WardenRed reviewed Long Winter by Rachel Ember
None
5 stars
He feels like he slept a hundred years last night, and awoke as someone else. Not someone new, though. An old self…one he left here in the now-burned farmhouse on the night he ran off and never came back.
This was a pretty enjoyable read. I liked the slow pacing that let me get to know the characters, and the way the past and the present storylines entwined to create a fuller picture. The ending is pretty open, with a number of questions (mostly of the “yes, but how exactly will this work?” variety) left unresolved, but I guess that’s what the sequel is for—and I’ll definitely pick it up at some point. The book is pretty capable of standing on its own, too, though; the characters’ journey toward each other is definitely complete, it’s just that I now want to watch them actually build a life together.
The …
He feels like he slept a hundred years last night, and awoke as someone else. Not someone new, though. An old self…one he left here in the now-burned farmhouse on the night he ran off and never came back.
This was a pretty enjoyable read. I liked the slow pacing that let me get to know the characters, and the way the past and the present storylines entwined to create a fuller picture. The ending is pretty open, with a number of questions (mostly of the “yes, but how exactly will this work?” variety) left unresolved, but I guess that’s what the sequel is for—and I’ll definitely pick it up at some point. The book is pretty capable of standing on its own, too, though; the characters’ journey toward each other is definitely complete, it’s just that I now want to watch them actually build a life together.
The story is definitely bittersweet, with each of the two leads dealing with quite some baggage, Lance especially. I empathized with his desire to be independent and the way that, due to his complicated childhood, he still keeps falling into the trap of relying on other people. The author did a great job showing how certain childhood experiences shape us and remain relevant in adulthood. Robbie has his own share of deep-set convictions to tackle, what with feeling stuck in the life he chose and his tendency to always put others first. These two complement each other really well in some regards, but I can also see the potential for conflict in the long run, and that’s one the things that made this relationship interesting to follow for me. Another was that, for all of the complications, these two were just so sweet together. The book is full of really heartwarming moments, such as nursing a newborn calf to health together. And there’s that specific rendition of the “only one bed” trope that I’m a sucker for.
I do wish Robbie’s brothers were more present in the main storyline—I feel some on-page interactions between Lance and Danny, at least, could have made the story stronger. The final part of the story also felt somewhat rushed, what with two reveals happening a bit too quickly, without getting processed (especially, without going into spoilers, the family-related one). But all in all, I liked the book very much.