I definitely loved the premise of this one! The setting in the 12th century is something that does get shown very often and makes a lovely change from the Regency or Victorian eras. Personally, the writing style was a little on the simple side for my tastes, but that's totally a preference thing as I know many readers prefer that to flowery language. It was really nice to see this era outside of a male-focused story and with such accessible writing. While not a winner for me, I'd recommend it to others looking for uncommon historical romances. I applaud the author for creating something original.

I love medieval romance books! And throw in a mystery! Sign me up! This book was very well written and the mystery kept me on my toes.

This is a medieval murder/mystery.
Our heroine is a lowly baker's daughter, who finds herself involved in more trouble than she could ever imagine.
It makes a change for the heroine to be an ordinary person from the town surrounding the castle instead of a noble woman. She is an uneducated but intelligent young woman, with lots of courage. The story is the first in a new series and set in a very dangerous time in the history of England. It definitely caught my interest from the first to last page.
I loved it.

Another first in a new series. Bronwyn, is the baker's daughter and has her own talents. When ordered to make a special order for the king and queen, her world turns upside down. Her father is accused of murder and jailed.
She must prove the murders were not related to her family at all. A highly engaging romance mystery during the 2nd century, it is filled with many characters all who have depth and their own motives. The story ends yet leads you into the preparation of the second book so watch out for it.
Don't miss this one.

Love love love this historical medieval mystery!!!
The FMC, Bronwyn, father is accused of murder and poisoning, she takes it upon herself to solve who actually done it.

This was a fun and exciting read. It was enjoyable because the FMC was actually smart and I loved how she went about solving the mystery

There are not many mysteries set in the tumultuous court of King Stephen (1096-1154). A Winter’s Poison by E.L. Johnson is certainly the first I have personally read. It follows teenage Baker’s daughter Bronwyn, adept in the kitchen herself, as she is pulled into it making a fairly routine delivery. A nobleman named De Grecy orders fancy white rolls from her father’s shop on a whim, and Bronwyn discovers they are intended for the king and queen only when she arrives to drop them off. However, as she is departing, she sees a cloaked figure fiddling with the food and tries to report it to the head cook. It’s clear that someone has added mushrooms to the top of the rolls.

No one has any interest in believing Bronwyn and the rolls are sent on. But when two men die, including De Grecy, her family is immediately suspected. Her father is thrown in jail and suspected of treason and Bronwyn is sent to the royal kitchen to work under the watchful eye of the head cook. Soon, the queen herself tasks Bronwyn with solving the murder before her father’s execution day – leaving her potential prey to enemies from all sides.

However, she also finds herself with many unusual allies as well. There’s handsome squire Rupert, vain beauty Lady Alice, and even Sir Nicholas, the leader of the king and queen’s guard. Though many people dismiss Bronwyn due to her age, she is capable and sure of herself. She is also very firm on boundaries concerning her body, and even turns down a marriage proposal from someone who steals a kiss from her.

With a sprawling cast, strong heroine, and obvious research done in the time period, this book is a lot of fun. The plot keeps moving along and keeps the pages turning. Reader’s who enjoy historical mysteries, but are looking for something a little different, this will likely fit the bill. E.L. Johnson is far from a first time writer, but it appears that most of her work is historical romance. There are definitely sections where the love interest is lovingly described, but there’s nothing spicy in this book.

The mystery is solved by the book’s ending, but the story continues past it to set up a sequel. The second in the series already has a release date. To me, the ending was one of the weaker sections as it felt rushed – straying from resolving the mysteries and tying up things for the characters to make the reader very sure there will be a book two. Despite this, I will certainly be picking up the sequel when it comes out.

Winter’s Poison is the first book in a medieval historical mystery series.
It opens following a young woman named Bronwyn and her father, who are humble bakers in the small town of Lincoln. As they’re selling loaves of bread in town, they’re approached by a man named Hugh de Grecy and paid to make fifteen loaves for the castle. They accept the offer and after dropping off the loaves, the loaves are seemingly poisoned. The story then unravels to reveal all sorts of things about the castle and the court amongst it.
While I knew going into this that the main character, Bronwyn, was a baker, I didn’t fully grasp just how much of the book was going to be spend talking about loaves of goddamn bread. Believe it or not but that’s not really very intriguing to me when there’s a murderer to be found! I also was not a fan of the prose and the sometimes flippant language used ruined the immersion and pulled me right out of the setting.
Ultimately this book was not for me.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with this ARC!

Winter’s Poison is not what I would call a historical romance as the romantic moments are more of a subplot and the book doesn’t end with either a HEA or indeed really end at all as well are left hanging at the end of the book in a more serialized type of book. It is much more a medieval mystery than anything else but that is fine by me and I am looking forward to the next book. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

It was a good start to the series. Well written, although the language needed my attention. Bronwyn and her father are caught in a plot to kill the king. Using all her wits and her friend Ruperts help, she needs to free herself. But kingdom is in turmoil because of war, and she is captured as a pow.

