The characters, description, setting and world of this book are painted very well by the author and the premise - a climate emergency featuring an endless winter - is compelling. There's lot of promise, but everything just sort of fizzles out at the end, leaving the reader feeling disappointed and wondering what happened.

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Shelby – ☆☆☆☆
Road Out of Winter was a slow moving, yet interesting, dystopian novel.

Upon finishing this book, I was immediately disappointed and planned on rating this three stars. As I started to formulate my review, though, I had a really hard time coming up with the right words to convey my feelings.

Then I had to sit on it for a few days.

As of today, five days after finishing this book, I haven't been able to STOP thinking about it.

I will not recap this story, it truly needs to be experienced in its entirety for you to be able to appreciate it. I will say that the characters, Wil especially, grow on you, but I feel like they could've been more developed. As it stands, we know a lot of the heroine's past so we can understand her. I would've liked more Grayson. I don't really know what Danz brought to the story and feel like he was a distraction.

Overall, this story stuck with me, I'm still not sure how I feel about it but I can't forget it. I would say that is a trait of a good book! I don't need to enjoy everything I read, but I can appreciate when it does leave an impression.

Wylodine grew up poor and paranoid, as her family grew marijuana. Winters grew longer and longer, and she wants to restart. The way there in the extreme cold is dangerous, even with a group of exiles going with her. A cult leader is after them for Wil's ability to grow plants, especially necessary as winter continues to drag on.

Wil starts put alone in her family's farm, as her mother and mother's boyfriend had already left the year before for California. She sold the weed on her own but spent all her time caretaking for the farm and remaining plants. As a result, she didn't even know things were getting as bad as it had gotten outside. She has a kinder heart than she gives herself credit for, which is why she takes on the other "exiles" of the summary. They want to go with her as she tries to head to California, which everyone feels is more of a pipe dream given the dwindling supplies and gasoline. No one knows why it had gotten so cold as they struggled to survive, so we never actually know why it happens.

We see different groups banding together as they struggle to survive the cold. Some join up behind a charismatic leader and perpetuate violence on those weaker than themselves. Others will band together under the name of religion and perpetuate a different kind of patriarchy. There is even a group that feels the cold is the end of the world and want to die together. Wil doesn't want anything to do with these groups and wants to keep pushing westward. With her sense of fairness in spite of the paranoia she was raised with, she would rather bring the helpless with her. She's certain that it's the young mother she has with her that is the target of stalking, but of course, it's because she's known as the grower and she's the actual target. This is outright stated toward the end of the book, after there were all kinds of losses and struggles to continue through twisting and snowed out backroads.

Wil's character arc is complete, but there are so many questions still left unanswered for me. I was enthralled by the journey the characters all take together, as it's not an easy one and there are all kinds of ethical choices that they have to make, whether they realize it or not. What dream is worth moving forward to? What is civilization as it freezes? There are no neat or easy answers, and I hope that they all survive the winter after the close of the story.

I received this as an invited read and mostly enjoyed it. The mood was foreboding throughout and there were many difficulties faced by the protagonist. This is an apocalyptic story that begins when the family farm suffers due to the season never warming up to a spring/summer temperature but remaining cold and wintry, with snowfall in the summer. The family farm was well known to have a successful greenhouse that was used for growing marijuana, that was then sold to a dealer who distributed it from there.
All in all, this is a very readable and interesting book. My only critique was that I never felt a connection with the characters. This may have been more due to me than the novel itself.
Recommend. Solid 3/5
#RoadOutofWinter #NetGalley #HarlequinMIRA

Once I started reading, I didn't stop. I really enjoyed this apocalypse story, which was surprising. It was raw, real and all too frightening. I loved the feminist feel to the story, how women were the heroes, strong in our own right and fully capable of rising to the challenge. I hope this never happens, not in our day, but after reading this book, I found myself making a list of essentials I'll need to protect my family - like vitamins, batteries, flannels etc.
This is my first novel by Alison Stine and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Mind blown with Road Out Of Winter.

