Review: Winterborne by Augusta Blythe

Title: Winterborne
Author: Augusta Blythe
Publisher: Self published
Publish Date: April 24, 2011
Genre: YA, paranormal
Pages: 188 (ebook)
Source: From author for review

Synopsis:
Sixteen-year old Mia Winterborne is destined to be special. Details are sketchy, though, as her dad disappeared with all the answers when she was five. Mia only knows that she'll inherit her kickass superpowers on her seventeenth birthday. Helping Mia prepare for her anticipated ascendancy is Loie Bryce, her best friend and eternal sidekick extraordinaire. The girls' intense friendship has never wavered until now, when Andreas arrives in Salcey Ridge. They both fall hard for the British hottie, who quickly becomes a fixture in their lives. When they discover that Andreas is not who he appears to be, the frightening reality of Mia's powers finally hits home. The nearer Mia's birthday draws, the more the danger escalates and long-buried lies are exposed, putting the girls on a path that they never expected.

From Goodreads

I was a little surprised when I first picked this up and started to read. The synopsis gave me the impression that the story was told from Mia’s point of view, if not a third person point of view. It’s actually told from Loie’s (rhymes with Joey) point of view. Although the focus is technically on Mia and her impending powers, we get Loie’s feel for things, her thoughts and concerns.

I liked Loie’s story. That’s probably because I spent most of the time feeling sorry for her. Although that sounds bad, it’s really a good thing because I like to be emotionally invested with the characters I read about. Loie’s home life is really not ideal and clearly difficult to deal with. It was hard to see her in such a difficult position, especially because her biggest problem was her relationship with her grandmother. There was also the tension between the girls and Andreas, the British hottie. (Side note: I kept forgetting that he was British. I think the name probably threw me off because it seems so not-British to me.) It hurt me to see how poorly Loie thought of herself. She was always giving up because she “knew” Mia was better than her in every way. She was always the follower, Mia the leader. It might be the teacher in me, but I absolutely hate to see young girls selling themselves short. You’re all wonderful and beautiful no matter what anyone tells you!

The story was interesting overall. I liked that a few things caught me by surprise, and the storyline kept me interested. I did predict a few things, but that’s also part of the fun: reading to see if you’re right. There was always a lot of weird stuff going on around Loie and Mia, and so many unanswered questions. Andreas seemed like a nice distraction from the upcoming, unknown powers, until... Let’s just say he’s not all that he appears to be.

The book definitely had a good balance of action, romance, and mystery. I think it’s enough to keep any YA reader interested through to the very last page. I’d definitely recommend this to fellow YA lovers.

Make sure you visit Augusta Blythe's website so you can get yourself a copy of WINTERBORNE.

Thanks so much to Augusta herself for the ebook review copy!