THE WINTER BEFORE BY KAREN CROMPTON

 

THE WINTER BEFORE

BY: KAREN CROMPTON

3.5 STARS

BLURB: Olivia was very close to her teacher, Mrs. Eleanor Ackerman. Mrs. Ackerman dies, leaving her run down cottage to Olivia. Olivia moves into the cottage to fix it up and meets her neighbor, Isaac. Isaac was badly burned in a fire that killed his mother when he was young and stays out of sight a majority of the time due to the burn scars on his face and body.  Olivia requests help from Isaac to fix the cottage and they grow closer. Olivia sees past the burn scars and learns about Isaac as a person.

I was in a major book funk before starting this.  I needed something easy and sweet after the dark stories I had been reading.  This was both easy and sweet. However, as the story progressed I liked it less and less.  It was cheesy, yes, and a little over the top at the end.  I was leaning towards 4 stars until the last 5% of the book.  I didn't like the way the big revelation occurred and I think it could have been better, overall.