Aussie Book Review: Winter's Light by M.J. Hearle
M.J Hearle- Winter's Light (Winter Saga #2) Format- Paperback Source- Review copy Publisher- Pan Macmillan Publication date- 24th April, 2012 Synopsis-Blake is gone.He sacrificed himself to save Winter, leaving her alone, unprotected... hunted.An ancient enemy is rising, but Winter is no longer the innocent girl who was fated to die at Pilgrim's Lament. She will not wait to be saved. She will do what she must to survive, even accept an unsavoury alliance with those who destroyed her love.In the gathering darkness, the enemy of an enemy is not always a friend, and Winter must find the strength to stand alone and fight for the one she loves. For she is the key to unlocking the secrets beyond the veil of shadows.And she is Blake's only hope. Review- Winter’s Light is the sequel to M.J Hearle’s debut YA paranormal novel Winter’s Shadow. This review may have spoilers to Winter’s Shadow.Winter Adams is mourning the loss of Blake, a Demori who sacrificed his life to save her. But when Winter has visions of Blake via the lodestone he gifted her to keep her safe, she becomes convinced that he is alive somewhere in the Dead Lands.In a showdown with a couple of evil Demori who want to suck the life out of Winter, Sam (the guy who tried to kill her and Blake in book 1) comes along and saves the day. From this, a mutual truce is ignited and a friendship ensues. They decide they need each other; Winter needs Sam to find Blake and Sam needs Winter to help take down the evil Demori. Problem is, Sam is a Bane and the Bane are the enemies of the Demori, including Blake.In a desperate attempt at finding her love, Winter strikes a deal with the Bane. She will contribute her ability as a ‘key’ to open the gates to the Dead Lands for the Bane and in turn will be allowed entry to locate Blake. Winter, Sam and her feisty best friend Jasmine fly to France to a big eerie castle to meet the Bane and put their plan into action.Despite Winter’s gut feeling that something isn’t right, she goes along with the Bane with the hope of reuniting with Blake. She feels she owes him this given he saved her life. But when Winter’s heart takes over her intuition she finds that she may not be able to take everything at face value.Winter’s Light has a slow-building suspense much like Winter’s Shadow and to be honest, at first I thought I wasn’t going to enjoy the sequel. But by the half way mark I was turning the pages quickly to find out what happened next. Much like the first book, I felt Winter was quite passive throughout most of the story, until near the end when she actually steps up to the plate and begins to make decisions for herself. At times I found her passivity frustrating, but I could understand her haziness, given she was mourning Blake’s loss. I really enjoy Jasmine’s spark and I think she compliments Winter well and brings out her personality a bit more. I also liked seeing a different side to Sam this time and felt he quite genuinely cared about Winter. I have a feeling a love triangle is in the midst although Winter’s probably oblivious to this! Although absent physically in the story, Blake is brought to the readers' mind through excerpts of his journal.Winter’s Light is an intriguing sequel to Winter’s Shadow by Aussie author M.J Hearle and extends the story of love, loss and sacrifices set in a unique paranormal world.Read my review for Winter's Shadow (4/5).
4/5 rating
Purchase book @
Fishpond/ Amazon
Winter's Light Teaser Trailer:
[vimeo 40919830 w=500 h=281]About the author: Addicted to stories from a young age, it was somewhat inevitable that M.J. Hearle turned to dealing them himself. Winter’s Shadow was his first published novel. While ostensibly a paranormal romance it does not contain any sparkly vampires or shirtless werewolves. Instead it creates a new supernatural mythology and a different kind of monster for readers to fear and (hopefully) fall in love with. Published in Australia by Pan Macmillan in June of 2011. http://mjhearle.com/
More titles by M.J Hearle:
This book was read as part of the Aussie Author Challenge 2012 challenge: