A review by literallybookedsolid
Two Winters by Lauren Emily Whalen

4.0

TWO WINTERS by Lauren Emily Whalen is a contemporary YA adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale. Split between the winters of 1997 and 2014, the book follows high school junior Paulina, who is navigating life as a bisexual teen, all while blindly supporting her group of friends through their own struggles. When tragedy strikes, the story picks up in 2014 through Perdita's eyes, as she seeks to find the true story of her birth mom.

This is one Shakespeare play I have never read, so I went into the story blind. I was immediately captivated by the eerie foreshadowing laced throughout the book. The plot is super engaging and I wanted to keep reading, so I could piece together how the two timelines and all the characters fit together. The characters were multi-faceted and faced some pretty heavy issues (teen pregnancy, homophobia, Catholic religion) and they were all handled beautifully.

I am still thinking about this book, even though I read it a couple weeks ago. The story was so well done. If you enjoy Shakespeare adaptations or contemporary retellings, this is a book you should definitely pick up!

Thanks to Suzy Approved Book Tours for having me on tour and to the author for the gifted copy!