A fast paced, action packed thriller, loved every minute of it.
The plot, writing and characterisation are fabulous. It is the second in a series but I had no problem reading it as a stand alone and will definitely read the first book.

I was so eager to read winter rising after winter dark because i just can't get enough of my favorite female badass.

Fast paced and filled with adrenaline rush moments, this second book didn't disappoint at all..

Winter Rising By Alex Callister

If you enoyed Winter Dark, then read or listen to this book, the second in the series. Winter is a fierce individual, and I just love this strong character.
I got this book on netgalley, but enjoyed the narration of the first book so much I decided to buy this book on audible, and I am glad I did.
I could write a full review on just the narrator alone, her work is exceptional. She flawlessly goes from accent to accent, often switching from one accent to another and back in one conversation. I could listen to this nartator all day.
The combination of Alex Callister, Ell Potter narrating and Winter the character, will have me snap up another book in this series if there is one.
So well written, and the narration is the icing on the cake.

Deliciously trashy spy novel, much like the first one. A female James Bond for the near-future. There is also appeal to those who love the enemy-to-lover arc.

I was so eager to read this book after reading Winter Dark. This instalment was not a disappointment.

Fast paced and gritty it is a roller coaster of a read, which I loved. Winter is still trying to locate Alek after the climax of the last book. When a body of a woman is found with a personal message to Winter she needs to find out who is responsible for it.

The trail leads to a cold hitman but who is he working for.

If you like an action filled book then this is perfect for you.

Winter Rising by Alex Callister is the second book in the Winter series. I have not read the first book and found this book to be fine as a standalone, but, by the time you finish this book, I am certain you would rush to read number one, I shall be!
This is a definite action packed, edge of your seat thriller, think James Bond but female with even more sass and thats Winter! There is a massive network on the Dark Web names Firestorm. It is a contract killer for hire site. This means there is a rise in murders world wide and fear and anarchy begins to erupt. The head of Firestorm was uncovered by Winter, he is Alex Konstantin, but he also saved Winter's life. He is now in hiding in order to survive. Winter is meant to be bringing down Firestorm and Alex with it, but she decides to aim for the top henchman instead, the Guardian.
After a woman is murdered with a mesaage for Winter left in a macabre way. She is determined to find the Guardian.Winter finds herself travelling all over Europe chasing Firestorm and the guardian.
With relentless and high octane action. The pace never drops throughout and the underlying chemistry between Winter and Alex Konstantin brings something extra to the story.I enjoyed the non stop action and it is definitely one for the people who enjoy a tense thriller. Thanks to Bookouture Books on tour for making me a part of the tour and Netgalley for an ARC.

Winter Rising is the second in The Winter series featuring the intrepid Secret Service operative. It is an action-packed and nail-biting thriller and Winter is a fabulous character who kicks butt and is pretty fierce and fearless. Although preferable to gain maximum enjoyment, as this follows on from events 8 weeks prior, it is not essential to have read the series opener before this. Winter is still caught up in finding and bringing to justice those behind Firestorm, a site that provides a hitman for hire service considering the price is right. The infamous Guardsman is the one who does most of the dirty work and Winter decides to go after him despite her being under threat and in massive danger. It's complicated as the entrepreneur behind Firestorm, Alek Konstantin, saved her life when things went south in an operation in Paris. She gets wind of a plan to create chaos at the G20 summit in London where world leaders will gather for talks regarding the rapidly increasing terror felt around the world with so many hits being performed. Can Winter manage to stop the devastation that may unfold or is it already too late?

This is a thriller that moves at breakneck pace and has your heart thumping with the many edge of your seat moments throughout. I felt my adrenaline rising and although it took me longer to be gripped by the story than in the first, once I was a couple of chapters in I was totally engrossed and found it compulsively readable. The writing flows effortlessly allowing you to easily read chapter after chapter without really realising it. The cast of characters are developed further and I enjoyed learning more about everyone but especially Winter who exposes her softer side. An entertaining, quick and easy read and one you'll devour just as I did. If you enjoy non-stop action that doesn't give you a moment to breathe, a heroine who is complex and takes no crap from anyone and a plethora of truly shock-inducing twists, turns and superb red herrings you cannot afford to miss this cracking page-turner. I'm already excited for the third instalment; please don't make us wait too long Ms Callister. Highly recommended. Many thanks to BOTBS & Bookouture for an ARC.

