Winter Longing
Author: Tricia Mills
Publisher: Razor Bill
Pages: 266
Read Time: 1 day
Rating (1-5): 5
My summary:
Winter has lost her best friend and boyfriend in one plane crash. Spencer and Winter have been friends since grade-school, and their love has only grown in secret, the night before Spencer’s death he and Winter finally admit their true feelings for each other. Now that Spencer is gone Winter is left feeling alone and she doesn’t know how to handle her grief and the secret life of her other best friend, Lindsay, who needs a friend now more than ever. What can she do when Winter is left Longing?
My Review:
I loved Winter’s tale, sorry, that’s Shakespeare, no, I loved Winter’s story, I should say, because the subject, a girlfriend reeling over the death of her beloved, is one which I am acquainted.
My cousin, Daniel, died in a car crash when he was eighteen, his girlfriend was sixteen when he was killed and she and I can now say I have a good look into what it might have been like for her to lose the only boy she’s ever loved. For that, I am very appreciative to the author, Tricia Mills.
This is a very touching love story, I believe the elements of grief, hope and moving forward, while still remembering a beloved past really balanced out well, shockingly so! I was never confused by Winter’s feelings, not even her interest in her neighbor, Jesse.
The sub-plot, using the abusive home life of Winter’s friend, Lindsay, is also well-written, well balanced and important; I never felt disinterested, or like the sub-plot was unnecessary.
The characters are great, I may have been projecting my cousins girlfriend onto Winter, but I felt she was a very well-rounded character with perfectly balanced emotions and understandable reactions to the life she is forced into living without Spencer. I was pleasantly surprised by Caleb and Lindsay, who even though they aren’t central to the plot, had their own beautiful love story, in fact, I would love to read a spin-off sequel using Lindsay and Caleb in college as the main characters. Jesse is very sweet, but I was a bit shocked that a guy could fall in love with Winter at this point in her life, maybe I would have believed it more if Jesse’s witchy girlfriend had broken up with him more than ten minutes before Spencer’s death.
My very favorite element of the story was the way in which Mills allowed the reader to get to know Spencer, writing small preludes to every chapter in the form of a memory, a quote, or something Spencer wrote to Winter in her books. I really appreciated getting to know the lost love so that I could miss him as well, and really connect with the story!
This book is also very clean, I’ve nominated it for a Reading Teen, Reading Clean spotlight.
Pick it up, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
Notes on the Names: Winter is such a unique, gorgeous choice, I had such high hopes for the other character’s names, but I felt a bit let down by Mills other choices. Lindsay, for one, is very over done, as is Caleb. Spencer and Jesse are both great boys names, and I did really like both of them for the character.
Thoughts on the Cover: I love this cover, it’s so pretty! The pinks and blues are so beautiful! Half of this cover comes from a photo shoot, the other is an iStock photo, but I think they blend together and give life to the story. I am going to be picky about one thing, I wish that Spencer was a bit more faded, I don’t want a “ghost” look, but something to give the appearance of ‘longing’ that extra edge.
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1 comment:
ohhh this looks so good. I'll definitely have to check it out/
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