Waiting on Wednesday - Drift & Dagger by Kendall Kulper

Welcome to Waiting On Wednesday here at

 Winterhaven Books!

This is a feature created by Jill at Breaking The Spine where we share some books we are anxiously awaiting.

This week's pick...

Drift & Dagger by Kendall Kulper
Expected publication: September 8th 2015 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers 

As a boy in the late nineteenth century, Mal's only friend was Essie, daughter of the Roe witch, and it was she who discovered that he is a "blank," not affected by magic, setting him on a career as a con artist, traveling the globe in search of a legendary magical dagger that can steal a witch's power.

This is the companion to Kendall's amazing debut, Salt & Storm, a story of a young witch battling an awful curse. Sounds a bit cliche i know but trust me it was very well done. I can't wait to see what Essie is like. The Roe witches are such a fascinating tale.I will be trying to get my grabby hands on this ASAP!!!

Review: I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga

I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Release Date: April 3, 2012
Purchase: Amazon

What if the world's worst serial killer...was your dad?

Jasper "Jazz" Dent is a likable teenager. A charmer, one might say.

But he's also the son of the world's most infamous serial killer, and for Dear Old Dad, Take Your Son to Work Day was year-round. Jazz has witnessed crime scenes the way cops wish they could—from the criminal's point of view.

And now bodies are piling up in Lobo's Nod.

In an effort to clear his name, Jazz joins the police in a hunt for a new serial killer. But Jazz has a secret—could he be more like his father than anyone knows?

My Thoughts:
This people!  This is the book I have needed in my life!  I have no idea why I waited so long to read this!  I Hunt Killers has everything I am loving right now in my reads!  Serial killers, suspense, drama, blood, gore, delicious creepiness, and masterfulness!  I loved every single second of this and yes I know that might mean I have a few problems of my own!

I'm sure you have read before that this is like Dexter and well I haven't seen Dexter so I don't really know if this is true.  All I know is that this was amazing!  We have Jazz who has grown up being groomed by his father to be the next super killer.  Billy Dent killed in the triple digits before he was caught and he tried raising his son to step into his footsteps.  Jazz fights everyday to be normal and not who his dad wants him to be. When I new killer comes to town Jazz knows this guy is up to something not normal.  After putting clues only he can see together Jazz realizes that this guy is copying someone very close to Jazz and he has to stop him. 

I loved how the story had both perspectives in it.  I can't explain why I loved seeing the killers POV but I did.  It was wild and just crazy, but it was an awesome addition to the story.  I felt like the guy was right behind me!!  I won't lie I had the killer pegged from Ch 14, but that didn't stop me from loving this. It just showed me how bold the killer actually was when he would make certain moves and it made me really keep my eyes peeled for him.  What did surprise me though was the ending.  I was so not expecting what happened and I won't lie it totally keyed me up for the next one.  It is sure to be a bloody book!

I really liked Jazz and his friends.  He was a great character and I really sympathized with him. The only thing that got to me was how confident he was in his manipulations.  I know he was groomed to be this way, but after awhile I didn't need to be told the ins and outs of how he got away with certain behaviors.  All that really could have been left out.  Other than that though I really loved Jazz. He has a tough road ahead of him and I can't imagine how will overcome what his dad hopes for him to become.  I mean the details that he knows about serial killers is frightening!

I have to mention Howie. Oh Howie he was a wonderful breath of fresh air in this gory book. He kept certain scenes a little lighter than they would have been otherwise I can't wait to see what he says in the next book.  I also loved Connie.  She stood up to Jazz at his weakest and showed him that he doesn't have to be a monster.  She is one tough chick that I hope Jazz keeps around for a very long time.

Barry Lyga has truly crafted a hair raising tale that will have me looking under beds for days to come!  Bring on the sequel!!