I am in my absolute element with this series! Winter is hardcore – she does not give a jot about anything and, whilst that ends up working in her favour some of the time, there are also times where not giving a hoot doesn’t work too well for her.

Take the Guardsman for example. On one side I can see why she cannot let emotions get the better of her (or any other thoughts for that matter), so it’s as though removing herself from the physical tasks ahead, is what works for her. At times, because on the other side of the coin, I think that her not giving a damn means that she ends up thinking a lot more irrationally. Probably why she gets herself in multiple pickles!

Alex Callister has Winter’s character and personality absolutely nailed. Shes very marmite yet I find that that makes her all the more intriguing because you never know what she is going to do next.

The suspense, thrill, and cut throat moments in the storyline were second to none. I loved the darkness and uncertainty which surrounded Winter’s every move – I didnt want the book to finish!

Another great read to grip hold of!

Winter Rising by Alex Callister
The Winter Series #2

On the edge of my seat from beginning to end! This story grabbed my attention and held it from beginning to end. Winter is a superb main character that I am eager to read more about as soon as the next book is ready!

What I liked:
* Winter: smart, brave, exceptional in all that she does, able to hold her own in a fight and almost anywhere else. She is a woman to admire, fear and find out more about. I wonder if SHE believes there is one right person for HER…
* Alek: The bad guy that holds the world in his hand and has intrigued Winter – I want to hear more about him
* The two youth she has taken on and how they follow her a bit like ducklings imprinted on her
* Simon: The quartermaster there for her when she needs him
* The plot, writing and pace of this story
* That not all expected to be on the side of right are and on the flip side…not all that are expected to be evil are without a soul
* The chess game played out on the board of this story
* The mysteries solved
* That the evil were truly evil, remorseless, and nasty people that deserved to be taken down
* Winter’s “other face”
* Written down as I read: complex, taut, lone wolf, impulsive, traps within traps, brash, interesting, intriguing and more
* Not knowing who to trust
* The twists, turns and surprises
* Trying to figure out what the implication of 12 and all the ramifications it would have in this story
* Wondering how it will all play out

What I did not like:
* The loss of innocents
* The truly evil people unveiled…so deserved what they got

Did I enjoy this book? My – oh MY – I surely did!
Would I read more in this series? As soon as I can!

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC – This is my honest review.

5 Stars

This a fast paced, action packed and unputdownable thriller that kept me on the edge till the end and I loved this adrenaline fuelled story.
The author did a great job in mixing romantic suspense with spy story and technological thriller creating a story full of twists and turns, full of surprises and great characters.
You cannot help rooting for Winters and Alek, there's a great chemistry between them and I wanted them to have their HEA.
Winters is a badass heroine with an attitude, a strong willed woman who goes for the throat and doesn't like to play by the book but she's got also a tender and romantic side. Alek is the guy you like even if he's the Prince of Darkness and you would expect him to be the villain of the story not a romantic interest.
The plot is fast paced, action packed and the author did a great job in delivering a well told and well written story.
There isn't a lot of character development but the characters are interesting and well thought.
I didn't read the first instalment in this series but I will surely do in the future.
I can't wait to read the next book and I strongly recommend it.
Many thanks to Bookouture and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Thank you to Bookouture for letting me take part in this tour and for my copy of this book via netgalley.

After finishing Winter Dark I had to read Winter Rising. Alex slowly drew me in with the first book but the second I was in deep and was not coming out. While this is the second book you could read it as a standalone. I would, however, recommend reading both books to really get the background.

