Book Review - The Winters by Lisa Gabriele

Image result for the winters
Title: The Winters
Author: Lisa Gabriele
Publication Date: October 16, 2018
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 288 pages
Rating: 4/5 stars
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My Thoughts:

"Last night Rebekah tried to murder me again."

I'm always a sucker for a good retelling -  good being the catch to this statement. So I was cautiously excited to pick up this modern retelling of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, even more so once I saw that fantastic first line that immediately makes a call-back to the original. Rebecca is a book that I read and loved a few years ago, though at this point I've forgotten many of the finer details. I think this book was all the more riveting to me because while I could see the overall connection to the original, I wasn't constantly searching to compare the finer details. 

Much like the original novel, the narrator remains unnamed. The reader finds her working in a marina in the Cayman Islands, where she meets Max Winter and begins a whirlwind romance. Within weeks, the couple is engaged and our narrator is swept off to Asherley, the grand island estate of the Winters in New York. However things get complicated for the protagonist when she meets Max's troubled teenaged daughter, Dani, who seems determined to drive a wedge between Max and his betrothed at any cost. 

The novel starts off fairly slow, with the first bit mostly focusing on the romance between Max and the narrator. I felt that this could have probably been condensed a bit, but it was well-written and didn't feel like a shoehorned love-at-first-sight type story, so for the most part I, as a non-romance reader, enjoyed it. Things really pick up once the couple arrives at Asherley though, and I found myself struggling to put the book down. The author kept me guessing at every turn. Each time I thought I'd started to piece things together, a new detail would come out that would completely destroy my theory. I love a thriller that can keep me on my toes, and this one absolutely succeeded at that! Right up until the end, I found my distrust shifting from one character to the next, always unsure of where the author would lead me next. 

This is a smart, fresh retelling of du Maurier's classic. It absolutely does justice to the original, while taking the story and making it its own. Even if you haven't read Rebecca, this novel is definitely strong enough to stand on its own merits, but it will also be a very satisfying read for fans of the original looking for a new spin on the classic. 

**Thank you to Penguin Random House for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.**

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