Winter Solstice

by Lincoln Cole, Katherine Hayton, Teresa Roman

Looking for a good book to curl up with through the cold and lonely winter? Then look no further! This volume contains a dozen winter-themed stories by Kindle Press Authors writing in the worlds of their longer works.

There is romance, action and adventure, intrigue, and even a few scary stories to get you through the long and cold nights.

So grab a copy and come along! Who knows, you might just find your next favorite author!

Genres: Anthologies, Romance, Holiday, Short Stories, Fantasy

225 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 25, 2016

About the author

Lincoln Cole

Lincoln Cole is a Columbus based author who enjoys traveling and has visited many different parts of the world, including Australia and Cambodia, but always returns home to his pugamonster puppy, Luther, and family. His love for writing was kindled at an early age through the works of Isaac Asimov and Stephen King and he enjoys telling stories to anyone who will listen.

Reviews

[Montzalee Wittmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice selection of short stories

Quite a few short stories categorized by genre. All the stories were rated 3-5 from me. 😁 Lincoln Cole's story was the best in my opinion.

[Tyler Gray · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't care for many of the stories. Either weren't my cup of tea, didn't feel like actual stories, or just seemed to be all about the agenda and not telling a story (which bugged and bored me even if I agreed with the agenda. That's not why I was reading). The ones I did like..

3.5's
-Chelsea Does Christmas by Linda Cassidy Lewis
-Coconutty Christmas Holiday in Hawaii by Ann Omasta (which I actually read separately before picking up this anthology and not knowing it was a part of this anthology)
-Killing Anna by Jacqueline Ward

4's
-Never a Night Off by Lincoln Cole

4.25's
-All I want for Christmas by Katherine Hayton

5's
- A Crooked Mile by Fiona Quinn

There are a total of 13 stories. My total came to 2.73.

[Ann Pratley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of short stories I did enjoy, mostly because there was a good selection. Combining romance, fantasy/sci-fi and thriller stories in one place isn't something I'd seen before. I liked being able to read whichever genre I wanted according to how I felt at that moment, and that the books were categorised accordingly. I had read books by a couple of the authors previously so it was nice to be able to read more of their work. It was also a great way to get a taste of work by the other contributing authors.

It's a nice overall collection of diverse stories. Definitely something for everyone here, so long as you can enjoy short stories.

[Yvette Calleiro · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a nice collection of short stories. When I first started reading it, I was expecting a bunch of mushy, Christmas stories, but I was pleasantly surprised to find stories that fell into the sarcastic, cryptic, and creepy categories as well. In fact, the book is broken into sections. I especially enjoyed the Sci-Fi, Fantasy, & Horror section. The fun part about this book is that it had many different authors, so you were able to sample writing styles from multiple people. Then, at the end of each short story, they included a bio on the author and information on one of their books. This is a great book to pick up for this upcoming holiday season! :-)

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this book as a Goodreads giveaway.

I have begun to appreciate the short stort genre and am reading more and more. A short story allows us to fill in time that would otherwise be wasted and, although in this collection, there were a few stories which did nothing for me, reading these wasted far less time than would be wasted seeking to wage through a turgid full length novel.

One or two stories I really enjoyed and most were OK, if maybe forgettable in a year's time.

Overall, I liked it

[Julie Hillman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Various short stories from different genres

Thrillers, fantasy a little but of horror. This little collection has a touch of everything. The stories are short enough that you can read one or two during your commute to work or waiting for your meal to cook.

[Suzanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Set of short stories .. The first few were very enjoyable and I was hoping they would all be of the same quality .. BUT beware of what you may find at the bottom of your Xmas stocking ..

[Sieravonne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some are okay, some are not and while some are just too stupid. A few didn't even happen in a winter. So why the heck are they included in this anthology?

[Eustacia Tan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wonder if you've heard of Kindle Scout before. It's this program where you can read an exerpt of a book and then vote for it (up to 3 books at a time). At the end of the campaign, the Kindle Scout staff will review the book and decide whether to publish it or not. I've actually voted for a few, then I realised that my Amazon account wouldn't let me download them because I was voting with a non-Japan store (same email though, so that's weird). Finally, though, I managed to read it using the cloud reader and that brings me to this novel - short stories from various Kindle Scout winners. All the stories are related to the world, and hopefully I'll find a few that I like and that I voted for (and thus received a free copy.

