A Winter's Pledge

by Shubha S. & Laetitia Picard, Faye Pattatan (Illustrator), Jean Natwara (Colorist)

Sage had always considered herself to be a regular and ordinary girl. But, what’s a girl to do when she finds out that she’s really a member of the royal family? Amongst new friends and foes, Sage must juggle the pressures of her new life while longing for the one she used to have. In-kind fate, she meets Caspian, the servant’s son, who makes this strange new world of hers just a little easier to cope. She knows her blood is royal but deep down her heart and soul belong among the common folk. Will Sage be able to live up to her royal expectations? Or will she crack under the pressure?

A Winter’s Pledge is a modern-day fairytale graphic novel for people who love long-held secrets, rising to the challenge, and new love.

Available on Amazon KDP June 2021.
Follow:
IG: @winterspledge ( For BTS, giveaways, and release date)
Email: s.lbooksco@gmail.com

Genres: Graphic Novels

98 pages, Paperback

Published June 1, 2021

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can't wait to get my hands on a copy of this graphic novel! It's definitely my most anticipated read for 2021!!

[Ravi Chailertborisuth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lucky enough to receive a copy in advance!! Very excited to be reading my ARC version! :p

[Hannah]

Can't wait to read this! Super excited!

[Niphan Sethi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely amazing! Highly recommend!

[Shubha &Laetitia · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's mine, so got to give it a 5!

[Jean-Baptiste · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the chance to read a winter's pledge and I have to say that the quality of the story is remarquable!! There is a good balance of suspense, emotions, mystery and romance. We get attached to the characters very fast and feel like we evolve with them too. The story is very original and I would definitely recommend this book.

[Tharin Khanijow · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an early arc copy of A Winter's Pledge and I have to say that it is a must-read! Great story and it is suitable for everyone, Amazing work S.L! Looking forward to the official launch!

[Mary Do]

Ahhh!! So excited to read this!!

[Tammy · Rating 5 out of 5]

On my TBR!!!

[Aimee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so excited to read this graphic novel!!!! I've been following their IG page and it looks amazing. I've always wanted to read a fairytale-isq graphic novel but could never find one, until now!! SO SO EXCITED !!!

[Marissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I took my time in this one cause I didn’t want it to end. The story reminded me of parent trap but just a little different. I highly recommend this to everyone.

[Kathy Tian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an adorable middle-grade book with a very nice illustration. The storyline has similarities to some fairytale’s I used to read but it also has its unique views when it comes to family, life and tradition.

It’s a fun read. The writing style was simple but I feel like there are some gaps in between chapters or that there’s too much in one which was a little confusing, making the flow of the story not too smooth.

Still the story was good with some morals and values to pick up as well as lessons to learn about honesty, respect and kindness.

[Harirak Srikureja · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't recommend this book highly enough. Definitely worth a read!

[Arjun Srikureja · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book looks beautiful, and I can't wait to get my hands on a physical copy!

[Ali Aslam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having been lucky enough to get an early copy of this book, I can say that it’s a brilliant read full of suspense, drama and an altogether satisfying ending. It managed to keep me interested throughout and I had no unfulfilled emotions left at the end. A truly great piece of work and I’m looking forward to reading more from these 2 aspiring young artists in the future!

[Narmatha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Graphic novels and comics are meant not only for children to enjoy. Even, us adults can really enjoy reading them.

A Winter's Pledge ❄

💙A heartwarming story of Auluna's twin Princesses Sage and Fleur. Unfortunately, Sage got abducted by her caretaker when she was a little baby and grown with her for 10 long years. She doesn't know she was the Princess and the whole truth. One fine day, she was identified and her true identity got revealed as finding to be the Princess of Auluna.

💙Sage was confused of knowing her royal background. Her twin sister Fleur was not very happy, she abandoned her from the moment she meets her. The real bonding of sisterhood didn't connect well.

💙Her kingdom people wants her to be their 'People Queen' but Sage wasn't sure about it and not ready to be the Queen. Towards the end of this tale, there will be some twists that will leave us with cliffhanger ending. I hope the second book will get released soon.

❄I adored this graphic novel.
❄Beautifully represented novel with a wonderful story.
❄The artwork is so brilliantly done with pretty representations.
❄Perfect pick for children and adults.

I highly recommend ❤

[Tharin Khanijow · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an early arc copy of A Winter's Pledge and I have to say that it is a must-read! Great story and it is suitable for everyone, Amazing work S.L! Looking forward to the official launch!

