Friday, December 25, 2020

Winterwood - Shea Ernshaw

 My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Be careful of the dark, dark wood...especially the woods surrounding the town of Fir Haven. Some say these woods are magical. Cursed, even.

Rumored to be a witch, only Nora Walker knows the truth. She and the Walker women before her have always shared a special connection with the woods. And it's this special connection that leads Nora to Oliver Huntsman, the same boy who disappeared from the camp for wayward boys weeks ago - and in the middle of the worst snowstorm in years. He should be dead, but here he is alive and left in the woods with no memory of the time he'd been missing.

But Nora can feel an uneasy shift in the woods at Oliver's presence. And it's not too long after that Nora realizes she has no choice but to unearth the truth behind how the boy she has come to care so deeply about survived his time in the forest and what led him there in the first place. What Nora doesn't know, though, is that Oliver has secrets of his own - secrets he'll do anything to keep buried, because as it turns out, he wasn't the only one who went missing on that fateful night all those weeks ago."

I'm not a huge fan of spooky stuff, but this book is eerie in the most perfect way. The world-building is excellent, and the scene is set so well that from the first page I found myself transported into Nora's cold, snowy, dimly-lit world. The moment Oliver's green eyes snap open, I was enthralled, and from the first page to the last, I didn't want to close the book.

Eliot Reed from Scrubs settling into bed with a cup of coffee and a book

I pride myself on being someone who sees twists coming and can call the end of a book, movie, TV show, what have you early on, but this one kept me guessing. There were multiple scenes that had me gasping out loud, and even a few "ohhhh shit"s that got out before I could stop them. Shea Ernshaw will keep you on your toes! Ultimately, even if you are able to call twists and turns where I wasn't, this book is worth it for the ambiance, the mood, and the excerpts from the Walker spell book interspersed throughout the story.

Plus, as a bonus, you know I judge books by their covers, and THAT COVER THOUGH.

Side-by-side cover photos of both black and white version of "Winterwood" cover art

Whichever version you get, I could eat it with a spoon. And I don't know about the dark cover, but the white also features blue sprayed edges to match, and my god, it is a thing of beauty. Even if I hadn't loved the story from start to finish, I would keep this on my shelf for the cover alone. Everything about this book is art.

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