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The Winter Witch

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From award-winning author Heather Hildenbrand and USA Today bestseller and award-winning author Karpov Kinrade comes a holiday love story that blends fable and fairytale with fantasy romance to create a spellbinding tale.

***

In the remote village of Willowdale there lives a people haunted by an ancient curse. Once a prosperous and lush land, for thousands of years the kingdom has suffered under perpetual winter. Crops refuse to grow, poverty and hunger spread. People die.

Their only chance of survival depends on trade. But the one road between the lands passes through the treacherous Ice Mountains, where the cursed and banished prince lives. The prince who holds his kingdom in an icy grip.

To keep the trade path open, the prince demands a sacrifice. Once a year, a villager is chosen and must trek to the peak of the Ice Mountains to offer their life in exchange for safe passage between lands.

This year, I'm the sacrifice.

But the evil prince doesn't know what's coming for him. Because I'm not an ordinary villager being sent to die. I'm a powerful winter witch, the first born to our village in over a thousand years, and I've been sent to kill.


But when the banished prince saves me from imminent death, everything changes. He's not what I expected, and I no longer know what the right path is.

Do I kill him to save my kingdom? Or let what is growing between us save us both, thus damning everyone I love in the process?

***

The Winter Witch is a standalone Christmas/Holiday love story that blends fairytale elements of Beauty and the Beast with the Bulgarian fable The Little Girl and the Winter Whirlwinds with a paranormal romance / fantasy romance twist. We hope you enjoy this holiday novella that is the perfect treat to sit down with on a cold night and read in front of a fire while sipping hot cocoa or a good cup of tea.

Please note, THIS IS A NOVELLA, not a full-length novel. Dive into this magical adventure with that in mind.

Want more books from Karpov Kinrade & Heather Hildenbrand? Look for Mad Girl: Locked Up, on preorder now.

158 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 9, 2019

252 people are currently reading
408 people want to read

About the author

Karpov Kinrade

91 books2,499 followers
Karpov Kinrade is the pen name for the husband and wife entertainment duo Lux and Dmytry Karpov-Kinrade, aka The KK Duo.

Together, they write award-winning, internationally and USAT bestselling books, make music, create art, write screenplays and direct -- all the things.

Look for more from Karpov Kinrade in the Vampire Girl series, Endless Magic Online, The Night Firm, The Last Witch, Dungeon Queen, The Nightfall Chronicles and The Forbidden Trilogy. If you’re looking for their suspense and romance titles, you’ll find those under Alex Lux.

Check out their music by clicking on the Music tab.

They live in wine country California with their three offspring who have crazy creative genius oozing out of them in the form of music, art, performance, and all the things, and too many cats who all think they rule the world (spoiler alert: they do).

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5 stars
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4 stars
113 (26%)
3 stars
129 (29%)
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45 (10%)
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19 (4%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews
Profile Image for Alli.
281 reviews19 followers
December 7, 2019
This novella is a great story woven from fairy tales and love and the brilliant imaginations of Karpov Kinrade and Heather Hildenbrand! I've made it known that I'm not the biggest fan of novellas. I get invested in characters and love a long novel or series. But with this I got so caught up in the world and story that I didn't even notice its length! It may be short, but it doesn't feel rushed and I finished satisfied.

The Winter Witch is perfect for all ages, especially those that love magic, fairy tales, and a nice happily ever after!
Profile Image for D.C..
Author 17 books233 followers
February 7, 2020
3 stars

I really disliked this story. I’ve read others by Kinrade and loved them. It’s why I gave three stars instead of less. This book lacked sustenance. It was bland and nothing happened. The beginning held promise but then nothing happened. Suddenly they’re in love and it’s over. I blinked and it ended.
Profile Image for Michelle.
287 reviews43 followers
March 19, 2021
My bookstagram: emm_enchanted

A quick and short read.

Adara lives in the remote village of Willowdale which suffers from perpetual winter and the cursed prince is responsible for it. Every year he demands a sacrifice from the village and this year it's Adara's turn. But she is not going to die. A powerful winter witch, she is sent to kill him and save her people.

