I was so excited to read Winterly I have been loving Gothic novels. But I found Winterly to be all over the place. Was it a gothic novel or was it a supernatural read. There were plenty of witches and vampires. I found the author wanted to much for her book and couldn’t decide on what she really wanted. Characters were likable enough, but nothing stood out or made it exemplary. I will say the highlight of the book was the setting you really did think you were in regency era.

Winterly follows Emma as she uncovers the secrets of the mysterious Lord Winterly and those around him, leading her to make an exchange for her life in favour of her sister’s.

The book is a slow paced read, I loved the writing style and how the story develops and the interactions between the characters especially Emma and Lord Winterly. I thought because it is a long and slow read that I would be bored but the book is an enjoyable read with interesting characters. I liked the tone and atmosphere of the book and how everything unravelled with Emma slowly figuring things out – most of the book (around 70%) is spent leading up to the reveal and it was my favourite part of the book because I really enjoyed the setting and how the tension was built up. The book is told through Emma’s perspective but also her sister and some other characters – personally I would have liked it to be told just from Emma’s view because the other character’s perspectives added little to the story.

There is little plot development in the book for the first half and the book does follow a lot of cliches and is predictable however I did not mind this because I liked how the story was told and the characters. After the big reveal, things pick up a bit more and more backstory to some of the characters are given and surprisingly this was the section of the book which I did not like, the book was still interesting to read but I felt like once the tense/suspenseful atmosphere was gone the book felt a bit flat. But the story is still interesting enough that I would read on.

3/5

I received a digital arc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Winterly is a self-published novel by author Jeanine Croft. It's takes place in the late 1800s, and is the story of two sisters, Emma and Milli, who end up getting mixed up in a bunch of paranormal nonsense. This book has vampires. It has witches. And, to a lesser extent, werewolves.

Emma is the primary focus of the story. She is seen as strange because she does things and thinks things that are not considered normal for a woman in this time period. Women are being murdered at night, so lots of people are on naturally on edge. Emma walks home with her family one night, gets separated in the fog, and meets the love interested, the mysterious Markus Winterly. This meeting ultimately leads to a trip to his castle outside of London, where most of the rest of the book takes place.

One of my favourite things about this book is how the author chose to justify the existence of the vampires, werewolves and witches. It's not unique per se, but I found the implementation to be interesting and refreshing to a degree.

Another thing I really loved was the care in making sure the book read like one written in the time period it's set in. You feel like you're reading a real story from that period. It helped draw me into the book and is ultimately what helped lead me to the end.

This books is an adult paranormal romance, and it's VERY slow burn. Ridiculously slow. Too slow for me, in fact. This is one of two major gripes I had with this book. I'm not opposed to longer books or slow burns in general, but this felt like it was too much. Enough to drag down what would have otherwise been a 4-star book for me.

The other thing I didn't like, which goes hand-in-hand with the previous point, is too much attention to detail. I love detail in general. But did I need a whole chapter dedicated to a carriage ride to the castle with no important events or character development? No, I didn't. There were multiple chapters, or portions of chapters, that could've been cut and I wouldn't have missed a thing.

Overall, Winterly is a 3-star book. It's well written and interesting, but dragged down by too much unnecessary detail. Still, I enjoyed it and will read the sequel when it's released. Hopefully, the next book is an improvement.

I was so excited to jump into this. I mean just read that synopsis! But it was a huge let down :(

Honestly, this book didn’t need it be that long. Everything was dragged out and very, very slow. It was a huge struggle to get through it. The author used weird diction as well. Like, I get that it’s supposed to be Victorian England, but all that wording wasn’t necessary. I was looking up word definitions at least once every page. It definitely took away from the reading experience/story.

A HUGE problem with this book is the sexism. Women were supposed to be pretty little dolls who can’t think for themselves. Seriously. At one point Milli said something about women being taught not to be clever. Excuse me??

Marcus was a cocky jerk, and Emma was an air head. That’s all.

I honestly don’t get why this book has so many positive reviews. But hey, maybe it just wasn’t my cup of tea. And that’s all right :)

Can I give this one a billion stars? I adored this book! Winterly is one of the best books I've read all year. I fell in love with the characters the moment I met them. Emma is such a smart and sarcastic character. Milli is the adorable marriage obsessed propped young lady. And Markus is just wow. Forget Prince Charming or Christian Gray, I need a devil like Markus in my life! Winterly has the perfect amount of macbre and romance. There's vampires, witches, weres, and fallen angels and a host of other genuinely creepy characters to keep you on your toes. The ending just about killed me. I was left wanting so much more. I can't wait to see what happens next for Markus, Emma, Milli, and the rest of the characters.

