complaint. The most specific criticism in the reviews is that the business side — how the resort’s fortunes turn, how an artist with no hospitality experience gets up to speed — is a bit unrealistic and naive. The second is predictability: Lambda calls the late crisis a little predictable, and the LezReviewBooks audio reviewer calls the whole shape familiar while still enjoying it. One Audible listener, a long-time Beers fan, found it slower than her usual books. None of these is a craft failure. They are the cost of a book built to reassure.

The expectation to reset is about the setup. This is not a snowed-in, trapped-together book, and the boss-employee dynamic carries very little power-play tension. Hayley outranks Olivia on paper and needs her in practice, and the book is more interested in that than in friction. If “boss romance” is what drew you, calibrate; if “workplace” made you worry about a cruel power gap, relax.

My honest note: A kind, competent holiday romance that does exactly what it promises and nothing it doesn’t. If you want surprises, look elsewhere; if you want two decent women, snow and a family healing in the background, this is a reliable winter read.

Element	In One Walk in Winter
Central relationship	Olivia Santini & Hayley Boyd Markham — passed-over assistant manager and the owner’s daughter who gets the job
Core tropes	Workplace romance, boss and employee, opposites attract, slow burn, class difference, holiday season
Setting	The Evergreen Resort and Spa in a snowy upstate New York mountain town, Thanksgiving to New Year
Heat level	3/5 — open door
Series	Standalone — complete story with an HEA
Content notes	Death of a parent before the story and ongoing grief, family estrangement, a financial ultimatum from a parent, on-page sexual content

How Spicy Is One Walk in Winter?

Moderately. romance.io places it at 3 of 5, its “Open door” band, though on only about ten reader ratings. That matches what I found in the reviews, with a split worth knowing about. Lesbrary’s reviewer calls it “light on the angst and high on the heat,” and Gaby at LezReviewBooks describes the chemistry building to a sizzling point with hot scenes. Tere, reviewing the audiobook for the same site, puts it on the tame side. The honest reading is that the scenes are on the page and warm rather than explicit and frequent, and how hot they feel depends on what you usually read.

The one thing worth flagging is structural rather than sexual: Hayley is technically Olivia’s boss when things begin. No reviewer I found treats this as a consent problem, and the book frames them as working equals. If you want the same author at the same heat, Dance with Me sits in the same 3/5 band; for a hotter holiday book, Make the Season Bright goes to 5/5.

Who Should Read This Book?

You’ll likely love it if: you want a cozy seasonal romance to read in one or two sittings, you like leads who are kind to each other even when they’re competing, you enjoy family subplots that get real page time, and you find low angst a feature rather than a flaw.

You may want to skip it if: predictable plotting kills a book for you, you want workplace stakes that feel realistic, you’re after high heat or a sharp boss-employee power dynamic, or you want a supporting cast with as much depth as the leads.

In short: a reliable comfort read that trades surprise for warmth.

What Readers Are Actually Saying (October 2026)

There is no current wave behind One Walk in Winter. It is a 2019 backlist title, and I found no viral moment and no BookTok traction tied to it. What it has is a steady reputation as a seasonal pick. It turns up on cozy, low-angst and workplace lists, including several on this site. The audiobook is the clearest sign of how readers find it now. Bold Strokes released it on October 15, 2019, Lori Prince narrates, it runs 9 hours 9 minutes, and it holds 4.7 stars from 632 Audible ratings. Reviewers who listened praise Prince consistently, and Lesbrary’s reviewer finished it wanting more of her narration. If you prefer audio, browse our guide to the best sapphic audiobook narrators. A caveat on the evidence: I could read a small set of written reviews in full — Lambda Literary, Lesbrary, Jude in the Stars, two at LezReviewBooks and a handful of Audible listeners. The themes below come from that set, not from a full sweep of Goodreads.

