Melanie A.'s Reviews > The Winter King

5 STARS!

She was no meek, domesticated lamb of a woman any more than he was a tame or gentle man.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one! There's definitely something to be said for traditionally published, mass marketed books - the lack of typos, the well-developed characters, and the on-point plots. These kinds of books just come down to the individual readers' tastes, and YAY! The Winter King tickled my fancy!

Wynter, King of Wintercraig, enters Summerlea victorious after 3 years of brutal war meant to avenge the murder of his brother. Hoping to keep the Summerlea King in line, Wynter demands one of his beloved daughters in marriage. But the defeated Summerlea King has the last laugh when Wynter is tricked into marrying the despised youngest princess, Khamsin, who's been locked away for twenty years.

As many of you know, I have a weakness for this kind of forced marriage/warprize trope, and this one did not disappoint! It fell somewhere on the spectrum between the mostly light and fluffy Warprize and the dark and delicious The Golden Dynasty.

Khamsin was a fantastic heroine; strong, loyal, stubborn with a splash of vulnerability thrown in due to her horrible childhood. And Wynter was much the same as he struggled with how to deal with his wayward bride. It made for some great tension and heart-stopping moments of mistrust and suspicion, not to mention passion. ;)

The sex was hot, sweaty, and vanilla in a historical, bodice-ripper kind of way that somehow didn't have me rolling my eyes. In fact, I really liked Wynter and his alpha ways.

Wynter felt his nostrils fare with an instant stab of aggression and his upper lip curled back to bare his teeth. He even growled low in his throat, like a snow wolf warning another male away from his female.

I really appreciated how his possessiveness never crossed the line into misogyny.

The fantasy/PNR element to the story was really well-written and well-paced. Despite coming in at a whopping 600 pages, it wasn't until the last 30 pages or so that I felt the story was becoming overlong. Plus, as an added bonus, I loved the girl-power vibe that it had going on. I'm actually not quite sure why this book wasn't titled The Winter Queen.

As an aside: I'm offended by the cover of this book. First, it's a horrible cliche, and second, Khamsin is described as having dark skin throughout the story, and the heroine on this cover has anything but. Traditionally published and mass-marketed indeed.