Didn’t enjoy the story as much as I thought I would. I found that I had a very hard time actually getting into it and then once I was about half way finished it didn’t hold my interest.

I enjoyed it though i had nightmares. Fealt sad for the couple who died cuddling. The stories once they got in the R.V were scary but i did love how everything came together. Only gave it 3☆s as i did do some skimming in the middle as i got a bit bored.

Christmas Eve in New Hampshire, 2018. A wet, rapidly falling,swirling heavy snow would soon produce wipeout conditions unbeknownst to travelers getting a late start enroute to their Christmas destinations. The snowplow driver, seemingly visualizing a deer and several bucks out in the storm, slammed on his brakes and got stuck in snow reaching to the top of his plow blade. Attempting to shovel his way out, he noticed a tall, motionless figure in the road. It was a snowman. "Beneath the coal-black eyes and long crooked carrot nose was a black mouth grinning with two rows of sharp teeth." The wind screeched and howled. An old legend of The Banshee came to mind. The Banshee was "a mythical messenger of death...the entity came every year to warn of someone's impending demise with her ominous wailing." When, "swirling snow camouflages the snowplow", the next vehicle jackknifed creating an eight car pile up whose occupants would not make it home on Christmas Eve.

Who are these travelers? Graham Sawyer picked up Clark Brooks, a childhood friend, at the airport. Kirk Britton and his girlfriend Sonya were college students. Dean Hagen was a consultant whose job entailed eliminating "expendable employees". Consistent bickering occurred between parole officer Mason Drake and wife, Joy. Shelby, stuck in her minivan with two children, told herself to "keep it together and be strong" for the sake of the kids. Lewis Felker, dressed in Salvation Army attire warned, "I wouldn't go out there [in the storm] if I were you." The majority of the travelers elect to gather in the RV of elderly Mr. and Mrs. Volkmann. The RV had enough propane to keep everyone warm and sufficient food to keep them fed until help came. Tucker Jenks decided to stay in his tractor-trailer.

It started with a snowball! This scary, horror novel is perfectly spooky for Halloween as well as being an excellent seasonal Christmas read. The travelers, drinking hot cocoa in the RV, exchanged stories of their "worst winter ever" while waiting for the storm to pass. "The outline of a figure taking shape in the distance...It was a man, he was almost sure...The man wore a black coat and had a red shirt underneath...he realized something odd about the figure...[he] carried a large pair of [something] metal..." The wailing wind was disquieting. Perhaps these travelers had been "forgotten" while rescue efforts were underway. Graham and Clark noticed a dim light on the other side of the woods. In snowdrifts, at times, almost up to their waists, they followed the light and journeyed to a solitary house with the hope of requesting help. An unputdownable read!

Thank you Flame Tree Press and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review "Snowball" by Gregory Bastianelli.

My thanks to Flame Tree Press and Netgalley.
When I first requested this book, I'll admit that I didn't read what it was about. All I saw was that fantastic cover, and I thought "snow, cold, blood and Flame Tree!" Really, that's all I needed to know.
Then, I finally got around to reading it, and read a few reviews beforehand. Everyone seemed to like it, but all I saw was Krampus and killer snowmen. 
I thought, crikey! What the heck have I gotten myself into? I hate books like this. Still, I decided to give it a go. I loved it! The concept this author came up with is very imaginative! I had a few doubts along the way, but I was never bored. I've now gone to Amazon and put 2 of his books on my wishlist. 
Kudos to the author!

This book was fast paced. Hard to put down. It flowed well and it was very well written. It caught hold of me and had me hooked from the start . I was literally on the edge of my seat reading this book.

This is not my type of book. Sorry. I kept reading and could not get into it. It did not grip me enough to make it an enjoyable read.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

This was SO MUCH FUN. 

Snowball is a perfect mix of Christmas and Halloween for adults. Mainly Halloween, because it’s all creepy and dark and atmospherically epic, but who cares? 

The basic plot is simple: multiple people are stranded in a snowstorm on a highway. They begin to share their stories of their worst winters, and slowly begin to realize they have a very tangential and tenuous connection to one another.

Of course, once they find that out all he breaks loose. And let me tell you, it’s wild and weird and dark and grotesque and also kind of funny and I just had a blast reading it. I don’t know this author but after this novel I’ll happily pick up whatever else he writes. It was a perfect blend of ludicrous and creepy and I definitely recommend it.

Really enjoyed this novel - interesting premise and had me riveted for most of it.  However, once it went a little metaphysical it started to lose me, personally feel it would have been better as a horror/thriller rather than the horror/metaphysical horror it tried to be!  I'd still read another novel by the author, I just hope it's all as good as the start to this one was!

A tense and atmospheric first half falls apart a little once we get the full story. Once we hit Krampus and a world inside a toymaker's snow globe, the book is still entertaining, but no longer scary.

This was a great book! It held my attention and I couldn't put it down, kept me awake at night because I just wanted to keep reading! It was an easy to follow along story and contained good easy to follow characters. I highly recommend this to anyone and can't wait to read more by this author. Thanks for the opportunity to read and review this.