Follow your heart and blood into ancient England, lose yourself in the devilishly arms of a viscount and get ready for adventure.
***
In the beginning, yes, it was hard to find myself into the story, to fully meet Emma and Milli, to understand the world they live-in. But the more and more you read, the more fascinated you become with historical London, society and most of all the Winterlys.
As the story is more slow-paced, you get enough time to meet them, choose gowns and jewlery with the sisters and explore the city by night. But beware, there are things lurking in the shadows you might not want to see.
I did love the fact that you get to read mainly from Emmas pov (although written in third person) but you will also get glimpses from the Mister himself or the mysterious three sister.

During the story, I also was trying to figure out what everyone is, and some things seem so logical but then you will be surprised! The romance was a slow-burn, especially in the beginning, but in the end - omg, Lord Winterly *hmm*

Only in the second half some parts were a bit too long for me, especially the history of some characters, that I scrolled through it more quicker.

The end was just crazy, and even though you are not left with a real cliffhanger, I kind of need book 2 now :)
The writing was great, although I would recommend to only read if you are more confident in English, not for beginners of the language.
I really do hope that the second book will arrive soon!

xxxxxxxxxx

Folge deinem Herzen und dem Ruf deines Blutes in das alte England, verliere dich in den Armen des teuflischen Viscount und mach dich bereit für ein Abenteuer.
***
Ja, am Anfang hatte ich ein paar Schwierigkeiten, in die Geschichte zu finden. Der Schreibstil ist anders, das Englisch in alter Schreibweise und Satzbau, aber auch die Schwestern Emma und Milli waren neu.
Je mehr ich jedoch gelesen habe, umso mehr war ich in der Welt gefangen und wollte unbedingt wissen, was es mit den Winterlys auf sich hat.
Mit der Zeit hab ich mehr und mehr Theorien aufgestellt, was denn eigentlich hier so passiert, aber wurde doch eines Besseren belehrt.
Die Geschichte wird aus Sicht von Emma in der dritten Person geschrieben, aber man bekommt auch Einblicke in Milli, den Lord selbst oder aber auch die geheimnisvollen drei Schwestern.

In der zweiten Hälfte gab es dann ein paar Stellen, welche mir etwas zu mühsam waren, aber da hab ich einfach bisschen drüber geblättert.

Das Ende war dann mehr als verrückt und verglichen zur bisherigen Geschichte auch sehr schnell. Und obwohl das Ende selbst nicht wirklich ein Cliffhanger hat, freu ich mich auf Buch 2.

Vom Englisch-Level her sollte man hier schon fortgeschritten sein!

The cover intrigued me and the synopsis sold me, Penny Dreadful meets Northanger Abbey.
I really enjoyed this book and it delivered what it promised.
I loved the gothic romantic vibes. Enjoyed the witty letter entries at the beginning of each chapter and the relationship between the Rose sisters.
The romance was a slow burn, which is exactly what I love.

The only con is that I had a difficult time with the verbage. I felt that some of the word choices were a bit too archaic. Totally appropriate for the time period, but just a bit challenging to read.
I also wished Chapter 15 would have been placed later in the book. It's the first time we hear that Winterly is a vampire. I already figured he was, but I wanted to find out when Emma found out and let the build up continue until then.
Overall, I adored this book, the characters and the gothic romantic vibes.

This book was great I loved it. The characters spoke and used mannerisms that made you feel like you were swept away in time. It was a dark, creepy, gothic story about two sisters(Emma and Milli)that spend the summer with their uncle and aunt, looking for husbands. During their stay, they get more then they bargain for when a number of murders happen, as well as a Mysterious Gentleman arrives, who happens to save Emma’s life one night. This story is mainly from Emma’s perspective and her journey to discovering the truth about the dark Lord Winterly. The story left me wanting more and I did not want to put it down. You get a suspenseful and exciting romance and murder mystery with supernatural elements . It wrapped up Emma’s ending well and left off at a perfect cliffhanger for the next story, which I will be reading when it comes out. I would definitely recommend this book. There are Trigger warnings which include murder and violence. I received this ebook via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Firstly I'd like to thank NetGalley, the Publisher and Author for an ARC to review. I struggled with this book, infact this was a DNF for me unfortunately. The writing style was hard to get used to, even after 150+pages, and the whole pace of the plot/character development had me losing interest and really wanting to stop, so I did. Others have said this book was quite a journey but worth it, for me at this time its a journey that I just cannot keep going with. Maybe I'll come back to it, but right now this was a let down for me overall after having such an amazing premise.

this was a really enjoyable read, I liked that it felt like a old time romance book with supernatural elements. I look forward to more in the series.

