Review: The Sisters of the Winter Wood by Rena Rossner

YA fantasy, particularly with fairy tale and folklore references, is my new favourite genre. So that, combined with the beautiful cover, is what drew me to this book.

The Sisters of the Winter Wood is set in the village of Dubossary, on the border of Moldova and the Ukraine, in 1903. It combines traditional folk tales and real-life history (the Russian pograms). The author's note at the back of the book explains which scenes really happened, and how she drew on her own family history for inspiration. The story is about two Jewish sisters, Liba and Laya, who live in a village where Jews and non-Jews live quite happily alongside each other, until a band of handsome men arrive in town to sell the most wonderful fruit at the market - and spread dissent. Suddenly everything bad that happens (deaths and disappearances) is blamed upon the Jews. It's hard to explain more, without going into spoiler territory, so I'll go with what it says on the blurb: 'Faced with a magical heritage they never knew existed, the sisters realise the old fairy tales are true . . . and could save them all.'

While I did enjoy the story (for me, it's a solid four stars) it is aimed firmly at the YA market, so at times I found it a bit teenage-y. Most of the drama deals with the two girls' discovery of who they really are and the pains of first love. The growing tension in the village, and the mystery of who was responsible for the deaths and disappearances, kept me gripped and I read the book very quickly. I found the historical parts fascinating. I liked the characters and thought the way the author alternated the viewpoint of each sister - Liba spoke in prose, Laya's voice was more like poetry - was clever.

However, the amount of Yiddish and Hebrew words at the start of the book made it hard to get into at first (there is a glossary at the back), and while I like stories that reference classic fairy tales and folk tales, I did feel The Sisters of the Winter Wood borrowed a bit too heavily from Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti, particularly towards the end. Meaning that if you've read that, you'll have no trouble working out the plot. (The author, in her notes, admits this is deliberate.)

So, while older folk like me might find The Sisters of the Winter Wood lacks crossover appeal, the target audience will love it and probably give it an extra star. 

Thank you to Rena Rossner and Orbit for my copy of this book, which I requested from NetGalley and reviewed voluntarily.

Review: Day Shift (#2 Midnight Texas) by Charlaine Harris

Day Shift is the second book in Charlaine Harris's Midnight Texas Series - now a TV series - and is set in a small, isolated town, where no one is quite what they seem...

I enjoyed this book more than the first one. Perhaps because the characters had already been set up and it seemed to move with a quicker pace. Manfred, the psychic, finds himself the prime suspect in a murder enquiry when one of his clients dies during a reading, and his friends join together to help clear his name. There is also a new character: a strange young boy who comes to stay with the Reverend. Quinn, a character from one of the Sookie Stackhouse novels, makes a cameo. We also learn more about the mysterious Olivia.

I think this is why I prefer the books to the TV series - the characters' secrets are not revealed at once and there's a proper mystery to solve. I would have given it five stars, but the mystery did fizzle out a bit towards the end, although the identity of the murderer came as a surprise! And justice was served - er, literally.

Review: Midnight Crossroad (#1 Midnight Texas) by Charlaine Harris

I bought this one because I'm a huge fan of Charlaine Harris and I loved her Sookie Stackhouse and Harper Connelly books. Unfortunately, I'm the kind of person who downloads ebooks and then promptly forgets I've bought them, so it was only when I saw the trailers for the TV series (Midnight, Texas) based on this book that I remembered I had it!

Midnight Crossroad is the first book in a trilogy. The others are Day Shift and Night Shift, although I did see an interview with Charlaine where she said she might write more. Psychic Manfred Bernardo has just moved to to the town of Midnight in Texas, which is basically just a few run-down stores around an intersection with one set of traffic lights. His new neighbours seem friendly enough, if a little ... strange ... but he's sure he's going to fit in just fine. He's right about that, because while Manfred has a few secrets in his past, it's nothing compared to those of his new friends.

Midnight Crossroad is basically a cosy mystery crossed with a paranormal. There was a lot I enjoyed. I loved the characters, particularly Manfred, Fiji and Mr Snuggly. I loved the murder mystery, the clever twists and the left-of-field final denouement. I loved the idea of this mysterious town where every inhabitant has a secret, not revealed all at once (unlike the TV series). I liked the fact that it was a quite leisurely read, taking the time to build up the characters, but unfortunately it was a little bit too leisurely at times. There was an awful lot of detail about the way the characters had decorated their houses, what Fiji had planted in her garden, and what was on the menu at Home Cookin'. There are also a lot of characters introduced very quickly and I got a little confused as to who was who.

I wavered between giving this a four or a five star, and settled on four - even though that ending blew me away, and I've just bought the next two books. So I'm feeling a bit mean.

Recommended, but only if you like your cosy mysteries with a gentle pace and supernatural characters - and bear in mind it's a lot different to the TV series.