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Winter Jacket #2

New Beginnings

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Book 2 in the Winter Jacket series:

There was something about Hunter Dyson that drew Elle to her. Maybe it was her unwavering eye contact. Maybe it was because she never took off her winter jacket in class. Or maybe it was the taboo of a student-professor relationship.

They'd overcome obstacles to be together, and now with job security and a healthy, happy relationship, life was supposed to get easier – she was supposed to have her happy ending. But for Elle, the complications are only just beginning.

247 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 31, 2014

122 people are currently reading
352 people want to read

About the author

Eliza Lentzski

30 books851 followers
Eliza Lentzski is the best-selling author of sapphic fiction, romance, and erotica including the Winter Jacket and Don’t Call Me Hero series. A historian by day, Eliza is passionate about telling the stories of marginalized communities.

Born and raised in the upper Midwest—a landscape that often shapes her novels—Eliza now lives in Boston with her wife and their cat, Charley.


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5 stars
570 (44%)
4 stars
461 (36%)
3 stars
194 (15%)
2 stars
47 (3%)
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8 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews
Profile Image for Diane Wallace.
1,448 reviews171 followers
September 9, 2017
Amazing series! great storytelling with the same adorable characters and the best friends anyone can have for all their support when needed..witty dialogue but also tense at times..highly recommended series to everyone
Profile Image for Gaby LezReviewBooks.
735 reviews543 followers
February 21, 2021
Review of Winter Jacket New Beginnings by Eliza Lentzski, Audiobook narrated by Angela Dawe

This is book 2 of Lentzski’s Winter Jacket series formed by five books that should be read in chronological order. In reality, this is book 3 as there is a prequel (book 0) called Hunter. Only novels 1 and 2 are currently available on audiobook, both outstandingly narrated by Angela Dawe. I sincerely hope that she narrates the rest.

New Beginnings picks up where book 1 ended, Hunter and Dyson are in an exclusive relationship, very much in love with each other. But things get complicated for Elle at work, with her mother, and with her best friend’s proposition that it’s too good to pass…

I’m going to repeat myself in what I said in my review of Damaged Goods, which is book 2 of the Don’t Call me Hero series by this author. I’m always wary of second books in a series because it’s hard to keep the same tension and interest in a story when the main characters are already in an established relationship. For the second time, Ms. Lentzski proved me wrong.

It’s funny how there is an age gap of 10 years and Hunter, at 21, seems so much mature than Elle. This book, like the first in the series, is written in first person from the point of view of Elle. The author likes to put Elle through the wringer throwing at her a few curve balls which will make her confront her self-doubt and insecurities. Ms. Lentzski is an expert in character development and takes Elle in a journey of self-discovery and growth which makes this book so absorbing. Hunter is again her perfect self, an old soul who always knows what to say and how to support Elle, even at her own expense. She’s one of my favourite characters in lesfic and it doesn’t hurt that Angela Dawe has chosen a sultry voice for her. Perfection.

The audiobook version is absolutely amazing, as usual, Angela Dawe does a fantastic job. All her voices are distinct, which is a feat in itself as there are a few female characters. Her performance of the different emotions is outstanding, the listener can actually see the story unveil itself in their mind’s eye. I was so captivated with the story that the epilogue got me by surprise. It is a pity to leave these characters for a while until hopefully book 3 is released on audio. It’s going to be a long wait. 5 stars.

Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
Profile Image for Linda.
864 reviews134 followers
July 1, 2021
Very enjoyable and a hit for me! Though the book is told in Elle’s POV, I can’t help but wonder what Hunter’s thoughts were… no secret there on who I liked between Elle and Hunter. Hands down, it’s Hunter. She is younger than Elle but seemed to be the mature adult between the 2. No comments on Troian, Elle’s BFF, other than she is kinda loudmouth and I don’t quite fancy that. Hmmm and Dean Jessica Merlot…sigh. She’s an enigma and what’s her story?? I can only wish that her character will evolve as we move along in the series.

So up my alley and loved it! Moving on to Book 3 now…. I just can’t stop

Solid 4
Profile Image for Guerunche.
655 reviews35 followers
May 25, 2021
I didn't like the first Winter Jacket book much, and only listened to the second because of the Dawe Effect (I listen to all Angela Dawe-narrated lesfic.) I'd also seen lots of comments in Facebook groups about how much they loved this series so thought it was time to give it a go. I'm so glad I did!
This was a MUCH better experience. My biggest issue with the first book was that I just couldn't like Elle's character. Here she was the 10 years older professor who fell for her student, but she was the immature one. In this story, she has improved greatly - though she still needs work. lol
Hunter is a great character. Just 21 years old and wise beyond her years. You understand why Elle is crazy about her. There continues to be issues about their relationship in Elle's professional life, though Hunter is now of legal age and graduates from college near the conclusion of this book.
There is a love scene in chapter 9 that nearly made me run off the road. In fact, if anyone saw my reactions to it, they would have likely fallen on the floor laughing. Good lord. One of the best Angela Dawe has done - and that is saying something!
Enjoyed this book and am looking forward to book 3! 4.5 stars
Profile Image for Megzz.
314 reviews148 followers
June 10, 2015
2.5

I feel kind of guilty for not being able to finish this one. I tried, and tried, and tried, but 3/4 in and I just couldn't anymore. That says something! so close to the end and... nope.

