I received a free copy of this book from the author. I had the opportunity to review or not.

Can cruelty and love exist together? Perhaps in the underworld. The tale of ErlKonig, Elisabeth and Kathe begins with a fairytale, or so it seems; but nothing is as it seems in this tale of secrets, hope, deception love, and sacrifice,

Elisabeth and the Goblin King played together as young children and developed a friendship over the years. But Elisabeth grew up and no longer went to play with him. She forgot about her childhood friend. He did not. He lures Elisabeth into his kingdom using her sister Kathe. When Elisabeth agrees to stay with him, he releases Kathe. The two childhood friends are each at odds with their feelings but try to make it all work. The story revolves around that conflict.

This well-written and well-developed tale is filled with descriptive dialogue and an amazing underground world of captivating creatures. The world of the Goblin King is filled with changing scenes, changing attitudes, changing items and changing feelings.

Beautiful writing! Really draws you in. The danger and beauty mixing in the tale just swallows the reader up.

Title: Wintersong
Author: S. Jae-Jones
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books

Review by CL Vitek

“I am the Lord of Mischief, the Ruler Underground,” he said, mismatched eyes glinting. “I am wildness and madness made flesh. You’re just a girl”—he smiled, and the tips of his teeth were sharp—“and I am the wolf in the woods.”

The 2017 debut novel from S. Jae-Jones, Wintersong, is a dark fantasy YA tale full of romance and music. The heroine, Liesel, has grown up enchanted with the myths of the Goblin King, Der Erlkönig, and his otherworldly role in the turning of the seasons. As she reaches adulthood, her dreams of composing music seem impossible when confronted with the reality of hard work to help support her family. But when her younger sibling disappears and she comes face-to-face with the truth of the myths, Liesel is forced to make a choice that will lead her into a game impossible to win.

I’d looked forward to reading this book for some time, anticipating a fantasy novel incorporating devious and deceitful versions of goblins and fae into historical fiction. My interest was certainly piqued by the fact that the sibling-snatching antagonist in Wintersong was The Goblin King. With that royal title, it is impossible for fans of Jim Henson’s Labyrinth (1986) not to see the similarities. The elements of that story are here: the Goblin King (down to his mismatched eyes and distinctive hair), stolen siblings, poisoned peaches, a game of chance, and the winding, labyrinthine passages of The Underground itself. The resemblance is difficult to miss, even as a book admittedly inspired by the film. These elements, while entertaining nods when used sparingly, can also be distracting when they mirror the story too closely.

The first half of the book begins Liesel’s journey into The Underground and presents an initial conflict that I found interesting and read through quickly. Unfortunately, Liesel’s part in this is resolved relatively early. At that point, the story takes a turn that shifts the it both in tone and in pacing. The narrative slows to a crawl, focusing on the growing romantic relationship instead of a greater hinted conflict with treacherous goblins or the wager between Liesel and the King. Everything I found compelling in the first half disappears and we are left only with the romantic plot. It is arguably the weakest part of the story and the one that we spend the most amount of time on

It is stated the that two main characters have an emotional link but it was not well reflected in the actual interactions they have with one another. The Goblin King doesn’t feel menacing or very mysterious though Liesel assures us he is both. At the beginning, the book establishes he enjoys wagers and playing games with mortals, yet he seems fairly forthcoming in what his goals are. This was a common occurrence in all Liesel’s relationships; many times we are told about how Liesel feels about secondary characters without seeing it revealed in their exchanges. It’s hard to get a grasp on them other than what the main character tells us herself. As slowly as the story unfolded, the romance - and the oddly paced plot surrounding it – wasn’t quite enough for me. While I’d read the story was supposedly filled with “gritty and dark romance”, I didn’t find that in this book. Instead, I found a safe retelling of myths with some outside influences.

There are echoes of the Hades/Persephone myth, Beauty and the Beast, and Orpheus’s journey through the underground mingled with tales from European folklore and Christina Rossetti’s 19th century poem The Goblin Market. The book is beautifully written and it’s clear that Jae-Jones can use language to set the stage for this story. The scenery she describes is gorgeous and offers a good look at the setting both historically and geographically, painting a picture of both worlds that is intriguing and exciting. Potential for a compelling story is all there; the book just falls short of doing something unique with the setting and inspiration.

