Reviewed by Marcella
TITLE: The Taste of Winter
AUTHOR: Geneva Vand
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 107 pages, 26,000 words
RELEASE DATE: October 24th 2022
BLURB:
Hailey has always wanted to keep believing in magic, but her world feels extremely ordinary. What magic exists for a too snarky, mousy-haired, accountant in training to find? Except there’s a unicorn playing in the park.
Lizzie just wanted a moment to relax. The falling snow lured her into the dark playground where she was sure no one would see her. Except someone does, and that someone is wonderful and perfect.
Lizzie’s worlds collide when she finds her pretty stranger in a campus coffee shop. Can she set aside her ingrained caution long enough to let Hailey in? And can Hailey convince Lizzie that she’s ready to keep Lizzie, magical complications and all?
REVIEW:
Hailey is a college student who doesn’t want to give up on believing in magic. When she sees a unicorn in the park, her continuous belief in magic is finally rewarded. Lizzie, the unicorn shifter who met Hailey in the park, is a lot less enthusiastic because while the girl she met is absolutely stunning, she’s still a human. Will Hailey also like Lizzie in human form? Will they be able to navigate all of these developments during their college life? Will they end up together? Read the story and find out!
This story was.. interesting. I didn’t know what to expect when I read it was about a unicorn and a girl, but I should’ve known it was a shifter. The aspect of a unicorn shifter was very interesting, but I’m kind of sad that we didn’t get to see more of the magical side. There were mentions of a witch and a whole list of other types of shifters and magical creatures, yet we didn’t see anything of that, except for one spell from the witch. It feels like a missed opportunity, really. Then there’s the writing style; it was pretty colloquial. The writing style seemed childish at times, using phrases and words you can see in the spoken language, not in a book. This had been bothering me more and more throughout the book. But, on the positive side, the romance was cute and not rushed. It was fast-paced, but just the right speed to make sense and not feel forced. The occasional hints at something more mature were fun and, considering the books I usually read, I’m sad that the author left out anything properly explicit. That doesn’t mean, however, that it’s something the story missed. Even without it, the romance was just right.
So, to summarise, while the romance was really good and Hailey and Lizzie are just cuteness itself, being one extrovert and one introvert, the writing style bothered me enough to lose my enthusiasm in the book, sadly.
RATING: 
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