(Review) A Witch In Winter by Ruth Warburton

Release date: January 5th 2012
Publisher: Hodder Children's Books
Page count: 368
Genre(s): Young Adult/Paranormal/Romance
Buy it: Amazon/Book Depository
Add it on: Goodreads
Rating: 3.5/5

Anna Winterson doesn't know she's a witch and would probably mock you for believing in magic, but after moving to the small town of Winter with her father, she learns more than she ever wanted to about power. When Anna meets Seth, she is smitten, but when she enchants him to love her, she unwittingly amplifies a deadly conflict between two witch clans and splits her own heart in two. She wants to love Seth, to let him love her – but if it is her magic that's controlling his passion, then she is as monstrous as the witch clan who are trying to use her amazing powers for their own gain.

Synopsis from Goodreads

I'll start with the things I liked about this book. I LOVED the setting. I live by the sea, and so does Anna in this book so it got plus points there. Also, I've read that the author used to live in Lewes and this was one of the inspirations for Winter. I live not far from there and have visited a lot, so it felt kind of homely reading the book. Winter was described really well, and the beautiful but creepy vibe resonated throughout the book. Similarly, I enjoyed reading a book set in England. A lot of teen books tend to be American and so have the American slang etc etc. Because we brits get so much American stuff over here, I don't usually get too confused or anything. But it's always nice reading about a school system I'm familiar with and slang I actually use.

I really liked Anna as a main character. She was nice, sometimes unsure, witty and realistically 'teen' like. I liked that she didn't swallow up being a witch in a page. She was actually confused and refused to believe it for a while. I also loved that after enchanting Seth, she wasn't like 'oh cool yay.' She felt guilty and she didn't want Seth to like her unless it was real. However, I struggled picturing her in my head. She describes herself as plain quite a bit in the book, too much honestly, but the girl on the cover is really pretty so I kept imagining some weird kind of mix.

I also liked Seth. Physically..I'M IN LOVE. He's almost my perfect guy. I had such a vivid image of him in my mind. Personality wise, I felt it was a little cliche that he was the hot bad boy every girl loved with a softer side. Still, I liked that he was actually nice and didn't treat Anna like a jerk. He did have a few creeper moments, but he was enchanted so I'll cut him some slack. However, because of the whole enchanted angle, I found Anna and Seth's connection a little lacking. I definitely warmed up more towards them as a couple near the end of the book.

Plot wise, I'm torn. Part of me wishes the book had just been a contemporary book focused on Anna and Seth's developing relationship with none of the witchery. Then another part wishes there had been more witchcraft. I think the problem lays with the length of the book. I feel if the book was longer, both the contemporary and witchcraft aspects of the book could have been more well developed. Despite this, I did find the story enjoyable. It's obvious Ruth Warburton did a lot of research into witchcraft and spells and all that jazz, so it all felt very believable. The story was also exciting, especially the climax.

To conclude, I'd say to me, this was a good book, but not a great one. With more development in both the romance and witchcraft, it'd have been better. However, I enjoyed reading it and will most definitely read the sequel.

I give it a 3.5/5.