Winterween 2026: Reads & Mini Reviews

Hello, everyone! As I've mentioned in my bookish resolutions, I would like to participate into more readathons and reading challenges this year. Since I've had such an amazing time during Summerween, Winterween was the perfect readathon to start 2026 with. 

Winterween is a readathon hosted by gabbyreads, and this year it had a blood bath and vampire theme. Initially, I had planned on reading 3 books during the week of Winterween. However, my reading didn't go as planned and I only finished 2 of them (and I managed to read about 30% of the third book by the end of the readathon). Fortunately, those two books were enough to complete the prompts, and I'm happy that my participation was successful. 

The two books I read during Winterween 2026 were Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu and Sour Cherry by Natalia Theodoridou. The book I started but I've yet to finish is Coffin Moon by Keith Rosson.

Carmilla - J. Sheridan Le Fanu

By now, I've read most of the well-known horror classics. Carmilla was one of the books that I was aware of, but hadn't yet picked it up. And since one of Winterween's prompts was to read a book about vampires, it was a great option. Plus, it's around 100 pages, which makes it perfect for a readathon.

This wasn't the first time that I was reading from J. Sheridan Le Fanu as some of his stories were featured in an Irish Ghost Stories collection I had bought when I visited Dublin. So, I was prepared for his writing style, which was actually pretty easy-to-read.

The story of Carmilla is given to us as the account of events that happened many year prior, as recounted by Laura hershelf. She tells us how Carmilla arrived at the schloss, the instant attraction she felt for her, how she gradually fell ill, and how they fought the vampire. I have to say though, that I would have liked if we also delved into Carmilla's thoughts as we only get to see her through Laura's eyes and their dialogue. 

This book has everything you woud want from a gothic read. It has an eerie atmosphere and a protagonist that feels helpless and unable to resist what's going on. On top of that, it also has sexual tension that surprised me a bit (even though I've heard things about it, I still didn't think that it would be so prevalent given the time it was written). 

I liked I Carmilla and I'm so happy about it, since I've wanted to read this book for so long. It's the book that inspired Dracula and I can definitely see the elements that both books have in common. 

Winterween Prompts: Read a book in the dark/night, Read a thriller or horror book, Read a book about vampires.

Sour Cherry - Natalia Theodoridou

Sour Cherry had book on my radar for quite some time. Firstly, because of this gorgeous cover. But also because the author is Greek, and I would like to support authors from my country. So, when I saw that Winterween had prompts for red covers and books published in 2025, it was one of my top options. 

Sour Cherry is a Bluebeard retelling. A feminist Bluebeard retelling. Which in theory sounds like the perfect book for me. Unfortunately, this book almost put me in a reading slumpt (honestly, I should have just DNFed it). 

The idea was there, the writing was interesting, but these weren't enough to make this book interesting. I read pages upon pages and I didn't feel like the story was progressing significantly, and it felt much longer than it actually is. And the payoff wasn't that great to make it worth the while.

Another issue I had with this book was it's message. Since Natalia Theodoridou is a transmasculine author, I had high exectations for the feminist aspect of the story. However, I found that the magical element (the curse of Bluebeard) just took the agency away from him. What came across wasn't that he chose to mistreat, harass, and murder his wives, rather than he just couldn't help it that they fell ill and died because of his curse. I could argue that this was because the story was told as a fairy tale, but still, Bluebeard's fairy tale makes it clear that he murdered his wives.

I'm disappointed that Sour Cherry ended up being one of the worst books I've read in a while. However, I will look out for what the author does next, as I liked his writing and I would like to see how he evolves in the future.

Winterween Prompts: Read a book with red on the cover, Read a 2025 release book you never got around to.

Did you participate in Winterween this year? 

What books did you read for the readathon?