Lee Winter

Requiem for Immortals is the type of story that stays with you long after you‘ve finished reading it. To say Natalya is flawed is an understatement. As a world renowned cellist, Natalya is cold, witty, rigid, and doesn’t like talking about emotions. Hidden under her skin is the sociopath, stone-cold assassin, Requiem. With her arrogance (and a manipulative stepmother) Natalya/Requiem established a world with walls made of power and rules that should never be challenged. However, all it show more takes is one little mouse named Alison Ryan to nibble away at Natalya’s world. Natalya and Alison have some serious chemistry; but honestly, Natalya’s level of mystique created a charged reaction with all the characters (not to mention how her "clean it up" remark gave a serious jolt to my....never mind).

Lee’s development of the setting, plot, and tone allowed me to escape to a world where #saverequiem and #karmickillerforthewin are not only possible but also needed. There are some bad people in the word. I'm not saying they need to "sleep with the fishes" (or pigs), but they need to be exposed just the same. In addition, I appreciate that the story shifts between Natalya and Alison’s POV. The shifts make the mystery/thriller/romantic elements of the story much more authentic. The story itself is a page-turner due to the build-up of the surprised twist near the story’s middle and another twist 70% into the story. Overall, another great story by Lee. show less

It is really hard to come to the end of a Lee Winter book because her fiction is so, so good you want it to go on forever. The Red Files, I think, is her most exceptional and has a terrific, complex and original mystery going for it as well as compelling and the best kind of roller coaster dynamics between the two main characters. Sometimes I find that I tear up at the end of a book with a happy ending, especially when it is not sappy, but very much authentic and tugging at the heart strings show more in a way that is not at all manipulative but just flat out lovely. I have only one Lee Winter title left to read and I am going to wait it out a while so I can look forward to it and know something great awaits me...that's how good her writing is!! show less

So I have been in hospital on and off for the past months and didn't have the energy to pick up a book because of pain and medications. That's why I thought I'd give the romance genre another try. I love reading about two women falling in love and all that. But despite that I rarely like romance books because in a majority of them every part except the romance is very shallow (and often times the romance is too!). There is little thought given to bigger concepts or ideas, not much nuance or show more things to think about more deeply. Shallow worldbuilding. Real life structures like social classes are reduced to a simple backdrop for a fling. Situations don't happen organically but are forced only because the characters need to be in a ~situation~. There usually is a plot but its the most boring plot ever. And while I would love a romance that defies all of these things, I needed exactly the above mentioned shortcomings for my medication fried brain. It's actually quite easy: I convince myself to just become my 14 year old lesbian-romance starved self reading fanfictions for a few hours. Honestly, this isn't meant to be demeaning. I tried a bunch of books I didn't even enjoy in this mode because they were too stupid. So to be a romance novel that makes me happy isn't an easy task. And I enjoyed this one. Call it a guilty pleasure but this made me feel cozy and nostalgic. Really what I needed right now. And I think same sex attracted women have a right to have some solid simple romance fun sometimes.

When "the devil wears Prada" came out I was in my teens and I must have seen the movie then. When I picked the movie up again years later, I was shocked that it wasn't the lesbian love story I remembered quite vividly. This book is everything my teenage self wanted the movie to be. Which makes sense because it was originally a Mirandy fanfiction. But it isn't just a fanfiction or a hollow echo of what I loved about Andrea and Miranda (like some other book I regretfully picked up some time ago). It is its very own thing, has its own very likeable and wonderful characters. Winter put in a lot of work to make this its own thing. Obviously the original intent is very clear but still, this works even if you have never seen The devil wears prada.

There is a very careful balance that makes a good "ice queen" (honestly before goodreads I had never heard the term before but its a good descriptor). It's easy to make her come off as insecure if she's just a meany for the sake of it. But if she's too kind or even sweet she isn't an ice queen. I apparently like this kind of character and I am often times frustrated when fanfiction writers and authors get that balance wrong. It shows that they don't get what makes these characters so intriguing (hint: it's not just "being mean all the time") and makes for uninteresting characters. I am aware that Winter is known for writing this type of character and I get why. She really does this in a brilliant way and strikes the right balance the entire time.

So what partly diminished my mindless joy ?

The book has some weird pacing and changes tone in an unfortunate way. The first part, which takes place in New York, is great. There are some more serious undertones and themes surrounding a drug ring and Maddie seems like a really complex and interesting person, especially as a journalist. Her not being comfortable in New York actually made for a really interesting character too. The tension between the two women is at its best here and I got a bit tingly from it, not gonna lie. Inbetween the chapters there are blog posts Maddie makes anonymously und Elena actually figures out who writes the blog. This was such a good element and I enjoyed it a lot! I was curious what Maddie would write and if Elena would read it, misinterpret it etc. Such potential for drama. But this element is of absolutely no consequence and gets completely abandoned.
The pacing in this part is also good, there is a creeping feeling that something dramatic is going to happen. Maybe with that drug ring? Or ..