This book is set 8 weeks after the first. The world is still hunting for Alek but Winter has a new focus and that is finding Lucy's killer, The Guardsman. As in the first book Winter is kickass and confident. I think she has a lost a little of her overconfidence and is starting to use the people around her a bit more. But she is still on a solo mission to save the world. There are times when her overconfidence really gets her into trouble;e. She thinks no one can do it as well as her. I still love her and while she can go, rogue, I think she does it with the best of intentions.

Alex's writing is perfectly paced. I easily read page after page. I was hooked! We also get to know some of the characters from the first book a bit more. See more of their personalities and their skills as Winter starts to learn to use the help she is offered. I love the new recruits too. I can't wait to see them develop.

I honestly cannot wait for the next book in this series!

I read, reviewed and loved reading the first book in the series featuring Winter called 'Winter Dark'. I couldn't wait to grab a copy of the sequel. Well ladies, gents, children and anybody else I can think of, the wait is over because the sequel ('Winter Rising') to 'Winter Dark', was released on 18th May 2020. It's another cracker of a read and I thoroughly enjoyed every single second of it, but more about that in a bit.
I have to say that it took me a little while to get into this book, which has more to do with the fact that I was tired and finding it hard to concentrate than anything else. Once I got into the story that was it and I was away. I found it very difficult to part with this book for any length of time. If I wasn't reading the book, I was thinking about the book and I was looking forward to picking the book up again. To say that reading 'Winter Rising' became addictive seems like a huge understatement. I was like an addict in desperate need of their next fix. The plot intrigued me. I had my own suspicions as to what was going to happen and how the story would pan out, so of course I had to keep reading to find out if I was on the right track or if I would end up going down another road entirely. The pages turned increasingly quickly as my desperation to find out what happened grew and grew. All too quickly I reached the end of the story which I was disappointed about because I had to say a temporary goodbye to Winter again.
'Winter Rising' is well written but then I thought to be true of 'Winter Dark'. For me, 'Winter Rising' was well paced. The story hit the ground running and maintained the fast pace throughout. The author has created a tight plot, which will take you on one hell of a journey with lots of twists and turns along the way. I was gripped by the story and on the edge of my seat for most of the book. 'Winter Rising' also kept me guessing. The author uses such vivid and realistic descriptions that I really did feel as though I was part of the story myself.
In short, I thoroughly enjoyed reading 'Winter Rising' and I would definitely recommend it to other readers. I will be reading more of Alex's work in the future. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 4* out of 5*.

"If you care, your enemies have all the leverage they need."

If you are looking for an action-packed suspense thriller with a kick-ass heroine government agent, then this is the book for you. Following the fast-paced WINTER DARK, this second installment still has it all.

The series focuses on organized crime and its boss, Alek Konstantin, who also happens to be intimately involved with Winter to the extent that he's embedded a tracker in her wrist. Previously unknown and in hiding, Winter found him and his identity has been exposed to the world and he is being hunted. Winter both wants and doesn't want to see him again.

There's danger in technology, and the new popular internet application is known as Firestorm. If you want someone dead, the Guardsman will do the hit. Anyone can have anybody killed for the right price. The world is in chaos and Winter decides to go after the Guardsman even as they are targeting her. Then word comes down that the Guardsman intend to wreak havoc at the summit of the world's top leaders scheduled in London and they have a very powerful weapon. Winter needs to figure it out and stop the planned assault in order to save humanity. NO SPOILERS.

Complicated and rife with red herrings and all manner of suspicious players, Winter doesn't know who to trust. There are lots of characters, some from the previous book, and some new ones who all might have ulterior motives in being close to her. Winter is a bit unbelievable as invincible superhero and her relationship with Alek is very twisted, so she's a bit hard to like even if you root for her success in the mission. There's lots of bloody death and carnage. Violence and fight scenes are frequently described in great detail. The sex doesn't resemble lovemaking. But it all works keeping true to the characterization. Yes, definitely I'll want to read the next book despite the aspects I didn't like because it is really just hard to put this aside as you feel the urge to know who is behind the Guardsman. Sure, I could do without the sick romance, but I think that partnership is permanent!

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for this e-book ARC to read, review and recommend.

