I didn't care for the FMC, which makes it really difficult to enjoy it. I ended up DNFing.

Sorry for the delayed review. I have been working this year to catch up on my netgalley backlog. I appreciate the opportunity to read this story.

Sadly, I didn’t love this book as much as I thought I would, but I did enjoy many aspects. I loved the world building and how well written it was. I will definitely read more by this author.

Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones is an enchanting and musical journey that immerses readers in a captivating world of fantasy and romance, as Liesl's quest to save her sister leads her to the alluring yet perilous realm of the Goblin King, where she must confront her own identity and make a life-altering choice.

“Wintersong” (and the other books by this author) is sooooo enjoyable! I found myself simply LOST on (digital) pages of the story and longed for it to continue at the conclusion.
I have recommended this author, and specifically, this book, to quite a few readers in person and via my Goodreads account.
Solidly written with great character development. The reader feels invested from page 10!
Thank you so much! 4/5 stars!

First off, I wanted to be sure to mention how much I like the cover of this book. It's lovely.

This was an interesting story of a girl and the goblin king. I liked the beginning, did not enjoy the middle, and I liked the end (although things weren't resolved, it ended at an ok point). I think the writing captured the chaos, decay, and illusion of the goblin court.

Full of magic, music, and love, Wintersong tells the story of how an unlovely girl known as Liesl ends up finding and accepting her true self with the help of The Goblin King. It is an enemies-to-lovers story full of yearning and passion and I can't wait to see what happens in book two!

(Full review to come).

Wintersong is a beautiful fairytale of a book. Anyone who is looking for an intricate retelling that isn’t following the same formula should pick this up and delight in the lyrical storytelling.

This book was sitting on my TBR for a long time and when i finally picked it up it did not disappoint me one bit!
The story is written in a nice granular manner with a lot of deatils on the characterizations, the story seems well researched and at the same time not too factual.
All in all it was an amazing story!

Better late than never. This was an incredible story. Very unique and riveting. The story follows Liesel and her dealings with the Goblin King. Liesel has always been second fiddle to her siblings. She is not the pretty sister and she is not the talented musician like her brother. When her sister is taken by the Goblin King, Liesel sets out to rescue her in the Underground and gets more than she bargained for. This story kept me completely engrossed and I have to continue on with the next book to see how everything goes. 4 stars. Thank you, NetGalley for the eARC.

If I wanted to be petty, I'd say I should have known better based on who blurbed it (Emily Duncan's books have never worked for me), but instead I'll take the blame for wishing Wintersong would be more than what it was. I think whoever compared this book to Labyrinth and The Cruel Prince did a disservice to them both. Wintersong paled in comparison. All they managed to do was set a bar so high this book never stood a chance. The author would have had to produce something truly breathtaking to even come close to the feels and emotions Labyrinth and The Cruel Prince elicit.

My biggest complaint would have to be Liesl herself. She's constantly talking about how plain she is compared to her sister, and I hated how frequently she put herself down. What about the teenagers reading this book? Are they supposed to relate to her feeling inadequate because of her looks? Are they going to look up to someone ordinary if she herself is unable to see the beauty in herself? The fact that Liesl needs a man - sorry, the Goblin King - to make her feel beautiful, is absurd. She should have found strength in herself instead of relying on it from others.

Also, the musical aspects of this book were snooze-worthy. I wanted to skip over them, but they took up the bulk of the book. I get why music played a large role in Liesl's life, but I was bored to tears trying to read through pages and pages of her playing music, composing music, or just talking about music in general. Her brother's music, her father's music, etc. It was a lot.

I never understood what the point of the story was. Were Liesl and the Goblin King playing a game? What was the game? Did they like or dislike each other? The rules were weird and not properly explained, and eventually I got tired of trying to figure it out. The story itself wasn't believable, and the characters were dull and unlikable.

I started this book back in July and I'm just now 32% into it? Hard pass, thanks. Clearly, Wintersong wasn't a good fit for me, so I'm going to stop trying to fit a square into a triangle. (★★☆☆☆)

*will add Amazon link once it's live

I will definitely regret myself if I have not read this beautiful prose by the ever magnificent S. Jae-Jones. Good thing I decided to join the tour or was it just my selfish self that fell in love with cover? Either way, I am so happy, and sad, and just heartbroken. Happy Valentine’s Day, indeed.