...and then nothing happens.
Because in the second part the book becomes a completely different story. Maddie is much more like Andrea here and almost completely loses what made her so interesting in the first half. She doesn't write the blog, she isn't baking anymore, her bff who was supposedly important just disappears from the story (no loss, it was a man. still strange), her deep thoughts seem to have been connected to her New York depression because they are completely gone now, she has shallow thoughts and ambitions and overall just becomes very boring and a typical awkward Y/A protagonist . The tension between the two women also falls flat here, it's either nothing or Maddie just thinking about Elenas ass (very (!) understandable but that alone just gets boring over time). Many moments that should be exciting milestones in their lovestory somehow just float by. Every bit of lingering tension from the underlying subplot of the first half is completely gone too, which leaves us with only the shallow excuse for "tension" between the two women and a very boring fashion plot surrounding it.

Even worse: Most plot points feel so incredibly forced, the typical fanfiction trope of just "getting the two women into some situation together" is everywhere. A lot of "twists" can be seen from miles away and are (sorry) just really stupid. I don't want to write any spoilers but I groaned two times. So the story suffers greatly here. Sure, I am still waiting for the two women to finally kiss etc but other than that I have no reason to read further (apparently seeing two women kiss is enough reason for me to read on though).

All of this is such a shame because again, the first part was SO much better! It felt like a proper and exciting book while it slips into mid tier fanfiction territory in the second part. It's still entertaining, don't get me wrong. But it's just frustrating to see what the author is capable of only to be served a much less exciting and interesting story as expected based on that first part.

And a pet peeve of mine: In the first pages our "ice queen" is described as looking sooo much younger than her age. I hate it when authors write about a female love interest over the age of 40 and immediately make her less hot by adding "but she looked like she could have been 10-15 years younger!!!". My interest couldn't be lower now, thank you. I read these stories because a confident older(-ish) woman was promised but here we are, cowardly bowing down to patriarchal beauty standards and youth worship. A woman in her 40s who looks like she's in her early 30s or mid 20s is of no interest to me and "you don't look 40" certainly isn't the compliment you think it is. Most of us (meaning women who were into Mirandy back in the day) are into women who look their beautiful gorgeous age! Dammit! But that's just a sidenote because it's only mentioned once at least. This goes into the same category as "her flawless skin", which is mentioned several times as a descriptor for both women. Maybe I am super weird but I have never been horny for a womans flawless blank skin. I rather fixate on unique things like laughter lines, scars, freckles, moles, stretch marks, tan lines, a tattoo etc. But again, I am nitpicking here (and probably weird in some way?).

Winter has an enjoyable writing style and I didn't cringe as much as I usually do at some of the prose found in the romance genre. She really knows what she's doing in terms of prose, despite the occasional genre typical cringe worthy banter. Honestly the first romance author I enjoyed reading.

I do appreciate that the book touches on subjects that were completely ignored in the tdwp movie, or in most media surrounding big industries/the fashion industry. Misogyny is named as such and it's made clear that no woman in any industry is free of its horrible grasp. Even a rich, capitalistic and powerful woman is still a woman. Media treats women differently, there is still pressure to be married to a man, often times there are still men to answer to. Women always have to be careful and especially in big industries there is always a majority of men that will abuse their power. Men who are friends, colleagues, partners, lovers... all of them are very likely to be the worst nightmare of some women. This entire subject of misogyny was handled in a very good and realistic way.

I also love how the protagonist, Maddie, never tries to lose weight, change her appearance or fashion style. A very welcome difference to the movie as well.

I think I rate books too high sometimes but oh well. This made me feel nostalgic and cozy even though it lost me in the second half, so it's a 2.5 I think. This sounds like I was let down by this book but I can't say that I didn't enjoy myself. It wasn't thrilling or anything but it just felt good.

Despite the things I didn't like I really want to read more by Lee Winter and already bought two more books by her. So make of that what you will show less

I'm not much of a comic books fan (prefer verbal to visual storytelling), but I do have a great fondness for superhero novels. Especially the queer ones - the themes of secret identities and powers that make some people strange and different mesh really well with LGBT stories. Anyway, this book is an excellent gay superhero novel. It explores the pageantry and heroics of the superhero genre as well as the low-key horror of individuals expected to tirelessly struggle against all the evil in show more the world without verging into dark-and-gritty territory. This is a very #hopepunk story of complex, flawed characters who face the ugliness in the world and fight to make it better, and that fight is very, very hard but far from hopeless.

The relationship between the two leading ladies is a fascinating one. It reminds me of a quote by Elizabeth Gilbert: "People think a soul mate is your perfect fit, and that's what everyone wants. But a true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that is holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life. A true soul mate is probably the most important person you'll ever meet, because they tear down your walls and smack you awake. But to live with a soul mate forever? Nah. Too painful. Soul mates, they come into your life just to reveal another layer of yourself to you, and then leave. A soul mate's purpose is to shake you up, tear apart your ego a little bit, show you your obstacles and addictions, break your heart open so new light can get in, make you so desperate and out of control that you have to transform your life …" That's a perfect explanation of what Lena and Shattergirl are to one another. What they have isn't a traditional romance, but, well. They're soulmates, and everything changes after the time they spent huddled in a cave together.

(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review) show less