I enjoyed this book. However I was expecting it to have more suspense. But it was good anyway. The characters were understandable and sometimes I find some characters confusing in certain books.

“Last night Rebekah tried to murder me again.”

How to start a book that insures interest is piqued from the get go! 🤩

I don’t know what has been up with me just lately but I just haven’t been able to get my teeth stuck into any books which was weird and downright worrying, and then I started this one and my readers block was instantly lifted. (Thank You Lisa Gabriele!) So much so that I tore through it in one sitting. Now I’m just suffering sleep deprivation instead 😂

This might be sacrilege to say being an avid reader but …. I have never read Rebecca 😱 But now I think maybe I should remedy that faux pas if this book was anything to go by. So I can’t pass comment to the inspiration or homage to Rebecca just yet but in some respects I think reading The Winters with no comparisons worked to my advantage. Reading it with a fresh pair of eyes and preconceptions there was no expectations and I just thoroughly enjoyed it on its own merit.

The storyline was fascinating as are the characters, even if not all are completely likeable. Told from the main protagonist’s narration, (who remains nameless!) from her life working in the Cayman’s where she meets the handsomely charming Max Winters, their whirlwind romance and her move to his ancestral home, Asherley, in the wealthy Hampton’s to become the new Mrs Winters. Her very own Cinderella, rags to riches fairytale. Or so it would seem!

Max lost his first wife in a tragic accident leaving him to raise his daughter Dani alone and being as normal as a privileged teenager can be she is less than enthusiastic about her fathers new wife to be. But is it as simple as not liking her new stepmum? Not wanting her mother to be replaced and another woman walking in her mothers shoes so to speak?

At every turn around the opulent Asherley she is faced with the previous Mrs Winters, Rebekah’s presence. From the hundreds of photos of Rebekah that Dani keeps on display of her mother and their happy family to Rebekah’s room which is still untouched our heroine feels almost compelled to compare herself to the stunning woman who came before her. Even the wedding is planned into being the opposite to Max’s first one.

As the wedding draws ever nearer the tensions between Dani, Max and the new stepmother ratchets up even further bringing with it a few twists and turns along the way. Will the wedding proceed or will Dani’s behaviour call a halt to the proceedings and frighten her new stepmum into leaving Asherley for good?

I absolutely loved this book and thoroughly enjoyed it start to finish and could quite happily read it all over again 😀

Whether you have read Rebecca or not this is a great read and I can see it hitting the top ten when it’s published on 31 Oct 2018 on kindle and 15 Nov 2018 in hardback as it really is that good!

Lisa Gabriele writes an enjoyable psychological thriller based on Daphne Du Maurier's classic novel Rebecca. This is a modern American version set in the wealthy Hamptons, Long Island. A naive unnamed young woman from the Cayman Islands is swept up in a surprisingly whirlwind romance with ambitious widower, senator Max Winter. They return to his secluded mansion, Asherley, a place where the ghost of Max's first wife, Rebekah, looms inescapably large and ever present. The young woman is like a fish out of water, having to adjust to remarkably different circumstances than those she is familiar with. Max and Rebekah's adopted daughter, the dark and manipulative teenage Dani, is less than welcoming and hellbent on making life as difficult as possible with wedding preparations underway.

Desperately in love with her fiance Max who spends much time away absorbed by his political career, the young woman grows increasingly insecure and unsettled, feeling she cannot compete with the dead Rebekah, killed in a car crash. What lies behind the disturbing relationship between Max and Dani? As the swirling waters of danger edge nearer, family secrets and lies begin to surface. In a story of numerous twists, there are numerous nods to the original and many differences too. My love for the original is absolutely undiminished, this a different kettle of fish with its intrigue and underlying menace. Nevertheless, Gabriele gives us a novel that is light, suspenseful and entertaining which I found an engrossing read with characters that captured my interest with ease. Many thanks to Random House Vintage for an ARC.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the book in exchange for an honest review.
The Winters is a love story, although who or what Max Winters loves I n the end is debatable. It is an easy to read book, full of vivid images of Islands in the sun, wealth and escapism.
Recommended.

Having heard this has shades of Rebecca I was intrigued to read it. I did enjoy it on the whole but felt it lacked a little something. A good read on the whole.

