I loved the previous two books in this series, so I was very excited to read book three, and I was not disapointed. The Winter of the Witch is just as magical, intriguing and beautifully written as the rest of the series. I adored every page of this Russian folklore inspired read.

I started this book and almost immediately found myself in tears. I was barely 10 minutes in and Arden broke my heart to pieces. I don’t cry reading books either, I just continue reading until the terrible moments pass on by - but I halted here and felt unable to continue for a little while. But then I had to know what came next so I picked myself up and carried on. And was immediately swept away with the story.
Arden creates a beautiful tapestry world with her words and this was breathtakingly beautiful. There were surprises, shocks, moments where you wanted to hide behind your hands and most always I was on the edge of my seat. This book was immense and stunning.

I can’t be specific because I never post spoilers in my reviews - I find that horribly unfair on the author. But this was everything I wanted it to be and more. And for someone who has never cried whilst reading a book, Arden got me again towards the end. I can’t say when, but after you’ve read it you’ll understand - I barely dared to hope either.

The only downside to reading this book was that I left the pages at the end and found that I was in the real world. And worse than that - this is the last book in the series. So no more escaping into that world for me. I truly hope that “last in the series” means that although this tale is done, the characters will continue in other books. I want to have multiple “spin-off” books. There are far too many avenues to explore with each of these characters for me to never see them again. Or at the very least I’d love for Arden to remain with this genre - she is thorough and respectful of the old tales and I’ve learned so much through these books - I don’t want that to end.

In short, this book was amazing. It was exactly as it should have been, everything I could have hoped for - and more. In one word: Perfect.