Verdict: Wait and See.
While beautifully written, Wintersong’s slow pacing kept it from ever reaching more than another fairy tale for me. This book may appeal to the inner romantic in many readers, especially for those who like their romance with a slow burn and a little more explicit than typical YA fare. For me, the sexual content seems unnecessary at times and occasionally distracted from the story instead of enhancing the flow of it. As far as being a fairy tale, it did the job quite well, never forgetting the darker (and often more complicated) origins of the oldest stories we all know.

I would recommend this book for fans of the dark fantasy romances like Fallen, Wicked Lovely, or Poison Princess. It contains a lot of fun elements that I hope to see explored by the author in future works. I would certainly read another book by her in the future.

It is important to keep in mind that Wintersong is part of a duology; the second chapter – Shadowsong – is releasing in early February 2018. Because of this, the book ending feels abrupt, reintroducing story elements largely abandoned earlier just when we were sure they weren’t. There are a lot of loose ends to be answered in the second book and still much of the world left to explore.

I noticed it had mixed reviews comparing it to Labyrinth so I was a little apprehensive going in, since that's probably a top 5 movie for me. And the first half of the book a lot of details felt similar but not enough to annoy me, and they were minor - mostly goblins that might have been influenced by those in the movie.

I feel like we could've gotten to know the Goblin King a little better than we did, and there were a few loose ends that I hope are cleared up in the sequel.

A favorite quote:

'hope was stubborn. Like a weed it returned, even after I had plucked it away again and again'

I really enjoyed this, so much so that I bought the hardcover copy for my collection. And I tried requesting the ARC for the sequel on netgalley but unfortunately, I wasn't approved so I just have to wait a couple weeks until it releases :/



*I received a free copy from netgalley.

I received this via Netgalley (thank you) which in no way influenced my review. I see a lot of readers instantly dismissing this as Labyrinth rip off and somehow missing that the whole idea of a Goblin King (known as the Der Erlkönig in this book) predate the Jim Henson movie by centuries. It’s an entire mythology found throughout Europe and not just a David Bowie movie (but yes both are pulling from the same mythology) with written records going back to the tenth century so my advice is put the movie aside and try to read this on its own merits.
And it’s a book well worth it. It came close to getting five stars from me and might have if not for a few things. Liesl is a young woman of talents from a musical family fallen on hard times thanks to her father’s alcoholism. She is, however, also unhappy and it’s hard to blame her. It’s the 1700s and a woman composer such as herself has no real future due to her sex. Her much prettier sister, kathe, has been engaged to Hans, a man Liesl hoped to marry. Liesl has her own future hopes tied up in her sickly brother Josef, a talented young violinist. He plays her music and they consider themselves two halves of one coin.
When she was younger, she and her siblings played in the Goblin grove with another young boy with whom Liesl was close. Now she has set aside childish things except for listening to her grandmother’s old-fashioned superstitions about the goblin folk. As the time for Josef to audition with a famous musical mentor comes close, the house is in an uproar and Liesl’s mother doesn’t allow for the old fashioned protections against the goblins in her house fearing the mentor would take them for bumpkins. This is a mistake.

Kathe is kidnapped by the Goblin King (yes like the movie, yes like a hundred other folk tales from centuries ago) and Liesl must rescue her. That is only a third of the story and for me the least of it. What is far more interesting is the sacrifice Liesl makes bringing her into the Goblin King’s world. The rest of the novel revolves around Liesl and Der Erlkönig. She wants to reclaim her life and the world above (shades of Hades and Persephone) but she is intrigued by the Der Erlkönig who she realizes is more complex than she thought. Der Erlkönig is both the Goblin King but like her, now his queen, was once human.

Tehey share music and hope and hopelessness. They are complicated and fascinating characters whose story I didn’t want to end. Der Erlkönig’s secrets weren’t all revealed and for all his monstrous at times, kind at times behavior (shades of Beauty and the Beast) , he is very sympathetic. Liesl’s heart breaks for him (and mine was tugged as well). I wanted a happy ending for them. Through this we see Liesl’s coming of age as a woman, shedding her childhood name and embracing her identity as Elizabeth, a woman filled with music, magic and wildness torn between her enigmatic lover and her family in the world above, especially her brother Josef.