This book is more of a palate cleanser, a novella inspired by a Bulgarian fable. The story is well written but since it's a short read, there wasn't any depth to the characters. They were good enough.
The plot is nice and fast paced, even though it's a bit cliché. There isn't much to say about the book, but it can be read between longer books or series if you want a break. It's fine for a one time read.
I liked the final outcome. Overall, it's a decent read.
Profile Image for Zane Alksne.
368 reviews48 followers
November 13, 2023
The story was short and sweet like a fairytale which I suppose it was. Never have a bad word to say about their writing style. Love their work no matter how short or long it is. Great quick and not at all complex read.
Profile Image for Mona  Brown .
1,806 reviews18 followers
December 10, 2019
This is a really sweet novella for everyone from two amazing authors who were meant to have a book baby. It has magic, romance and a fairytale type story all rolled into one amazing read.
Grab this book and prepare to be swept away for an amazing adventure.
Profile Image for Beatrice Followill.
1,623 reviews41 followers
December 3, 2022
Amazing

Loved this sweet romantic fairytale with a twist! Beauty and the beast but with a Vampire and assassin, trained witch, what's not to love if like paranormal fantasys
Profile Image for Diana Rose.
Author 6 books9 followers
September 13, 2020
“A tale as old as time,” is what I imagine this to be. A unique storyline of unexpected twists and turns but also it reminded me a bit of Beauty and the Beast, one of my favorite Disney movies. While, this story has a witch and a human turned into a vampire, I was completely entranced, captivated by this book. At times, I felt like I was a part of the story myself. I believe that both Heather Hildenbrand and her co author Lux Karpov-Kinrade did an amazing job of writing this timeless story in a brand new way.

Alaric and Adara have had quite the journey. Adara came to him with one purpose and his attention and care made her change her mind. This is a story about those hard choices that people have to make and how to make sure that you don’t make the wrong choice. For Adara, it was exactly this choice. To choose love or to kill the person who she had begun to love…. Again, I say, this is a fantastic story for all. A moral story. True love conquers all. While reading this book, I began to see the characters as real people. I could imagine them in my mind as I read the book.

Ms. Hildenbrand and Ms. Karpov-Kinrade do a wonderful job of bringing this unlikely characters to life. I want to mention how much imagination and artistic work this book took for them because even reading the book, I, as a reader, could see the tenderness with which these two authors wrote this book. Of course, I do believe that love can change everything and this story has only convinced me further into the fact that true love does exist.

After reading this book, I was inspired to make these two pictures, because these two characters have a love story like no other I have ever read. Writing is sometimes a form of art and these two authors have truly created art with words. I will say that I want to read more books from these two ladies. I want to applaud the way they have managed to blend their writing styles together to make this unique story.

If you have not read this book, you MUST READ IT!! IT’S BRILLIANT!!!!! I’m definitely going to get the next book in the series.
Profile Image for Chrissie.
1,035 reviews12 followers
May 3, 2020
This novella is written as a fairy tale, most, if not all of the action is told to you, not "shown." So there's a lot of narrative about what happened to summerize important actions within the plot. I generally hate this. However, most fairy tales do this. So I just went with it.

The main girl (I already forgot her name) has trained her entire life as a witch to kill the beast and free her village from the yearly sacrifice and end the perpetual winter they have. Then the day comes where she must set off her journey to the ice castle and she pretty much gets taken out by wolves.

Who saves her?

Yup. The "beast" - who is a vampire. Cursed to be a vampire by a witch. This is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast (I'm a sucker for those) and I kinda liked the idea of the "beast' being a vampire.

However, this vampire is full of regret and remorse. He doesn't WANT to kill, but one sacrifice a year keeps the blood lust at bay. Basically, he killed a lot of people, including the protagonist's parents, but he feels bad about it.

So, of course, she falls in love with him, almost immediately. I mean, he doesn't "act" like a scary monster, he's cursed after all. Etc. etc. Eye rolls for everyone.

Things resolve themselves in a happily ever after very fast.

What I did like about this ... spoiler alert



This is a quick, simple story that offers you some new concepts within the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale but is told in a "flat" way.
Profile Image for Rachel.
2,354 reviews132 followers
December 22, 2019
The husband and wife writing team known as Karpov Kinrade have won me over with their Vampire Girl series, so when I realized they were releasing a Christmas short story that is a Beauty and the Beast retelling with Heather Hildenbrand, I was all over that.


I love fairytale retellings and The Winter Witch was everything I didn't realize I wanted in a Beauty and the Beast retelling. Adara is a witch, the first witch who has been born in the village of the Kingdom of Avondale in a very long time and she has trained all her life to do one thing, to kill the cursed prince, to kill the beast.


