#BookReview: THE WINTERS by Lisa Gabriele @lisagabrieletv ‏@harvillsecker

Publication: 15th November 2018 – Harvill Secker

An addictively suspenseful new novel set in the glamorous world of the New York Hamptons, about secrets that refuse to remain buried and consequences that cannot be escaped.

After a whirlwind romance, a young woman returns to the opulent, secluded mansion of her new fiancé Max Winter – a wealthy senator and recent widower – and a life of luxury she’s never known. But all is not as it appears at the Asherley estate. The house is steeped in the memory of Max’s beautiful first wife Rebekah, who haunts the young woman’s imagination and feeds her uncertainties, while his very alive teenage daughter Dani makes her life a living hell. 

As the soon-to-be second Mrs. Winter grows more in love with Max, and more afraid of Dani, she is drawn deeper into the family’s dark secrets – the kind of secrets that could kill her, too. 

Inspired by the classic novel Rebecca, The Winters is a riveting story about what happens when a family’s ghosts resurface and threaten to upend everything.

THE WINTERS is a story of family secrets, lies, and love. It is dark, suspenseful, and full of surprises and I’d like to thank Sophie and Vintage Books  for providing me with a proof.

The protagonist of the novel is a young woman. We never know her name, but we know she is twenty-six years old, she lives in the Cayman Islands where she doesn’t have any family or friends. She has a job she hates and a boss who she doesn’t like. She doesn’t have any ambition or hope for the future until she meets Max Winters. He is a US senator, he is charming, handsome and he sweeps her off her feet. After a whirlwind romance she accepts his proposal and leaves the hot weather of the Caymans to move to the cold winter of Long Island where Max has a beautiful mansion, Asherley. Her dream of a happy family is quickly shattered when she meets Dani, Max fifteen-year-old daughter, who seems to be set to make her life miserable. Not only the unnamed protagonist has to deal with a moody and spoiled teenager but she also has to face the memory of Rebekah, Max’s first wife who died in an accident two years earlier.

The author created well-crafted characters that develop greatly throughout the novel and that kept me immersed in the story. I liked the protagonist of the novel. She is haunted by the memory of Rebekah, her beauty, her confidence, especially since everybody around her doesn’t miss the chance to bring her name up, so the protagonist feels insecure about her relationship with Max and her role in Dani’s life. However, even though sometimes I found her a bit naïve, she is a survivor and determined. I also liked the character of Dani who, even when she was mean and acted like a spoiled brat, I found fearless, strong, and very smart.

The novel is slow-paced, so at the beginning I had some difficulty getting into the story, but the more I read the more I was absorbed in the dark and twisty plot, the atmospheric and haunting setting, and the tension that spills through the pages. If you are looking for a chilling, compulsive, and immersive story, then THE WINTERS is a must-read!