[zae · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all — the illustrations are so cute!! I always love seeing the art style when reading graphic novels. The premise is good too and the book is short so this one's a fun and quick read! Though due to the pacing I thought there were a few gaps in between some scenes. Quite a few time jumps in the story too. I'm eager to find out more after this one as it ended on a cliffhanger and some questions were still unanswered. Overall - it's a really fun read and I commend the team behind A Winter's Pledge!

Thank you to the authors for sending a copy!

[Leisha & Sammaira · Rating 4 out of 5]

•Genre: Graphic Novel, Sequential art (suitable for ages 10-13 but there's really no age limit)

•TW: Murder (no graphic description), Bullying

•Our Opinion: Super sweet, super cute, super cool-ly illustrated and kinda really sad 😭 the plot was well built and easy to understand but I wish the ending had been a little less abrupt. That last chapter was very fast paced....but let's talk about characters because I loved them !!
Um miss Sage you are so strong- she was an inspiring character!
CASPIAN- my heart hurt for him- he's a real sweetheart (I'm team Caspian by the way- there needs to be a sequel).
Fleur- didn't like her but she had her reasons :( (sad face because I know something you guys don't- and if you want to know, read the book !)
Liam- okay he's charming but he's definitely sus
Piper- again, don't like what you did but you did it for the right reasons so I forgive you !
Juliana- she's a fave for sure. So those are your characters- choose your player !

Scroll to catch a glimpse of the illustrations and the cover page ---->
Can you guess a few of the dialogues ?

P.S. I read it in 30 mins and I'd like to believe it was 30 minutes well spent !

[totesintobooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first graphic novel of 2021 and also probably going to be my last read of 2021. A Winter’s Pledge follows the life of Sage who was the stolen twin from the castle. Leading a different life believing that Piper, the maid who had stolen her was her mother, she was discovered one day while she was playing hide-and-seek with her friends and was returned to the castle. She soon realised how she could make a difference by being in the castle because of the life she had prior as a village girl. I always believe those who went through hardships in life are also those who will go out of the way to help ease the burden of others. However, the mystery still remains. Why did Piper steal her when she was a baby? And why is the life of the person who love her most being threatened? Since the ending is a cliffhanger(!!!), I can’t wait to know more after learning of her growing relationship with her sister, Fleur. There are important lessons that we can learn from the graphic novel. For instance, the fact that a life of luxury should not necessarily lead to a life of excess and waste, to not judge someone based on their actions when we don’t know the reason behind them and that the one who loves us most is the one who is mostly likely hurt most because of us. 4/5⭐️ for the beautiful illustrations and storyline! Thank you @awinterspledge for this online copy of the book. I truly enjoyed it and I love reading and learning of the diverse characters. ���

[Aisyah & Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

❄️ 𝖆 𝖜𝖎𝖓𝖙𝖊𝖗’𝖘 𝖕𝖑𝖊𝖉𝖌𝖊 👑

Omg! Our first ever collab! We’re so happy and grateful that the beautiful team at a winter’s pledge sent us a copy of their graphic novel.

✨Here is our 𝕣ꫀꪜⅈꫀ᭙!✨

We enjoyed the beautiful and colourful illustrations! We were blown away by some of the details and the effort put into it. Speaking for the both of us — neither one are artists nor drawers 😂 We cannot fathom sitting down and illustrating this 𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙧𝙚 graphic novel. To us, it’s an impressive feat!

Moreover, the colour palette was well chosen, 𝙗𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 & 𝙚𝙮𝙚-𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 which sets the 𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙩𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨 of the plot! It’s also very 𝙢𝙤𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜..

It’s a 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙 (for us; 118 pages), which is a 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙤 — or to those just starting out with reading / graphic novels.

Don’t be fooled by the bright graphics, as we delve further into more sinister undertones, with the book 𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖 𝙨𝙪𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙚.

While we did hope that the novel could be longer and some parts could be better developed (seemed a bit rushed at times), it was a wonderful debut novel by the authors!

we hope to eventually discover the truth behind Sage’s kidnapping and what the secret everyone’s been hiding from her 🤭😱😱
*𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘭*

🌟 3.5/5🌟

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I usually don't read books as a PDF because I find it hard to focus and read on a screen, but when I got a message asking to review a winters pledge in exchange for a PDF copy I jumped at the chance!
Firstly, the art style is nothing short of adorable. It's so unique and honestly I couldn't love it any more!
The story really is a modern day fairytale, and you get so attached to the characters (I was so heartbroken for Fleur in chapter 4!) and it feels like we grow with them too. I particularly like the development between Sage and Fleur, and the twist in the story is something I 100% wasn't expecting!
Also, I'm totally hoping there'll be a second novel, because the ending was SO FULL.OF SUSPENSE AND MY HEART CANT TAKE IT!!
Hostly if you can get a hold of this novel do it! I've absolutely loved it (like, i was ao engrossed that my cup of tea went cold!)
If I can get a paper copy I'll definitely be adding it to my bookshelf!!