4 snowflakes

Teaser Tuesday, #50 THE COLDEST GIRL IN COLDTOWN by Holly Black

Welcome to Teaser Tuesdays! Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following: Grab your current read Open to a random page Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teaser Tuesday is for the following...



The Coldest Girl In Coldtown by Holly Black
Publisher: Little, Brown Books For Young Readers
Publication Date: September 3, 2013






*Teasers from Page 13*

"Pushing herself to stand, she started picking her way across the floor, trying to ignore the way the carpet crunched under her bare feet, trying not to think about the smell of decay blooming in the room."

"Which made her wonder if there could still be a vampire in this house, the vampire who had slaughtered all these people"


PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own Teaser Tuesdays post, or share your ‘teasers’ in a comment here if you don’t have a blog Thanks!

Review: When We Wake by Karen Healey

When We Wake by Karen Healey
Publisher-Little Brown Books 
Released- March 5th 2013
Purchase- Amazon / B & N 

My name is Tegan Oglietti, and on the last day of my first lifetime, I was so, so happy.Sixteen-year-old Tegan is just like every other girl living in 2027--she's happiest when playing the guitar, she's falling in love for the first time, and she's joining her friends to protest the wrongs of the world: environmental collapse, social discrimination, and political injustice.But on what should have been the best day of Tegan's life, she dies--and wakes up a hundred years in the future, locked in a government facility with no idea what happened.Tegan is the first government guinea pig to be cryonically frozen and successfully revived, which makes her an instant celebrity--even though all she wants to do is try to rebuild some semblance of a normal life. But the future isn't all she hoped it would be, and when appalling secrets come to light, Tegan must make a choice: Does she keep her head down and survive, or fight for a better future?Award-winning author Karen Healey has created a haunting, cautionary tale of an inspiring protagonist living in a not-so-distant future that could easily be our own.

My Thoughts:

It's the year 2027 in Australia - Melbourne and sixteen year old Tegan Oglietti is having a typical happy day. She's off to a political rally with her best friend Alex and new boyfriend Dalmar. The day was looking up and things couldn't be more perfect.

Till it all faded to black and Tegan woke up in the year 2128, a hundred years into the future.

A sniper was after the Prime Minister that faithful day, but he was sloppy and hit Tegan instead. She died on the way to the hospital but she signed up for a donation program, donating her body to science, only this is a very different kind of science.

Tegan is the first candidate to successfully survive cryonics, a frozen coma. But the future has it's problems and it's secrets and Tegan must choose what kind of role she wants to play in this new life.

When We Wake is a though-provoking, cruel and unique look into one girls journey in life, after death. In this book Tegan is talking straight to the reader as she tells us her story. What it was like in her old life and what's happening now. I really enjoyed the way this was delivered. It felt more personal and emotional. It was very sad to hear about Alex and her mom and Dalmar since it felt like she could have had such a wonderful life before her untimely death. Specially with Dalmar, the boy she's always loved and was only with him for one day before this all happened. I've always been a sucker for friends-turned-romance so this was even more bittersweet.

I really enjoy Karen Healey's writing, I've read one of her other books before, Guardian of the Dead and even then I found her work refreshing. But I'd be lying if I said I understood the entire world that Healey tried to convey in the book. It has a very heavy morality and religious approach as well as political and government scandals. Then we have the futuristic conditions and cultural shock and how strange this new reality is to both Tegan and the readers. There was quite a bit of information to process and a lot to take in which made this book a little hard to connect with, but I still found the the general concept pretty incredible.

Tegan is a very easy character to lose yourself with. Her story is terrible and sad but at the same time it's absolutely fascinating. I love the fact that she has her own mind and her own will. She doesn't just roll over and play nice, she does things her way and is determined to have a life according to her rules. I also thought her love for the Beatles was great and I loved that the name of the songs were chapter titles.

Abdi was hard to connect with when we first met him, but eventually he started to grow on me more throughout the book. The romance is light, but it would have felt off if it was anything more then what we got. 

