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A review by arnrockwell
Winterly by Jeanine Croft
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I received a digital arc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Winterly is a self-published novel by author Jeanine Croft. It's takes place in the late 1800s, and is the story of two sisters, Emma and Milli, who end up getting mixed up in a bunch of paranormal nonsense. This book has vampires. It has witches. And, to a lesser extent, werewolves.
Emma is the primary focus of the story. She is seen as strange because she does things and thinks things that are not considered normal for a woman in this time period. Women are being murdered at night, so lots of people are on naturally on edge. Emma walks home with her family one night, gets separated in the fog, and meets the love interested, the mysterious Markus Winterly. This meeting ultimately leads to a trip to his castle outside of London, where most of the rest of the book takes place.
One of my favourite things about this book is how the author chose to justify the existence of the vampires, werewolves and witches. It's not unique per se, but I found the implementation to be interesting and refreshing to a degree.
Another thing I really loved was the care in making sure the book read like one written in the time period it's set in. You feel like you're reading a real story from that period. It helped draw me into the book and is ultimately what helped lead me to the end.
This books is an adult paranormal romance, and it's VERY slow burn. Ridiculously slow. Too slow for me, in fact. This is one of two major gripes I had with this book. I'm not opposed to longer books or slow burns in general, but this felt like it was too much. Enough to drag down what would have otherwise been a 4-star book for me.
The other thing I didn't like, which goes hand-in-hand with the previous point, is too much attention to detail. I love detail in general. But did I need a whole chapter dedicated to a carriage ride to the castle with no important events or character development? No, I didn't. There were multiple chapters, or portions of chapters, that could've been cut and I wouldn't have missed a thing.
Overall, Winterly is a 3-star book. It's well written and interesting, but dragged down by too much unnecessary detail. Still, I enjoyed it and will read the sequel when it's released. Hopefully, the next book is an improvement.
Winterly is a self-published novel by author Jeanine Croft. It's takes place in the late 1800s, and is the story of two sisters, Emma and Milli, who end up getting mixed up in a bunch of paranormal nonsense. This book has vampires. It has witches. And, to a lesser extent, werewolves.
Emma is the primary focus of the story. She is seen as strange because she does things and thinks things that are not considered normal for a woman in this time period. Women are being murdered at night, so lots of people are on naturally on edge. Emma walks home with her family one night, gets separated in the fog, and meets the love interested, the mysterious Markus Winterly. This meeting ultimately leads to a trip to his castle outside of London, where most of the rest of the book takes place.
One of my favourite things about this book is how the author chose to justify the existence of the vampires, werewolves and witches. It's not unique per se, but I found the implementation to be interesting and refreshing to a degree.
Another thing I really loved was the care in making sure the book read like one written in the time period it's set in. You feel like you're reading a real story from that period. It helped draw me into the book and is ultimately what helped lead me to the end.
This books is an adult paranormal romance, and it's VERY slow burn. Ridiculously slow. Too slow for me, in fact. This is one of two major gripes I had with this book. I'm not opposed to longer books or slow burns in general, but this felt like it was too much. Enough to drag down what would have otherwise been a 4-star book for me.
The other thing I didn't like, which goes hand-in-hand with the previous point, is too much attention to detail. I love detail in general. But did I need a whole chapter dedicated to a carriage ride to the castle with no important events or character development? No, I didn't. There were multiple chapters, or portions of chapters, that could've been cut and I wouldn't have missed a thing.
Overall, Winterly is a 3-star book. It's well written and interesting, but dragged down by too much unnecessary detail. Still, I enjoyed it and will read the sequel when it's released. Hopefully, the next book is an improvement.
Content Warnings
Minor: Blood, Sexual content, and Violence