I re-read Winter Jacket before reading New Beginnings. It was okay, as okay as an already okay book could be on second read. I was hoping the sequel would be better, since I really loved the more recent novels by Lentzski. But it only confirmed my dislike of the series.
I just don't feel the love. It's not a very romantic story, really.
I think the main problem is the characters. Hunter is way too vanilla, and Elle is way too self-centered. I just could not care for them. The story is written from Elle's POV and it's really frustrating to be in the head of someone so pessimistic, and negative all the time. I was filled with this sense of foreboding the whole time I was reading: it is NOT a lovely feeling. And I like to feel good when I read a romance novel.

Oh and also, the plot is boring as hell. Nothing happens.

Profile Image for hubsie.
619 reviews86 followers
October 30, 2021
Dr. Elle Graft is an asshole. 

So why was I so drawn to her?

It's quite possible that yet again, it was Angela Dawe's narration that added so much richness to Elle that this alone drew me in like a moth to a flame (cue Janet Jackson's "That's the Way Love Goes) and you'd do yourself a disservice not listening to the audiobook. Without Ms. Dawe, I don't know if I'd be so hooked to this series, even though I am a big fan of the author's other work. 

This story continues Elle and Hunter's relationship as they navigate the stigma involved that Elle still feels of a student/professor duo, the awkward family relations and workplace dynamics. Hunter is graduating from nursing, but Elle finds her teaching career jeopardized by a new seemingly viciously religious Dean who won't accept Elle's sexuality. Hunter remains amazing and kind and caring and sexy as hell, and Elle continues to make very VERY questionable decisions that caused me intense inner rage. She is selfish, immature, needy, egotistical, but so goddamn in love with Hunter who truly makes her want to be a better person. 

I also really enjoyed Elle and her best friend Troian's relationship. Their back and forth snark at each other was hilarious, I could just see them trading barbs over their copious amount of coffee drinking. This is a nice side line to the Elle Graf show. I would also love to have a peek at Hunter's POV, she is such an enigma.

Yet after all that loving/hating of Elle, I want more of this couple. Book three? Yes please. My anger at having to purchase from amazon be damned. 
Profile Image for Tere.
261 reviews57 followers
February 21, 2021
Listened to this one this time around. I enjoyed this series, but Angela Dawe is just phenomenal and has made it even better. I so want Hunter to call me Ellio. Sigh and swoon.
Profile Image for Lady Olenna.
840 reviews63 followers
May 9, 2024
4 Stars

I am obsessed with this series. For me, book 1 was better just because there was more angst and uncertainty that fed into my masochistic side. I am positively inhaling this series.
Profile Image for Starsandsun18.
258 reviews1 follower
September 3, 2017
After re-reading this I still haven't changed my mind on my rating.
Elle, she's possessive and very insecure. The negativity in her is really annoying. She's also selfish. Yes, she love's Hunter but there's always a but or a what if.
Now I'm interested to read Hunter's POV. What's her say in this? Hunter is the innocent one. She doesn't have a lot of experience but she knows Elle is the one for her. I always feel bad for her. She's too good.


Profile Image for Kexx.
2,330 reviews100 followers
April 29, 2019
Jeepers Creepers, how much angst can a girl take?? Poor Elle and Hunter, I really don't know if they - or me - can take much more. I need to go and lie down in a dark room before I start on number 3.
Profile Image for J.
96 reviews
January 31, 2022
Elle was slightly less annoying in this book compared to the previous book. This one seemed more ebb and flow compared to the swells of the last one.
Profile Image for Kennedy.
1,173 reviews80 followers
June 29, 2016
Elle Graft and Hunter Dyson, the story continues. Some may be bored with the day-to-day of their relationship but I am not. To me, that is real life and the difference between falling in love and being in love. Although there are some unique dynamics, the premise, characters and story is interesting enough to keep me reading.
Profile Image for Heinerway.
767 reviews97 followers
November 14, 2014
I've found this book significantly less interesting than the first one. And I'm convinced that there will be a third book!
Profile Image for Tempe Luvs Books.
553 reviews2 followers
January 19, 2023
I didn’t read the first book in this series, but read reviews to familiarize myself with the story of how the two main characters became a couple. Elle was an assistant professor at a small church affiliated college. Hunter, 10 years younger, had been her student. Hunter’s first lesbian experience had been with Elle.
In this part two of the series Elle and Hunter are in love but not living together.
Hunter graduates and finds a job as a neonatal nurse in the local hospital where she had interned. Elle, the assistant English professor, is very frustrated by the scrutiny at work because of her sexuality.
Before Hunter, Elle had been a “player,” having had multiple sex partners. Hunter didn’t feel the need or desire to test the waters and was very secure in knowing that Elle was the one for her. However, Elle had insecurities about that, needing to stake her territory a couple of times when she felt threatened.
There is angst in the story around Elle’s frustration at work, making a decision on taking a temporary job in California and constantly worrying about…well, so many things.
The best thing was this audiobook was narrated by Angela Dawe who is so masterful with the voices of these characters.
Profile Image for Elaine L..
224 reviews8 followers
July 10, 2020
Good sequel, better than book 1