If Elizabeth was a goth girl and Mr. Darcy had fangs this is your book. I cant wait until the next book comes out but I am hoping for 90% less angst. All in all a solid historical/paranormal/dark romance add it to your spooky TBR in October.

Winterly is darkly atmospheric, poetic gothic beauty. Jeanine Croft writes with a lyrical pen that drips with atmosphere, a melody that eerily invades the senses and refuses to relinquish you from its vampiric romantic depths.

Emma and Markus, be still my beating bookish heart. These two are swoon worthy together. Emma, dear Emma, as she attempts to evade every deliciously decadent encounter with the dark and mysterious Markus Winterly, I couldn’t help but fall under the same thralling spell that was woven around Emma’s heart.

And Markus, dastardly charming Markus Winterly, from the first word out of his mysterious mouth, I, like Emma, knew that I was in the presence of my newest bookish boyfriend. He’s so guarded and mysterious that when I finally learned more about him, I was all in and left with wanting more, more and more.

The characters of this charming dark novel are well written and the added depth of getting bits and pieces from several of the characters, not just Miss Emma Rose, rounded the depths of this tome into a piece that Croft should be mightily proud of creating. The world building drops you into the midst of Victorian England. The vernacular, the mannerisms, it screams of the period and added an element to the story that elevated this from just a vampiric tale, to a loaded gun of poetry, magic, love, mystery and lyrical literary goodness.

While Emma does make some decisions that made me want to physically step into the book and shake her silly, it did not detract from my love for the story or the character for that matter. Winterly is long, decadently rich in atmosphere and personally one of my favorite novels of the year. I was giddy whenever I spoke to those in my household about the depths of this novel and when I mentioned the talent and depth of the writing. I adored Winterly and can not wait to read the next book, there are characters that I need to know more about and relationships to swoon over.

This was probably my most surprising read of the year. My expectations were for a vampire-romance, heavy on the romance, light on the vampire. What I got was a novel wonderfully reminiscent of Anne Rice, full of fun allusions to the very best of hysterical gothic literature, and possibly the sharpest heroine around.
It's not a short book, but I breezed through it - the writing is easy, confident and well paced, the dialogue is never less than engaging, and more often than not, brilliantly witty (several of the earlier scenes had me grinning like a loon on public transport, so thank goodness for masks).
I must admit that I preferred the first half to the second. The story as it opens is faux-gothic, entirely clever. Our heroine is the (sometimes literally) ink nosed Emma Rose, part-time spinster, full-time obsessed with the best/worst gothic novels ever written. Chaperoning her younger sister's Season in London, she is intrigued from the first moment that she meets the Viscount Winterly.
Its all very Pride & Prejudice as he is smitten and she easily rebuffs his every move with a suitably casual and hilarious manner. And all around them the atmosphere grows darker and more strained, as a series of grisly London murders unfolds.
I was entirely here for it. By the beginning of part two I was ready to call this my top read of 2020. But the second half-
Without dropping any spoilers, it takes a bit of a left turn. And then keeps turning left. And then just starts going in some circles. It's not that it's not still well-written, but the plot loses the initial tension that was built. As more and more elements were added, the more convoluted it became, the less invested I felt. It's a shame, because what is good is really, really good. And what's less good is still very good. Just perhaps not the story I wanted it to be.

I started reading this book because I got the eARC form Netgalley. Thanks a lot for the trust in me for my very first review chance there.

This book was described as a dark version of twilight combined with lost of mystery and romance.
I requested this ARC because of the beautiful cover and the strong short description of the book.

The first thing I noticed was the difficult writing style or usage of more intricate vocabulary than I'm used to. English is not my native language but I am used to read, write and speak in English and can say that I am fairly good at it.
Second thing that bothered me is the slow pacing. It takes almost 15O pages to get to know the characters and the world they are living it. It probably takes even more pages, that I don't know as I DNFed after 150 pages. Mostly I like the time of a 60 - 100 pages for worldbuilding and character development as it needs that space. In Winterly I didn't had the feeling it should be that long as the characters felt pretty plain for me and the world was just our "human' world and didn't involve intricate magic systems of some sort.

Overall the short description hyped me to read the book, but the slow pacing, low character and world development kept me from reading further. for that I decided to write my review based on what I read and dnfed the book.
I am sure that people who love some faire descreptions of rooms and clothing will really enjoy this book, but it wasn't just for me.