The Winter Witch was everything and I loved it so much. It was a quick but fully realized retelling that has all the elements of a classic fairytale but with a unique and new twist. It was full of Christmas cheer, danger, adventure, magic and of course princes and curses. I loved Adara and Alaric, Adara was brave, smart and feisty while Alaric was nothing how I expected but everything I expected all at once. I can't say too much, I don't want to give the story away, the only thing I have left to say is that I highly suggest that you put the Winter Witch on your tbr.
9 reviews
January 2, 2020
Disappointing

I was very disappointed with this book. The description and premise sounded amazing but the book was rushed and, quite frankly, boring. Not to mention it was just another girl who, on her first day with the horrible monster who has killed hundreds of people (several of them people she herself knew and loved), experiences pleasure at his touch and is worried about falling for him and not being able to go through with her mission to kill him. Seriously? Also, our supposed Winter Witch, who is supposed to be this amazing and powerful witch casts ONE spell! That's it! Just one spell and a couple potions - thats all we see from this supposed winter witch who is the most powerful they've ever seen. Her magic is absolutely pointless and only the potion she made well before the book even began plays any part in the actual story. Again, the premise had potential but failed miserably.
Profile Image for Larissa.
484 reviews14 followers
January 24, 2020

This little novella looked a lot cooler than it was. Like, it wasn't bad or anything, it's just I was promised a vampire and a witch, and I was hoping for like at least one epic battle. No, they got along immediately, there was like no character growth, it was just the statement of facts and we we were just supposed to go along with it.

Again, this sounds like a bad roast, but it was a fairly enjoyable little read. It's just that I was expecting more so I'm being a little harsh on it. It's extremely short, like less than an hour and you'll be through it. It's just supposed to be a cute little retelling, it just introduced too many cool and original elements for me to be satisfied with such a short run-time.

If you like things that are straightforward, this one would be good for you. I understand that it's a retelling, but I was hoping for more.



This review and all my others can be found at: https://aworldshapedbybooks.blogspot....
Profile Image for Lynn.
1,297 reviews73 followers
Read
January 8, 2020
Some issues in the plot bothered me too much for enjoyment.

Spoilery- A little too out there with the girl falling in love with her parents murderer. I don't care that he was cursed and couldn't help himself. it was nearly insta love too. Also, why wouldn't she think that the kindest thing to do is to kill him? How could she drop her mission and allow him to continue to have to kill someone yearly and allow her village people to die because she loved him? If she loved him she'd have helped him end his life and put him out of his misery. Really weird. Also, not sure after killing people for all those years he's going to be able to ride into the sunset so to speak just fine without being completely emotionally broken.
Profile Image for Misa.
1,611 reviews2 followers
February 22, 2020
I just finished this book and I'm giving it 3/5 stars.
This was a Beauty and The Beast retelling. It was nice and the idea with the vampire and the ghosts was original. Adara was a witch/trained assassin/Beauty who was sent as a sacrifice to Alaric/ the vampire/Beast in order to kill him and save her people from the curse that they were living because of him for centuries. Of course, it starts as usual, Alaric saves Adara from the wolves's attack and takes her to his castle. Adara comes to learn more about this so called Beast and his curse. They realize that there is only one decision to their problem and it's not easy to take. I love retellings mainly when it's about the story of The Beauty and The Beast and this one was a real short nice one that I enjoyed.
Profile Image for Candice Waite.
542 reviews1 follower
January 16, 2020
Delightful read

I absolutely loved this book. The characters were well written and easy to get to know. It took familiar fairytale themes and blended in paranormal witches and vampire for a unique twist. I especially liked that the story was clean, no foul language or sexual scenes. This made it easy to enjoy while falling in love alongside the characters. I've tried other books from these authors and found different results so I'm glad I gave this book a chance. Brought a smile to my face when I finished.
Profile Image for Deb.
1,095 reviews
January 12, 2020
If you love a magical, fantasy romance, then this adult fairytale is definitely worth reading! "The Winter Witch" is a new story with a similar feel, yet a twist and great characters that will keep readers turning pages! I only wish it had been longer and less rushed for the H/h. However, I was lucky to find this available during my Amazon Kindle Unlimited, “3 month trial” membership, so yes I can honestly recommend this to adult fans of fiction!
Profile Image for Tarissa17.
254 reviews2 followers
March 2, 2020
I love fairytale retellings, and The Winter Witch was everything I didn't realize I wanted in a Beauty and the Beast story. It was a quick but fully realized retelling that has all the elements of a classic fairytale but with a unique and new twist. It was full of Christmas cheer, danger, adventure, magic and of course princes and curses. I loved Adara and Alaric. Adara was brave, smart and feisty while Alaric was nothing how I expected, but everything I wanted all at once.
Profile Image for Michelle Fritz PA.
1,360 reviews98 followers
May 13, 2020
This was a wonderful Beauty and the Beast retelling!! It was filled with tender moments and ones of uncertainty as well. I loved the Winter Witch and her beast. I loved that our dude was a vampire who struggled for humanity and in trying to choose the right way to go forward. He was so much more gentle than what we had been lead to believe. Watching this love story play out was so very sweet! I loved the ending!! This series is just delightful!!
Profile Image for Jackie.
2,554 reviews
December 15, 2019
This definitely favors the Beauty & the Beast fairy tale. I did enjoy this quick reading novella, though I would have liked it to be more developed (characters & plot) than being a novella afforded. Because of the light development, I didn't really feel the connection/love the main characters supposedly developed so fast. Was definitely worth reading though.
Profile Image for Amber Shepherd.
124 reviews3 followers
December 16, 2019
Cute and Quick

