Title : The Winter People
Author : Rebekah L Purdy
Pages : 320
Published : September 2nd 2014
Publisher : Entangled Teen
Source : Netgalley
An engrossing, complex, romantic fantasy perfect for fans of Kristin Cashore or Maggie Stiefvater, set in a wholly unique world.
Salome Montgomery fears winter—the cold, the snow, the ice, but most of all, the frozen pond she fell through as a child. Haunted by the voices and images of the strange beings that pulled her to safety, she hasn't forgotten their warning to "stay away." For eleven years, she has avoided the winter woods, the pond, and the darkness that lurks nearby. But when failing health takes her grandparents to Arizona, she is left in charge of maintaining their estate. This includes the "special gifts" that must be left at the back of the property.
Salome discovers she’s a key player in a world she’s tried for years to avoid. At the center of this world is the strange and beautiful Nevin, who she finds trespassing on her family’s property. Cursed with dark secrets and knowledge of the creatures in the woods, his interactions with Salome take her life in a new direction. A direction where she'll have to decide between her longtime crush Colton, who could cure her fear of winter. Or Nevin who, along with an appointed bodyguard, Gareth, protects her from the darkness that swirls in the snowy backdrop. An evil that, given the chance, will kill her.
My Thoughts :
When Salome was young, she fell into her Grandmas pond and nearly drowned. When she fell she heard voices that were telling her to stay away or SHE will kill her so ever since then she has hated Winter. She very rarely goes out and never strays far from her house. 11 years later and Salome has no choice but to venture back to the place the fear first began.
Her Grandma and Granddad are leaving for the winter and, since Salomes mum broke her leg, Salome has to take care of her Grandmothers house. She has to feed the "birds" and make sure never to open the gate to the woods. Salome starts to see and hear things that make her believe that all is not what it seems. Then when she meets Nevin and learns some truths, she becomes involved in a century old curse that she must break before its too late.
First off isn't that cover just stunning!!! So hauntingly beautiful. When I first heard of this and saw the cover I immediately added it to my need to get list, it sounded so good. Well I ended up torn with my rating. I enjoyed it overall but I did have a few issues that annoyed me so I think Ill get the bad out of the way first.
The main thing that annoyed me was the quadrangle!! Yes you read that right, there are 3 guys whom she likes. Now I hate love triangles and tend to steer clear of most books with them so when I saw this heading the way of a love triangle I was thinking, uh oh. Then when another guy was added to the list I wasn't going to keep reading but stuck with it. Now before half way one guy is kind of eliminated because she sees his true side and then there are 2! I could see who she would end up with early enough as well and while I'm glad she ended up with him, I still didn't like how it got to that bit.
I also had a hard time connecting with Salome at the start. She was a very weak character and by weak I mean she behaved like a wuss a lot!! I wanted her to stand up and face her fear instead of cowering every time it snowed. Also when she found out about the curse and that the answers were in her Grandmothers house, she spent most of the book not actively looking for answers. The author does say that she is looking but we never see her doing it. Half the time when she was saying that she needed to break the curse, I wanted to shout at her, well go do it!!
Now onto what I liked.
I ended up liking Salome in the end. The last quarter of the book she redeemed herself and got a bit of a backbone.
Gareth!! He was the highlight of the book even though it was only half way through that he really comes into the story. He was so brave, strong and hot!
I liked Nevin as well even though he is arrogant. At the start he seems so weird because one second he is nice and then he says something really arrogant and I wasn't sure but because of what he is it made sense. I liked seeing his and Salomes friendship grow.
Kadie is Salomes BFF and for the most part she was OK. The thing I liked most was their bond. Kadie is always there for Salome not matter how crazy she gets. She looks out for Salome during the winter and doesn't treat her any different. It was nice for Salome to have a friend like that.
The plot was awesome as well. The whole curse thing and the magical setting was fantastic and was another highlight for me. The author really made winter come to life. I also loved the fact that for the first half of the book, despite being slow, was so intriguing. We don't know whats going on and you are left wondering whats happening and whos who! It made for a very thrilling start.
So overall I liked The Winter People. The setting and plot were fantastic but the fact that the MC was so passive and there were 3 guys was just too much for me to truly love this. Its well written and Purdy can definitely pull you into a story. Id still recommend it because its a good faerie book and its filled with magic, mystery and romance but it just wasn't for me.
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