A book that deals with grief and death.
A girl that loses her brother and soul mate, and her family and how they also deal that with that loss.
I didn’t empathise much with the MC, and since the book was mainly inside her head that was annoying, but after halfway I started enjoying a bit more.
I like how it brought attention to some relevant thematics.

This is a mix of hard-hitting tragedy and mystery with Inuit culture and appreciation woven in. I felt connected with Bean and her struggle with her brothers "suicide". I really loved Beans BFF Julies commitment to their friendship and to Bean through her journey to find out what really happened to her brother, Sam. I feel like this is a life lesson to appreciate the people and things around you, and to respect nature and what it does for us all. Its and exploration of grief and emotions that got to me at times. Although I really liked the book the twist at the end left a little to be desired, but I did appreciate and understand the authors personal connection to the subject.

I was drawn to this book by the cover and then by the description and it did not disappoint! I was hooked from the very beginning and that doesn't often happen to me when I'm listening to audiobooks. Kelly Pruner did an amazing job as the narrator and it was easy to listen to whether I was walking the dog, doing dishes or driving around.

This story follows Bean and her family as they deal with the grief of losing a brother and a son to an apparent suicide. Bean can't imagine that her brother, Sam, would ever take his life so she decides to search for the truth with the help of a close friend. I loved the way the author developed the characters and their relationships to each other. These relationships changed throughout the book as they all coped with the loss of Sam in different ways. As difficult as it is to read sometimes, I think many readers can and will connect to the raw and honest emotions the characters experience. I also liked the connections to nature. I've never been to northern Minnesota, but the author does a great job describing the setting, which I think really adds to the plot.

Even though I don't share the same beliefs, the Inuit culture was fascinating to learn about. I think the author shares a story of grief, loss and depression in a sensitive way that will connect with a lot of readers.

This was a moving story about grief, about family, and about friendship. One aspect of the story is a pet peeve of mine, so that knocked the rating down for me, but until that happened this was a great story for me.

This story also has references to Inuit beliefs and culture. I can't speak on the accuracy or representation of their culture in this story, but I did think the aspects added something to the story and the relationship Bean had with her brother.

Copy of the audiobook was provided by NetGalley in return for a review. Thank you NetGalley for introducing me to a new author. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for future releases by this author!

This is a book that covers a variety of hard to talk about topics such as suicide, death of a child, how the grief process affects families and spirituality. The main character is Bean a young teen who walks us through the mystery of the death of her brother and her own spiritual journey. A great read for teenagers through adults. Very thought provoking..

Winter of the Wolf should come with a trigger warning, as it handles the death of a sibling. This novel is both heart-rending and hopeful. 15-year old Bean's family begins to fall apart following the mysterious death of her brother Sam. Sam is Bean's whole world, her soulmate. Can she learn to accept this tragedy or will she succumb to the grief that threatens to consume her and her family?

Martha Handler gives a beautiful exploration of spirituality that is both modern and timeless. In times of grief and tragedy, our ability to open ourselves up to those around us and the natural world around us could hold the answers to help heal our souls. Not all the questions we have will be answered, and if they do get answered, those answers are rarely timely. The answers in this book were something I never could have deduced.

I am not in the target range of YA books, but I liked the look of this story and thanks to the publisher Greenleaf Audiobooks and Netgalley had an opportunity to listen to it. I found it an enjoyable listen, with the narrator Kelly Pruner doing a great job of bringing it to life. After her brother Sams suicide, Bean starts to develop suspicions that his death was not as it appeared. She delves around to see if anything else would come to light, and also has an incursion into Inuit beliefs (that Sam had been into) to help with her grieving process. Recommended.

I usually don't review books I truly do not like at all, because I don't like giving out entirely negative feedback. I feel like most books have at least something good about them, and it's more just that there are some not-so-good elements, but that was not the case with this one and since this was from Netgalley I feel compelled to give feedback on this book.

First off, I have to say I was so so so so excited to finally see some inuit rep in a book. But... it was awful. Not the writing, but the strange love affair the MC had with her brother Sam, the way she talked about him, her love for him, how she felt about him. It's all a little incestuous-feeling and eww. For a while I thought Bean (the MC) was in love with Sam and just called him her brother because they were such close friends, but nope. He's her actual brother. I still maintain that she was in love with him.

Pretty early on in the book we have the inclusion of inuit rituals and practices, from white characters, who read about them in books and decided that this was a good idea. Sam had apparently fallen in love with native cultures and especially inuit culture, and had requested to be buried according to inuit customs. As a indigenous woman myself, it makes me incredibly angry to see a white author playing it off like it's okay for a non-native character to take part in inuit burial rituals and communication with spirits. It feels like these details were included to make the book more diverse, but the exclusion of an actual inuit character in the book is upsetting to see. Sam is not inuit and even if by some chance the author recognized that and knew that it wasn't okay for Sam to take from inuit culture the way he did and this was supposed to be a flaw in character, the MC DID THE SAME THING, which makes it extra frustrating and seemingly clear to me that the author doesn't care about appropriating native cultures.