[Gabrielle (belle.bookcorner) · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot itself is interesting which slightly reminds me of Tangled with the main character as the lost princess who finally got back to her kingdom.

The art style is also beautiful with the bright colorful illustrations! This graphic novel is a very quick easy read, it only took me less than 30 minutes to finish this since it only has around 100 pages.

However, there are a few gaps in some part of the story, a sudden time jumps too that feels like I was missing something. I wish the length are longer to give room for the plot to develop and have more explanations to it.

Overall, for a debut graphic novel this is an entertaining read. I still have so many questions left unanswered with a big cliffhanger at the end. I'm looking forward to read the next book to find out more the secrets surrounding Sage!

***Book kindly provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.***

[Aisha Rowbottom-Isaacs · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've never read a graphic novel before, so I'm not really up on the writing style and story flow in this kind of book. The plot was super sporadic and just all over the place. I didn't really like that. However, I won't lie, I did kind of enjoy it. There were some parts that were a little annoying and the writing came off very amateur-ish, but honestly, I was hanging on every word. The storyline was predictable but I was thrown by that penultimate scene. It actually made me tear up a little, not gonna lie. All in all, quite an enjoyable first experience with a graphic novel. The ending could have been better, didn't like the abrupt way it all ended and all the questions hanging in the air, nothing I loathe more than an open ending, but a decent enough read. The graphics were pretty cute too.

[gracie ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

thank you so much to the team for sending me a copy in exchange for my opinion.

first of all, the illustration was beautiful. this is the first graphic novel i’ve read and i went in not knowing what to expect but i was blown away by all the colours and so on.

secondly, this was so easy to read and would be really great for beginner readers.

however, here comes my only gripe about this novel. the story was great though i find that the dialogues were too simple. there were certain jumps in scenes which i felt too be to hasten and kinda left these ‘gaps’ that shouldnt been there since those are quite important to smoothly transit into another scene in the novel.

but overall, i like it and i cant wait for the sequel to be out (if there ever is one!)

[Jodi · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a beautiful story, if you like princesses stories as much as I do you will like this one. When Sage didn't know she came from a Royal line and found out she was stolen when she was a baby, man that really was sad, but the ending broke my heart, her sister is murdered because she wanted to protect her twin sister. It really was a good graphic novel and the illustrations are so pretty too. Heart warming and heartbreaking at the same time.

[Matilde · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was offered to me by one of the authors in exchange for an honest evaluation. Here's my mini review:

A Winter's Pledge is a graphic novel for a younger audience, however I loved reading it! The story is funny, cute and has a few twists to keep you interested!
I read it after an intense reading and just felt so good to unwind and lighten my mood.
My only complaint is that it was too short and I need more!

It's available on amazon if you're interested!

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read! Not only were the illustrations captivating but the storyline itself had me TOO much invested:) The drama, the love triangle, and a secret, so well done! Looking forward to what happens next in Auluna!

[Alexa Gutsche · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an adorable graphic novel about the story of a missing princess, Sage, who finds her way home. Once there, she finds out she has a twin sister but her sister, Fleur, is not very welcoming. Five years later, Sage has become known as the “people’s princess” but she has a choice to make - will she become queen for the sake of the people, even if it means someone she loves will die?

The illustrations are beautifully done and it is a charming story. Thank you to the authors for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.

[rmreadingbooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to @awinterspledge for sending me the free kindle copy of this graphic novel in exchange for an honest review.

a winter's pledge was my very first book that I read in 2022. It was short and fast paced and while the plot was quite predictable, I still enjoyed it. There are hints of some magic and mystery involved and I think it added an interesting angle to the royalty and long lost princess story, making it fit the fantasy and modern fairytale genre.

The art style and the illustrations in the novel were cute and the colours were pretty while the dialogue boxes were easy to read and I liked that.

There were some gaps in the story that at times showed rather obviously so there were moments when I was left a little confused between the transition from one column to next but there's another book on the horizon and I hope that it will add more consistency and clarity to those gaps as well as that major cliff hanger at the end so I'm really looking forward to it.

I would like to add that this graphic novel is a work of a team of indie authors and illustrator and therefore if you decide to check out the book or read it, that support will be very much appreciated and help out the second book as well.

rating: ⭐⭐⭐.5