Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read Love After Midnight! As someone who read The Coldest Winter Ever as a pre-teen, it was eye-opening to experience Winter’s world again as an adult. Sister Souljah has an incredible way of bringing her characters to life, and revisiting Winter’s journey after all these years was both nostalgic and eyeopening. This latest installment adds new layers and depth to her story, and it’s fascinating to see how she navigates love and self-discovery with the same confused spirit. I did enjoy this one more than the last installment, a compelling read for any fan of Sister Souljah. I am just in awe. Left speechless.

After reading this book - I was more lost than what I started out being.
I am a longtime fan of the original Winter Santiaga story in "The Coldest Winter Ever". When the second book came out I was excited to see where her story picked up at, but after reading the first few chapters it honestly was too much for me. Seemed a little demonic. So when I heard another one was coming out, I was hoping that she would switch the narrative and actually do the characters so justice. I will say it started out promising, but the more I read - the more I felt it was going nowhere. Quite a few times I had to go back and re-read pages because I wasn't sure what I just read. Then the ending. I could've did without this book. It just seemed very rushed and thrown together.

This was the book we were waiting for but it did not deliver. I’m appreciative of Atria giving me the opportunity to read, and my reviews are honest. This feels it’s was contractually written. The main character is flat and static. There was no growth and plot holes throughout the entire novel. It was disappointing.

Winter is and will always be the stereotypical hood chick we all loved from The Coldest Winter Ever. But this being the third installment even after the disappointing sequel I wanted more.

The last book with all “the last stop before the drop” mess lost me. In Love After Midnight, Winter is back seven months after being shot and waking up from a coma. It did take me a minute to get into the story but once I did, I was invested in what I thought would be Winter being the bad boss “b” taking the entertainment industry by storm. Winter figuring out the mystery of who shot her and having some growth and maybe even finding love.

That isn’t quite what happened. There’s no real plot that comes together. Just Winter running around being Winter. As childish as ever. Making the worse decisions ever. She has not grown and will not grow which I guess is the point. At her big age she remains self-absorbed, selfish and materialistic. Zero attempt at any kind of character growth. She’s such a hater of her own sisters and family. Like for why?

So many potential storylines that could have been explored, like her relationship with her estranged brother? Also, Pretty?? There was so much more there not explained. And how do we gloss over the shooting at the club and who was shot (don’t want to spoil the story by saying who). And we are no closer to knowing who shot Winter. The ending with FKR left me confused. The ending was very open ended but I’m not seeing the point of more if Winter never has any growth like not even a smidge a teeny tiny bit?

When I look at it from the perspective of “Winter is who she is” and will never have growth I guess it is what it is. Because Sister gives other characters growth and Winter is just Winter. Stuck in time, Pretty said it best “You really are still a teenager.” I didn’t mind the 90’s feel that’s the timeframe in which the book takes place. The breakdown of every outfit had me rolling my eyes though. All in all, an okay read if you just want a continuation of Winter’s antics with no self-reflection, accountability or growth.

Thank you Netgalley and Atria for the eBook.

I feel like this was four storylines in one. There were so many storylines that were started but left unfinished. Initially it was unclear where we were time wise and it felt like this should’ve been released before the last book, but eventually there are enough thin threads to place it after the book

Winter is back! I love The Coldest Winter ever series. Ignore the bad reviews! This is an amazing book by sister souljah. Some are missing the point of this book. Winter is definitely the stereotypical hood chick, but that's who she was in the original book that EVERYONE loved! Amazing work Souljah!

Sister Souljah has redeemed herself with this one. The last book fell a little short for me but in this latest installment. Love after midnight brings back the one-of -a-kind, unpredictable Winter after her near death experience. The story was very face-paced and took a moment for me to sink into, but once I did, it was filled with drama and suspense, that kept me reading and wanting more.

A worthy read.

I think because I read the Coldest Winter Ever when i was so young, that it has colored my opinion of the last two books in this series.

The last book...I can't even speak on it. Lets just say against my better judgement, I decided to try this one.

While not as polorizing..to me..as the last book, this installment showed me that although I have grown up, the character Winter..has not willnot and ..i guess that's the point.

So in this installment, Winter is capitalizing on her fame as a Reality show and all that comes with it. I was intrigued.

But then it quickly devolved and became hard to follow, i got annoyed with the complete Narcissistic behavior and thoughts of Winter and it almost felt like a caricature of every black/hood/ghetto/reality star you've seen on tv.

