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Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Full review blog review on April 30th.

Winterborne is a fast-paced continuation of the series Ally Carter is writing. As April must explain to her friends the foster system, she’s also having to try and find her missing guardian. She openly laments the amount of stress, and trauma this is. I really appreciated the realism of that and the lack of sugar coating. Children do go through these things (maybe not the murder) and pay for them mentally. I enjoyed each of the characters in the book. However, I felt the boys could have had a little more fleshing out. Despite that, I still adored them all and their relationships with one another.
The plot itself was interesting. There was never a dull moment, and the pacing was consistent. I wasn’t aware this was the second book initially but was able to grasp the plot quickly. I think this is important in middle grades, as often, kids are just picking them up at random. While it still felt like a bridge to the next book in the series, it translated well.