REVIEW AND TEASERS: Winter by Callie Hart (Under the pen name Frankie Rose)

A girl with a dark history…

Avery Bresllin took a leap of faith when she changed her name. As Avery Patterson, she is no longer the daughter of a serial killer. No longer the girl who was bullied and abused through high school. A fresh name and a fresh start at Columbia University means Avery can leave all that behind. There’s only one thing marring her dream of a clean slate….

A boy with a past of his own…

Luke Reid has a lot going for him: sex appeal, badass tattoos and insane musical talent. Despite his guitar skills, his calling in life has always been to serve and protect. A NYPD cop by day, singer in rock band D.M.F by night, from the outside Luke seems like he’s got it made. But falling for a girl whose father was accused of deeply sinister acts—a man whom Luke shared a devastating history with, himself—only serves to complicated things.

Pieces of a puzzle….

Four symbols, four methods of destruction.
A trade.
Borrowed wings.
Dark secrets that threaten to destroy.

Amazon: http://amzn.com/B00S72QQLK

“Fly High, Icarus.”

For Avery Patterson, that phrase has significant meaning in more ways than one, and it’s a lesson from her father that she keeps struggling to learn because those words are tarnished due to her father’s crimes and a life where’s she’s been forced to rise above one too many times.

Since she was 14 years old, Avery has done her best to free herself from the confines of her past – from the torment she received as the daughter of a monster. She longs to be free from the pain, the neglect, the foul treatment at the hands of others, and she thought she had that at Columbia University until her clean slate became tainted and shattered when someone from the time before she became her new self invades her life, shakes up her control, and vows to break through the cool facade and find the girl who he’s always felt strongly connected to since that fateful night.

Luke Reid’s connection to Avery’s father and the aftermath of his death have bonded him to Avery in a way that he cannot break, and he doesn’t want to, despite the fact that he has his own demons to contend with. But Luke’s going to have to fight for not only a place in Avery’s life but also through his memories and the secrets he holds close to the vest, and with the new information that comes to light, that undisclosed information may be unearthed sooner than he wants and with great repercussions.

Avery and Luke’s story is a great representation of the romantic suspense genre. The attraction and chemistry between them is always there, pulling them together, forcing them both to face the feelings they have for one another, but it’s not at the forefront – it’s not what completely drives the plot line, and it shouldn’t be – unraveling the mysteries surrounding her father’s actions and putting the pieces to get to an outcome that they can both live with is what’s most important, and that is clear once the past and the present collide and new information surfaces.

But just as important as the truth of the past is the idea of freeing oneself from the darkness – from the confines that threaten to bring you down on a daily basis. This is an important theme in the story and one that both Avery and Luke struggle with. But if they want to heed Avery’s father’s advice and “fly high,” decisions are going to have to be made and followed through with, even if they put them in precarious situations and threaten to unravel everything they’ve worked so hard to forget.

Frankie Rose gives readers significant insight into the fragile psyches of her main characters and takes readers on a covert and suspenseful journey in Winter, and I can’t wait to see what the Summer holds.

A complimentary copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 Poison Apples

Frankie Rose was born in the United Kingdom, but now lives with her husband in sunny Australia.

She officially makes things up for a living, and when she’s not doing that, she is generally making paper birds out of receipts and old lists or taking photographs that make her smile.