Wintering

by Shirley Miranda

It’s the dead of winter and Liz’s first relationship ended in disaster. Breaking up with her boyfriend had bigger consequences than she could have ever imagined. With finals around the corner, Patrick’s stalker lurking about, and opening night rapidly approaching, Liz desperately tries to hold it together, but it’s far from easy. Pressure is coming from all sides. Can the crew help or will they just make things worse? Heartbreak. Betrayal. Loss. Secrets. It’s enough to make Liz want to hibernate until spring. Along the way, she discovers that sometimes a friendship can evolve into a relationship without realizing it.

Genres: Young Adult

316 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 28, 2012

About the author

For years, Shirley Miranda had an idea, a scene replaying over and over in her head. But the scene never quite ended. Unlike the other stories she started and finished all in her head, this one just paused in the middle of it. Shirley began writing fan-fiction when she was 11 years-old, many years before the term was coined or the internet to post it on. With no place to share it with, she mentally "wrote" many of them out. But one scene with her own original characters never got beyond that paused moment. With the encouragement of her husband, she put pen to paper (and fingers to keyboard), and began writing out the scene. It was clear from that moment on that it wasn't just one scene with two characters, they had a story to tell. This story couldn't be completed in one scene or even two. While her first love had been scriptwriting (as many of her fan-fiction tales were written), it wasn't meant to be told as such, or even a short story. The flood gates opened and her characters had so much to say and do beyond that one original moment.

Shirley Miranda currently teaches high school math and computer science in San Diego - surprised it isn't English? Even during her prior career of software engineering, Shirley volunteered to work with high school students interested in math and science. It was what caused her to switch to education. Falling (Book #1 in The Bits and Pieces Series) is Shirley Miranda's first novel.

Reviews

[Michael Burhans · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book as much as the first two. Already looking forward to book 4. The characters in thes series are as real as the kids I grew up with. As with the other two I read this basically in two sittings. Had I not had to do family things, it would have been one. Buy this series and enjoy!

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't think this was as good as the first two books in the series, but it picked up a lot of steam in the second half. There where a few parts where a character would start talking when they previously weren't in the scene, causing me some confusion. I think that some things should've been dealt with more - specifically Alan. I imagine that this isn't the last we've seen of him - hopefully he will be dealt with in the next book.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book brought even more than the first two in the series to me. Liz's character is growing with every page. Also the relationship of Patrick and Liz is growing more dynamic with each book. I love this series and can not wait until book 4!!! Thanks for sharing these great characters with us.