Why readers love it (according to the discourse): The word that recurs is “warm.” Lambda Literary used it as a one-word summary, and the other reviews reach for its cousins: sweet, cozy, comforting. Second is the setting. Reviewers describe the snowy town and the resort as places they wanted to visit, and Jude in the Stars says the snow works almost like a character. Third is the leads’ basic decency, which Lambda singles out. Fourth, and the most surprising, is the father-daughter thread. Jude, an Audible listener and Lambda all point to the Markhams’ grief as the emotional centre. Jude’s line, “I didn’t want this book to end,” sums up the warmest end of the response.

What readers argue about and complain about: First, plausibility. LezReviewBooks’ print reviewer found the business side unrealistic and naive while still rating the book highly. Second, predictability. Lambda calls the late crisis a little predictable, though resolved quickly and satisfyingly, and the LezReviewBooks audio review calls the plot formulaic. Third, pace. One Audible listener who usually loves Beers found this one slower and needed breaks. The genuine split is the supporting cast. Lesbrary loved the town’s residents and Olivia’s mother, while the LezReviewBooks audio reviewer found most secondary characters lacking, with only Hayley’s father standing out. Heat splits the same way, as covered above.

The standalone question worth asking first: It resolves completely, with a happy ending and nothing left hanging. If you want more Beers afterwards, her newer books rate at least as well. Dance with Me holds a 4.19 Goodreads average across 763 ratings, and On the Rocks holds 4.15 across 687. Her most-listened backlist audiobooks, A Little Bit of Spice and Run to You, each carry 4.7 stars on Audible from far larger listener counts, so One Walk in Winter sits in the middle of her catalogue, not at the top.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is One Walk in Winter a standalone?

Yes. It is a complete standalone romance with a resolved ending, and you do not need any other Georgia Beers book to read it.

Does One Walk in Winter have a happy ending?

Yes. Olivia and Hayley get a happily-ever-after. Lambda Literary calls the late crisis a little predictable but says it resolves quickly into a satisfying happy ending.

How spicy is One Walk in Winter?

Moderate, 3 of 5. romance.io readers place it in the “Open door” band on a small sample. Some reviewers call the scenes hot, while others find them on the tame side.

Is One Walk in Winter a Christmas romance?

Mostly a winter one. The story runs from Thanksgiving to New Year at a snowy resort, so the holidays are in the background, but the plot is about the job and the family, not Christmas itself.

Is there an audiobook of One Walk in Winter?

Yes. Bold Strokes Books released it in October 2019, narrated by Lori Prince and running 9 hours 9 minutes. It holds 4.7 stars from 632 Audible ratings, and reviewers consistently praise the narration.

Is it a boss-employee romance?

Technically. Hayley becomes Olivia’s manager, but she depends on Olivia’s experience, and reviewers read them as working equals rather than a power-play couple.

If You Loved One Walk in Winter, Read These Next

For the same cozy winter feeling with a longer burn and a bigger readership, try The Snowball Effect by Haley Cass. To stay with Beers at the same 3/5 heat, Dance with Me keeps the warmth and the family texture. For a family business that is hers to save and a little more heat, On the Rocks is the closest match in her catalogue. For more books where the office is half the romance, start with our best sapphic workplace romance books. Want something just as gentle? Try our low-angst lesbian romance shelf or the slow burn archive. Or browse every title in Book Reviews.

The Bottom Line

One Walk in Winter sets out to be a warm holiday workplace romance and mostly succeeds. The leads are kind to each other, the snowy resort is a place readers want to be, and Benton Markham’s grief gives the book an emotional floor most cozy romances lack. Against that, the business plot is naive, the late crisis is easy to predict, and the supporting cast is thin outside the two families. It is worth it if you want comfort over surprise and a December read that asks nothing difficult of you. Check One Walk in Winter on Amazon →

The Eikna Overall Ranking

On the Eikna scale, One Walk in Winter ranks as a dependable cozy sapphic holiday romance — warm, decent and quietly moving in its family thread, limited by a predictable plot and thin business logic, and best approached as a comfort read rather than a page-turner.