I also enjoyed what Marie brought into the story and was glad that she stayed good people since I wasn't sure who I could trust once we get deeper into the story line.

All in all, this turned out to be a decent read. It has it's flaws but it also has it's moments where I was glued to the pages. The characters are intriguing, the writing and the concept fascinating and this really is one of those story that makes you really ponder the possibility of what the future holds. Very scary stuff my friends. I may not have loved this the way I wanted to, but I think fans of this genre will want to experience this spine-tingling dystopia sci-fi thriller escape that is like no other!

Find the author:
Goodreads / Website

                                                                    3.5 Snowflakes

Review: Altered by Jennifer Rush

Altered by Jennifer Rush
Released- Jan 1st 2013
Publisher- Little Brown Books 
Purchase- Amazon/ B & N / Chapters

When you can’t trust yourself, who can you believe?Everything about Anna’s life is a secret. Her father works for the Branch at the helm of its latest project: monitoring and administering treatments to the four genetically altered boys in the lab below their farmhouse. There’s Nick, Cas, Trev . . . and Sam, who’s stolen Anna’s heart. When the Branch decides it’s time to take the boys, Sam stages an escape, killing the agents sent to retrieve them. Anna is torn between following Sam or staying behind in the safety of her everyday life. But her father pushes her to flee, making Sam promise to keep her away from the Branch, at all costs. There’s just one problem. Sam and the boys don’t remember anything before living in the lab—not even their true identities.Now on the run, Anna soon discovers that she and Sam are connected in more ways than either of them expected. And if they’re both going to survive, they must piece together the clues of their past before the Branch catches up to them and steals it all away.

My Thoughts:
Wow! Altered is an amazing sci-fi mystery thriller that I didn't expect to like as much as I did. Jennifer Rush took such a different approach to this concept and totally made it her own. This was an intense and surprisingly powerful story that had me consumed the entire ride!

Anna Mason has been helping out her dad for years by collecting data from the four boys that have occupied their farmhouse basement for the last five years. They are some kind of experiments or units that the Branch has plans for and while Anna doesn't really know why Sam, Trev, Cas and Nick are there, she's taken to befriending all of them (even Nick) and makes sure they get everything that would make their 'stay' more comfortable. She's always hated to see the boys so trapped and wish she could be the one to set them free. 

One day, when some of the Branch people comes down to visit the 'units' all hell breaks loose and Anna finds herself on the run with the boys, boys who don't remember anything about themselves or their past. 

Soon Anna will discover that her entire life was based on secrets and lies and helps search for clues about who the boys really are. The lines of trust and faith are thin and blurs into hope. Hope for herself and the boys that have become all she's ever known.

Altered has just about everything I like in my escape. It's a story about lies and deception, humanity and science, surviving and instincts  and the ultimate hope. It's action punched, thought provoking and has a sweetly-awkward romance that you can't help cheer for.

I loved pretty much the entire book, but I think what I loved the most was the fact that the entire concept was so intelligently written. I loved how seriously unpredictable it all turned out to be. Every time I would guess at something, I was pretty much shot down within the next chapter. I loved that we didn't get a lot of answers to the growing questions till the exact moment Rush wants to clue in both the characters and the readers. The sci-fi aspects weren't over the top. I mean the boys are stronger and smarter and they have been genetically altered for greatness, but not in the x-men way I was shamelessly expecting. Now this isn't a bad thing, in fact it felt somehow more unique and this being the first book in a series that didn't answer all of our questions, I'm thinking there is a lot more to come. Which is a very good thing.

I loved the entire mystery surrounding every aspect of this story. It was a lot of fun trying to follow the clues and codes and links to everything that was happening. I never knew who I could trust, who was bad and who was good and I gotta say a few characters really surprised me.

