Review: Winterblaze by Kristen Callihan

Winterblaze by Kristen Callihan
Series: Darkest London #3
Published by Forever
Published on: February 26, 2013
Genres: Paranormal Romance, Steampunk
Pages: 400
Format: ARC
Source: NetGalley

Amazon | Book Depo 

Once blissfully in love…

Poppy Lane is keeping secrets. Her powerful gift has earned her membership in the Society for the Suppression of Supernaturals, but she must keep both her ability and her alliance with the Society from her husband, Winston. Yet when Winston is brutally attacked by a werewolf, Poppy’s secrets are revealed, leaving Winston’s trust in her as broken as his body. Now Poppy will do anything to win back his affections…

Their relationship is now put to the ultimate test…

Winston Lane soon regains his physical strength but his face and heart still bear the scars of the vicious attack. Drawn into the darkest depths of London, Winston must fight an evil demon that wants to take away the last hope of reconciliation with his wife. As a former police inspector, Winston has intelligence and logic on his side. But it will take the strength of Poppy’s love for him to defeat the forces that threaten to tear them apart.

Every Darkest London installment is truly unique; unlike most romance series that only switch up the main love interest from book to book, Callihan actually reshapes her whole universe to fit each of her characters’ individual perspectives. She does it once again in Winterblaze by rekindling an existing relationship between a married couple instead of the standard budding romance story. The result is a fresh outlook on love, a fun combination of flashbacks vs. current events and some serious conflict!

Kristen Callihan has never failed to sweep me away with her phenomenal writing style and the trend continues in Winterblaze. Her world-building skills are unmatched and I loved that she incorporated flashbacks to help readers understand what Poppy and Win’s relationship was like prior to their spat. In a way, this book felt like 2-in-1 because of the different time periods. We get to learn about how they met, their courtship and marriage which really helped add some romance into the mix seeing how they were at odds with each other for a good portion of this novel. It’s basically a love story in reverse!

Poppy is a very different kind of heroine compared to her sisters that were featured in previous installments; instead of being a delicate rose she’s the thorns on its stem. Mrs. Lane is a walking contradiction; for society’s sake she appears to be a proper lady but in secret she kicks more butt than her detective husband! The characters in this series are incredibly well rounded and I was glad that I got to learn an equal amount about both halves of this couple because Winston is no less endearing than his wife. Despite all of the lies and secrets that have managed to come between them I never doubted that their love would win out in the end. Plus, the occasional fight can be healthy for a relationship if only because of the make-up sex that usually follows! I loved the diversity of the nookie scenes in this book; they ranged from angry to passionate. Very intense and satisfying!

The pacing and the plotting of this novel are as usual, exquisite. Unraveling the layers upon layers of secrets was pure joy; just when you think that you’ve finally reached the heart of the matter you uncover yet another untruth that even the fibbers themselves were unaware of. This installment is the most supernatural one out of the bunch with endless zombie and demon action which makes this book my favourite Darkest London story to date and quite possibly one of my top reads of 2013!

Books in this series:
	My Review	My Review

Recommendation:	Everyone should read this series; it crosses multiple genres and the writing is world-class.
Like this, like that:	The Children of the Moon series by Lucy Monroe and the London Steampunk series by Bec McMaster.

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