Absolutely brilliant take on the idea of Hell and its residents.
When Zoe and her little brother, Joshua, find themselves in trouble, a mysterious stranger with weird powers, comes to the rescue. He is a marvel to behold and is welcomed into the family home to recover.
The setting is bleak and cold but Zoe's family is warm and loving, having suffered a terrible trauma. They have normal, everyday struggles of money and childcare; the mother is a broad-minded new-age believer and I absolutely adored her little brother. While the author was not shy about giving his characters flaws, it did not make you love them any less, it merely served to enhance their humanity.
Despite being 'saved' by the stranger, whom Zoe will name X, Zoe is not without her own strengths.
The romance was believably gentle and innocent, yet heart-wrenchingly brief in contact time. I cannot wait to read the next book.
I will warn you that there our heroine goes caving and, as a sufferer of claustrophobia, I was nervous about reading the scenes dealing with her caving trip and I was right. They were nerve-wracking, but done quite wonderfully. My fingers were frozen from start to finish.