Winter is back and feistier than ever. The world is (literally) on fire following the action of the first book. Winter has a new assignment and takes her usual risks, but this time she is haunted by her encounter with Alek Konstantin. I loved how Winter’s character was further developed in this book and how she came to some realizations about herself. The action is absolutely page-turning. I have become invested in her and can’t wait for the next installment. For a full review, please visit my blog at Fireflies and Free Kicks. Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for a digital ARC of this book.

💓Heart-pounding danger with a female James Bond😲 Total adrenaline fest!

Just as lightning-paced as Winter Dark, I adore agent Winter and this resumption of her scary exploits. This loner operative could be unlikable, but author Alex Callister has given her heroine her soft side, in her unstoppable attraction to Alek, the Dark Prince who heads a global criminal network; her mentorship of two young, unlikely recruits; or her sympathy for Lucy and subsequent victims of Alek's most senior and cruel assassins. Winter is a consummate hard-bodied fighting machine with a heart.

In this second book in the series the world is in turmoil with revolt, lawlessness and violence taking over in a perceived power vacuum. As the world's key leaders prepare for a meeting to address the problem, Winter gets drawn into a web of seemingly unrelated events with the Guardsman, one of crimelord Alek's principal contract killers, constantly involved. Something supremely bad is going down and Winter's determined to prevent it. Once again, Winter is changing identities and moving country to country meeting shady characters along the way.

I have to admit that I, like Winter, was totally surprised by the Guardsman's identity when they finally meet. But the climatic fight scene was worth the wait. In fact, I read until I neared the climax and then put the book aside for a day because I did not want the story to end!

The writing is top-notch and I would put Callister's action series against the best in the genre -- Jack Ryan, move over!

Thanks to publisher Bookouture and NetGalley for providing a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest review and the opinions expressed are my own.

This is an action thriller that certainly attested to its genre. When I was reading Winter Rising, it was like I was watching an action movie that had mystery, action, and white-knuckling suspense. The prologue immediately gave me the chills with the following:

"Instinct forced her body still, choked the scream rising up her throat. She froze, listening to the rustling in the trees, the far away traffic, the hammer, hammer, hammering of her heart. And something else. A sound like a blade on a whetstone. A slow rhythmic scrape."

*shiver*

With that being said, the suspense seemed to dip after that as I discovered this it is definitely not a standalone book. I, unfortunately, did not get to read the first book of the Winter Series before reading this one. And so, throughout the story, there were many occurrences where Winter refers to people and alludes to previous happenings with those particular people without providing any context surrounding it. An example of this is when the head doctor at the GCHQ, Everard approaches Winter:

"He raises a hand to my face and stops just short of touching, ‘You should get that seen to,’ he says, his breath whisper light on my cheek, his blue eyes staring into mine with all the intimacy of someone who has broken your mind."

It would have been nice to know what Everard specifically did to Winter. How did he break her mind? And why did he? So, I felt a bit lost at times and there was a lack of character development at the beginning that I am sure was covered in the first novel.

The story, however, does pick up and gets super interesting in the last third of the novel, which includes a lot more action and relationship connections that were lacking in the first two-thirds. As it progressed, I began to really enjoy reading it.

A good thriller novel, but it lost a couple of stars for not providing the necessary content when referencing previous people and events.

Alex Callister has created an engaging protagonist in her new series who you will be rooting for from the first page. Winter Rising is Alex’s second book and following on from events which took place in the last novel; Agent Winter once again has her mind fixed on the operation Firestorm. It is all she can think about as she imagines new ways to bring it down. In the background, London is gearing up to host the G20 summit, but something is being planned. As Winter begins to infiltrate Firestorm again, she begins to realise that the G20 is being targeted. But someone is after Winter as well. Winter is all too keen to engage them in combat and finish this once and for all.

Alex Callister has created a highly engaging new series. I read the last book really fast, and it was no different with this one. Agent Winter is a character who really stands out. Right from the opening pages, you feel as though you are there with her, as Alex’s writing is sharp and clear, and it draws you into the action on the page. You don’t need to have read the previous book to enjoy this one, but I would highly recommend it if you wanted to get more detail on the operation Winter is up against. It’s something that could scarily be plausible in the real world.

