Today, I am super excited to get to be a part of the TBR and Beyond Blog Tour for Winter, White, and Wicked by Shannon Dittemore!
Isn’t that cover beautiful?!
White, White, and Wicked is a YA fantasy pitched as Mad Max: Road Fury meets Frozen. When I first heard about it, I only knew what Frozen was. I still don’t really know what Mad Max is, but I gathered that it had to do with trucking, which made me super excited for Winter, White, and Wicked! Because of some family ties to trucking, I have a soft spot for semi trucks, so I was thrilled to see them make an appearance in a book.
Before I get too much farther into my review, here are all of the facts about Winter, White, and Wicked!
Mad Max: Fury Road meets Frozen in this striking YA fantasy about a rig driver’s journey to save her friend.
Twice-orphaned Sylvi has chipped out a niche for herself on Layce, an island cursed by eternal winter. Alone in her truck, she takes comfort in two things: the solitude of the roads and the favor of Winter, an icy spirit who has protected her since she was a child. Sylvi likes the road, where no one asks who her parents were or what she thinks of the rebels in the north. But when her best friend, Lenore, runs off with the rebels, Sylvi must make a haul too late in the season for a smuggler she wouldn’t normally work with, the infamous Mars Dresden. Alongside his team—Hyla, a giant warrior woman and Kyn, a boy with skin like stone—Sylvi will do whatever it takes to save her friend. But when the time comes, she’ll have to choose: safety, anonymity, and the favor of Winter—or the future of the island that she calls home
Other Info and Links!
Winter, White, and Wicked released October 13th, so you can get yourself a copy today! You can purchase it at the following links below:
And you can add Winter, White and White to your Goodreads TBR!
About the Author:
Shannon Dittemore is a young adult author, conference speaker, and mentor. Her books include the Angel Eyes novels (Thomas Nelson Fiction) and the forthcoming Winter, White and Wicked, to be published by Abrams Books in the fall of 2020. Since 2013, Shannon has taught mentoring tracks at a local school where she provides junior high and high school students with an introduction to writing and the publishing industry. She writes weekly for Go Teen Writers, a blog recognized by Writer’s Digest three years running as a “101 Best Websites for Writers” selection. Shannon’s stories often feature strong female leads grappling with fear and faith as they venture into the wilds of the unknown. In many ways, she’s writing her own life story.
Author Links:
My Review of Winter, White, and Wicked:
Three Stars: Good book, may read again
This was the first book by Shannon Dittemore I’ve read. I didn’t end up enjoying Winter, White, and Wicked as much as I had hoped to, but it still was a good book. I’m also trying to keep in mind the fact that I read an e-copy of it, and I don’t read e-books as well as paperbacks. I just don’t get into the story as much.
What I Liked:
First off, the world building in this novel is super extensive. The world feels larger than the book, which is great. You know that there is so much more of Layce to explore. Dittemore also has fleshed-out history and mythology of the world, which she also ties skillfully into the plot, making them more than just cool tidbits. There are also a number of different fantasy races, which was cool. I haven’t really read of a race like the Shiv before, so that was neat.
Liked I hinted at at the beginning, I also really loved the trucking elements. I loved seeing them in a book since I never have before. I do wish that I had been a little more prevalent, but that’s probably just a me thing.
What I Didn’t Like So Much:
I have to admit, I was really, really surprised by the amount of language in this story. Most of the time, Christian authors don’t write swearing or will just do in-world swearing. Winter, White, and Wicked has both real and in-world swearing. I think there was about ten instances of swearing. There is also a in-world swear word used a number of times that felt uncomfortably like a real, strong swear word. There were also a few instances of crude humor that didn’t seem necessary.
I did find it a little hard to stay in the story, but that might have been because I was reading an e-copy. As I mentioned above, I have a really hard time getting sucked into e-books, so that was probably due to the edition I was reading of Winter, White, and Wicked.
The ending also felt a little too open. I know that Dittemore left it open on purpose, but I felt like the ending came too soon and there were a few more things that should have been tied up. That too, though, could be because I read an e-copy, and you don’t know exactly how many pages are left like you do when reading a paperback. So I may have not been aware that the ending was coming, if that makes sense.
TRIGGER WARNING:
There is a chapter involving assault. It is a hard scene. (trying to write without spoilers here, so sorry if these sentences feel clunky). The adult who sees it does nothing about it, which is heartbreaking. The assault is stopped though by someone else.
Dittemore handles the scene carefully, but it did feel harder to read than some other books I’ve read that also have a brief assault in them.
Overall Thoughts:
Winter, White, and Wicked is original from other books I’ve read. The worldbuilding is fantastic. I loved the trucking element. The cover is beautiful.
However, there were some things I could have done without. If someone asks me about Winter, White, and Wicked, I will probably tell them that it feels very much like a regular, mainstream YA book, and you wouldn’t know that it was written by a Christian author.
Will I read it again? Probably. Will I read it again often? Probably not. Would I recommend it to someone? It’s not on my top recommendations list, but if someone asks me about it, I’ll tell that that it’s a fine read but also give them a few caveats.
If you’d like to follow along the rest of the blog tour for Winter, White, and Wicked, you can find the tour schedule here!
Happy reading!
Hailey Huntington 
This is a great review! Thank you for being part of the tour.
Heather
TBR and Beyond Tours Team
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It was my pleasure! Thank you!
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