In this maybe-not-so-futuristic tale, Wylodine, an Appalachian pot entrepreneur is forced to fend for herself in what turns out to be very serious circumstances. The sun has gradually receded, the world has gotten colder, there's no more growing and things have gotten downright dangerous. Wyl is going to have to use her many skills to make it through. I loved that about her.

This book kept me on the edge of my seat from the beginning to end. There were times I had to put it down because some of the situations are so gut-wrenchingly intense. (I mean that in a good way.) It wasn't long before I picked it back up because I had to know what was going to happen to Wyl and friends.

This story is so believable that I felt the cold chill of the circumstances and could easily see how this could happen. I think that contributes much to the overall feel of this story, which is not easy -- at all.

I loved this story. I love how it ended and also hope there will be more to Wyl story. Either way is good. Very entertaining read.

This has become an unexpected favourite of mine for the year.

Road Out of Winter is a novel about the slow encroachment of winter, the result of global warming and the general screwing-up of humans. It began last year with a late spring, but now spring has simply not arrived. As resources dwindle, people become more desperate.

Wylodine, our narrator, has grown up in poverty, illegally growing weed to make ends meet. With the high-heat lights, the touch of winter hasn’t bothered her too much. But now left alone with the plants and a pouch of seeds, she begins on a journey—maybe to find her mom, maybe to escape the winter. But the icy roads and the strangers she meets along the way prove to be more treacherous than she thought…

This was just. SO GOOD. It’s strange and charming. It can feel slow at the beginning, like winter itself, but soon becomes urgent as Wil and her group fight for survival and escape. I fell in love with the writing and characters, Wil especially. She’s tenacious and determined and not afraid to fight for what she loves.

Highly, highly recommend.

For all its harrowing circumstances - an apocalypse, drugs, lawlessness, looting, destruction, murder, rape, suicide, and more, Road Out of Winter by Alison Stine does not elicit an emotional reaction from me. The ending, when it comes, is not a cliffhanger but does appear to be simply a stopping point. I wonder if a sequel is planned to continue the journey. At this time, I don't know that I will follow further along the road out of winter.

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2020/09/road-out-of-winter.html

Reviewed for NetGalley and publisher's blog tour.

I originally received this book as part of a promotional tour.
Wylodine comes from a world of paranoia and poverty—her family grows marijuana illegally, and life has always been a battle. Now she’s been left behind to tend the crop alone. Then spring doesn’t return for the second year in a row, bringing unprecedented extreme winter.

With grow lights stashed in her truck and a pouch of precious seeds, she begins a journey, determined to start over away from Appalachian Ohio. But the icy roads and strangers hidden in the hills are treacherous. After a harrowing encounter with a violent cult, Wylodine and her small group of exiles become a target for its volatile leader. Because she has the most valuable skill in the climate chaos: she can make things grow.

Urgent and poignant, Road Out of Winter is a glimpse of an all-too-possible near future, with a chosen family forged in the face of dystopian collapse. With the gripping suspense of The Road and the lyricism of Station Eleven, Stine’s vision is of a changing world where an unexpected hero searches for a place hope might take root.

This book reminds me a little of those winter blizzardy type books you want to read in the winter (hence the title). To read it in summer was a little weird but I trudged through it. It is uncomfortably realistic and dark. Many times I struggled through reading it because I just didn't know if I could really continue. But the book is incredibly well written.

Title: Road Out of Winter
Author: Alison Stine
Genre: YA
Rating: 4 out of 5

Surrounded by poverty and paranoia her entire life, Wil has been left behind in her small Appalachian town by her mother and her best friend. Not only is she tending her stepfather’s illegal marijuana farm alone, but she’s left to watch the world fall further into chaos in the face of a climate crisis brought on by another year of unending winter.

