Book Blog Tour & Giveaway: The Coldest Winter I Ever Spent by Ann Jacobus

THE COLDEST WINTER

I EVER SPENT

by

Ann Jacobus

YA / Contemporary / Suicide & Family Issues

Publisher: Carolrhoda Lab

Date of Publication: March 7, 2023

Number of Pages: 352 pages 

Audiobook: 9 hours, 11 minutes

Scroll down for Giveaway!

Eighteen-year-old Del is in a healthier place than she was a year and a half ago: She’s sober, getting treatment for her depression and anxiety, working in her Aunt Fran’s San Francisco art gallery, and volunteering at a suicide-prevention hotline. Her own suicide attempt is in the past and living with her beloved aunt has helped her see a future for herself.

But when Aunt Fran is diagnosed with terminal cancer, Del’s equilibrium is shattered. She struggles to help care for her aunt—while also dealing with a crush, her looming first semester at college, and her shifts at the crisis line. After Aunt Fran asks for her help with a mind-boggling final request, Del must confront her own demons and rethink everything she thought she knew about life and death.

Click to Purchase:

Bookshop.org │Amazon │ Indiebound

│B&N │ Books-A-Million

5 stars!

 

After a challenging journey, there was peace at the end.

Although Del, the young protagonist, travels a tough journey, there is ultimately peace and hope for all in The Coldest Winter I Ever Spent, the new contemporary young adult novel by Ann Jacobus. The book tackles some of the most difficult topics, too: suicide, alcoholism, and death, so ending up with such a compelling and satisfying story, the author has met and overcome some big challenges. This story is special.

Del, the eighteen-year-old main character, although doing better than she had been a year and a half earlier, is maintaining a fragile balance between recovery and relapse. She is beset with anxiety, depression, alcoholism, and the heavy, awkward baggage that comes from how people react to her past. It was eye-opening to realize how maintaining that balance was a constant battle for her, seeing her coping well one minute and then not the next.

Her Aunt Fran’s terminal diagnosis is a tipping point for Del, who continues to grasp at cures long after her aunt has recognized the futility and decided on an altered path for her future. The story explores in depth through Fran and Del’s ensuing experiences of the dying process: our modern removal or distancing from the process, attitudes, and physical stages. Fran’s death is not done behind closed doors. Del, and subsequently the reader, is there for the pain, symptoms, and bodily changes. Fran’s final weeks are assisted with hospice care, and how that works is part of the story.

Complicating matters are Del’s relationships with the two men in her life: her father and her childhood friend, Nick. Her father had turned over his daughter to his sister and abdicated his presence as a parent through fear and grief. Del had also pinned some romantic hopes and dreams on Nick after a visit the previous year had ended with a kiss. She’d spent the time since obsessing over that single kiss and building it up in her mind, while Nick had not. The mismatch in expectations when he comes to nearby Berkley for a summer internship, makes for an awkward reunion and heartbreak for Del.

The audiobook, skillfully voiced by narrator Jen Zhao, imbues the work with the solid feel of reality. Jen became the voice of Del, and I felt like I was hearing the character herself pour out her heart and soul to me. Zhao alters her voice appropriately to distinguish the other characters from each other. I thought her performance enhanced an already great book.

I recommend THE COLDEST WINTER I EVER SPENT to readers of contemporary young adult fiction that includes serious topics such as suicide, death, and dying.

 

Ann Jacobus is the author of YA novels The Coldest Winter I Ever Spent and Romancing the Dark in the City of Light. She earned an MFA in writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts and has published articles, essays, short fiction, and poems. She teaches writing and presents at workshops and conferences. A former suicide crisis line counselor, she’s a mental health advocate and speaks to teens about writing and suicide prevention both. Born in Texas and a life-long Tex-Mex addict, she and her family divide their time between California and Massachusetts.

WEBSITE ◆ LINK TREE ◆ FACEBOOK

PINTEREST ◆ GOODREADS ◆ X (TWITTER) ◆ LINKEDIN

————————————–

GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!

TWO WINNERS:

Each receives a signed hardcover copy + San Francisco swag

(US only; ends midnight, CDT, 10/6/23)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

CLICK TO VISIT THE LONE STAR LITERARY LIFE TOUR PAGE

FOR DIRECT LINKS TO EACH POST ON THIS TOUR, UPDATED DAILY, 

or visit the blogs directly:

09/26/23	StoreyBook Reviews	Review
09/26/23	Hall Ways Blog	BONUS Stop
09/27/23	Boys’ Mom Reads	Audiobook Review
09/27/23	LSBBT Blog	BONUS Stop
09/28/23	Forgotten Winds	Excerpt
09/29/23	The Plain-Spoken Pen	Review
09/30/23	Shelf Life Blog	Author Interview
10/01/23	Bibliotica	Playlist
10/02/23	Chapter Break Book Blog	Audiobook Review
10/03/23	Book Fidelity	Deleted Scene
10/04/23	The Real World According to Sam	Review
10/05/23	Jennie Reads	Review

blog tour services provided by