From award-winning author Heather Hildenbrand and USA Today bestseller and award-winner Karpov Kinrade comes a holiday love story that blends fable and fairytale with fantasy romance to create a spellbinding tale.In the remote village of Willowdale there lives a people haunted by an ancient curse. Once a prosperous and lush land, for thousands of years the kingdom has suffered under perpetual … has suffered under perpetual winter. Crops refuse to grow, poverty and hunger spread. People die.
Their only chance of survival depends on trade. But the one road between the lands passes through the treacherous Ice Mountains, where the cursed and banished prince lives. The prince who holds his kingdom in an icy grip.
To keep the trade path open, the prince demands a sacrifice. Once a year, a villager is chosen and must trek to the peak of the Ice Mountains to offer their life in exchange for safe passage between lands.
This year, I’m the sacrifice.
There’s one big difference, however. I’m not an ordinary villager being sent to die. I’m a powerful winter witch, the first born to our village in over a thousand years, and I’ve been sent to kill.
But when the banished prince saves me from imminent death, everything changes. He’s not the monster I believed him to be, and his tenderness and keen intelligence grips my heart and makes me question everything I once thought true.
Now I must decide the impossible. Do I kill him to save my kingdom? Or let what is growing between us save us both, thus damning everyone I love in the process?
The Winter Witch is a standalone Christmas/Holiday love story that blends fairytale elements of Beauty and the Beast and the Bulgarian fable The Little Girl and the Winter Whirlwinds with a paranormal romance / fantasy romance twist. We hope you enjoy this holiday novella that is the perfect treat to sit down with on a cold night and read in front of a fire while sipping hot cocoa or a good cup of tea.
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Want more books from Karpov Kinrade & Heather Hildenbrand? Look for Mad Girl: Locked Up, on preorder now.
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“A tale as old as time,” is what I imagine this to be. A unique storyline of unexpected twists and turns but also it reminded me a bit of Beauty and the Beast, one of my favorite Disney movies. While, this story has a witch and a human turned into a vampire, I was completely entranced, captivated by this book. At times, I felt like I was a part of the story myself. I believe that both Heather Hildenbrand and her co author Lux Karpov-Kinrade did an amazing job of writing this timeless story in a brand new way.
Alaric and Adara have had quite the journey. Adara came to him with one purpose and his attention and care made her change her mind. This is a story about those hard choices that people have to make and how to make sure that you don’t make the wrong choice. For Adara, it was exactly this choice. To choose love or to kill the person who she had begun to love…. Again, I say, this is a fantastic story for all. A moral story. True love conquers all. While reading this book, I began to see the characters as real people. I could imagine them in my mind as I read the book.
Ms. Hildenbrand and Ms. Karpov-Kinrade do a wonderful job of bringing this unlikely characters to life. I want to mention how much imagination and artistic work this book took for them because even reading the book, I, as a reader, could see the tenderness with which these two authors wrote this book. Of course, I do believe that love can change everything and this story has only convinced me further into the fact that true love does exist.
After reading this book, I was inspired to make pictures that illustrated the book, because these two characters have a love story like no other I have ever read. Writing is sometimes a form of art and these two authors have truly created art with words. I will say that I want to read more books from these two ladies. I want to applaud the way they have managed to blend their writing styles together to make this unique story.
If you have not read this book, you MUST READ IT!! IT’S BRILLIANT!!!!! I’m definitely going to get the next book in the series.
This is a really sweet novella for everyone from two amazing authors who were meant to have a book baby. It has magic, romance and a fairytale type story all rolled into one amazing read.
Grab this book and prepare to be swept away for an amazing adventure.
I really enjoyed this take on my personally favorite fairy tale. Good story and character building compacted into a quick read. The fairy-tale aspect was unexpected and different for at least half of this writing duo. I’m not very familiar with Heather’s work. Anyway, would definitely recommend.
Awesome!
I really enjoyed this short novella. The Winter Witch by Karpov Kinrade & Heather Hildenbrand is a paranormal fantasy retelling of Beauty and the Beast combined with The Little Girl and the Winter Whirlwinds. I can’t speak to the latter fairy tale, but the romantic elements of the first are there. Following Adara, The Winter Witch is a fast-paced, slow burn romance that will make any fantasy lover happy.
Adara is a witch, the first to be born in a long time. She has trained her entire life to master her abilities and kill the cursed prince that rules over her village. This year she is chosen as the sacrifice, and this year she plans to kill him. I like Adara. She knows what she must do, is prepared to do it, and is ready to die if she must. She shows great courage, even when set on avenging her parents who died at the prince’s hands.
The prince was unexpected. He is immortal, cursed with bloodlust. Over the years he’s lived, he’s learned how long he can go between feedings. This is why he asks for a yearly sacrifice. This gives him the ability to feed without killing too many. He’s remorseful and unhappy with his lot in life. This isn’t what he wants, but he doesn’t know how to stop or break his curse. I found myself really liking the prince early on. He was caring and kind, even if he was dangerous.
Overall I really enjoyed this short holiday novella. The world building, the romance, and the characters are well thought out, vivid, and haunting. The plot is fast-moving, coupled with a slow-burn romance that left me smiling in the end. If you enjoy paranormal romance, I highly recommend it.
I absolutely love a good Novella. The Winter Witch was the perfect book to read to get you in the mood for the holidays and for love. Alaric and Adara were both cursed with events from their past. One a real curse the other a curse of loss. Very enjoyable book!!!
I would happily read a full-length story about this! The characters are great, as is the world, although the story might be a bit predictable.
My favorite part of it was the writing style, it was really easy to get immersed in this world and fall in love with both characters.
the witch and the best! awesome twist!
If you like fairytales retellings this one is for you!! i read it in one sitting! it was a special treat for the holiday! Loved the chemistry and beauty and the story behind it! Its super cute and and heartfelt