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Book Summary and Reviews of Winterwood by Shea Ernshaw

Winterwood by Shea Ernshaw

Winterwood

by Shea Ernshaw

  • Critics' Consensus (2):
  • Readers' Rating (2):
  • Published:
  • Nov 2019, 336 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

From New York Times bestselling author of The Wicked Deep comes a haunting romance perfect for fans of Practical Magic, where dark fairy tales and enchanted folklore collide after a boy, believed to be missing, emerges from the magical woods - and falls in love with the witch determined to unravel his secrets.

Be careful of the dark, dark wood…

Especially the woods surrounding the town of Fir Haven. Some say these woods are magical. Haunted, 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 to have gone missing on that fateful night all those weeks ago.

For as long as there have been fairy tales, we have been warned to fear what lies within the dark, dark woods and in Winterwood, New York Times bestselling author Shea Ernshaw, shows us why.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"The claustrophobic mystery unwinds at an accelerating pace...and the malicious, haunting Wicker Woods are lovingly characterized and as compelling as the formidable heroine...A delectably immersive, eerie experience." - Kirkus Reviews

"[A] dark, thrilling atmosphere that drives the biting cold of Winterwood deep into readers' bones. Full of action, mystery, and an eldritch feel, Ernshaw's sophomore novel does not disappoint." - Publishers Weekly

"A dynamic thriller for fans of paranormal fiction." - Jane Miller, School Library Journal

"Ernshaw weaves an irresistible spell, entwining nature, romance, and magic through a lyrical text." - Booklist

"The beauty and mystery of the natural world infuse every moment in this lush, spellbinding story that weaves romance with witchcraft—a seductive, lyrical tale of lost boys, old legends and haunted woods." – Lexa Hillyer, author of Spindle Fire

"Lyrical, magical and mysterious, Winterwood left me intoxicated, dancing beneath an endless moon." - Dawn Kurtagich, author of Teeth in the Mist

This information about Winterwood was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

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Gwendalyn

Winterwood
Winterwood is an eerie experience, dark, and unsettling, imaginative, with gothic elements. This spellbinding tale following Nora Walker, and the women in her ancestral family. The Walkers have a chilling connection to the enchanted forest near their home

Shea Ernshaw writing slowly pulls you in this richly atmospheric setting that is mysterious and gothically darkish The writing strategically slowed to create an intense moving novel, with exquisite prose and intriguing storyline.

The descriptive imagery that creates the cold solitude and isolation, makes the reader feel haunted. Nora shares the point of view of telling the story with Oliver Huntsman, a young boy who has been attending the “troubled boy’s camp” on Jackjaw Lake. After Nora finds him in the woods, pieces of his memory returns to explain how he came to be in the woods, and how he’s survived them for so long. On the night of the snow storm, a boy had gone missing from the camp, and Nora believe she’s found him. But Oliver and Nora begin putting the pieces together of what truly transpired, and they both realize that there is something more sinister is happening.

A haunting tale set deep in a magical snow-covered forest, where the appearance of a mysterious boy awakens a dangerous centuries old curse. The enchanted, atmospheric setting, woven by Ernshaw’s eerie prose and chilling suspense builds to a thrilling an darkish atmospheric haunting tale.

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Author Information

Shea Ernshaw

Shea Ernshaw is the New York Times bestselling author of The Wicked Deep and Winterwood. She is the winner of the 2019 Oregon Book Award and her debut novel, The Wicked Deep, was an Indie Next Pick. She lives in a small mountain town in Oregon and is happiest when lost in a good book, lost in the woods, or writing her next novel.

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