REVIEW: The Lodge by Kayla Olson

In The Lodge by Kayla Olson, Entertainment writer Alix Morgan has always dreamed of writing a book someday, as she’s sure most journalists do. She just didn’t expect it to be ghostwriting a memoir for one of the former members of a huge boy band, Sebastian Green. She followed the music beat a decade ago when his band, True North, was at the height of their career. Alix got to watch it all play out in real time. But when the band’s co-lead singer Jett Beckett disappeared about eight years ago and the band broke up, fans have always wondered where he went. Or if he’s even still alive. Knowing all the information she’s about to glean from Sebastian, Alix hopes maybe she can figure out the Jett Beckett mystery once and for all.

‘The whole world might be in love with Sebastian Green, but I, Alix Morgan, am not sure I’m a fan.’

Alix ends up getting put up for a month at a picturesque Vermont ski resort to finish the manuscript when everything and everyone conspires to work against her at home in NYC. But things go awry even in Vermont. Sebastian can’t find time to answer her calls, texts, or emails. Super helpful when she’s *writing his life’s story*, but I guess it must be nice to be rich and famous, jet setting all over the globe. Then after ruining her laptop and hurting her wrist, Alix also finds herself falling for her neighbor at the lodge, ski instructor Tyler. He’s everything she could hope for in a boyfriend. Even if he is kind of secretive of his past and why he chose to work at the resort for his close friends. But as Alix digs in deeper to research Sebastian’s book, she becomes torn when information she finds could change Sebastian’s and True North’s stories. Even if it could finally settle what happened between the band members and Jett.

“I know we only just came into each other’s lives recently, but you’ve changed mine, Alix. I thought I was fine before I met you, but now–now I see what I’ve been missing.”

THE LODGE is Kayla Olson’s latest romance to have one foot in reality and the other in the shiny but complicated world of entertainment. Ultimately, though, it was a heartfelt story about coming to terms with your past and taking control of your future.

‘I came to this resort to write a book, not meet a guy.’

Described as a ‘cozy rom-com’, THE LODGE definitely had a good number of laughs along with a tender, passionate romance, and even a teensy bit of mystery. Kayla Olson threw just about everything you can imagine at her heroine, Alix. And for the most part, she handled it like a champ. From a blizzard to a superstar client who ignored her to technical difficulties and injuries, she did her best to stay on track ghostwriting a memoir while at a gorgeous Vermont ski resort. But no one really made her job any easier on her.

As an entertainment journalist, the gig ghostwriting former boy band co-lead singer Sebastian Green’s life story was a huge deal for Alix’s career, moving her one more rung up the ladder. And I thought it was pretty realistic that she *needed* to get away from her loving but clingy younger sister who was staying with her but who wouldn’t leave Alix alone long enough to write. And what better place to try to meet her deadline than a resort in Vermont in the winter, right? I loved how Olson used such vivid imagery to describe the lodge–and its beautiful, wild backdrop. The many buildings, shops, and even the mountain itself became part of the story.

But it was the characters, specifically Alix and ski instructor Tyler, who stole the show. He was her neighbor at the resort and even though he was a sweetheart of a guy who had a great sense of humor and was always willing to help, Alix could tell he was basically hiding from his past. The details turned out to be rather heartbreaking as well as frustrating for Tyler. And Alix understood where he was coming from on many levels. It’s when that past came roaring back that the relationship that they’d been building was threatened. But I think how Olson reconciled everything fit perfectly for Tyler and Alix as well as their friends and family–and will have readers sighing happily.

QOTD: Have you ever tried any winter sports: skiing, ice skating, snowboarding, sledding, snowmobiling?

Book Info:

Publication: Published: January 7th, 2025 | Atria Books |

From the author of The Reunion, a cozy rom-com about a writer who decamps to a Vermont lodge for work but finds herself distracted by the charming ski instructor next door.

Alix Morgan just got her big break as the ghostwriter of a memoir by Sebastian Green, a former member of the boy band True North. And when he offers her a penthouse at a luxurious resort in Vermont, she jumps at the chance to work far away from her noisy, cramped apartment.

Her career as an entertainment journalist has been building toward this dream job—after all, she used to cover True North and was one of the last people to interview former front man Jett Beckett before he disappeared. As she combs through her client’s voice memos, the specter of the missing lead singer remains, and fans are desperate to know the full story.

But Alix also has time for some fun at this glamorous resort, where she begins ski lessons with a handsome instructor named Tyler. As Alix and Tyler fall in love on the slopes, Alix’s work takes a complicated turn—and the mystery of True North’s downfall may be hers to solve.