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A review by khieeae
Two Winters by Lauren Emily Whalen
4.0
Two winters
I didn’t know what to expect when I started this book. My initial reaction was “wow cool plot” and …it was accurate. This was such a cool read people!
Now this book is a retelling of Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale” so I just wanna say that I’ve never read/seen/heard of it. I’m a creole woman guys- acclaimed European literature is not my thing. That being said- perhaps someone who actually likes Shakespeare may have a different view on it.
My view though is, Lauren Emily did a good job at this! A book split into two half’s in two different times is always a tricky thing to write that I often see authors struggle with, but Lauren did fine!
The first half of the book starts in 1997 and introduces us to Mia, Tesla, Paulina and Xander. Mia, pregnant, Tesla, the father and Paulina the main narrator, an in the closet bisexual. Xander isn’t really that big of a part of this but he does have a crush on Mia and is actually important to part 2 of the book.
The second half of the book follows the daughter of Mia. Now year 2014, after being given up by Mia, Perdita is at that point in her life where she’s wondering about her biological mother. Little did she know that Fenton, improv director, would lead her to her biggest clue.
I really enjoyed Paulina’s stream of consciousness in her narration which is actually a rare for me since I hate first person point of views however the same cannot be said for Perdita’s. I suspect this is due to the authors attempt to draw contrast between 1997 vs 2014, this attempt fell short for me. It may be accurate, I’m not sure 2014 was 7 years ago but it did manage to make the book awkward for me. Honestly I don’t know why the author didn’t just make Perdita a college student, I could definitely imagine myself being more comfortable with a more mature version of her.(I have no idea if this was to keep up with the 1997 age of her biological mother or if it has anything to do with Shakespeare, I suspect the former which does make sense but still perhaps a more mature mind would’ve been more settling)
The second half of this book could’ve used a bit more length to be honest. I didn’t feel any chemistry between Fenton and Perdita which could be attributed to the pacing of this short second half. Also I felt like this situation could’ve been more strung out! More buildup to the actual reveal. I did like the ending but again, more buildup would’ve been amazing! . Unless this was intentional to match the pacing of a Shakespeare play which again, not much of a Shakespeare fan so I wouldn’t know.
So I guess my only real and logical complaint is wasted potential.
4 stars! But mostly for the first half, I did not enjoy the second half as much as I did the first.
Do I recommend? Sure! This is an okay read.
Thank you NetGalley for the arc in return for the honest review!
I didn’t know what to expect when I started this book. My initial reaction was “wow cool plot” and …it was accurate. This was such a cool read people!
Now this book is a retelling of Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale” so I just wanna say that I’ve never read/seen/heard of it. I’m a creole woman guys- acclaimed European literature is not my thing. That being said- perhaps someone who actually likes Shakespeare may have a different view on it.
My view though is, Lauren Emily did a good job at this! A book split into two half’s in two different times is always a tricky thing to write that I often see authors struggle with, but Lauren did fine!
The first half of the book starts in 1997 and introduces us to Mia, Tesla, Paulina and Xander. Mia, pregnant, Tesla, the father and Paulina the main narrator, an in the closet bisexual. Xander isn’t really that big of a part of this but he does have a crush on Mia and is actually important to part 2 of the book.
The second half of the book follows the daughter of Mia. Now year 2014, after being given up by Mia, Perdita is at that point in her life where she’s wondering about her biological mother. Little did she know that Fenton, improv director, would lead her to her biggest clue.
I really enjoyed Paulina’s stream of consciousness in her narration which is actually a rare for me since I hate first person point of views however the same cannot be said for Perdita’s. I suspect this is due to the authors attempt to draw contrast between 1997 vs 2014, this attempt fell short for me. It may be accurate, I’m not sure 2014 was 7 years ago but it did manage to make the book awkward for me. Honestly I don’t know why the author didn’t just make Perdita a college student, I could definitely imagine myself being more comfortable with a more mature version of her.(I have no idea if this was to keep up with the 1997 age of her biological mother or if it has anything to do with Shakespeare, I suspect the former which does make sense but still perhaps a more mature mind would’ve been more settling)
The second half of this book could’ve used a bit more length to be honest. I didn’t feel any chemistry between Fenton and Perdita which could be attributed to the pacing of this short second half. Also I felt like this situation could’ve been more strung out! More buildup to the actual reveal. I did like the ending but again, more buildup would’ve been amazing! . Unless this was intentional to match the pacing of a Shakespeare play which again, not much of a Shakespeare fan so I wouldn’t know.
So I guess my only real and logical complaint is wasted potential.
4 stars! But mostly for the first half, I did not enjoy the second half as much as I did the first.
Do I recommend? Sure! This is an okay read.
Thank you NetGalley for the arc in return for the honest review!