Not quite what I oexpected, which was a non fiction, science-based naturalistic writing. The fiction passages were lovely, I just think the transition between the two types of prose were a bit jarring at times.

"Thank you Netgalley and the Publisher for the eARC*

The tales, fiction and non fiction, were sometimes more lyrical and others more informative, and i did not care about all of them but the idea behind it is cool and i had a good time. But I admit that i was expecting a more non fiction vibe of it. ;

While I enjoyed reading this book, I think it could have been improved with an introduction to each tale, saying why it had been chosen. I had expected this to be a book of original stories all on the theme of winter, but instead it was a collection of extracts. Some were from personal favourites of mine, such as Villette and The Wind in the Willows. It was enjoyable and would make a lovely gift, but I don't think I will purchase the book when it is released. I would have been happier with a collection of original tales.

The cover of this book conjoured up a magical feel and lures you in and I was not disapointed - the book features a collection of short stories around the winter theme.

Really interesting well written poems and short stories for winter - ideal as a gift

Unfortunately this book was not for me, first because of the title 'winter tales" and instead of completed tales or stories I received a bunch of fragments from other stories/books, and in most ocassions too short to enjoy it, and even if there were some "completed stories" the book felt incoherent.

I was so disappointed with this book. I love all things winter - it is my favourite season - and I love nature, so I had high hopes. Unfortunately, rather than a collection of modern short stories, this was a mishmash of extracts and short stories that had no relationship with each other. There was nothing to show why each extract was chosen, which meant they felt that they had no context within the wider book.

I had to force myself to finish this, skim reading large parts just to get to the end.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

I read this over a busy December and New Year and it was the perfect book for dipping into short extracts and seasonal descriptions. I enjoyed recognising old favourites such as a familiar and much loved passage from Charlotte Bronte's 'Villette' and mole's excursion into the Wild Wood in 'Wind in the Willows'. I discovered new authors and have ordered a copy of 'The Stopping Places a journey through Gypsy Britain' by Damien Le Bas because I was so entranced by his writing.
There was a great range of styles from the oldest, and too brief, extract from 'The Exeter Book', which I had not heard of before but will follow up next time I visit relatives in Exeter, to the scientific facts of John Rae's meteorological journal
I would have found it helpful to have had an introduction to each piece giving at least the date, and the place of writing. Sometimes this is immediately clear from the opening sentence but at other times it took me a while to place the writing in context and this was distracting. Information is available at the end of the collection but I would have preferred to have the title, author, place and time summarised at the start. In the copy I downloaded only the last few listings on the contents page had live links, which was frustrating when trying to look back to an favourite piece.
In spite of these drawbacks, I found the range of stories and extracts enchanting, and it made me look for the mystery and wonder of dark nights and wild weather through a damp and gloomy British Winter.

Nature Tales For Winter Nights is a fiction compellation of winter-related stories that are new for the collection or taken from well-known works (Bronte, etc).

Now, this is my bad, I thought this book was going to have a more non-fiction lean a la Braiding Sweetgrass about plants and parts of nature that grow in the winter. This book was not that. The stories are all fictional, and several I think were really only included because they happen to occur during winter. And happen to happen outside.

I think I had difficulty with this book because it wasn't what I expected. I wasn't really interested in the general winter stories and was looking forward to what I thought were really nature specific stories. If that is for you, definitely recommend reading this book! It wasn't for me. 2 stars. Thank you to Elliott & Thompson and NetGalley for the electronic advanced reader's copy, my thoughts are my own!

a myriad of stories that brings on a sense of peace and wonder. a sharing of spirits designed to inspire the author's emotions within the reader. I love this book and know so many people who could use the same emotions.

Beautiful cover and an interesting selection of stories creating images of winter throughout the years.

It was certainly an interesting read. As the title suggests, best for winter/chilly nights while surrounded by fire or nature. Some of the excerpts were actually great and I would love to share it with others.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the E-ARC.

I expected this book to be a treasury of tales about nature through the winter and the changes the season brings focussing on weather, animals & plants etc. In fact it was more a variety of winter mentioned passages from different authors.
As ever in such collections, some excerpts I enjoyed more than others. I unfortunately found my attention wandering in some of the more longer stories, it just wasn’t quite what I expected!.

I find this quite a hard book to read and I haven't finished, I doubt I ever will. The excerpts of other authors' writing seems like a total random collection. I can't see any theme, other than they are all in winter. I feel it needs more structure and more editing. There are a few amazing lines in the first few chapters, but often it is quite incomprehensible and I have an excellent command of the English language. I was really looking forward to reading it, but hereby declare defeat.

