Where Winter Finds You: A Caldwell Christmas

**SPOILERS AHEAD**I must confess that I am struggling with this book. I don’t feel like giving it 4 stars, but 3 seems a little low so let’s say it’s 3.75.The main problem with this book for me is that it sort of reopened a wound that for me was already healed. Selena’s death in The Shadows was devastating. I honestly grieved her death for many months. But I learned to move on, I found comfort in the next books and focused on the other stories and characters (e.g. Rhun and Saxton!) and even though I still felt sorry for Trez, I just knew that he would be fine eventually, just like Tohr after Wellsie. It would take time, but it would happen. So when we first met Therese I was a little worried about how this whole reincarnation thing would play out and after reading this book I can say I was right to be worried. Yes, I am thrilled that Trez finally got his HEA. However, the whole reincarnation thing felt too forced, as I imagined it would. This is Jane turning into a ghost all over again. A sort of Deus ex machina that is supposed to right some wrong. It didn’t convince me though. I think I would have preferred if Therese had been someone else entirely different. And maybe Selena would just show up to give her blessings to Trez. Or if this whole reincarnation thing had at least been hinted still at The Shadows to give us something to look forward to. As it is, it was a little too late to bring Selena back and a little too soon to have Trez fall in love with someone else. Which is really confusing, hence my mixed feelings about this book. I don’t hate it. I just feel that maybe the timing for this story had been completely out of the mark. Despite all that, I really liked Trez’s plans for the future and I wanted to see more of that. Going back to school, changing careers, living with the in-laws, becoming and uncle! Those were things that I wanted to see in the epilogue yet, unfortunately, were just briefly mentioned.

I love vampire romances! I’ve read all of this author’s books, and for a while this was my favorite series. Nowadays the BDB books are hit or miss. This one was a miss for me. The premise was only barely intriguing - Trez, recently widowed of Selena, meets a woman who looks like his dead wife - but I was excited about reading a Christmas BDB book. The heroine, Therese, was not very compelling - pretty and nice but immature and bland. The hero, Trez, wasn’t any more compelling - handsome and strong but sad and confused. They didn’t have much chemistry. The storyline was far-fetched, and the writing was flat. Overall, disappointing.

Where Winter Finds You isn't a standalone. You need to be familiar with the BDB series and you need to read book 13 THE SHADOWS in this series before reading this book.This book was not as well written as J.R. Ward's first 5 or 10 books. The editing has certainly gone down hill and the prices have gone up since Simon and Schuster took over.Trez Latimer is a Shadow who not long ago sacrificed everything to mate with Selena, a Chosen. When she died after their short time together he lost the will to live. His brother and those in his life who care for him worry about this and are concerned that he’ll take matters in his own hands, which he has been tempted to do. But recently, a young woman named Therese comes to work for iAm in his restaurant as a server and stuns everyone from the brotherhood who sees her because she’s a dead ringer for Selena. Therese has come to Caldwell to escape a rift with her family. The revelation that she was adopted and not born into her family shakes the foundations of her identity, and she is determined to make it on her own. Her attraction to Trez is not what she’s looking for, except the sexy Shadow proves to be irresistable.So, Trez gets his HEA. Yay! The ending wrapped up a little too quickly and easily though. There was very little action and danger in this story. There was a tiny amount near the end. The story dealt with mostly the romance between the H and h.You get glimpses of other members of the BDB family. I love when that happens.It seems that J.R. found a way to explain the Darius/John conundrum in explaining how the Selena/Theresa thing was able to happen. Go Lassiter!Does anyone else get perturbed at how J.R. describes something simple with a pound of adjectives, adverbs, analogies and metaphors? Sometimes I just want to get the story plain and simple.

Now that was a HEA worth waiting for!!! Ever since I read The Shadows I've been dying for this book and I was not disappointed ( not that I ever am ). The Warden has done it again. Every time I think it cannot get any better she proves me wrong. Now every time I do a re-read of the series I can consol myself with the thought of this book giving me the much needed release from grief and passing me into a place of happiness. Thank you for this book!!!

I love this series, I love the authors writing, but this book was just depressing. It was chapters and chapters of the main character thinking about suicide and how sad and depressed he was. It felt like a few pages of very brief happiness and then the rest was just plain old depressing. I don’t recommend this book, read a different one in the series. Who wants to read such a depressing book especially around Christmas? Not me

I did not finish this book I purchased the audio and the book and I could not get through either. Unlike other BDB fans, I did not see the need for Trez to be united with Theresa/Selena. This was an opportunity to expand the shadows world and possibly have developed a totally new love interest. Trez and Selena's love story was intriguing, but to be honest I was not a big fan of the Shadows book. I am a realist, Selena is dead move on !!!! I know I know Trez was a bonded male, but as we have seen in the previous books with time one can have a new life with another person. I had hoped that J R ward would take Trez and give him time to mourn and find a different path, a different love interest. The book was just flat and uninteresting to me. I hope the next book in this series has more depth. I haven't given up on the author yet. Hope springs eternal!!!