With her now priceless grow lights stashed in her truck and a pouch of precious seeds, Wil upends her life to pursue her mother in California, collecting an eclectic crew of fellow refugees along the way. She’s determined to start over and use her skills to grow badly needed food in impossible farming conditions, but the icy roads and desperate strangers are treacherous to Wil and her gang. Her green thumb becomes the target of a violent cult and their volatile leader, and Wil must use all her cunning and resources to protect her newfound family and the hope they have found within each other.

This was rather dark and depressing—so the author did an excellent job of setting the tone and mood of the story. The idea of never-ending winter is sobering, at the very least. Wil is an interesting character. She’s so used to being the outcast, the one everyone shuns, that it’s a big adjustment to have people around who actually need her.

I enjoyed the character growth she experienced, but the book just depressed me, frankly. Lots of horrible people willing to steal and kill in order to get ahead, even if they don’t actually need what they’re stealing. Wil is like a tiny ray of light in a dark room in this story, and even though she sometimes flickers, she does not go out.

Alison Stine lives in the Appalachian foothills. Road Out of Winter is her newest novel.
(Galley courtesy of Harlequin/MIRA in exchange for an honest review.)

I highly recommend you check this out for yourself if you’re willing to dive into a bleak, gritty story that is hard hitting and hard to put down once you really get into it. It does take its time but I thought it was worth it despite the slow build up. My biggest draw to any story like this is the survival element and how it affects the characters psychologically. Surviving something makes us act in different ways. These parts where things go bad made it feel so real. Because societal collapse is a very real thing that could happen as soon a tomorrow.

Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me. I think this is a case of right book, wrong time. It's a post global freezing dystopian book. While I might normally find a survival story a great read, I found this one depressing. Especially given the times we are in right now. Maybe I'll try again at some point in the future.

Alison Stine’s The Road Out of Winter is a poignant look at a classic dystopian trope that has, through the subtle urgency in her writing, started to feel a lot less like fiction and more like a warning of things to come. From extreme weather conditions to full, societal collapse, this gritty exploration of family, hope, and the horrors of toxic masculinity brings new relevance to the “end days” model, while still managing to leave the reader with the gnawing sense of being left out in the cold. The stoic realism that makes up each and every step of this short but compelling journey leaves an impression, coming together to form a medley that showcases both the highs and lows of humanity.

From the opening chapter it is clear that the real strength of the novel derives from its protagonist, Wil, who, while taking the majority of the story’s weight on her shoulders, never buckles. In fact, besides her antagonist, a patriarchal madman turned leader of a skatepark militia, there isn’t much oomph behind the other characters we encounter, even her travelling companions. Under different circumstances, this might have been a fault, but it isn’t long before it becomes obvious that this strategy works in the Road Out of Winter’s favor, keeping the reader at a close distance to Wil and feeling somewhat distrustful of the rest. This adds beautifully to the sense of isolation, which makes Wil’s strength and perseverance all the more compelling once things start going from bad to worse, effectively investing the reader in the story’s outcome.

Verdict:

Landing somewhere between The Road and Winter’s Bone, Alison Stine’s The Road Out of Winter succeeds in putting a new shine on an old formula, reminding us exactly why the world still needs novels like this, as well as why they should be heeded. Whether you’re looking for a dark, heart-gripping dystopian, or yet another reason to destroy the patriarchy, you’ll find comfort in Stine’s new world, even if it does leave you shivering to the last page.

This was so good, but let me just say, if our world ever turned out like this I would just flat out give up! I hate the snow!

Wil’s character was very interesting, she didn’t have a great upbringing and her father walked out on them. She had to see men come and go until Lobo, who for the most part just made Wil feel like a burden. But at the end of it all lobo taught Wil how to handle herself. She learned lessons and she pull through for herself. It’s a terrible upbringing but she never allowed that to define her or to being her low in life. She has always felt like she was meant for more.

She’s taking this said “road trip” with this outcast as well, their families have all abandoned them and they are just trying to survive. I really liked Dance and Grayson, they wanted to protect Wil but she showed them time and time again she could handle herself. Even when they added Jamie and Stella, Wil was still as strong if not stronger for it.

