Better Than the Beach

A Holiday Novella (Better Love)

By: Brit Benson

Narrated by: Alexis Paige, Grayson Owens

What's better than a sunny beach vacation for my winter break?

Maybe being snowed in with a gorgeous stranger….

Let’s go to the beach for winter break, my sorority sisters said.

It will be a blast, they said.

Sand, salt water, hot surfers.

What more could I want for the holidays?

Well.

Nobody considered the chance for a winter storm grounding all flights, changing my layover from hours to days and leaving me utterly stranded.

Nobody foresaw the airport bartender who took pity on me, offering me a room in a charming bed and breakfast.

And certainly one expected a visit from a gorgeous older man.

No one considered any of this.

Especially not me.

Come to the beach for winter break, they said.

It will be so much fun, they said.

But...

I’m starting to think that being snowed in with Professor Nolan Montrose might end up being better than the beach

***Better Than the Beach is a quick holiday novella.

It's a spicy short romance with an HEA that takes place in the Better Love world.

It is not necessary to listen to the other books in the Better Love series to enjoy Better Than the Beach.

Better Than the Beach was first released as a short story titled "A HOLIDAY LAYOVER" in a free romance anthology in 2021. It has since been expanded into a novella with an HEA.

©2023 Brit Benson Books (P)2024 Brit Benson

Holiday, Age Gap, Snowed In romance audio snack

I am so very happy to be visiting the Better Love world again, even if it just a quick trip.
As always, these can stand alone (and usually do quite well), but for added depth read all of them (cause they're awesome!). Based on timeline order, this is between books 2 and 3.

Cassie is stranded in Denver because of a snowpocalypse while she is mid layover on her way to Hawaii for the holidays with her sorority sisters. Thanks to the kindness of a random airport bartender, she comes to stay with the girl's grandmother in her B&B which is closed for the holiday. While waiting for the weather to clear enough to go back to the airport and fly, Cassie gets to know Nan and her youngest son Nolan who is home for a visit while dealing with his own chaotic life crap.

Cassie is so trapped in her own situation that she doesn't see a way out. She's studying for a career that has been chosen for her, not what she wants to do. And it seems like the more she chooses for herself, the more choices are taken away from her (like being stuck in the snow when she wants to be on the beach).

But sometimes the universe had better plans and those moments where you're feeling lowest are just what you need to pick yourself up. Like meeting someone who shares your passions and encourages you to pursue them? Priceless! Feeling supported and cared for while experiencing some things for the first time (*wink*wink*), falling hard and fast along the way? yes, please!

Nolan is swoony and supportive of Cassie from the first, but he's also naughty. Even though this is a short novella of a book, it is not, I repeat NOT, short on fun times. We get hot tub times, bedroom times, snowmobile fun and cabin in the woods (the fun kind, not the scary kind) thanks to a meddling "Nanta Clause". We do get our hearts a little bruised along the way, but the ending is worth it so just trust the process.

We have been blessed by the audio gods and Cassie & Nolan's holiday snowed in romance in audio and narrated by Alexis Paige and Grayson Owens. I love that I've visited with these characters 3 years in a row in their various evolutions and formats. I'm thinking I have a new holiday season tradition with these 3+ hours of swoony goodness. Alexis brings Cassie's emotional rollercoaster and amazing friend group to life in a way that satisfies all of my needs. Grayson is smooth and dirty as "Professor" Nolan (I swear, I almost expired). And they both gave me the perfect renditions of Nan-ta Claus. I love her mildly manipulative meddling, it was so much fun. This little snack of an audio packs a punch.

I requested and was provided with an advanced copy of the eBook & audiobook. These are my honest opinions.

Excellent Holiday Novella!

I love the Better Love series and this holiday novella was the perfect add on! It was just enough to give us a good story and just enough to remind us of past characters we love!

Love the snowed in situation and the match up attempts by the B&B owner, his mom. Definitely recommend for quick holiday read and the narrators were amazing!

Festive, cozy, sweet and fun holiday novella!

This was the perfect novella for this holiday season, and it will now be a repeat listen every year. It’s the perfect amount of festive, cozy, fun, and sweet festivities all wrapped up in a perfect Christmas bow.

Cassie is packed and ready to go to Hawaii with the hopes of losing her v-card to a hot surfer. But a snow storm leaves her stranded at the airport in Denver with nowhere to go. Until a stranger offers up her grandmother’s B&B as an option to ride out the storm. What Cassie never anticipated was a gorgeous, intelligent, older man to take up residence as well while visiting his mother for the holidays.