There are some new characters introduced in this book as well, including a woman who begins working with Winter called Xiu. And Winter once again teams up with Leon who featured in book one. I thought they worked together really well, and it’ll be interesting to see how they develop further.

The world-building in Alex’s books is really good and vivid. I like that Alex Callister takes us to a variety of different places across the world, which is what I also enjoyed when I read the first book. Alex Callister keeps the tension rising by counting down to an explosive event. We also hear from The Guardsman, who is keen to track Winter down and this keeps the pace flying forward as we see Winter sailing closer to danger. She doesn’t know who The Guardsman is, she can only speculate, and this is what makes it all the more dangerous. She is drawing closer and closer to an unknown enemy; all Winter knows is that they want to do her harm.

This is a series which I’m sure I’ll keep returning to. It’s different, action-packed and hugely exciting all the way through. Winter Rising is a thrilling and entertaining read!

YES! YES! YES! That is how you write an action thriller. Meet Winter - kick-ass spy. Just like James Bond only she’s a woman with a bad attitude.

The internet, especially the dark web, is a haven for criminals and terrorists. Someone has snatched enough critical mass to set up a vast network called Firestorm - which is like eBay for contract killers. Something for everyone. Killings skyrocket around the world. Fear takes hold and anarchy erupts in many places. Winter recently unmasked the ‘boss’ of Firestorm as Alex Konstantin but during an operation in Paris he saved her life. Now he is in hiding and on the run. Winter is supposed to take down Konstantin and Firestorm but instead she is after one of Firestorm’s chief henchmen, the Guardian.

She sets a trap for the Guardsman but arrives too late. The victim only has time to tell her that something big is going down soon, and that she is an experiment, before dying. Winter is obsessed with taking down the Guardsman. By now the story is already engrossing - but it gets even better as Winter chases the Guardsman and Firestorm around Europe and fights her way out of desperate situations.

The pace is relentless. This is pure action - character development is incidental, well Winter and Konstantin do get steamy a few times. But I didn’t actually notice before reading that this is, in fact, the second book. So the background may be in more detail in the first book which I will now have to read! I highly recommend this for action junkies and anyone who likes a tense thriller. Many thanks the Netgalley, Bookouture and Alex Callister for my review copy.

This is the second book in the series and it certainly doesn't disappoint. Like the first it grips from the start. The main character Winter is as strong as ever and not just pysically but mentaly too. I love how she comes across as badarse, uncaring' with a policy of never getting close to anyone and yet it is clear she does have a soft side but is extremely good at keeping it in check. This is the same in her obvious love for Alek the most wanted man in the world who she is supposed to be bringing down. Having started out to get him in the first book they have now developed a powerful and erotic and often explosive relatioship amongst the violent world they both travel in.
His adoration for her is pulse racing.and his character whilst scary will have you always hoping he will arrive any mnute!
This is an action packed crime thriller with a strong romantic touch. The crime story itself is fast moving and will have you on the edge of your seat. However not as much as the energy that comes from these two characters coming together throughout the story. I cannot wiat to read the next one.!!!

I read the first part in December and I was totally blown away. I could hardly wait to see what happened next and yesterday it was D-day. :)

When I finished the prologue my mouth had already fallen open and I had hardly time to pick my jaw up from the floor. I can tell you that throughout the whole book I was on the edge of my seat. I was like riding on a narrow mountain road at 150 km/hour. I sometimes had to brace myself, but I loved every minute of the ride.

Not only is the book filled with fast paced action, the author also slips some jokes into the mix. 

What would you do when the most wanted man on the planet is the one you want the most too? What would you do when he wants you to step out of the Light and become his Princess of Darkness? What would you do when you help and save each other, fighting on the same side occasionally, but nobody is allowed to know? 

I know we are headed towards the summer, but I can't wait for Winter to come back.  5 stars

Thank you, Alex Callister and Bookouture