That ending had me crying, but it was a good open ending where you either hate it or you are satisfying with it. I highly recommended this book!

If you like your books with non-stop action and fast paced, this is the book for you.
When spring fails to arrive for the second year in a row, the never ending winter is threatening food and fuel shortages. As more and more people flee the Appalachian mountains, traveling becomes nearly as dangerous as staying put on land that can longer support you. Wylodine has always known poverty and never having enough. When her mother leaves town with her boyfriend, Wylodine is convinced that they will come back for her. But as time passes, living on their remote farm, known for growing illegal marijuana, becomes increasingly more dangerous. Packing up her truck with grow lights and a single packet of seeds, Wylodine begins the difficult journey to reunite with her mother in California. Dangerous road conditions, winter storms, violent cults, and a lifetime of distrusting strangers combine for an explosive and heart pounding adventure.
Road Out of Winter shows us the darkest parts of humanity and doesn't pull any punches. Wil is a complex character with a single focus-get to California. But what do we owe society? Especially if society, and your own mother, found it so easy to leave you behind. Wil knows she needs to help the people she crosses paths with on her journey, and she wants to, but she's incredibly pragmatic about the increase stress on rations and supplies. Her skill as a gardener is critical in a world without warmth and sunlight and her skills put her in constant danger.
Dark, tense, and fascinating, Road Out of Winter is a thrilling take on nature's effects on humanity.
Thank you to Netgalley and Mira for the opportunity to read and review this title. All opinions and mistakes are my own.

3.5

This isn’t the type of book I usually read, but I was still intrigued by the plot. While I enjoyed reading this and got through it quickly, it still isn't really the story for me.

The plot, like I had originally thought, was captivating. This story of Wil and her band of misfits as they try to escape Appalachia and the eternal winter that has befallen the world is rich with great writing and struggles that feel a little too real. This is definitely more of a thematic story, though. With the eternal winter, the running, the cults, the seeds. But even for not having much of a plot, it was still engaging enough to be a quick and easy read.

I enjoyed the "thriller" aspects of the plot a lot and kind of wish there had been more to it. Running from the cult leader Jake was the most interesting part of what was happening to them in the present, but I feel like it would have felt more important if they had stayed longer at the camp, if they had hinted at Jake knowing about Wil's history, and if the resolution hadn't happened so quickly. It fits with my statement about it being more thematic, though.

Wil as a main character was pretty interesting. She has a dark backstory and is very much a loner. As a narrator, there was a lot of introspection and exposition, which isn't always my favorite. It was hard for me to see her as a real person, though.

Overall, like I said, this was a quick, intriguing read, but it just wasn't for me. Especially with a very vague, very sudden ending. I don't feel like anything was really resolved. Although, that may be the point.

Wylodine (Wil) lives in Appalachian Ohio where she's left to tend to her mom's marijuana farm (imagine inheriting a marijuana farm?) after she up and leaves with her boyfriend. Wil is looking forward to Spring, as is everyone, but for the past two years snow is all everyone's been seeing. Things are looking pretty scarce. Will goes into town and is faced with an even scarier situation and a major crisis happening.

There's lines in town for basic necessities, schools are closed because of the lack of funds for heating, food is impossible to find, and food supplies are down. There's seems to be no hope for humanity or the wildlife. Everyone is off to find warmer weather. Wil decides to up and leave herself with all the needs for the marijuana farm. Along the way to California she encounters questionable characters on her way there whom are pretty desperate and taking violent measures themselves to survive.

