I had high hopes, but Winter Pale fell flat for me. I felt like Winter was flat and stereotypical. The synopsis promises a journey of self-discovery and strength, but I found neither. ( )

I enjoyed the first half of the book but once Winter married Fred that portion dragged. I did not understand Winter’s draw to Rene which affected my view of the whole book. There were a lot of side stories and partially fleshed out characters.

I had a hard time getting into this book. Since I did not finish it, I do not intend to publish a review. ( )

Unfortunately I feel like this book needs a good amount of editing. There are aspects of the plot that have promise, but as others have mentioned the sentence structure is very clunky making it hard to understand. Also the characters lack depth and don't draw you into the story.

After a somewhat shaky start, this story grew on me and I was compelled to read on and completed it. I have read many history books and historical novels set in Europe during the 1930s and 40s but this is a rather unusual one, an historical novel set during WWII. Although the interaction involves many players the story revolves around the principal player, a British girl living in Paris and an SS Officer. This principal character ‘Winter’ was hard to empathsize with. The further I read, the more frustrated I became with “what if’s”. What if ‘Winter’ has taken a stronger and to me much more obvious approach to her situations. I was more comfortable as the book progressed and improved toward the end. This work could certainly have benefited from further editing.

I received an advance reader’s copy of this book by Greek author Marina Koulouri through LibraryThing Early Reviewers for an honest review and I award it 3 stars. ( )