Title: Blossom in Winter
Author: Melanie Martins
Publisher/Year: Melanie Martins LLC 10.28.19
Length: 250 pages
Series: Blossom in Winter
Overview
Petra, a seventeen-year-old Dutch-American and the only heir of finance tycoon Roy Van Gatt, has always had her life rigorously planned and supervised by her strict father. From her internship at his hedge fund firm on Wall Street to her degree in economics at Columbia University, Petra is all set for a bright future in finance.
But everything falls apart when she develops a dangerous relationship with her father’s business partner and utmost confidant, Alexander Van Dieren. A Dutch nobleman, known as an unrepentant heartbreaker, twenty-three years her senior, and who is, above all else, her beloved godfather.
A twisted obsession for some, unconditional love for others, but one thing is sure: it’s a relationship that might cost them everything…
My Thoughts
This story starts off back in time, when we know that things are tumultuous and when we catch up to present day, we see bits of the fall out in what has become of Petra. We know that her parents weren’t well suited – her mother was a bit of an alcoholic and her father was trying to make something of himself. When they decided to part ways, Petra went with her father to New York and that’s where her life is lived. We are now in her senior year of high school, a time that’s always a big change for anyone, and for Petra specifically, things are going to get even more insane.
Petra’s been living under her father’s thumb, to the extent that she has few friends, she has a reputation for being shy and uptight and she knows that her future is planned out in the sense that she will be following in her father’s footsteps, working in his business and being exactly what he wants her to be. Not only does it give him control over what she’s doing but it ensures that his reputation is upheld which is incredibly important.
In this first book we see Petra dip her toes into some of those more teen expected experiences, going to a party and finding herself in a situation with a crush that wasn’t ideal. While her best friend takes care of it, she’s not entirely sure what that means for her in the future.
Then she finds her godfather is back in town – a man that when she was ten years old, she had an insane crush on, and he disappeared from her life. Now that he’s back, she’s off kilter and that means that she has to figure out how to carry herself since she’s hurt that he left but happy that he’s back. He introduced her to his half brother and that introduces yet another bad decision. One of which Alex saves her from.
Where this leads though is down a path that we all knew was inevitable – the two of them coming together now that she’s just about legal, and the story from here is one of a deep and intense romance, but one that has so many obstacles in the way of happiness.
They want to be together but hte world won’t acept them. Petra’s father doesn’t know about them, but knows what things Alex likes in his personal life which means that there’s a huge issue to cross through. Then there’s the fact that there’s a huge age difference between them that society probably won’t like. And then the last and worst is that we learn towards the end of this first book that Petra’s mother won’t allow them to be together and is willing to ruin everyone’s family in order to keep them apart. She has secrets that she’s held for both her ex-husband Roy as well as Alex and Alex;s family, and if any of that comes to light, there will be total and complete ruin.
The plans that they made have to be broken, but that’s not all that’s broken. When Alex is forced to break up with Petra, she runs away and ends up in a car accident that puts her into a coma. The last pages of this story give us a confused perspective on things, and of course is exactly how a book should end so that we are forced to read the next one. So on that note – ENJOY!