'Road out of Winter' is a fantastic dystopian novel, honestly more people should be talking about it. The writing was superb, all the little details made the book so interesting. A definite eye opening story that shows what choices people will make to save their own kind, and the relationships one makes when put in the same situation. Huge thanks to NetGalley and Mira Books for a copy of this book in exchange for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

It's a fact that I don't read nearly enough dystopian stories, so I jumped on the chance to join the blog tour of Road Out Of Winter for not one, but two reasons. One: it was the perfect excuse for me to pick up the genre again. And two: the blurb itself had me completely under its spell and I loved the sound of the illegal marijuana growing angle. I've been looking forward to dive into what sounded like a fascinating story, and now I've read it I can confirm that it is without doubt out of this world. Unique, bitterly cold, mesmerizing and even terrifying: Road Out Of Winter gives us an image of an alternative near future with an air of possibility that will chill you to the bone.

There are a lot of interesting elements in this story, but let's talk about the setting and the dystopian world first. Although there isn't an exact date mentioned as far as I know, you immediately get a feel that the story is set in an alternative near future that is very close to our current world. This gave the dystopian elements even more impact for me, as it is quite easy to imagine how it could be like if the cold winter months suddenly never left again... And trust me, after more than two months of cold winter weather, that IS a terrifying thought. The main dystopian aspect of Road Out Of Winter is basically that somehow the season meter is stuck on 'winter'. This might seem like something minor, but when you start thinking about the cycle of nature, growing plants and how many industries rely on weather changes, you will start to realize just how big of an impact this neverending cold will have on life. Road Out Of Winter does an excellent job portraying the effects and consequences as well as how far out of control things will spin.

What I also loved was the illegal marijuana growing element and how the plant growing element is incorporated into the plot in general. I've always had a strange interest in stories with a drugs element, and it was interesting to learn more about Wil's background and home situation before the cold never left. The drugs element is mostly focused on the before, but the plant growing element will be important throughout the story and really shines through in Wil's character with her having the talent to make things grow even under the most difficult circumstances. The growing element for me represented the hope for a better future, and I liked how it kept popping up along the way.

Road Out Of Winter can in a way been seen as a dystopian road trip story, where unlikely characters spend time together on an improvised and dangerous road trip while trying to reach a better and warmer destination down south. The dystopian vibe will mean a lot of obstacles and challenges, and there is no doubt whatsoever that this road trip will be no picnic. It has been interesting to follow their struggle as the different characters in play meet those challenges; the different plot twists and obstacles showing us more about the dystopian world and the consequences of no longer having no other seasons but winter.

As for the characters... Wil was without doubt an intriguing character, and it is her strength and perseverance that keeps everyone going. That said, I do think that her character lacks proper development, and the same can be said for all the other main characters in play. There is a lot of mystery around both their background and past, and they don't exactly grow much during the story either... It's as if they were frozen in time along with the stuck winter season, but somehow weirdly enough it did mostly work for the story. I think it has to do with the fact that they are basically a random bunch of individuals being thrown together on an impromptu road trip; it makes you forgive the fact that you don't know almost anything about their background, as the characters are mostly living in the present anyway and they have more pressing things to deal with.

That said, I do have to say that I was quite disappointed by the final developments in the story. After everything that happened before, I felt that the ending was both rushed as well as what I consider way too open. The story left lots of questions unanswered and I didn't feel my journey with the main characters was concluded or even paused in a satisfying way. I'm not sure if I missed the memo that this was actually the first book of a series, or the story simply ends this way, but the fact is that the final part did put a damper on my overall reading experience.

Despite the unsatisfying ending, Road Out Of Winter is still an unique, fascinating and highly readable dystopian story that will make you wonder what would really happen to our world if the cold winter weather suddenly becomes the only weather throughout the year. If you are looking for a little something different and a dystopian road trip in the middle of a cold cold winter sounds like your cup of tea, you will be in for a treat!

I read Road Out of Winter during an incredible heatwave, and remember saying that I really don't love the idea of the heatpocalypse. It just doesn't sound fun. But then reading this book, I realized I would also not love the coldpocalypse. So basically, no apocalypse will be great, which... I guess I should have already known but here we are. So let us talk about what I liked and what left me wanting more!