So this book! This book right here, had me so enamored. The beginning is a tad bit slow but once the pieces start to come together, it just becomes more and more interesting. I will say, Emma annoyed me a bit with the way she was back and forth with Winterly but this is a page turner that you don't want to pass up on. It's dark, gritty and oh so sexy!

i never ended up downloading this, i've been reading other reviews on this and it sounds pretty good, so i might go get it~

Thank you Netgalley and BooksGoSocial for the opportunity to review this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
What would happen if your favorite Jane Austen or Bronte Heroine and hero were thrown into the world of vampires, witches, and other under worldly beings, and mixed in a bit of Jack the Ripper? You would get Winterly by Jeanine Croft.

The very first thing that caught my eye was the cover. It is absolutely stunning. It drew me in and made me want to read this book. Then the synopsis mentions it's Penny Dreadful and Northanger Abbey with a dark twist of underworlds containing mystery, romance, and masquerades. Count me in.

Winterly follows sisters Emma and Milli, who live in London with their aunt and uncle during the Season. However, there are mysterious murders happening in London, leaving behind bodies without hearts. One evening, after being separated from her aunt and uncle, Emma gets lost and almost killed before she is rescued by the mysterious Mr. Winterly. Ever since then, he keeps popping up, until one evening Milli and Emma are invited to stay with at their home by his sister. While there, something mysterious happens to Milli, and Emma is thrust into a world of dark beings that she never knew existed, and worse, she finds that she may feel more herself in that world than her own.

At first I struggled with the book. I found it to be a bit slow at the beginning and to drag in other parts as well. I also found that I didn't always connect with the characters. At first, I found Milli to be shallow and silly, while Emma was just not very interesting. It wasn't until about half way through the book that I started seeing some growth in them and started feeling invested in what happened to them. I did however really enjoy Markus from the moment that I met him. I loved his sass and sarcasm. I also really liked the Gothic atmosphere, with the castles, and talk of abbeys and catacombs.

All in all, it was an enjoyable book that left it open for a sequel, that I am interested in reading.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author and publisher for the opportunity to review!

This dark and Gothic vampire tale is a bit of a climb to get through but oh so worth it! I loved the characters and the writing style kept me entertained.

The premise of this book was so promising. A naive girl, a mysterious viscous, and maybe some otherworldly creatures. What I ended up with were some well developed characters with a great story but the biggest distraction from the story was having to Google so many words to make sure I was understanding the text. I understand wanting to use vernacular for the period but it totally distracts from the flow of the novel. The interwoven stories of the supernatural characters was welcome but the mixing of 2 separate types of creature didn't have enough explanation to suit my curiosity. Despite all this, I loved the book and would recommend to anyone who loves supernatural romance books.

Before I get into my review, can we talk about how gorgeous this cover is? I love the simplicity of the design and the subtle but sharp use of color.

This being my first book from Jeanine Croft, I was unsure what to expect but I was totally blown from the start. Jeanine wove a powerful and enchanting tale that was so beautifully written that eloquent seems insufficient a description. She is such a powerful word wizard that I had to break out my dictionary more than once during my read which I appreciate as I love learning new words and phrases. I also appreciated the thought that went into this novel as evidenced by additional touches such as each chapter having its own intro (which I enjoy) and a gothic theme that carried throughout.

Emma Rose was quite different from MC of her time with a sharp and witty mind. This, coupled with her love of grotesqueries and a curious mind leads her to appreciate the darkness and its secrets. Throughout Winterly, Emma transforms from a shy and meek book lover to something fierce and to be feared.

Winterly was a delicious game of cat and mouse that had me on the end of my seat. The darker almost gothic sense of humor was different yet still immensely pleasurable. The spectrum of supernatural within Winterly ranged from vampires to gypsies and paid homage to classic myths and legends such as horsemen of the apocalypse, Cleopatra, and the fallen angels.

The sheer volume of characters made keeping up a bit difficult but it also ensured all the characters both primary and secondary were properly developed which enhanced and strengthened the plotline. Winterly had layers upon layers of villains, wickedness, lies, deceit, and wrongdoing. With so much doom and gloom, the catharsis was rightfully both light and dark, both good and bad and both life and death.

While I enjoyed the novel I was immensely frustrated by Emma and Markus. There was such delicious anticipation that their actual interactions left me disappointed. I felt shortchanged at a lot of their scenes. Another shortfall for me was Emma’s sister and her dilemma. It seemed very vague and I am not sure the outcome was justified. Emma’s familial ties were a bit underdeveloped, especially when considering the time and place in which the novel was set.

That being said there was a deep-rooted sense of being true to yourself that I admired and I extremely interested to see how the author transforms this magical world further.

Thank you to Book Go Social, the author and NetGalley for providing me with an arc.

This review can also be found on my blog: https://jessicareadsit.wordpress.com/