I loved the characters and the setting. I wanted more of them. So why not the full five rating? There is a bit of repetitiveness that slowed this down, especially in the beginning. I was getting weary of how many times Liesl had to tell us how plain she was and how she could never expect to out compete Kathe. Her music and her relationship with her brother, while good, also trod the same ground over numerous times. Also, wasn’t entirely a fan of the ending. There will be more as it’s a duology (though from the author’s own answers to reader questions it wasn’t really planned that way and this nebulous ending was going to be the end of it.) I think the reason I wanted more from the ending (spoilers ahead) was that there was hints that the Goblin King could lay down his crown. Okay more than hints but it wasn’t explored fully or even suggested between the two of them (because it did have dark implications). I would have liked to see that explored more. I hope it is in the sequel.

This review is also available on my goodreads, and blog. Blog site is abookishbeginning.wordpress.com

In return for my honest review.
This book had everything, magic, goblins, romance, and heartbreak. It was the perfect tale.
"The young boy asked the girl, will you marry me?"
It took so many different twists that i was not expecting!! I knew somewhere the Goblin King had loved her, but I would not have guessed the ending!!
Elizabeth was always worried of others. Always cared for their needs and had forgotten her own. She had forgotten who she was. She had forgotten who he was.
She had always had her music but it was not her music people wished to hear, or was it? He had wanted her, her entire. Her music, and heart selfless, and yet selfish.
He was the key, as was she. What it was she hadnt known yet, there was much she still had to learn. Had she known was it was like to die underground, better yet did she understand what living was?

A must read, I can't wait for book 2, even more so now!!

Wintersong sounded like a book I'd like. I do think my younger self would have liked it a lot. My grown-up self became bored quickly. I stuck with it until about halfway when I realized that I didn't care what happened to any of the characters (or the world, for that matter). I think a lot of my issues result from the fact that I'm not a big fan of the "ordinary" girl who spends a lot of time marveling that someone would want her even though she's "ordinary" when she's not ordinary, she's just extremely lacking in self-esteem.

This was a beautifully written book but with a pretty boring plot and an MC I didn’t like. I just DNFed it after a certain point because I couldn’t get any further. My rating is specifically for the lyrical and flower writing style which I enjoyed for the first half of the book.

I had heard mixed reviews going into Wintersong so I put off reading it a little longer than necessary. I am so upset that I did.

Jae-Jones has brought us a strong, brave female lead that is selfless and full of love. The Goblin King holds my heart as well as Elisabeth’s. The two of them together ignite so many feelings in my heart. Their passion, love, guilt, anger, all of it, we feel it right along with them. Jae-Jones portrays them and their emotions perfectly.

This is one book that I did NOT want to put down whilst reading and that I did NOT want to end, period. I recommend it to anyone looking for a heart wrenching love story for the ages.

Wintersong is a sumptuous book filled with haunting imagery, passion, longing and music. It is a beautifully written book and hard to put down. What is real and what is an illusion? Is the illusion better than the reality? Would you rather keep your eyes open? These to me are central questions to the story.

Thank goodness there is a second book to read immediately because this story is begging for a conclusion. But will it be a happy ending? What is a happy ending anyway?

Hearing Wintersong being pitched as The Goblin King, and me who's a huge fan thought I'd love this book. Unfortunately, it did not live up to my expectations. But that's just me, because a lot of my blogger friends loved it. I guess I just set the bar too high, or I compared it too much to the film or to Mark of Truth by Graceley Knox (both I absolutely loved). Hopefully I'll like the sequel better.

Unsure how to review this book beyond saying that it was beautifully written. I know nothing about music, composing, or anything. But this was written in a way that felt like I was listening to a symphony.

This was a beautiful and sad romantic, and tragic, fairytale. The pacing was a little slow, but while reading this I was so swept into the story that I didn't really notice that I had been reading for 2 hours.

This is a wonderfully written story about sisterly love. The plot and the characters were all well written. I found it hard to put down because I just wanted to know what would happen. I recommend this read for sure.