Nineteen-year-old Liesl, has known many things about the Goblin King, thanks to her grandmother, Constanze. But with these stories, there are memories Liesl has forced herself to forget: her memories with the Goblin King himself when they were still kids, asking for her hand in marriage.

Later, her sister, Kathë, was taken by the goblins. She then ventures the Underground to rescue her sister and take her back to the world above. But taking her back comes with a price. She then learned that without a bride, the world above will continue to persist without Spring. She then agreed to be the Goblin King’s bride, to let her sister go and for the world above to have Spring and Autumn.

With her life, living in the Underground, she finds herself falling more in love with the Goblin King, and vice versa. But it does not end there. They need to learn what it is they are willing to sacrifice.

I am honestly broken up to this point. Like, what have I just read? Well, it’s just the most beautiful book ever. You guys! You aren’t allowed to die if you still haven’t read this book. Because seriously, goblin + maiden + the world. I can’t. TT~TT. I’m pretty sure this book won’t work for everyone (sadly), but if you’re into romance and fantasy and a little about lyrical prose, this is the best book for you. I do respect the others who are not going to like this book much as I do ’cause that’s just how we roll.

If you know me, I’m all about romance and contemporary reads and I do read high fantasy novels but only to my liking and this book has definitely exceeded my expectations. I really thought this has the predictable vibe but wait until you get to the end. I was definitely lost in my own imagination, yes reader, it is that good and dark and mysterious. And quite sexy too. And despite it being a high fantasy novel, there isn’t much action or adventure that will take place, because I expected a lot.

I’m also just a little bit curious about the other characters in this story because there was a big cast in the beginning but as the story progresses to the end, they just suddenly stopped existing. Perhaps because the story mainly focused on the two characters that the other’s existence aren’t of much importance?

Jae-Jones wrote an exquisitely beautiful novel that will capture the heart of her readers. She’s created characters that are truly living, and scenes that are so vivid, you can imagine it playing right in front of you.

This book came out in 2017, it was one of the first Netgalley’s I was approved for. I am finally getting around to it…I’m fine, this is all fine.

Wintersong is a re-imagining of the German folklore, Goblin King. The Goblin King rides looking for a bride and then Elisabeth’s sister is taken. Elisabeth ventures into the Underworld to try and get her sister back safely, but the Underworld is unlike anything she’s ever seen and the Goblin King is unlike anyone she’s ever met.

There were parts of this book that I found beautiful and fascinating and while I overall enjoyed the story, it just feel like too much. There was a lot of extra fluff and repeated scenes that could’ve been eliminated and given us a story that moved at a better pace.

Elisabeth was a good MC. I like the “wary heroine” trope as overdone as it may be. The Goblin King was …interesting. I did enjoy him as a character, but overall ew. I loved the musical aspect, and I loved loved LOVED the setting. I traveled to both Vienna and Salzburg in 2019 and they are beautiful underrated places, so seeing a book set there gave me the wanderlust all over again.

I would also like to say that I have not seen The Labyrinth since I was a child and this book has given me a fierce desire to rewatch it.

I have been putting off writing a review of this book for a long time. There were parts of the book I loved and parts where I was just annoyed. I kept putting it down and then going back to it. Either way I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

The storyline was good but at times I felt like it was two different books. The characters are well written and developed. I especially enjoyed the Goblin King. He was such an amazing character and made the book for me!!

I don’t even know how to describe this book. If you are a fan of fantasy and fairytale definitely read this!!

**2.5 Stars**

I have been meaning to read Wintersong for forever, it just sounded so magical and romantic and the cover easily caught my eye. I will easily admit that I may have an unhealthy obsession with the great world building in the movie The Labyrinth so I may have unreasonably expected this to be a book version of that level of fantasy. Unfortunately, Wintersong was not for me. While there was a sort of romance (you know, the doomed kind where somebody is bound to lose), it felt awkward and off and was more about the physicality than anything else and ended poorly/bittersweet and super angsty. Yes this book is a YA story that has sex- but to be fair, the characters are married (sort of) before hand. But it was odd, like for example the male romantic interest refuses to have sex with the main character after they get married because she has not played music for him but then has a very carnal kiss in front of her with a random male servant...ok? not my definition of romance, but to each their own. Also a majority of the story was spent inside the main character's head while she angsted about not being pretty enough or talented enough, how nobody wanted her... while it all may have been true, it was still a lot.