The Winters by Lisa Gabriele is the story of a woman who after a whirlwind romance marries Max Winters she then travels to his house Asherley to live. She is feeling that she has to compete with his dead wife Rebekah to fit into the household.
This book is a modern rebelling of Rebecca by Daphne de Maurier and as I have read that book several times, I felt this modern version lacked the charm of the original story.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Random House Uk for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

Loved the cover. Had high hopes for this book & it didn’t disappoint. Quite sinister & got through it really quick to find out what happened

This was a good read. The characters and the plot are well thought out and believable. I expected more suspense and more to the plot. Overall this still a good read.

Thank you to Netgalley for my story.

Something a bit different for me. Max brings a new woman into Asherley following the death of his wife but Asherley holds secrets. Dani the daughter is hostile but is she responsible for the goings on or is there something more sinister. Really good storyline with very believable characters centered around a house with a history.

Last night Rebekah tried to murder me again...

Something about Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca has inspired numerous sequels, prequels and reimaginings. The Winters definitely falls into the reimagining category, with strong similarities of theme although this modern day version also has significant differences of story and character. The narrator (“the second Mrs Winter”) is of course unnamed (her “exotic” name never revealed, and how I always long to know what it is - I’m guessing something Spanish) meets wealthy senator Max Winter while she is at work - living hand to mouth after the death of both her parents - for a boat charter company in the Cayman Islands, and after a whirlwind romance moves with him to his home, Asherley, on Long Island, where the shadow of his late wife Rebekah still looms large. There’s no Mrs Danvers - housekeeper Katya has a relatively minor role - and “Dani” here is Max’s fifteen year old daughter, who’s, to put it mildly, less than thrilled with her father’s new fiancée. (“Dani was cruel, and it was now clear that her happiness was achievable only in direct proportion to my sadness.”) As wedding plans move ahead there’s a growing sense of threat, but where is the danger hiding, and why?

The Winters is extremely well written and really does build a sinister atmosphere. It’s a long time since I’ve read Rebecca, and this book could certainly be enjoyed without a knowledge of that book, but I think it does add something if you have a certain familiarity with its key moments. On the other hand it did make certain elements more predictable than they might otherwise have been - though I didn’t necessarily guess the reasons behind certain events.

It’s most definitely a modern telling - Dani’s Instagram account plays a significant role - but it works very well. The story did take a while to get going for me but once it did, it became a very addictive read.

A story of a young women meeting a very rich man who is a senator, he already has a daughter Dani who idolises her dead mother. A very beautiful and supposedly wonderful mother. Dani has a shrine to her covered in photos and a wardrobe full of her mother’s clothes. The new fiancé struggles with the relationship and becomes concerned about the man she is due to marry. A not very believable story line unfolds which was disappointing as there was the potential for a more riveting one.

The Winters was hugely addictive and I thoroughly enjoyed this homage to Daphne Du Maurier and Rebecca- a novel I’ve read a few times over the years.

The Winters is atmospheric and clever, with nods to the original inspiration dotted about within which enhanced the read for me beautifully. In its own right though it is also a well paced, intriguing psychological thriller with engaging and fascinating characters.

I was very drawn to Dani, with her dark nature and random twists of mood. The second Mrs Winter to be  traverses the waters of her new home with wide eyed innocence before she feels that dangerous undertow pulling her down. Then there is Max Winter – charming, enigmatic and seemingly determined to make it all work.

The setting comes to life and it is a proper page turner, overall an excellent read that draws from the original work but is very much it’s own thing.

Yep. Recommended.

This was an OK read.
My expectations for it were quite high, especially after reading the blurb, but it just did not live up to what i was hoping for.

Like du Maurier's Rebecca with a Mean Girls makeover, this is a fun light read that certainly keeps the pages turning. It would be an ideal beach or commute read when you want something engrossing but easy and unchallenging.

The story is Rebecca updated and switched to Long Island, and part of the fun is watching Gabriele's deft re-positionings of key plot movements and big scenes. While the denouement is taken from a sub-text of Rebecca, it does become overly melodramatic here and involves key characters having a major personality transplant. A last minute deluge of information about secret identities contributes to the rush to the end feel - a bit more pacing would have been better.

While this doesn't have the atmosphere of either Rebecca or its antecedent, Jane Eyre, it still recycles those tropes of the first wife, the big house, lies and secrets in an enticing way. It's not necessary to know Rebecca but if you do, it adds to the comapare-and-contrast aspect of this re-telling.