... I think she is more suited to be Mab's replacement. The whole Winter Lady virgin thing would not be so nice for Lara.

The basic theory that Mab is considering en-Mantling Lara seems likely.

I think Mab has thoughts about which role would be better for Lara, but that -- being Mab -- she has specific plans for each of the Lady-Mantle and the Queen-Mantle going to Lara (depending on how things play out).
 

... Remember, the White Court thought that Thomas was a freak for loving a human in the first place- kinda like how people would look at a man that married a cow.

Love is not, broadly speaking, a thing that the White Court do.

I don't know that "freak" is the right term (I only recall that term being the Whampire term for wizards).
Unusual, for sure!

But they know the phenomenon -- protection via Love -- well.

And they know how to bypass it, if they really need to get to someone protected:  get one of their more-attractive Kine to seduce the protected victim; if needs be, they can apply their (non-contact) lust-enhancing mojo until the victim is "willing:"  being in Love doesn't mean being immune to the Whamp-mojo of heightened arousal.

If you aren't being all emo & addicted to the tragedy of the thing, Justine's solution seems kind of obvious; particularly from the POV of "sex is a tool" Whampires.
 

Found this WOJ quote on Reddit

Looks like according to this WOJ the Erlking is a member of the Winter Court, I guess like Vadderrung is a member of the Winter Court in his Kris Kringle carnation... He is also referred to as the "Master of the Hunt"  or Herne and was called by that name in one of the books.

Yes, Erlking "hangs" with Winter more than Summer.

But he's more "Summery" in himself...

Jim: He is wyldfae.  He isn’t a subject of Mab or Titania.  That’s what Wyldfae means.  But his origins are in the Summer-side of the cycle of seasons, just like Titania’s are.
Ditto Santa, only in Winter

I think the problem is with us in the fandom:  we want to try to assign categories for these beings, and they just don't fit neatly into the boxes we have... nor neatly and entirely out of our boxes...

... It's also possible that his publisher just has so much in the pipeline that next January is the first open slot they had.

This is my suspicion.
Also, we all may be hoist on the petard of Jim's slower & less-predictable pace:  publishing lead-times have only increased, with the supply-chain problems that occur these days, and their queue likely filled with other works while Jim was chanting a mantra of, "it'll be done when it's done."

Amazon often uses placeholder dates. I suspect this is one. 

That was my thought, too.

Sadly, it looks like the info is accurate:
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/645506/twelve-months-by-jim-butcher/

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/0593199332/ref=monarch_sidesheet_title

Of course they say so, but it seems in Ghost Story/Changes Mab has some power over the cold and dark of the deeps...

Well, to be fair:
 a/ "cold" and "dark" are pretty Queen-of-Winter sorts of things, after all!
 b/ that scene at the end of Changes was the culmination of Mab's gambit to gain her new Knight.  I expect she handled it personally... and likely she had some of her other heavy hitters on-hand in case any other powers wanted to intervene.
 c/ we've seen that Demonreach has scope as far as the edges of the lake.

So, as Harry was aboard the Water Beetle, considering his upcoming date with Murphy:  Mab (and likely other Winter heavyweights) were there, and maybe even Demonreach.

And I don't think the Fomor had any motivation to be active at that specific harbor, on that specific day; I don't think they (and/or their allies) were tracking Harry very closely, at that point in time.


I don't think she has the kind of sovereignty under water that she has above.  One of her titles is "Queen of Air and Darkness," which pretty explicitly leaves out the underwater realm.  But she's still terribly-powerful, and entirely capable of conducting a brief mission outside the strict "Winter" domain, particularly in (winter-friendly) "cold and dark."

But... does she have the kind of power needed for sustained surveillance under the water, with Corb & the other Fomor against her, and even Ethniu?  To spot patterns?  Does she know all the underseas Ways?  Did she even want to go (or (previously) see reason to go) sniffing into the areas where the Fomor were forced, millenia ago?  I suspect the  answer to all is, "no."

So yeah:  Mab, moving in power & with backup on-hand, opposed by maybe (but probably not even) a random scout, or whatever?  Sure, that happened & makes sense...  Without it implying Mab having any her usual one-step-ahead (or several srwps, for that matter) foresightedness.

... So I suspect the Fomor have the home field advantage, but various powers did know SOMETHING was up with the Fomor. They just didn't know what...

In addition to their "home field advantage" under water, the Fomor had another advantage:  everyone already knew they were "making a move."  They were taking advantage of the power-vacuum and WC weakness &c to make a bid to become more active in the world.

So troop-movements &c might be "expected" from them.

But a direct challenge to all the Accorded powers at once?  Making a simultaneous power-play against Mab and Odin and Ferrovax??!?

Who TF does that?