I was entirely unable to connect with either of the main characters this book was about (bean OR sam) because I was so angry to see that they were just willy nilly appropriating native cultures. I myself am not inuit, but I am indigenous, and if I saw or heard that someone had written a book like this including my culture I would be very angry. It feels like the author didn't hire any sensitivity readers or consult with natives about this at all.

Because of these reasons, I can't recommend this book.

NA it's just Corrin clearing out my personal account and I have to reach a 100 characters in length before I can submit.

I really liked this story about a teenager that is found dead in his bedroom. The authorities say it's a suicide but his sister doesn't believe it. Through soul searching and questioning people around her, she realizes she can't find the answer. But her family goes through the grief process, deals with mental health issues, and in the end, they eventually find the answer. Great storytelling for a really sad subject.

I gave this 3,5/5 stars.
To be fair, the ending kind of made it 3,5 while I first planned on giving it 4. I totally understand the author in wanting to write about this important issue, but it didn't match the rest of the story at all in my opinion. The story led me into a world of spirituality, Inuit traditions and customs, so I thought the ending and the mystery in general would have to do with this, but it was just something entirely different.
In conclusion: I really liked the vibes throughout the book and I liked the characters too, but in my opinion the end could have been better and not wrapped up as fast as it was.

Ooh, this one did not work out for me. Initially, as the story kicked off, I thought it was going to be right up my alley, but as I continued reading, it just settled on the surface instead of digging deeper into certain discussions and topics that were mentioned but just shrugged under the carpet. I was left feeling a little uncomfortable, disappointed and rather unsatisfied. 14-year-old Bean is struggling to deal with the apparent suicide of her older brother, Sam, the only person it appears Bean truly cares about. Bean knows her brother very well, and she’s certain he would never commit suicide. He was full of life and was happy, so why would he suddenly take his life? That’s exactly what Bean intends to find out.

Bean’s family each grieve in their own way and oftentimes don’t operate as a family unit who are all going thought a shared grief. Bean appeared selfish and inconsiderate at times, particularly towards her mother, who she often complained didn’t bother with housework chores such as washing and cooking. Albeit Bean appearing to be quite capable of taking care of her basic needs during these arduous times, she nonetheless has the audacity to disregard her mother’s breakdown and trauma over the loss of her child. After all, everyone grieves in their own way; there’s no right or wrong way to deal with tragedy, and you can’t dictate how a person should or shouldn’t handle a traumatic situation as the loss of a loved one. Bean admitted herself that she didn’t consider just how much Sam meant to Chase and Adam just because they weren’t as close to Sam as she was to him. Seriously? Okay, well, I give her credit for acknowledging her ignorance. She is still young, so I guess I can cut her some slack.

For reasons unknown to me, Bean isn’t close to her two Chase and Adam. The only person Bean cares about, which, at times, can be viewed as slightly obsessive and inappropriate, is Sam, and I still didn’t see why she had such a bond with Sam that she couldn’t have formed with her other two brothers. Chase and Adam didn’t appear to be monsters or mean in the slightest, so I imagine, if she had wanted to, she could have spent more time with them just as she chose to spend time with Sam. I wasn't convinced that Sam was that more caring than the other two, as there’s not much focus on her living brothers as there was on the brother she had loss. I wouldn’t have minded if the focus on Sam reflected more of his belief into the Inuit people and their culture, especially considering the major effect his belief had in relation to his death. Bean claimed to be very close to Sam but knew little to nothing about the thing Sam was most passionate about, that being the Inuit culture. I was trying hard to find out what it was about each other that made Bean and Sam so close, as we never really got to witness their relationship on the account that he died at the onset of the story. I must say, however, that some of the interaction and conversation between Bean and Sam left me feeling uncomfortable, as it didn’t seem the thing to be said between a brother and his sister. At times, their bond appeared sensual rather than protective, which was awkward. I’m all for showcasing love between siblings, but there was something off about this display of affection.

I wanted a lot more than what was offered to me. I wanted to dig a little deeper into the story to get that heart-wrenching tragedy that was promised at the start of the book. I wanted to empathise with the characters, but they lacked motivation and chemistry (I don’t mean romantic, obviously). The reveal behind the cause of Sam’s death was underwhelming, not the actual event and story behind what happened, but the reaction that followed the revelation of how he died. This could have been a lot more than what it was, which was disappointing because I can see a lot of potential here.

This is the second audiobook I have listened to, and I’m still not sold that audiobooks are better than ebooks, but it could just be down to the way it was narrated, which did not win me over. Had it not been for the fact that it was an audiobook, I probably would not have finished it. I didn’t hate it, but it didn’t leave me wanting more. By the end, I felt unsatisfied - or, maybe I was just hungry, I don’t know. Either way, it wasn’t a great feeling. This was just an okay read for me.