Creepy and atmospheric, Snowball by Gregory Bastianelli is definitely eerie and has a great premise. Set in New Hampshire, it’s Christmas Eve during a brutal snow storm and travelers are stranded on a highway. They have gathered together in the RV of a strange older couple for shelter and company. There’s seemingly no connection between them but as the evening progresses and the stranded tell their most awful winter-time stories correlations come to light. 
Snowball has every element needed to make for a great horror read: it has great characters with traumatic pasts, sets a sinister mood, and of course, there’s some really scary monsters.
It’s fast paced and kept my interest. A must read for fans of the horror genre. I’ll be reading more from Mr. Bastianelli in the future.
A big thank you to NetGalley & Flame Tree Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This is the story of a group of people travelling separately get stranded in a snowstorm in New Hampshire on Christmas Eve. Things then take a sinister turn.

I really wanted to love this book but I didn’t. Although this is a horror I really didn’t find it very frightening at all. There were some interesting elements to the story and if they had been expanded on I would have enjoyed it more. If as a reader you lean more into the fantasy side of the horror genre then I think that you will enjoy this.

I found this book difficult to get through, as it was repetitive and nonsensical. I want to believe that this was just not my kind of book but I think it was just a bit juvenile.

Oh man this book was freaking fantastic! It exceeded all of my expectations! If you are a fan of horror, you'll definitely want to read this. This is the perfect book to read on a winter evening, or even when it's 95 degrees out like it is here unfortunately. Seriously, this book was so good, I may just have to read it again when we get some cold weather, if we ever get any. 

I had actually never heard of the author until I read this but I was impressed by his writing style and want to read more of his books. This story has so many layers to it, and twists and turns, and stories within stories that you'll want to read this in one sitting. I usually don't get creeped out by horror stories, only movies, but this book did creep me out some. Let's just say, I'll never look at a snowman or a snow globe the same way ever again.

The ups and downs and ins and outs with the maze of a carnival funhouse.  What a crazy ride this this book was.

“A snowplow trudged along the narrow turnpike lane, trying to keep up with the onslaught of wet heavy snow piling up on the road in thick drifts.”  From this first sentence until the last sentence of the book, I was completely hooked.

Snowball is a story about a group of strangers stranded in a severe snowstorm.  As they all huddle together in an RV, they start telling their worst winter stories as they wait for the snowstorm to pass.

The story is well written with a variety of characters, all at different stages in their lives.  The author’s descriptive writing gave me chills on a regular basis as my mind conjured up the scenes he was describing.  His monsters ranged from a vampiric snowman ( I mean, come on, how could you not love this) to the folklore of Krampus and fueled my imagination.  The story propelled forward easily as the story of each character was told.  I love when a book can boggle my mind, while at the same time keep me entertained.  The ending sentence was fantastic, and left me craving more, but yet, strangely satisfied.  

I was not familiar with Gregory Bastianelli before this book.  After reading Snowball, I definitely am going to read his other books.  If you like Dean Koontz’s early stuff, you will love this book.  Some dark and snowy night with a cup of hot chocolate by your side and snuggled in a blanket, grab this book.  You won’t regret it.

Thank you to Net Galley for the opportunity to read an ARC of this 5 star book.

A brilliant winter horror that is missing its chance not being released for Christmas - this book is surreal, interesting, engaging and well written.  I really enjoyed the suspensful, tense storyline and read it in one sitting.

An interesting and entertaining read. It reminded me a bit of Doctor Who at the beginning with the toothy snowman. 
A group of strangers trapped on a highway in a blizzard, it's a great premise for a story. The writing is engaging and the story has some great twists. Flame Tree Press are still coming out with some good material.

I found the characters well written and fully developed, I like that we got a little background into each one at the beginning too. I do like a good character story. 

I feel I should have waited to Christmas to read this, but I'm sure I'll give it another whirl then.

Thank you NetGalley & Flame Tree Press for the eARC. 

This book was wonderfully suspenseful and fast-paced. Strangers stranded on a highway later discover that everything may not be as it seems. This was scary and suspenseful but also did a nice job of digging into characters' back stories - it humanized them and made me feel for them and root for them. The author created a cold, blizzard-y, spooky atmosphere which was easy to get lost in and set a nice tone for the book. I would definitely recommend.

I really enjoyed this Christmas-horror-cum-dark-fairytale by a surprise hidden gem of an author I've never heard of before, but whose work I'm now looking forward to exploring more of. 

After an explosive opening scene, the first half of the book is kind of slow as it largely revolves around the cast of people stuck in their cars telling stories of the winters of their youth as they gather in one of their RVs for warmth. When two of them go to chase a light in the woods, the plot kicks off and we follow them as they battle various monsters from myth and legend. 

It reads more like a dark fairytale than a horror novel, but that works just fine. Krampus and evil Whomping Willows and diabolical  snowmen?  Hecking yes. If that sounds good to you, then I recommend it.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC for review. All opinions are my own.

**Received free from Netgalley in return for an honest review**

That was like a Twilight Episode gone bloody. 

A snowstorm traps unsuspecting travelers on the highway, including the plowman. The murderous rampage that happens afterwards will  leave our desperate travelers questioning every belief and wondering about the legitimacy of myths and legends. 

In the end, it was all about how one small act can set off a chain reaction of happenstance and tragedy. Me; I think it was false blaming and poor choices with a little surrealism. 

Hell, maybe I know nothing; I just read.