I won this book through early reviewers, and I was very pleased with it.

The mix of historical fiction, time travel, and characters that are easy to relate to make this work a great book for young adult readers everywhere.

I would definitely recommend it. ( )

While Winter Shadows contains elements of stories that I normally adore (young lady protagonist, time travel, diaries, self-discovery) I just couldn't make myself love this book. I liked it fine enough, but it really took a lot of focus for me to pick up the book and keep reading after a few pages. Present-day Cass and 1800's Beatrice had similar life situations, family drama, etcetera, but the timing seemed to be a bit off to me. As an example, Cass would be reading Beatrice's diary entry, and instead of cutting to Beatrice's timeline directly after Cass's reading, it would either be a few days before or after the events we'd just read about. That's just confusing, and it happened all of the time. You can tell that Ms. Buffie certainly did her historical homework as the book is chock-full of Cree language and details, but it felt like an overload of information for me. It's certainly deserving of the awards it's won, but to call this an easy read would be a stretch. 2 stars. ( )

Winter Shadows contains parallel story lines - one from Beatrice in 1856 and the other from Cass in the present day. Beatrice has returned home to take care of her father and grandfather and finds life with her father's new wife difficult. Cass also has step-monster problems as well as coping with a younger stepsister. The two girls both suffer from episodes of "shadows" in which they can "see" each other across time.

Both plots develop too slowly and, at times, the author seems overtly determined to impart historical detail and Native American language on the reader. ( )

This book shows that step families have been hard for a very long time. The parallel stories of Beatrice in the 1856 and Cass in the present both have a new step mother after their mothers have died and the relationship is not an easy one. I like this time travel/shadow travel/ ghost/spirit story? With a dash of romance. It is kind of hard to categorize.

It is set in Manitoba in 1856 Beatrice is not happy to have come home after being away at school and found her father married to Ivy a sour woman and Aggatha, Beatrice’s Cree grandmother, is not being taken care of, this sets off a chain of events that makes a relationship between Beatrice & Ivy very tense to say the least. Cass’s mother has died and her father has re-married to an unhappy jealous woman named Jean who also has a daughter Daisy who seems to do her best to annoy Cass. Suddenly these two girls’ centuries apart are seeing flashes of each other’s lives and Beatrice’s diary appears to Cass and she reads about Beatrice’s life.

I enjoyed this book and think that a lot of young people will relate to it, because blended families are hard but what I loved about this book was the reveal of the new wives past and what made them react to these girls the way they did and how when they found a happy medium to their feelings, that was when healing starts.

The “romance” between Beatrice & Kilgour was sweet I liked the way she never realized how he felt about her and how she fought her feeling tooth & nail without even realizing what she was doing. I also liked how Daisy & Cass’s relationship grew, these two stories were very true to life about how hard a blended family can be.

I totally see why this book has won awards in Canada and since Winnipeg Manitoba is only a couple hours from where I live it made it even more special. I liked the history of the Cree in this area and how they blended with the new immigrants into a thriving community.

I highly recommend this book.

4 Stars

Full disclosure: I received this book from the Librarything Early Reviewers Program for a unbiased review. ( )

This was a great book! I won it through Early Reviewers and am so glad I did!

I love the mix of historical fiction and time travel. The two main characters were very easy to relate to. I enjoyed how Cas's life and Beatrice's life intertwined. I found myself routing along with Cas for things in Beatrice's life.

I would recommend this book to both young adults and older adults. ( )