4.5 stars.
I love Winter Jacket: New Beginnings much better than the series’ book 1. I’m glad to see Elle finally grew out of a self-doubted immature and became an adorable and courageous partner for Hunter. The first 80% of the book are pretty much about daily usual and was okay. However, it was the final 20% that really shone and made me love it!
Profile Image for Cece S.
106 reviews9 followers
May 1, 2021
There’s just something so amazing about this series! Can’t wait to start FINDING HOME! Thank you EL
Profile Image for Adrienne Oliveri.
183 reviews7 followers
October 11, 2024
3.5 starts rounded up. A bit lackluster for my taste, but I understand the reasoning behind book two of this series. I'm all in with Hunter and Elle (Ellio), and I can tell, it's going to be a rough ride. Plus, Eliza can write some damn good Drama
Profile Image for Loek Krancher.
1,042 reviews66 followers
May 30, 2015
I loved it!

I love the characters more and more. It's awesome how the main characters develop and I'm very curious what surprises will give their future. I'm looking forward to the third part of the series. I highly recommend this series to everyone.
Profile Image for Lisa.
54 reviews27 followers
November 8, 2017
Much, much better than the first book, but could still use an extra proofread / edit before hitting publish. The author is talented at the most important pieces of storytelling, just needs some professional polish.
Profile Image for Beth Stone.
36 reviews2 followers
June 11, 2014
FANTASTIC SEQUEL!!!!!
Even better sex scenes... I mean, wow.
765 reviews2 followers
October 1, 2021
Plot: This book stars with the new school year and seems to be a series of unfortunate events. There are many small plot lines and climaxes but not much of an overarching plot.The book almost reads like a diary. Luckily the characters are so interesting that the smaller plot lines were interesting enough to keep me reading.

To start Elle struggles with the change in the way she sees herself. Before she met Hunter she was never overly committed to any relationships. She saw herself as a player. Now that she is committed to Hunter she worries that she will ruin their relationship by reverting to her old ways. The difference this time is that she is truly committed and cares if her actions have a negative effect on Hunter.

Along with the new school year there is also a new dean at the college. The dean makes Elle’s life difficult by questioning her professionalism, and restricting her academic freedom when Elle proposes new classes. The dean is singling Elle out for being gay to appease conservative higher ups.

Elle’s mom losses her job and moves in with Elle, and Hunter get’s one of Elle’s students as a roommate so Elle can’t in good conscience go to Hunter’s apartment for a whole semester. The restrictive circumstances strain their relationship. Luckily as the book progresses Elle’s mom gets a job, gets back on her feet, and then moves out of Elle’s house.

To top it all off Elle’s best friend, Troian, gets a new job in California and moves away. Troian tries to lure Elle into moving to California as well. Elle is uncertain but her current displeasure at her job caused by the dean causes Elle to accept a few months long sabbatical in order to see if she likes living and working in California.

During the book Hunter also graduates and as always Elle and Hunter explore their sexual relationship in new ways.

Characterization: Elle is pretty lost in this book. She is worries about her relationship, her friendship, her family, her job, and her address throughout the book. By the end she isn’t 100% certain but she does have a plan and a direction to go in.

Hunter grows up some in this book. She starts asserting her desires rather than taking anything that Elle decides to offer.

Writing: This was written in first person perspective from Elle’s POV. This book breaks my personal rule to never use the word “impossibly” to describe a completely possible situation. I also noticed a few typos, tense errors, and dropped words, as well as the author accidentally switching Elle’s name with Hunter’s mom ‘s name, Ellen. These errors stand out especially because the main character is an English teacher the complains about poor sentence structure. The author also mistakenly referred to the twilight saga as a trilogy when there are four (original main story) books in the series. Despite these things I enjoyed the book and plan to read the rest of the series.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Rebecca.
67 reviews5 followers
August 26, 2017
A year or two ago I tried reading this book, but only got halfway through before dropping it for some reason. This time around I ended up enjoying it, so I'm slightly confused as to why past-me decided to drop it.