The Things I Loved:

►Felt so realistic! Things start out messed up and then.... slowly devolve into complete anarchy. Sounds legit, right? At first, it felt eerily similar to the pandemic response: people were buying out stores, panic hoarding, etc. But then when all the stocks were depleted, they started fully panicking and running for... well, who knows what a person runs from when the end is near, but run they do. In this case, I suppose the hope of a more temperate climate, but I assume that would present its own problems? There's the fun though, right?

►Loved the characters. Not a one of them was perfect. They all had a ton of baggage and flaws, and that is what made me appreciate their end of the world struggles. Because you still have to deal with your actual life crap while trying to survive, and I love that the author highlighted that through family and relational issues, stereotypes that were still going strong even as the world collapsed, and past mistakes.

►I love a road trip! I mean, this wasn't a happy time adventure, but it was still a road trip. And they brought a tiny house along! I have a real thing for tiny houses, so this was just extra fun. Plus I love the extra excitement that a road trip brings to a book. Especially in an apocalyptic situation.

►It was absolutely a high stakes adventure. Speaking of, there was a lot going on in this book! The gang met some unsavory folks along the way, and things got pretty chaotic. I loved it both for plot purposes, and the fact that there will undoubtedly be a lot of terrible people at the end of the world, and I liked that this book highlighted that.

The One Thing I Struggled With:

►The ending was kind of open and I wanted to know more stuff! Because the perspective was limited to Wil's knowledge, it made sense that we didn't have much of an idea what was going on outside of her area. Which was fine, I enjoyed finding out as she did! But gosh, I want to know more, so much more! I am really keeping my fingers crossed for a sequel.

Bottom Line: Coldpocalypse is a mess and so are humans. An exciting adventure that feels eerily plausible, I definitely recommend!

Do I have a bias for automatically liking authors that use the name Allison as a main character? Yes. Do I also have a bias to auto like an author with the name of Allison? Also yes. She may be missing an ‘L’ but us Allison’s need to stick together!

Oh right, you came here for a book review, so let’s get to that.

Road Out of Winter is a dystopian book, that reminds me a lot of The Day After Tomorrow mixed with Station Eleven. It’s a totally different story but the idea that the world has grown cold and winter never leaves is similar and I just think of the amount of snow NYC got in that movie. This book follows Wylodine (Wil), who has been left behind in a small town by her mother and step-father. After the first year of no Spring, Summer, or Fall, only Winter, they packed up and headed to California to try their luck. Leaving Wil behind to tend to the marijuana farm and keeping the house and land safe. It’s the second year of winter, when her small Appalachian town finally succumbs to the cold and panic sets in. Thankfully Wil is smart and has a rare talent to grow plants, as long as she can find a greenhouse or keep her grow lights safe.

When Wil finally decides to head to California, after her mother, she ends up on a journey with a ragtag group of strangers that end up becoming her family. While on the road, they encounter different groups of people, each as different as the next, just trying to survive in their new normal.

I’ll be honest, I didn’t like Station Eleven. I need more from the story but Road Out of Winter, gave me the exact amount of action and heart pounding drama to really move the story at a fast pace. I really enjoyed the characters, especially Wil and they different versions of survival people develop for themselves.

Dystopian books are generally entertaining for me. I enjoy the thoughtfulness and creativity that goes into creating a whole new normal. They’re a little hard for me to read right now though, because with 2020 they’re hitting a little to close to home. I’m honestly glad I didn’t read The Wanderers this year, which is an excellent book that you should totally pick up, but maybe wait until COVID is under control. Regardless, the grittiness and pure realism this story presents is amazing!

I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a fast-paced story, or anyone who loves a good dystopian book that is more grounded in reality than something like The Hunger Games. Also, this was the perfect read for a South Texan girl in the dead middle of summer, who wishes it wasn’t 102 outside. This book comes out Tuesday September 1st, make sure to put it on your list!

I hope you enjoyed my thoughts on Road Out of Winter. If you liked this review please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my instagram @speakingof_books. Huge Thank you to MIRA Books for my advanced copy.