4 1/2 stars

I've never been a huge fan of fantasy and some science fiction. I'm not going to shrug and tell you that I don't know why. I do. Typically it's as elementary as the names. Authors in fantasy frequently dig up (or make up) the longest, most unpronounceable names for their characters, which, after a few chapters gives me brain freeze. (It's the same with math, which is neither here nor there.) The unfortunate consequence is that I tend to stay away from fantasy, and a novel like Wintersong is overlooked.

However, on this occasion, I read the blurb, with its recognizable names, and chose to read a fantasy novel. I'm glad I did.

Wintersong is a beautifully written, almost poetic, novel by S. Jae-Jones. It's part of a duology, the second of which will come out on February 6, 2018 (Shadowsong).

The poetic writing harmonized extremely well with the realm of beautiful music, forest magic, and goblins.

Liesl, although an extremely talented, read genius, composer, is overlooked by her musical father due to her brother, Josef's expertise with the violin, not to mention, of course, that Josef is a boy. After much emotional battering, Liesl lets her music die, folding herself into the background as the support for her family.

As the support for her family, it is only natural that when Liesl's sister, Käthe is taken by the goblins, Liesl would offer herself in her sister's place. It soon becomes apparent that this is not a hardship for in the land of the goblins, Liesl is free to be herself and fall in love.

While Wintersong is wonderful when expressing the beauty of music and love, Liesl's angst can sometimes be grating, but then I typically would rather read minimal angst on most days. However, with a novel that had me continuously flipping pages, it's obvious that I dealt with the angst in favor of a powerful, sensual love story. For at its essence, Wintersong is a love story, not just that of a woman and a man, but of family and music and the qualities that make us human.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

More specifically three and a half stars.

This rating is surprisingly low, even to me, considering how popular this book was and how much I enjoyed it in the beginning.

I will be honest here: as a reader, I actually enjoyed it. But as a reviewer, this book is definitely flawed.

My problems on this book go from our desperate heroine to the slow to the no-progression-at-all-storyline. I was surprised that it ended that way, especially when the first half was so fast-paced. I was expecting romance, but I really didn't know that it would be the core of the story. Especially when we were hinted slightly that something bigger was at work here, that there's a bigger problem arc, but we didn't see any of that at all. Because of this, I was disappointed by how much the whole storyline just revolved around the not-too-good love story between the Goblin King and Elisabeth, instead of an actual fantasy/problem arc. In other words, it can almost be said the entire book was just about around miedvel (often cheesy) dialogues, fancy riddles about love, and romantic/dramatic description about music (except this actually wasn't too bad).

I'm especially disappointed by how Elisabeth and the Goblin King acted in the relationship. I was to a point, shocked and almost disgusted by Elisabeth's desperation for the Goblin King's love (both physically and mentally), and how the Goblin King acted disappointedly human instead of being more monster-like (since he was an underground monster king for at least a century, maybe the author should've taken that into consideration). I can't remember how many times I thought about how other books wrote a better Goblin King-like character when the character was not even a monster, while I was reading the book because the fact that the king of Goblins, Lord of Mischief, Ruler of Underground, Der Erlkonig, is so much, like my shy, teenage boy classmates who don't even have the guts to ask a girl out.

Don't even get me started on Elisabeth. She was so strong, so admirable. Her insecurity about her average appearance and constantly not getting recognition was so relatable, which was why I saw such potential in her character. So imagine how upset I was when I saw how the author turned her character during the book from the strong heroine we see into the beginning, into a girl who just wants to "do it" with the too-human-like-teenage-version Goblin King.

But I can still see why this book was so popular. Next to the flaws, there is just as much good stuff I can say about this book than about the bad stuff. The world-building, especially the scenery descriptions are some of the best I've ever seen in a young adult fantasy novel, and how the author "wrote out" the feeling of music along with Elisabeth's love for music is just plain magical. It's also a good thing that the themes of the book is stated out so clearly - because the themes are usually the core of the story that makes everything from the atmosphere to the story. In result, you didn't have the story being totally confusing with anything feeling out of place.

I really do wish though, that the author could've made the hate-love relationship better, and in the next book focus more on the story instead of the romance. Beside from that, I will give this three and a half stars, still recommend it to YA fantasy lovers, and will continue the series with love. I also am confident the second book will get a better rating from me, because this book was actully not that bad, only with a few factors that kind of bugged me. So it shouldn't be a surprised if I eat up the next installment.