Perfect for winter evening, cosy under a blanket reading by candlelight. A marvellous selection of tales to lose yourself in. Fabulous.

I would say I struggled through this. I was excited over the premise of collections of nature-in-winter pieces, and some of it struck me deeply like the tales about picking berries & about the floating icebergs. But I suppose, I had not expect that this would come with rather complex English that requires more serious reading time, nor the fact that it would feature plenty terms of plants & animals that I'd be totally foreign about as someone who live in tropical country. My bad, should've expected it more.

What I do like about this book, is that while reading it you can feel the muting cold snow around you: it transports you to the scene vividly even for readers who mostly find what's written here a strange new thing to read about. I suppose the book simply wasn't for me, a much better read for the right audience I'm certain! Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher, for allowing me an eARC in exchange for this honest review!

Let me begin by saying that I love winter...when I am tucked away under a blanket with a stack of books, a pot of tea, William Ackerman playing on the stereo, and my cat purring by my feet. If I need to leave my cocoon of comfort and brave the eye-searing, nose-pinching cold, I hate winter. Nancy Campbell’s lovely collection is the perfect book to enjoy whether you enjy winter from beneath pounds of blankets (guilty) or out bounding through the exhilarating, invigorating fresh air (my husband’s words).

In this volume Campbell has collected excerpts from the works of Sei Shonagon, Charlotte Bronte and Walt Whitman, US Poet Laurate Joy Harjo, the letters of Vincent van Gogh, diarist Dorothy Wordsworth, Darwin’s journals, the Quran, and Kenneth Grahame, to name just a handful. I am reluctant to refer to this collection as cozy; that implies it is something light, somewhat frivolous. Instead, this is a collection of literary works that expand your mind and steep your senses in the sensations of the season. However, it is imbued with the feeling of tranquility; it makes you want to pour a mug of something warm and settle in to enjoy a quiet winter’s evening. (I followed Campbell’s book with Isak Dinesen’s Winter Tales; I highly recommend reading the two together)

Nancy Campbell’s Nature Tales for Winter Nights is a book I will keep in rotation for seasonal reading. It is a perfect winter book, or summer book if you find yourself wilting in the heat longing for the winds of winter.

I don’t often reach for nature-themed books but it felt like a perfect pick for the Christmas/New Year period. I was captivated by the pretty cover and so was happy to get an e-arc from Netgalley.

I feel like this was quite a mixed bag of texts (fragments of fiction and non-fiction). Some of the extracts were too short and were lacking some context while a few other parts were quite dull long fragments of travel descriptions. On the whole, I think I expected something a bit more lyrical and captivating.

I think it’s a good idea to browse through this collection before buying as it might not be what you are expecting to find.

I was pleasantly surprised to see a fragment of Charlotte Bronte’s Villette in here as it’s one of my favourite books :)

Thanks to Netgalley and Elliott & Thompson for the free e-arc.

I received this as an ARC from NetGalley.
It is difficult to review this because I found the entire novel confusing. It was disjointed and felt like it needed more editing, or a clear theme? It didn’t feel like how the title suggested—nature tales . I was very confused throughout this entire book.

Based on the title and the cover, I was not expecting such a let down. The tales are not nature related, it's more like random excerpts from literature and disjointed writing. The whole thing felt confusing, not for me!

I shouldn't say it but it was originally the cover art that drew me in, I love the colours at the time of year and it made for a cosy look, tucked up with a book, right up my street.

This book wasn't quite what I had expected it to be, I had expected stories almost that sorted of flowed despite being about different things, rather than a mix of poems, short stories, and super long, the layout as an ebook almost comes across as clunky rather than easy flow and it's a little bit blocky in the sense that there are some of the tales work better than others depending on who is writing.

A personal response from each individual will always be different for each of the works that are read in the sense that some people may not notice the lack of flow or be bothered by it and others may be aware of it's lack of and its fleetingness to flick toward another chapter. For example, Poetry can be dull for me and anything that is too long winded and wooden in its topic. This is often why I prefer one story to focus on rather than multiple, sometimes I'd find it hard to pick back up because I wasn't interested in all the stories as they're mixed authors but as a whole it was interesting.

I think perhaps the book would be better received if it was a hardback physical copy rather than an ebook which can sometimes come over as a bit of a jumble.

Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley in return for my honest review. All opinions are my own.