WINTERBORNE
Augusta Blythe
Paranormal Young Adult
e-book
Available Now
Received from author for review
THE STORY
Loie Bryce has always known her best friend Mia Winterborne is someone extraordinarily unique. Growing up together, she and Mia have been preparing for Mia's seventeenth birthday, the day she'll receive all the unusual gifts and abilities her father had. Since the day her parent's died and Mia's father disappeared, Loie's practically lived with Mia and they've been inseparable.
The arrival of charming, attractive Andreas threatens their closeness, however, as both girls find themselves drawn to him. As the "normal" one to Mia's "special", Loie keeps her feelings for Andreas to herself for the most part, allowing Mia to revel the spotlight of Andreas's attention as she always has in everything they've done together.
Shortly after Andreas moves to their small town, it becomes clear that they're are many a supernatural being who doesn't want Mia to make it to her all important seventeenth birthday (a birthday she shares with Loie) and inherit her father's gifts. As attack after attack threatens Mia's life, Loie works frantically to figure out what's going on, and in doing so, discovers her entire life has been in preparation for an upcoming preternatural battle.
MY THOUGHTS
Winterborne wastes little time trying to ease us into a human world just dusted with a touch of the paranormal, instantly garnering our attention with talk of latent powers and their impending epic manifestation. Like both Mia and Loie, we know next to nothing about where these powers come from aside from the fact they're inherited, what the extent of these mysterious powers will be, or what their overall purpose is as Mia's father disappeared before imparting any of his knowledge to the girls. Rather than being hindered by our collective lack of understanding though we are able to sit back and enjoy having the veil of normalcy dropped from our eyes inch by dramatic inch. Providing an anchor against the supernatural uncertainty is the dynamic between two lifelong friends who suddenly find the world around them changing, and they themselves along with it, creating for us a few emotional ties to help us relate to a world that exists only in imaginings.
Loie, the self-proclaimed "Willow to Mia's Buffy" is a strong protagonist with an easy-to-read voice, bits of her humor popping up on occasion and making us laugh even as we long to see her emerge from Mia's shadow and cast her own. Though having grown up knowing of Mia's future importance makes Loie's lack of self-confidence and contentment with her second-fiddle status understandable, her absolute refusal to see herself beyond that becomes a bit frustrating as the story progresses. Her wholehearted acceptance of her supposed inferiority causes tension to coil in our guts as we want to reach into the book and force her to face a mirror so she can stare at her reflection until we're convinced she recognizes her own worth. Toward the end, she does finally lose her Mia-centric mindset, however, her change is due to external influence as opposed to her own internal realizations, sapping some of our joy as we wish things would have transpired just a little differently.
In addition to Loie's mistakenly flawed self-perception, the world Mia is to become a part of is never really made entirely clear to us. While initially the ignorance we share with the girls is comforting and discovering bits and pieces as we go creates a character-reader bond, our continued lack of understanding at the end has us itching for just a few more crumbs of information. Despite those few drawbacks, Winterborne is an enjoyable read if a bit predictable, and it does give us a unique love triangle situation wherein our heroine is not choosing between two guys, but rather finds herself on the losing end of a competition for Andreas's affection. This three-way emotional battle is refreshing in the pain it inspires and the realism it portrays, knowing the other variety of love triangle is a rarity. The ending is a touch abrupt but certainly leaves things open for a second installment, one I will certainly be reading with the hope Loie continues to come into her own and find happiness.
Rating: 3.5/5
Intrigued by the mysterious powers and the more realistic approach to a love triangle. I can't decide though whether I would be frustrated by Loie's perceived inferiority or be sympathetic toward it. Hmm. Anyways, great review, Jenny!
ReplyDeleteIt is good to hear it has a refreshing take on the good old love triangle as they are so hard to do right. However it sucks that you never get a full understand of the world. Great review again Jenny :)
ReplyDeleteDoesn't sound like the book for me but loved the review!
ReplyDeleteAylee - I was definitely sympathetic for a while but then she just adamantly refused to see herself as anything other than secondary to Mia and I got a bit frustrated with her.
ReplyDeleteNic - I really liked how she set the triangle up, if you could even really call it that. It just felt more realistic than two inhumanly gorgeous boys suddenly appearing and falling in love with Loie:)
Alexis - Thank you!
I like this book cause of the different plot line. I like the way it played out and switch roles at the end. Loved your review Jenny!
ReplyDeleteI guess it is hard to read a story with very little background information. I'm pretty intrigued by the storyline, however, so I may check this one out. Thanks for the review, Jenny!