Basically i don't now what the point is of this series anymore. I managed to make it to the end by the grace of God and seriously screamed AND WHY?

If there is another book, I finally give up. I won't be reading it. Ill keep my fond memories of the first book.

2/5.
And that's being generous.

Thank you to NetGalley for the Arc. all opinions are my own.

Book Review: Love After Midnight (3/5 stars)

Love After Midnight, the final installment in the trilogy, is a step up from the second book, but it still falls short in some key areas. While the pacing and writing improved, I struggled with the direction the author took with Winter’s character. As a reality TV star, Winter’s new life feels far-fetched, especially when you consider her roots—she was just a regular girl whose father was a drug dealer, living off “hood-rich” status. Now, her sudden wealth and fame seem forced and detract from the raw authenticity that made her character interesting in the first place.

There were also a lot of unanswered questions, leaving me to wonder if the author even knew what to do with Winter by the end of the story. The book could have gone in a more grounded, realistic direction, but instead, it leaned into the fantasy of fame. While I appreciated the character growth and some of the plot twists, I couldn’t fully connect with the choices made for Winter’s journey.

All in all, Love After Midnight is a decent conclusion, but it left me wanting more depth and realism. If you’re a fan of the series, it’s worth a read, but don’t expect it to resolve all the lingering questions from the previous books.

Love After Midnight by Sister Souljah was better than before!
Very well written and extremely captivating I was hooked and didn’t want it to end so soon.

Thank You NetGalley and Atria/Emily Bestler Books for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Winter Santiaga is back and once again proves that she is the baddest b*tch. Her cunning ways, street smarts, and ability to get money and attention for herself are all front and center in this book.

Winter is learning to navigate life and love in this new time after spending years in prison and after coming out of her coma from the last installment. I love her hustle and spirit, and I loved seeing other members of her family.

I really hope there are more books to come in this series as I can’t get enough of Winter Santiaga. Thanks to the author and Atria/Emily Bestler for an early copy to review.

Can you say redemption? Because that’s exactly what this is. Sister Souljah returns with another book in the Coldest Winter Ever series. That last book was just not it, but we’re gonna leave that in the past, and we’re gonna focus on this one!

Love After Midnight gives us everything we were hoping for. Winter is back, and doing her OG stuff while finding love and trying to learn how to make money on her own. This book was everything I didn’t know I needed, and more. Sister Souljah did her big one with this, and I am excited that she is back where she belong.

I’m not a spoiler type of person, but let’s just say if you liked the first book in this series, then you will definitely like this one. I will warn you though, it will leave you with even more questions than you had before, but I will tell you, I think we have another book in the works here. So don’t feel as if this is the end of the road, because there’s some things that will let you know it’s not.

Winter is back you guys!

2.5 ☆
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I read the second book in this installment, "Life After Dark," and I have no comment. This book is what I was hoping would be different, and I was disappointed that it wasn't. Winter still hasn't matured at all. She is 30 and still label-chasing and doing reckless things. This series just wasn't for me.
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Thank you, Netgellay, and Atria Books for the Ebook in exchange for my honest review.

Despite her traumatic past, Winter Santiaga, who is almost 30 years old remains self-absorbed, materialistic, and focused on superficial pursuits. This third installment in the Winter Santiaga series continues this trend, with a plot that goes on aimlessly without clear direction.

The novel opens with Winter in a nightclub, admitting her addiction to drama and that she has not found a man who can truly captivate her. The following 429 pages are filled with frivolous nights out, business dealings about her reality show and fashion enterprise, and questioning who shot her. I was hoping to read about Winter meeting someone that checked all her boxes, and who helped her mature and challenged her to be her best self.

I admire Winter's business sense and her ability to capitalize on her life’s experiences and make her money through legal means. Although Winter is spirited, her lively and intriguing personality is overshadowed by her lack of maturity and accountability. Even though she holds grudges, I admire her loyalty to her word in putting Dutchess Mitchell on her team. While Winter has the support of her family, in fact her three younger sisters demonstrate more maturity than she does, I wish there was a character whom she respected, someone to mentor or guide her towards greater accountability, mindfulness, and being less materialistic and shallow. Throughout the book, Winter's character development is lacking, and I was left wondering about the author's underlying message.