It didn't take very long to fall for each one of these characters. I loved that Anna wasn't some weak damsel in distress protag. She can totally handle her own and keep the boys in line at the same time. Each boy has a very endearing personality and easy to love. Trev is the best friend and a shoulder to cry on. Cas is the funny one, loves to eat and goof around. He brought in the perfect comic relief to the more dire situations. Nick is your basic standoffish guy with a stick up his...you know what. But he's always there if you need him. As for Sam? He's the leader of this group, the Alpha. He's edgy and intense and makes brooding look like such a sexy sensation.

The romance is very subtle in this book, which is a good thing when you think about it. It would have felt fake considering they are on the run for their lives and not remembering anything about yourself or your past doesn't help the warm and fuzzy's either. What we did get though was awfully sweet and I have a lot of hope (and suspicions) about what will happen in the next book concerning Sam and Anna.

All in all, I had a great time reading this book. The concept is smart, fresh and alive. The characters are all fascinating and the writing is brilliant. I can't wait to get my hands on the sequel! 

An amazing debut!

Find the author:
Goodreads / Website

                                                                  4 Snowflakes 

Review: Catherine by April Lindner

Catherine by April Lindner
Publisher: Poppy
Release Date: January 2, 2013
Purchase: Amazon / Barnes & Noble

A forbidden romance. A modern mystery. Wuthering Heights as you’ve never seen it before.

Catherine is tired of struggling musicians befriending her just so they can get a gig at her Dad’s famous Manhattan club, The Underground. Then she meets mysterious Hence, an unbelievably passionate and talented musician on the brink of success. As their relationship grows, both are swept away in a fiery romance. But when their love is tested by a cruel whim of fate, will pride keep them apart?

Chelsea has always believed that her mom died of a sudden illness, until she finds a letter her dad has kept from her for years—a letter from her mom, Catherine, who didn’t die: She disappeared. Driven by unanswered questions, Chelsea sets out to look for her—starting with the return address on the letter: The Underground.

Told in two voices, twenty years apart, Catherine interweaves a timeless forbidden romance with a compelling modern mystery.

My Thoughts:
I am not sure what to make of this book honestly. On one hand I really enjoyed it and it definitely left a lasting impression on me. On the other hand though the characters felt a little to whiny and I am so mad at them for the way they behaved! I can’t decide which hand I feel more strongly about so I am going to go with undecided at the moment.

There are 2 different stories that make up this book. We have Chelsea first who is trying to find out what really happened to her mom who disappeared fourteen years ago. After finding a letter from her written before she left, Chelsea follows the clues that were in the letter to The Underground. This is a nightclub and as with every nightclub I am sure it holds many many secrets. The other story is Catherine’s, Chelsea’s moms. Her story takes place when she was in high school and how things came to be later in her life. Her father owned The Underground and after convincing him to hire Hence, a musician who had nowhere else to go, she finds herself smack dab in the middle of a great romance only her brother Quentin doesn’t approve. This makes things very hard for the two and well things go from bad to worse quickly in more ways than one.

These two halves make up one hale of a story. Like I said some parts I liked some parts I didn’t. Catherine’s story was made up of high school puppy love and what happens when we don’t give the people we love time to explain. Her part infuriated me more so than her daughter’s. I didn’t care for some of Catherine’s choices and I felt like she needed to woman up and tell Hence what she was up to. That being said though I remember being in love at a very young age and well we all do stupid things for love so I get it to a point. Chelsea’s story hit home and I enjoyed it more. Yes she was a bit irritating but she never gave up on trying to find her mom and she never backed down when things were tough. I wish the story would have been told just in her point of view, but I can see why the other was needed.

I know this book is based very loosely on Wuthering Heights and I can see the similarities, but I still wasn’t prepared for that ending. That ending by itself deserves a full star. I am still totally blown away with what the author did there and I give her so much credit for doing that. This is a story of love and loss and no matter how the characters bothered me I know this will stay with me for a long time.

3 Snowflakes

*ARC provided by Publisher*