Anyway, I like this book better than Winter Jacket, because the plot and characters feel more believable to me. I will say that the writing feels a little too explain-y to me at times, but I'm pretty sure this is the first book sequel Lentzski's ever written, so maybe that's it. Overall I don't have a ton to gripe about, though.

Shit sometimes decides to hit the fan all at once, so this plot and all the various challenges Elle and Hunter have to deal with is plausible to me, even if like last book, problems show up out of nowhere. I'm more forgiving though, because Elle's reactions are more mature.

Elle still reminds me a little of my dad, (which is still kinda weird,) but her personality makes more sense to me in this book. She's quirkier and less oblivious, which makes more sense to me altogether with her other traits. I'm not sure why that's how it is, but it's the feeling I get. I'm still not really sure if I like her, though.

Hunter isn't as bland in this book, but I do wonder how someone goes from painfully shy to how she is now. Not that it can't happen, I'm just wondering how.



I'm hoping the later books are more like this. Anyway, more notes:

Profile Image for Trish.
32 reviews2 followers
June 6, 2017
One character keeps showing that she is not a nice person. She's unnecessarily cruel to people who think that they are her friends. Other characters keep overlooking this bad behavior or if they do notice it, they dismiss it. As much as I love the two stars of this show, I'm not going to open another book in this series. I don't want to see how the villain is going to hurt the normal characters and continue to get away with it.

Drama calls for conflict and often for villains. Unless the story is set in a dark universe, though, the villain should face their comeuppance or the reader should be given some promise that eventually they will. After two books, I don't see that happening in this case, so I no longer trust the author to balance the scale of justice in this instance. I'm disappointed because in all other aspects, this author is tremendous -- character definition and development, dialogue, dramatic and romantic situations, pacing, everything except this one annoying character.

Happily for me, the author is prolific, so I will start reading her other works!
<3
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Janne Magalhaes.
221 reviews11 followers
April 28, 2021
I am so in love with Ellie and Hunter .. It is so real.


I loved the second book, and I can't wait to read the third!


I still love Troian and Nikk. I miss them ..

I didn't want Ellie to go to California ... I can't wait to know what's going to happen to Ellie and Hunter dating from a distance ... I hope it works out, more ... Will it? It is hard enough to make a relationship last for Ellie being close ... And we know that she is a little jealous haha. Anyway, I'm loving to accompany them.

I'm curious about the new dean, is she gay? Looks..


I highly recommend the second book as much as the first!
Profile Image for Joc.
770 reviews198 followers
November 1, 2017
In enjoyed New Beginnings more than Winter Jacket as it allowed me to get to know the characters better. I found the story gentle and slow-moving but I didn't mind the pace or the exploration of the relationship. The only real irritation I had is that if you're going to make your main character an English Professor you should really know the difference between 'prepositioned' and 'propositioned' but I'm going to give Lentzski the benefit of the doubt and assume it was a missed typo. I'm looking forward to reading the next in the series.
Profile Image for Alex Haber.
Author 1 book28 followers
February 5, 2018
This is the third book that I read that lesbian as the main character. One of the things that touched me is that the author left lesbian stereotypes now don't get me wrong I am just a transgender guy but being that I reviewed lgbt+ before I feel that some authors focus on lgbt+ issues to point that they outshine their own characters and in this story that definitely wasn't the case. On the other hand, I felt that Elle couldn't decide on anything and that was a bit annoying, that's why I gave this book a 3 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Kat.
9 reviews8 followers
April 14, 2021
I’ve really been enjoying this series, but the occasional misuse of words really makes me nuts, especially since it’s a series about an English professor. For instance, on page 185, I thought Hunter’s use of “prepositioned” was a funny English teacher joke, but quickly realized that the author really just meant propositioned and got the word wrong. Also the capitalization of things like Out and Top and Switch are just wildly incorrect and stand out so much. I guess that’s what happens with self publishing...
Profile Image for Patricia.
550 reviews12 followers
May 7, 2022
Another delightful, hot reading about these two awesome people.

Elle has yet to fully treat Hunter as an equal in their relationship, she's improving, but there's a lot to accomplish yet. Hunter on the other side is amazing for taking the reins when needed and claiming her place. Hopefully Elle wont keep this nonsense for too longer.

I'm quite late to this series, but I'm mostly excited to read the last 2 books. These two were very unlikely to be together, but they oddly fit very well. I wonder how the campus drama will unfold when Graft comes back.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews

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