There are several categories involved in this, so let me go through them one by one:

Romance - I'm not really on a romance kick now, but I thought they were pretty good. Out of the three stories, I liked "Coconutty Christmas: Holiday in Hawaii", which was a fun look at what happens when a staff member of a Hawaiian resort gets attracted to one of the guests (and vice versa)

Sci-Fi, Fantasy, & Horror - I thought the stories here were really strong, but that's probably because I've always like these genres. I liked all three, but my vote for this category would be for Awash in Christmas Spirit, which is about Beth, a 15 year old who can heal people. Kind of sadly, I didn't vote for this so I don't have a copy to read.

Mystery, Thriller, & Suspense - This was the most uneven category for me (and the one with 6 stories, twice the number of the previous two). Some stories were great, while I just wasn't feeling a few of the stories - there were some passages where I felt like information was being recapped. I really liked Killing Anna, which had a really great twist that left me questioning who the real killer was. The book it's related to is Random Acts of Unkindness, which I actually voted for and have! Quite excited to read that! All I Want for Christmas was pretty good too, and I liked how the story moved (and the fact that it had a happy ending! If it's a Christmas story or has Christmas in the title, I kinda want it to have a happy ending).

Literary Fiction - There was only one story here, and I wasn't really feeling it, but I'm picky when it comes to literary fiction anyway.

Overall, this is a pretty good collection to get if you've got a bunch of books and you don't know what to read first. The stories should be pretty representative of the author, and I'm hoping that if I like the short story, I'll enjoy the novel too. After all, I did like the first few chapters enough to vote for it.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a free and honest review.

This review was first posted at Inside the mind of a Bibliophile

[Sue Plant · Rating 2 out of 5]

i mistakenly thought this was a collection of short stories with a christmas/winter theme, i was wrong...

some are definitely very short stories, one or two were christmassy and one or two were exceptional, but i got through it kicking myself as i am not a fan of short stories but was fooled into thinking a christmas feel to it...

aw well live and learn

[Laura *Little Read Riding Hood*]

eh. many stories could have used at least a proofreader.

[KayLynn Zollinger · Rating 2 out of 5]

I snagged this book on Amazon on sale. Some of the authors and stories I really really enjoyed, but most of them I had a really hard time getting into at all. I was hoping this would be a super fast, fun Christmas read but because I wasn't really into it I just kept drawing it out and it took a while to finish it. I wanted to love it, but most of the stories I just didn't.
I did enjoy:
Chelsea Does Christmas by Linda Cassidy Lewis
Never A Night Off by Lincoln Cole
Awash in Christmas Spirit by Jessica Knauss
A Crooked Mile by Fiona Quinn
All I want for Christmas by Katherine Hayton
and an eh to Two Tickets to Paradise by Jada Ryker.
The other stories / authors I either outright didn't like, or was bored. To the extent that I checked my TBR list to make sure I didn't have anything else by them and even removed a book because I just didn't want to read anything else by those author.
I guess that's the benefit of these anthologies. A taste of an author before you commit to a whole novel! Because the authors listed above, got added to my list!

[Heather Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Need a little more Lexie before Fiona Quinn’s next full novel? Well this is the book for you! What is Lexi to do when she starts to hear a rhyme? Figure it out of course! Then a missing person alert goes out! And then it’s off on another adventure for Lexi, Bella, Beetle and a couple of our favorite Striker Team members. If you love Lexi stories then you’ll love this short story from Fiona Quinn! It will leave you wanting more! I can’t wait for the next Fiona Quinn book! This is just one of the great stories to be had in this book and who knows you just might find a new author to Love!

[Martha Sockel · Rating 5 out of 5]

The stories run the gamut from sci-fi to horror to romance to mystery. My personal favorite was “Two Tickets to Paradise,” by Jada Ryker. The story is a prequel to her book Take the Body and Run. In this story, Macey meets Wikket, her crime-fighting, feline partner. The story offers Jada’s trademark chick-lit wit and her insight into deeper issues. The collection holds something for everyone.

[Cindi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting

Interesting collection, but overall flet clipped. Like a part of a much longer work. Ive not read anything by any of these authors before, so they were all new to me.

[Jeanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

That was a short read but somewhat enjoyable. The authors are new to me so I didn't expect much but it was a good read.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of these short stories were great, but there were a few I just flipped and skimmed through as they weren't my interest. However it was fun to try several new authors.

[vmt · Rating 4 out of 5]

good short reads.

.many new authors. let's see how many amazon has for free. nine more words required. 5 more words required. one more too.

[Lillie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun short story

[Ramakalyan Ayyagari · Rating 2 out of 5]

I could not connect myself to most of the plots; nevertheless, I appreciate the authors.