I have been an avid reader of j r wards Black Dagger Brotherhood books now for many years but firstly i have to state how disappointed i am with the release kindle price £13.99,that in my opinion is way too much and i can see many wont pay that.Onto the story, for those who dont know this revists Trez’s tragic love story from The Shadows.i have been looking forward to this book for some time now.however, i dont feel it delivered.even though it is a full length novel, it felt lacking in story, detail and overall depth.i was expecting an emotional rollercoaster ride but instead was served a luke warm book at best.add to that the exceptional price for a kindle book and well i dont feel happy.i hate saying that as i love the BDB but i fear its becoming a money making brand now, with the care seen in earlier books and everything that made the series great missing lately.would have said 3 stars ⭐️ but with that price tag i had to go with two.

Don't bother. There is no way this book was written by The Warden. No sign of her voice anywhere. My issues:1. Blatantly ghostwritten. To the Piatkus commissioning editor: If you're going to commit fraud, try not to insult the intelligence of your readership and appoint a ghostwriter who can at least attempt to sound like the author.2. Pricing. Piatkus - have a word with yourselves. This is the most expensive ebook I've ever bought, and it's basically a novella. Price it as such. Even at £3.99, you would still be overpaying for this wordy flannel.3. Appoint a decent proofreader. Typos throughout.4. Why is this £13.99 in the UK and $5.99 in the US? I refer you again to point 2. Piatkus. You are a disgrace.

Spoilers ahead!The Shadows is one of my favourite books in this series, such a beautiful and emotionally-rich book so when I heard that Trez and Selena were going to get their HEA after all, I was ecstatic. I'm sorry to say but this book isn't in the same class as The Shadows. Everything J R Ward has written lately seems rushed especially towards the end and lacking in any real depth and detail. I was expecting this book to explain the reincarnation in detail, to show how Lassiter was able to bring Selena back and for Therese to get the memories of her past back. I was also hoping for an emotional reunion between Selena and her Chosen sisters and for her to meet Catra, iAM's mate. None of this happened. No character reunions and no-one really knows for sure that she's Selena as Lassiter basically wiped it from their memory.The book promises to contain some of the most iconic BDB Brothers, which basically just means V as usual and the odd character's name popping-up if you're lucky. I really miss the banter and character interaction these books used to have. There must be so many people who want to see Trez happy, yet they have no role in this story.The actual connection between Trez and Therese was just total insta-love. I get that she's Selena but it was still disappointing. I was hoping for the book to bring things full circle and reference some of the scenes in The Shadows such as the fairground they visited, again no chance. The ending couldn't have been more rushed if she tried, so much happening last minute and then being resolved in a couple of pages and I have no idea why Trez is looking for an engagement ring when he bought one in The Shadows. Continuity error? Even the fact that she's now going by the name of Therese annoys me as I wanted her to be in tune with her past self and I can't get used to her no longer being called Selena.The start of this book is in the point of view of some random human man. Why? Who knows, it's Vittoria all over again, another pointless character. Even the writing feels very average when I think how beautiful and detailed these books used to be. The best parts of the book by far are the dream sequences, they show how good her writing could be if she could be bothered.It's just so sad that so much attention was spent on Selena dying but nowhere near as much on the reincarnation. I still don't truly understand how it works as nothing was explained properly or shown to the reader.Basically, this is just a light, fluffy bit of filler, nothing hugely satisfying or memorable and they deserved so much better. I don't know, I just guess my imagination conjured up something so much more, flashbacks, the return of memories, reunion scenes, a Christmas mating etc. It's a Christmas novel without much Christmas, (Blood Vow does a better job), a reincarnation story without the detail on the reincarnation and a story featuring "iconic Brothers" without the Brothers. The rate this series is going, I won't be bothering with them for much longer.I guess if all you care about is the most basic of romances with insta-love, no storyline and a HEA no matter what, this will do. If you want something truly epic and remarkable find something else. Just remember how good these used to be, how the romance was more than just insta-love, how good the plot and world-building was, how emotional these were, how long each book was. Think of the emotion of Lover Awakened, the depth, beautiful romance and fantastic story of The Shadows. What on Earth has happened?

Enjoyed the book although took some getting into. However, I will think about buying any further of J R Ward’s books, and up to now, I’ve bought every one of them. Kindle edition just 1p cheaper than the Hardback version at £13.99. That, to my mind, is absurd and feels a little greedy.

Firstly can I say I Love JR Ward books. The BDB books are just amazing so I am sad to say I’m a little disappointed in this one.Firstly the price was shocking. Looking at other reviews it would seem we in the U.K paid nearly three times the price as the States. ☹️I too felt like this book was rushed and and there just wasn’t the usual banter between the brothers. In fact very little interaction at all. A real shame.When it was explained about the reincarnation I had to reread twice as I thought I must of missed something with the time line. But no I can’t of as Bitty was still young so I just don’t get the time line. Also will we get to see what Xhex does with the bombshell information she now has.I really feel this book could have been so much more.Still, I will still buy everything JR Ward writes about these Brothers as normally the books are the best ever.