I'm so excited to start the second book!

I featured this book in a roundup on Twin Cities Geek: http://twincitiesgeek.com/2018/01/6-books-to-warm-up-your-winter-reading/

I am clearly, obviously the ideal audience for this book. I think a lot of people my age will be, what with its blending of German mythology, music history, and the movie <i>Labyrinth</i>. But what flaws that <i>Labyrinth</i> did have, mostly due to it being a 2-hour movie (Sarah not really having any interests other than "ugh, why the little brother," there being no other real female characters, the Goblin King being attractive but on really nothing more than a superficial level), were more than solved in this book.

Liesl is a musician, a composer; her brother Josef is a violinist, the virtuoso of the family at age fourteen. Their sister, Käthe, isn't a musician, but she, like the rest of the family, still has a connection to the Goblin Grove nearby, and she's the one who ends up Underground, lost to the Goblin King. Liesl must go rescue her sister--and possibly lose herself and her freedom in exchange.

The story has elements of the Persephone myth as well, as well as Der Erlkönig (the poem originally by Goethe but mostly the song by Schubert), but what enchanted me was the breadth and depth of the details about music history. I've got a degree in music history, and I'm used to writers not thinking it's worth their time even to research to, say, discover whether a particular composer even wrote a particular kind of piece, but every single detail rang true, whether it was about Guarneri del Gesu violins or Vivaldi's nickname or bow repair.

That having been said, the characters also won me over, from Liesl to her grandmother Constanze (also the name of Mozart's wife) to the Goblin King himself and the members of his court. The pacing was slow but meticulous, the settings finely drawn; the overall structure felt incredibly solid to me, and I'm sure I'll read this book over and over again. I am very excited to read not only the sequel but also any future works by S. Jae-Jones.

This was lovely--a coming-of-age story with a mythological bend--that kept my interest and sucked me into the world that was created. I especially liked the music connection emphasized throughout. I would recommend this for a variety of genre readers. Those who like mythology, fantasy, YA romance and historical fiction would probably enjoy this. I can't wait to read the next one!

Wintersong is both haunting and lyrical, a tragic and eerily beautiful folklore telling.

Liesl/Elisabeth is an ordinary heroine, and that is what makes her so perfect in this story. She is less than average (even depicted as ugly) in physical appearance, and as such, she lacks any value in the mortal world. Furthermore, life circumstances and feelings of worthlessness have led her to hide her true self, even from herself.

Not until she meets the Goblin King and exists in the Underground does she come to realize and acknowledge her worth. She has fierce love and loyalty for her family, she is musically gifted, she is both selfish and selfless. She is greater than fleeting physical beauty.

Speaking of the Goblin King....more, MORE! This anti-hero is wrapped in mystery and intrigue, and he makes you love and hate him in equal measures. I want so many questions about him answered in the next book. Please!?!?!!

Then, there is Elisabeth and the Goblin King together. I truly enjoyed the way Jae-Jones developed and built their relationship; for them and for this story, it worked so well.

I MUST read Shadowsong, where I hope all my questions will be answered and I will find closure.

***A copy of this book was provided via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.***

I don't read much from the fantasy genre, but I do love fairy tales and always loved the movie Labyrinth. So, I thought I would give Wintersong, by S. Jae-Jones a try. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it and I will definitely be reading Shadowsong, the next book in the series. I can't wait to see how the story continues. Thanks, NetGalley!

“You are the Monster I choose.” A few days after I finished the book and that line along with the imagery from the book are still invading my thoughts. The book was haunting, with prose that brought the world and characters into reality. The book was darker and far creepier than I was expecting but it worked wonderfully for the story. The plot was enough to draw me in and keep me reading. The fact the Liesl is plain and physically unattractive is a large part of the story and I thought that added a lot of value to the story because we see the other traits she has that make her an amazing person. The fact that she doesn’t suddenly become beautiful was also refreshing as that is too often the case in YA books. I also appreciated the unexpected ending. I’m not sure where the second book is headed but I will certainly be picking it up! The only thing that took it down a star for me was the slightly slow pacing and the fact that there was too much music and not enough labyrinth. The book was slightly unbalanced in that regard. Otherwise it was a fabulous read.