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.
ABOUT REBEKAH
I was born and raised in Michigan (just look for the giant mitten on the map—it’ll likely throw a snowball at you). I spent most of my time in Michigan, but while in the army got to call KS, SC, MO, and CA home for awhile as well.
As a kid my family moved around a lot. Try spending both your freshman and senior years at new schools (yeah, loads of fun). I could’ve changed my name to “new girl”.
I love writing for teens because those are the years I remember falling in love with most of my favorite books. Some of the authors I couldn’t put down were L.J. Smith, Christopher Pike, R.L. Stine, Richie Tankersley Cusick, Joan Lowery Nixon, Lois Duncan, amongst several others.
My husband and I have a large family. There are six kids total! So we have LOTS of fun on vacations (although hours on the road, cooped up in the Expedition is kind of stressful—although we pass the time with MAD LIBS and hoping no one gets carsick).
Some fun facts about me:
My first real crush was on Luke Skywalker (LOL—hey, I was like 8 years old and it came out before I was born).
I’m obsessed with several TV shows/Movies: The Vampire Diaries, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Sean of the Dead, The Sing Off, Ghost Hunters, Destination Truth, True Blood, Being Human, Fact or Fake, and all the cake designing ones! Oh and all the spoof movies!
I still own all the books I bought as a kid/teen.
I have a hankering for chocolate (like all the time, seriously. If my arm was made of it I’d chew it off).
Celebrity crushes: Johnny Depp (woohoo), Taylor Lautner (okay, I know he’s kind of young for me), Ian Somerhalder (ooh, he’s just right. We’re the same age). Wow, this was like a Goldie Locks and the Three Bears moment. Johnny Depp too old, Taylor Lautner too young, Ian Somerhalder—JUST RIGHT.
In my spare time I like to write (obviously), read, sing, hang out with my kids, play with my animals, camp, play soccer, check my email (hehehe), watch football (go LIONS). I also love hanging out with my sister and hubby!
Look forward to chatting with everyone! And if you’re lucky, I’ll break out the opera voice and chase you around singing!
Jaime’s Thoughts
The Winter People by Rebekah L. Purdy
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Unfortunately, for as gorgeous as this cover is and as promising as the summary was, this story just fell flat for me.
The summary says fans of Kristin Cashore and Maggie Stiefvater will love this… I’m a HUGE fan of both, but the story telling here really didn’t measure up to those two authors.
I struggled to connect with our protagonist in this story. Salome had something happen when she was younger which has affected her life greatly and has fostered a fear of winter. This year… the year before she turns 18 finds her forced to deal with this fear.
But she soon finds she isn’t alone and she isn’t sure what to make of everything. Colton, the guy she’s crushed on forever suddenly is interested in her… Nevin, a strange boy who suddenly shows up in her grandmother’s backyard and keeps her company… and Gareth, a boy who has sworn to protect her all have her spinning in circles and trying to come to terms with her feelings.
You all probably know that I love my heroines and I really can’t tell you one thing that I liked about this one. She did dumb things, she was naïve and as much as I hate to say it, she was kind of stupid.
There is nothing I dislike more than when a heroine admits she’s thinking that the thing she is considering doing is stupid and could harm her… and does it anyway. And Salome seems to do that a lot in this story. And I found my eyes rolling each and every time.
Then you add in the love square and I just found it all very blah.
I know I said I struggled to connect with our main character, but I also felt this way about all the secondary characters as well. From Salome’s best friend (I can’t even remember her name) to her mom to her grandmother I just didn’t enjoy any of them and felt they all were one dimensional.
The story itself is a bit predictable. The actions of the characters I saw from miles away, and I struggled to understand the reason for the family ‘secrets’. Her grandmother basically puts Salome in harms way by leaving her to care for her home without giving her all the information she needed to protect herself. And to be honest, I really didn’t understand her mother and father and their need to be a part of the story… especially her father.
Anyway – like I said, this wasn’t for me… while I didn’t care for it, Purdy’s writing was still well-done and I found her story-telling easy to follow – hence the two stars not one. BUT if you go in expecting something to match the likes of Cashore or Stiefvater, you may feel like me once you turn the last page.
Thank you to Entangled & netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.
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