ReplyDeleteOOh this one sounds good! Although it makes me sad that Loie is on the losing end of the love triangle. =(
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a refreshing spin on what we've come to expect in most paranormal YA. I'd love to see how the writer created a character that's so believable in her willingness to accept her place outside the spotlight. It sucks that she never realises her own worth wholely on her own musings but that you were invested enough to wish that for her, it shows that she must have been a beautifully written character. Great review, really. Thanks for going so in-depth.
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked it...:) Ive yet to read it...I know thats bad...:) But I had some reservations and no time whatsoever!!!!
ReplyDeleteI loved having her on my blog though, shes got funny yet insightful humor.
I don't think I've heard of this one before, but it sounds interesting! Thanks for sharing your review for the book, I'll definitely have to check it out!
ReplyDeleteI really love the cover! Its simplicity is eye-catching. Anyway, Winterborne sounds interesting. It's a bummer about Loie's self-confidence issues and the somewhat lacking ending. Thanks for sharing your thoughts! :)
ReplyDeleteHa! I can see a bit of Willow in Loie, but then again, I never felt that kind of frustration with Willow because she wasn't really in a second fiddle role. It was only after she conjured her Dark Willow energy that she unleashed a hidden desire to be stronger than Buffy. But it was fueled by grief, and not really desire. IMHO.
ReplyDeleteOMG! Totally off topic, but I really loved and miss talking about BtVS!
Hopefully more world building will come in the next installment.
Savy - I saw the whole situation at the end coming, but I think we were probably supposed to:)
ReplyDeleteBailey - It mad me sad too, especially since her self esteem was already fairly low, but I liked that it was something different:)
Tina - It's a really quick read, a couple of hours and I was done. I really liked her writing, I just wanted Loie to snap out of it!
Christy - You're welcome, I hope you give it a try:)
Lauren - I do too! I have a thing for white covers, they immediately catch my eye. I'm hoping if there's more that Loie will grow a bit and gain in confidence.
Missie - I adore you. I love that you went off on a Buffy tangent:) I miss that show too!
Don't think I've heard of Winterborne before but I do like the cover and the title. With love triangles its always the same so its nice to read about it from a different perspective.
ReplyDeleteI will admit that this one does sound interesting, especially with the whole love triangle, but it seems that you were a bit unclear regarding Mia's world. That sounds like a deal breaker for me. I appreciate your honest review, Jenny!
ReplyDeleteOooh I won this book from somewhere... then never got it! I REALLY wanted to read it, I still do! Although it is disheartening to know that we never get the FULL picture...
ReplyDeleteJenny - Exactly, I really liked how the relationships were set up, it made for an interesting read:)
ReplyDeleteChristina - I tend to be like a child when I read and ask "why" all the time, so when I don't get answers to my "whys" I tend to get a bit frustrated. I'm thinking there will be a sequel so maybe more info will be forthcoming:)
Ashley - Shoot! The author is super nice, I'm sure if you contacted her and made a request she would be happy to have you review it:)
This really sounds interesting. Loie really sounds like a good character to get involved with in this book. I don't mind predictability as long as the book keeps me engaged. Hopefully the lack of world building isn't the detractor for me. Great and brilly review as always!!
ReplyDeletePerhaps not, but there still is something about the book. I am just being strict with myself and saying no
ReplyDeleteI love the Buffy references, Jenny! Though the book lacks world building, it sounds as if the characters kept you engaged. I like the sound of Loie and how the "love triangle" is set up.
ReplyDeleteThis plot doesn't sound like something that would really interest me but your review makes it sound better. I love the idea of focusing on the second fiddle friend and seeing how she grows into herself throughout the book.
ReplyDeleteFinally, a character that doesn't manage to snag the guy! It's too bad though that the ending is abrupt and you felt like you weren't given enough information even after finishing the book.
ReplyDeleteWhile the premise sounds entirely unique and something I would want to read, I don't think that I would be able to deal with the lack of world-building. Thanks for the great review Jenny! This one is def going on my "meh" pile! ;)
ReplyDeleteReally cool cover. Sorry this one fell short. Drats on the predictability and lack of info at the end. That's the second review I've read today where a book doesn't let us in on important information. Maybe they like stringing us along in hope of purchasing the next book...if there is one. Great review!
ReplyDeleteTHis sounds very interesting. I wonder if Mia keeps Loi around because of her "Mia-centric" attitude?
ReplyDeleteHmm, this one sounds interesting. I haven't seen or heard of it before. I'm going to wait and see what you think of the second book when it comes out. It does sound interesting. Do some of the questions get answered? Does Mia come into these powers and you find out what they are or are you still as clueless as when you started the book?
ReplyDeleteHeather