This is narrated in dual by Alexis Paige and Greyson Owens. Their performance brought the instant sparks and chemistry that were palpable as Cassie and Nolan and had me eating up their snowed in adventure. They meshed so well together to bring the listener all of the joy and steam for this exhilarating holiday novella.

If you’re looking for a quaint small town, with a delectable meet-cute, a meddling grandmother up to her own antics, Christmas magic, a dirty talking professor, and a heartwarming love story, then grab this novella! This is the perfect sweet holiday romance to add to your TBL!

Shuffle the deck

A short audiobook to get you in the holiday spirit.

Cassie is off to Hawaii for the holidays, but her flight gets canceled due to snow. Stuck in Denver with hotels fully booked, the airport bartender tells her she can stay at her nan’s B&B. Not exactly what she had in mind, but it’ll have to do.
After the exams, Nolan is back home. In this case, home is his mom’s house—the same B&B where Cassie is staying.
There’s an instant attraction and lots of chemistry, so we know where this is going.

Read by Alexis Paige and Grayson Owens, it was my first time listening to either of them. I loved Cassie’s sweetness and how flustered she got at Nolan’s proximity, and that came out amazingly in Alexis’s voice.
Grayson was perfect at showing how gone Nolan is for Cassie. While the physical is great, he wants to laugh with her, spend time with her, and mostly, he wants her not to leave for Hawaii once the weather clears.

The Christmas vibes—and Nan!—were everything. I loved his family and how they welcomed Cassie into the fold because she never had one like theirs. I can relate.

For reasons I won’t spoil, she goes to Hawaii and they get separated. But Nolan inspired Cassie to go for what she wants, and you can hear the shift in Alexis’s voice. I was enthralled with how Grayson handled Nolan when he got Cassie back. His feelings and how he never forgot her were there, and I’m a sucker for that.

The epilogue was perfect.
“Shuffle the deck” is now one of my favorite sayings. Whatever cards life gives you, make sure to keep shuffling. Who knows what the next hand will bring?

The first dual narration I’ve ever finished!

I just re-read this via audio & absolutely loved it! I don’t usually listen to audiobooks. The only 2 I’ve actually been able to finish were duets so I’m surprised I loved this dual narration so much!

Here’s my initial review from last year:

4.5/5⭐️

“It’s not in the cards for me.”
“Then shuffle the deck.”

I’m not usually a fan of novellas because the ones I’ve read were too fast-paced & lacking, so I tend to stay away from them even when I’m in a slump.

But leave it to Brit Benson to write a novella with all the heat, but still so much heart. The holiday spirit, magic of Christmas, AND the goddess of authors were obviously with her as she was writing this. I was all smiles, giggling, blushing, gasping, kicking, & screaming. It was short, but still delivered many things I look for in books.

Some of the things I loved:
•super hot meet cute (one of my favorites)
•an even hotter first time
•cameos from the Better Love series squad
•the cozy feels

Read if you love:
•the Better Love series by Brit Benson
•novellas
•holiday flings
•snowed in
•small town
•age gap
•virgin FMC
•dirty talking MMC
•sassy grannies
•forced proximity
•dual POV
•HEA

Incredible Audio performance!!

It’s no secret that if Brit Benson is writing it, then I am already ready to read it before it is even finished. Even this cute little novella is no different. Although I do find fault in the title because as a huge beach lover, there is nothing better than the beach! I loved the cameos from our Better Love family because those are my OG loves! I also appreciated how sweet and festive the holiday vibes were.

When Cassie gets stuck at the airport after her flight to Hawaii gets canceled, she ends up at a B&B where she meets Nolan. We have a forced proximity/snowed in situation that sets up the insane chemistry between these two characters. The spice was spicen! The hero was insanely swoony. I may have screamed a little bit at the end, Brit definitely made us wait for their HEA. This is one of my favorite holiday reads.

The way that Brit can pick out the most perfect narrators is such a beautiful gift! Alexis is pretty new to me, and I just loved her voice. She brought such a sweetness to Cassie and I love how she sounded young compared with Grayson’s voice to really show the age gap between these characters. I could listen to Grayson’s voice all day long. I loved him as Nolan and hearing his dirty talk to Cassie *blushes*. Amazing audio!