Review: Winterblaze by Kristen Callihan

Title: Winterblaze

Author: Kristen Callihan

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing Forever

Publication Date: February 2013

Genre: Adult Paranormal Romance

Series or Stand Alone: Series, Book Three


Synopsis can be found here.
NetGalley review.

Review:
Well Kristen Callihan, you've done it again.

In the third book of the Darkest London series, we carry on with Poppy Lane. Winston, former inspector, was attacked by a werewolf in the last book and discovered an entire underground and paranormal world that he didn't know existed. Sad for him, he realized that Poppy did know, and was heavily involved in this world. Winston, hurt and confused, left Poppy and that is where this book picks up.

Winston is such a swoon-worthy character. He's broken, physically and emotionally, from the last book and is trying to piece himself together again. Poppy, strong and very stubborn, has the weight of the world on her shoulders. her relationships with her sisters is far from stable, and now that her husband has left her, she carries on with a broken heart, alone and with very few people to turn to.

Enter a threat on Winston and his life and Poppy springs into action. She's going to save the man she loves, whether he wants her to or not.

I love Poppy. Seriously. I know she can be seen as cold and calculated, but I really feel for her. She feels deeply, loves deeply, but has enormous responsibilities on her shoulders and cannot afford the open emotion that her sisters can. She cannot be seen as weak. Her life and other lives depend on it. She is such a great, sympathetic and complicated woman, fighting between what she wants and what she has to do.
The story has lots of fun twists and the reader is shuttled back and forth between the present day and the past. The past when Winston and Poppy are courting, falling in love. They are bittersweet memories that establish Win and Poppy as a loving couple, and it's super heartbreaking to see where they are in present time and how far they've come. It works perfectly to balance the danger and violence surrounding the plot, and it really moves Poppy and Win's new and fragile relationship forward. I saw where they've been and was excited to see where they were going to go.

Love the plot. What a page turner! People are gonna get hurt, folks. Hold on tight.
And the secondary characters are interesting, especially the set up for book four. I won't give it away, but I cannot wait for that story.

A fantastic addition to the series.

Rating 9 Awesome, like Cookies and Ice Cream