While I continued reading in hopes of unraveling the mystery of Winter's shooter and the potential for love in her life, I ultimately found the novel unsatisfying. I anticipated witnessing Winter's growth into adulthood, her with more of a mature mindset, and her eventual meeting someone who would love her. The lack of plot development and character growth made it challenging for me to connect with Winter or to become invested in her story.

Sister Souljah is back with yet another sequel to The Coldest Winter ever. While this book is better than Life After Death, I still think the "magic" is gone. I first read The Coldest Winter Ever 20+ years ago, and the book was great. Fast Forward to 2024, and although the writing style and story is the same, I think that I am just simply too old to enjoy the narrative now.
Winter is starring in season 2 of her reality show, and is still searching for who shot her and put her in the coma. She is still label chasing, and trying to build her new empire apart from her sister's husband and his plans for her career. Ricky Santiaga is still in the picture as her manager.
I think the younger crowd will enjoy this, and I would still recommend it, but I'm also still looking for something better if that makes sense.
Thank you to #netgalley for this #arc

Love After Midnight is the third book in The Coldest Winter Ever series by Sister Souljah. There was a time when Winter Santiaga was that bitch. Allow me to re-introduce this classic character. Winter was the oldest daughter of a Brooklyn drug kingpen. Reigning hood loyalty until everything fell apart. Fast forward fifteen years and Winter was released from prison, only to be shot and sent to hell in the sequel, Life After Death. (A book that I DNF'ed with no regrets.)

In this third installment titled Love After Midnight, Winter is brought back to life with a mission to find out who shot her while trying to capitalize on newfound fame as the star of a reality TV show and creator of legitimate businesses.

I expected Love After Midnight to be a redemption novel. It started off better than the sequel but quickly became hard to follow, disjointed and confusing. There are no smooth transitions between chapters. New characters are introduced but not fully developed (or truly named). Winter's narcissistic antics and shallow behavior is almost comical. I don't even know what genre to categorize this book. The best I can describe it is urban fiction with themes of fame, revenge and relationships.

I can no longer try to figure out Sister Souljah's purpose for this series. Is it to prove that fame comes at a cost? To point out the difference between heaven and hell on Earth? To jumble readers' brains? Love After Midnight is written like Sister Souljah wrote random dialogue and narrative on index cards, shuffled them and transcribed to paper with no clear direction. The ending even seems out of place and incomplete, not in a traditional cliffhanger kind of way.

This review feels very much like a break-up. Very "it's not you; it's me." The whole time I was reading Love After Midnight, I was thinking that I'm no longer interested in Winter's shenanigans, ghetto princess behavior, hood friends and nonsensical actions. Girl, grow up! Evolve. Learn. Listen. Mature. I want to see Winter win but it's time I hop off this journey. This series is no longer for me.

Happy Early Pub Day, Sister Souljah! Love After Midnight will be available Tuesday, October 8.

Disclaimer: An advance copy was received directly from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions are my own and would be the same if I spent my hard-earned coins. ~LiteraryMarie

First I will like to start this review off by saying, The coldest winter ever is my all time favorite book , I was a kid when I read it and here recently my book club read it “ Books We Love To Discuss “ and as an adult it didn’t age well however it is still my favorite book! The also read Life after Death 😌 no comment! I read this with the best intentions of receiving a redemption from the last but I really love the cover so pretty 😍! I feel the storyline was all over the place and it was really hard to figure out what was going on. I finished the book however I am so confused. The ending didn’t feel like a ending, it felt like a to be continue but I don’t understand why 🥲

I missed the earlier books in this series and that could be why this one didn't resonate with me. Winter is not a likable character, at all. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. Over to others who enjoy Souljah's work.

Nothing will ever top The Coldest Winter Ever. Its so unfortunate that all the other books from this author are not that great. The Coldest Winter Ever is an all time favorite for me.

I was really excited for this read , I was one of the few that really saw how great life after death was. However , this was very hard to get into and it felt as if the book was not connected to a story line .

Love after midnight brings back the fiesty and unpredictable Ms. Winter as she returns back to the spotlight after her near death experience . Coming from book 2 I just knew it was going to be a much deeper meaning , but it appeared very superficial . I felt as if the story line was different pieces that did not create a story . The ending was a cliff hanger , so it gives hope for the journey of Winter.

Thanks to NetGalley & Simon & Schuster for this Arc