And the thing that I see more reviewers loved about the book was my least favorite part- the music. A majority of the story went into details about playing music, the instruments themselves, composers, sonatas, technique...all things I care/know nothing about so it was a little boring in my opinion- keep in mind a lot of people really into classical music adored that part of the the story, it just did not speak to me.

There is a sequel to this book, but I will not be reading it- except maybe to pick it up in a library just to read the ending and see if it has a better ending than this one does. Overall, this had a great concept, it was just not what I wanted it to be.

I really enjoyed this book. Liesel was a great character and I had fun inhabiting her mind throughout the course of the story. I could definitely see the similarities to Labyrinth throughout the story, though this made me think of a more grown up version of Laybrinth with shades of Christina Rosetti, which is great in my book. I liked the intrigue of the story, knowing that something else was going on that wasn't fully revealed yet and the urge to keep reading until it was. This was one of those books that kept me reading way past my bedtime. I'm excited to dive back into this world with Shadowsong soon.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me early access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, what a fantastic fantasy novel. It gave me a lot of Spinning Silver vibes but definitely was it's own beautiful story. I'm really excited to read the sequel. Definitely an author I will continue to follow throughout her career because the writing was just so great and relatable even with this book being set in a fantasy world.

Nope, not for me. I love me some YA fantasy (Leigh Bardugo, Kendare Blake, Kristina Pérez, Renée Ahdieh, Julie Kagawa, I'm lookin at you), but this really missed the mark. Yes, the cover is gorgeous, and yes, the writing was lovely in places, but...BUT. So melodramatic, so much back-and-forth (I'm staying! No, I'm going! No, I'm staying! No, I'm going!) that it just became dumb. The mythology was never fully explained, but the music stuff sure was (ad nauseum). I couldn't figure out if Liesl and Der Erlkönig actually liked each other or not, and I found I didn't care TBH - they both were insufferable, navel-gazing, self-pitying people. Could've done without the whole God angle (dude is the freakin GOBLIN KING, creature of the OLD MAGIC - why is Christianity even a thing here???). Finally, who exactly is the audience for this book? I thought YA, based on the cover and the description, but there were many parts that were very *not* YA.

This book was different from what I expected, but nonetheless I enjoyed it. I'm not totally sure if I'll read the sequel but I will read more from S. Jae-Jones.

I loved the idea of this book so much.. The writing was very strong and it really was a dream come true to read a book about the Goblin King (I've been waiting all my life). That being said, my expectations might have been a tad high. Some of the musical descriptions lost me but beyond that the main character was hard for me to like. I did love watching her grow and get to know not only herself but the goblin king. This is one of those books that I will read again and love more with each reading.

Wintersong is an intriguing story that revolves around the folklore of the Goblin King and one girl’s averageness that is nothing short of extraordinary.

The story is set around a girl who’s father is a bit of a drunk, her mother seems strict and her grandmother is off in her own world half the time. Her two siblings are opposites as her sister is hellbent on marrying rich and her brother is too shy to function without her, but happens to be a master violinist.

It instantly starts out where the main character, Lisel, is being...almost harassed by her grandmother to choose between her brother and her sister, which she doesn’t really realize is playing out until its too late and she doesn't choose correctly. It lands her directly into the Goblin King’s hands, but this has been in the making, her and the Goblin King for a very long time.

The stress and depression that Liesl has is strong and sad. She puts herself on the back burner for her siblings and even sacrifices herself to save them. She doesn’t realize her own beauty and power, and that makes her a character a reader wants to stand by...even though she can be a little annoying at times.

The world building is very descriptive. A mixture of real life and complete fantasy. Even the characters that are purely fantasy are quite realistic. And the plot was great, it gave me all the feels. My heart was broken and panicked right along with Liesl.

Overall, does it give you a happy ending...kind of?...maybe. I’ll definitely be picking up the sequel.