The ending was exciting with Bronwyns elevation into the Queens court. Also, it looks like there's going to be some romance drama (love triangle) with Alice and Rupert. I hope not, as that will make it pretty stereotypical.

#netgalley #WintersPoison

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Winter's Poison by E.L. Johnson is a third person-POV historical mystery set right before the Battle of Lincoln in the mid twelfth century. Bronwyn is the daughter of a baker and assists her father and stepmother in their business. When her father is accused of attempting to poison the king and queen and murdering a noble, Bronwyn is tasked with trying to find who actually committed the murder.

This book and The Girl Made of Stars by K. E. Le Veque are a bit of a departure from what I have come to expect from Dragonblade and I’m excited for how the imprint is moving. When I first found Dragonblade, it was mostly Regency romance and then they released two romances (so far) set in Imperial China and further back in the UK’s history. There’s even been a Regency romance with a Filipina lead with a hint of fantasy. Winter’s Poison is not what I would call a historical romance as the romantic moments are more of a subplot and the book doesn’t end with the HEA/HFN. But given that it feels like it’s getting harder and harder to find historicals that I’m interested in reading in traditional publishing and Dragonblade clearly labelled this as a mystery, I’m more than open to this new direction.

Bronwyn is eighteen and there is pressure from her stepmother to get married, especially when another talented baker in town expresses his interest in her. A lot of this book is examining the misogyny of the time period, including the man who expressed interest in Bronwyn kissing her without her permission and acting as if she doesn’t really get a say in whether or not they get married. Bronwyn is attracted to a young squire named Rupert who expresses interest in her, but I feel like he was kind of there as a foil for the way men treat women in the world as he is far more respectful.

The mystery itself is slowly solved as Bronwyn spends her time at court working in the kitchens and later for the young noblewoman Alice. Bronwyn is clever and assertive, but her snap judgements tend to put her in more trouble rather than actually solving her problems. I both was and wasn’t surprised by how the murder was revealed because I did have a hunch who it was, but I was a bit surprised at how other people reacted to the truth being told before remembering how little women are valued by so many male characters.

Content warning for depictions of sexual assault and misogyny

I would recommend this to fans of historical mysteries who want something set in the twelfth century

found the story a light and easy read. Bronwyn, a baker's daughter, whose world is upended by circumstances beyond her control tackles on political intrigue of the court. I like a good murder mystery, and I like that Bronwyn is faced with challenges- I also really like the fact that she isn't a Mary Sue.

In the first few chapters there were some mistakes of going in first person, even though most of the book is in third person p.o.v, it made me sort of confused and had to reread those pages (I want to say it was between page 10 and 16 on my phone). Additionally, there was also a part where the word white was used too much.. white clouds, white breath, a loaf of bread was just described white.. so the word white was used four times in like two paragraphs, and I was pretty sure the intended use was 'hot breath' and not 'white breath'
-the who done it was pretty obvious, I'm not sure if it's international, but that drove me pretty batty as the 'investigation' went on.
-The possible romantic side, while I appreciated wasn't the whole plot of the book, also felt a little dry. I'm hoping if it continues in the next book that that part also picks up.

I received this arc from the net galley. Murder mystery set in medieval times with the baker's daughter as the lead. I felt the story was interesting as the fmc has to prove her father's innocence yet no one believes her bc she is a woman and a baker's daughter. The ending was definitely good and set for the sequel.

This is a very solid start to a series. I love the attention to detail that the author provides that gives a sense of realism and grounded-ness that sometimes historical fiction lacks. I also enjoyed Bronwyn's character a lot. Her kind of "fish out of water" journey is a refreshing take as this baker's daughter finds herself involved in court politics, murder, and mystery as she tries to prove her father's innocence. Winter's Poison actually introduces several female characters that I find incredibly interesting and hope to see more of them in future installments.

However, I will say that if I didn't know that this was going to be a part of a series, I would rate this lower. If a reader didn't know, I think this would come off as a lot of build up with very little payoff and pretty rushed. This is also a book where romance is like a sub-plot, so if you're wanting a story where the romance is at the center of it all, I wouldn't necessarily recommend this book/series at this point. I only mention this because it does have "Romance" as one of its categories.

Absolutely love this book. It is so interesting and keeps your attention the entire time. The main character is so interesting, and I love how strong, and capable she was. It was a great murder historical romance, and I really enjoy how some parts of it are based on history. I would also love to see what happens after that ending.

I had the pleasure of reading an ARC of Winter’s Poison by E.L. Johnson through NetGalley, and I absolutely loved it! This novel offers a fresh and intriguing spin on the medieval historical genre. The story kept me hooked from start to finish, and I even found myself wanting to bake bread while reading! The twist was well executed, making it an addicting read. I can’t wait for the rest of the series!

although i don't usually read this genre, i wanted to try something different this year. shockingly, this was an engaging read for me and i easily finished it in a day. there were a few high tension plot points, but some were a little predictable to me. the twists in the last 15% of the book kept me on my toes. anyways, i'm excited for what's to come in the rest of this series!!

➼ thank you to netgalley, the publisher and the author for providing me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.