Thank you to the publishers and author for the opportunity to listen to an advanced audio copy of Winter of the Wolf by Martha Hunt Handler. As a mother of a daughter and two sons roughly the same age as those in the story, I really struggled with the nature of this material. I love how the family ultimately came to have peace about their son’s death, but it seemed like the fairly tale ending rather than anything rooted in reality. I appreciated the author’s notes, but also strongly feel that a caution note warning of all potential triggers at the start of the book would be a good idea.

The narrator was one of the better ones I've listened to recently! I think the author hit the different reactions and how people handle their grief quite well. Yeah, Bean was insufferable at times, but honestly, she's 14/15 and dealing with strong emotions that no one should have to go through at that age. Overall this was a quick listen (one work day, realistically) and developed a few characters quite well. Also, WE STAN A GOOD, SUPPORTIVE, NON-JUDGEMENTAL FEMALE FRIENDSHIP.

I'm not the right person to be talking about appropriation vs. appreciation, but know before going into this book that it definitely treads in that territory ESPECIALLY considering that this was not written by a native/first nations (or more specifically, Inuit) author.

Thank you NetGalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review. This book was pretty good, I didn't enjoy it as much as I was hoping though.

After her brother's mysterious death, Bean investigates to see what actually happened to him. This book follows her on her journey through grief and finding out what actually happened to her brother, Sam.

The performer for this version was fun to listen to, her voice was very dynamic.

An interesting, touching, and engaging story. Perfect for young adults with a few strong messages including (avoiding touching on spoilers) respect for self, respect for others regardless of species, and unconditional love.

Going in I was afraid that I would find cultural appropriation of the Inuit culture but I believe the way the Inuit information was shared was respectful as no character claimed to be an expert - they were all learners. But that is not for me to decide as I am not Inuit.

The fact that the author is an advocate for wolves is what really helped me decide to give this book a listen. While I appreciated the effort made to respect animals, the constant use of “it” to refer to an animal grated on my nerves. Animals are not objects and should be referred to as “they” when sex is unknown. Another upsetting aspect of the book was the misguided focus on fishing and the false claim that “catch and release” is humane. The majority of fishes who are hooked in the face die from trauma or are eaten by other fishes as they are weak. These two issues took away from the experience and are enough reason for me not to recommend the book to fellow animal advocates which is a shame.

Thank you to Martha Hunt Handler, Kelly Pruner, Greenleaf Audiobooks, and #NetGallery for an audioARC of #WinteroftheWolf in exchange for an honest review. Review will be posted on NetGallery and Goodreads.

Thank you NetGalley and Greenleaf Book Group for providing me with an audio copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This is a book about real life difficult topics. It’s not a light book and the author does not shy away from the inherent difficulties in discussing the death of a young person, the trauma of losing a family member, the topic of suicide, or the anger and second guessing that often accompanies the death of someone who was not ill. It is a beautifully written, deep teaching story line. It is a book that will have you thinking about it long after you have finished reading.

In the tradition of novels like Thirteen Reasons Why, this book reminds you that you are only a portion of someone’s life, there is a full story out there to uncover and sometimes answers only bring more questions.

The tie in of Sam’s Inuit beliefs and his deep bond with nature add another level of interest to the story. And prove that people really are an enigma.

Not sure what to make of this as the author wrote it because her best friends son had died. I loved hearing about the Inuit culture and some background to Sam and Bean. I wish we could of had more time with him.

A total shock when the truth emerged, maybe I am that naive

The Winter of the Wolf is a book that you would find yourself thinking about long after you are done with the book.

Bean Hanes just lost her brother-the brother she was the closest to; her hindered spirit; Sam. No sibling a rivalry just a connection that is unparalleled and one that she definitely does not share with her other two elder brothers.
The reader, at first does not know how the Hanes family lost Sam-but the author does a brilliant job of using the past and the present to put forth across the way the family deals with their grief.

The author is also honest about how Sam's own beliefs and deep respect for the Inuit culture also shows how he was perceived by the society that considers anything different as "weird" and "suspicious".

This book is Bean's journey to understand the why and how of Sam's death-it is a honest and heartbreaking journey of understanding and moving on-to a happy and healthy life.

Beautiful book, and interesting as well as thoughtful plotline that will make you think, feet and discover things that will make you grow as a human being.

I went into this book expecting more mystery, but was pleasantly surprised with what I got instead! The book starts with the apparent suicide of Bean's brother Sam, but she can't believe that is the whole story. While trying to determine what happened the night her brother died, we see Bean through her journey of grief, spiritualism, and how the world changes with such a tragedy. I loved that Winter of the Wolf delved into all the aspects of a grieving family, and how sometimes the answers we get aren't always the one we want. I also loved the approach to spiritualism and belief systems, as it was very open-minded and embraced many different cultures and beliefs. Although parts of the book were hard to get through, the writing was fantastic and kept true to the subject.