This is such a fun little novella. The plot is very interesting. The story definitely feels like a completed storyline. There's a really sweet romance but without the heat. Overall it was a very refreshing read. If you're looking for a quick read, definitely give this one a chance.
Profile Image for Jessica Williams.
128 reviews10 followers
December 18, 2019
Twilight and Beauty and the Beast have a baby...

I’m not sure how the authors would feel about me comparing this story to Twilight and Beauty and the Beast, but that’s the best way to describe this fantasy-esque fairytale retelling. It was an easy read, fast paced and such a nice story. I really enjoyed it.
Profile Image for Genevieve Rule.
11 reviews5 followers
December 23, 2019
COMPELLING! Read it!

I LOVE Heather Hildenbrand and Karpov Kinrade as individual authors and their first collaboration does not disappoint!
I usually shy away from twisted fairytales, but I was sucked in at page one and didn't want the story to end!! I cannot wait for more collaborations in the future.
Profile Image for Jeanette George.
650 reviews2 followers
December 23, 2019
The Winter Witch is a Beauty and the Beast retelling, but with its own unique twist. The book is beautifully written.

The only thing I'd say is that this story would have been nice to see in a longer format as I think many things could have been explored.

With that said, its still well worth the time.

117 reviews5 followers
February 9, 2020
I feel CHEATED

This story is the bones of something great. I loved it and I honestly feel cheated that it isn’t a full length novel. There is SO much more to delve into. I wish I could give it four stars because of that, but I can’t. It’s too good.
That being said. It does feel rushed. Rewrite this and give us a full book!! I’ll be waiting ;)
Profile Image for Yessenia Andaverde.
1,236 reviews45 followers
July 19, 2022
This is an okay book. It's too short for depth. I expected the witch to have winter powers, over snow and such but no. Adara is a with that makes potions and has a grimoire. Nice story, but a full length novel would be better in order to develop better the story, characters and Adara and Alaric's relationship.
Profile Image for Katie.
249 reviews2 followers
December 12, 2019
I really enjoyed this take on my personally favorite fairy tale. Good story and character building compacted into a quick read. The fairy-tale aspect was unexpected and different for at least half of this writing duo. I'm not very familiar with Heather's work. Anyway, would definitely recommend.
Profile Image for Tina.
33 reviews9 followers
December 12, 2019
Quick cute novella

Fun quick novella would love to see this expanded to a full novel. I love the culture of the people in Willowdale in their never ending winter. Overall good read.
Profile Image for Bridget Soucy.
67 reviews
December 13, 2019
Awesome quick read!

I am a sucker for a happy ending and this story was that and then some. I enjoyed reading this story and didn't want to put it down or have it end. Can't wait to see what comes next from this pairing of great writers!!
Profile Image for Teresa.
97 reviews
December 13, 2019
Beautifully Written

I loved this novella. A cool take on Beauty and the Beast. But I like the vampire version in this story better. Such an awesome fantasy. I can't wait to see what these two authors come out with next.
185 reviews1 follower
December 14, 2019
Wonderful twist

Wonderful twist written in the style of Beauty and the Beast. I love the characters and the slight nuances of the world built. It is sweetly presented and leaves you with that feeling that only HEAs can leave you with!
Profile Image for Karen.
78 reviews
December 21, 2019
I wish it was longer.

My actual rating is a 3.5. I liked the story; it reminded me of beauty and the beast. It was a fast read and I wished it was longer. This has a HEA but I still wanted more.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews

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