Review: World Turned Upside Down by Elyse Springer

After three winters in Antarctica, Simon Bancroft is an old hand on the ice. The harsh weather and extreme isolation aren’t for everyone, but he enjoys the tight-knit community at McMurdo Station… and lately he’s enjoyed watching the hot new researcher, Asher Delaney, who’s recently arrived to study the aurora. But Simon’s just a janitor. Asher doesn’t even know he exists.

When Simon’s friends propose a wager, he gets a chance to introduce himself to Asher at last. But Asher defies all of Simon’s assumptions, and suddenly he finds himself reevaluating everything he thought he knew about Asher, himself, and falling in love at the bottom of the world.

I powered through World Upside Down in one sitting, I couldn’t put it down once I got started as I was hooked on the geography and the characters right from the start. “Power through” is probably a little dramatic as the book is 105 pages, but still.

This is my first book by this author and I’m a big fan of her writing style and the way she writes conversations between her characters. Simon is a treat, I felt like I got to know him pretty quickly and organically, I wanted to hang out with him and I loved being in his head when he was mooning/lusting over Asher.

And I think that led to my favorite aspect of the story. The author really nailed the getting-to-know-you phase between Simon and Asher. And from there, the reconciliation Simon went through as he got to know the Real Asher vs. his Fantasy Asher. It was actually very sweet, and very realistic, to read. Not everything is insta-lust and fireworks, reality is more about getting to know and more importantly, getting to appreciate the other person. I loved it.

The author also made Antarctica a character in and of itself. I wanted to know more and dive in deeper. That was obviously impossible for a novella, but it did pique my interest and it will make me seek out more about the locale.

My only issue, and it stressed me out to no end, was the bet. It was meant to be somewhat innocuous and wasn’t meant to be cruel in any way, but it was out there and I knew what was coming the whole time. It tainted the wonderful feels I was having a smidge, and mostly because I love Asher’s sweet, sweet heart so hard. It was the conflict that the story was plotted around, but again, Asher!!!

Anywho, the evolution of Simon made the ending work and his honesty went the whole way and back in making Asher feel all the things he deserved to feel. While I loved this as a novella, I would also love to read it as a full blown novel. The elements were high quality and plentiful enough to fill up hundreds of pages. I always figure that’s the sign of a great novella too, nothing was missing but I’m left wanting more just because I don’t want to let the characters or the setting go just yet.

**a copy of this story was provided for an honest review**