Girls Made of Snow and Glass Review

Synopsis from Flatiron Books:

Frozen meets The Bloody Chamber in this feminist fantasy reimagining of the Snow White fairytale

At sixteen, Mina’s mother is dead, her magician father is vicious, and her silent heart has never beat with love for anyone—has never beat at all, in fact, but she’d always thought that fact normal. She never guessed that her father cut out her heart and replaced it with one of glass. When she moves to Whitespring Castle and sees its king for the first time, Mina forms a plan: win the king’s heart with her beauty, become queen, and finally know love. The only catch is that she’ll have to become a stepmother.

Fifteen-year-old Lynet looks just like her late mother, and one day she discovers why: a magician created her out of snow in the dead queen’s image, at her father’s order. But despite being the dead queen made flesh, Lynet would rather be like her fierce and regal stepmother, Mina. She gets her wish when her father makes Lynet queen of the southern territories, displacing Mina. Now Mina is starting to look at Lynet with something like hatred, and Lynet must decide what to do—and who to be—to win back the only mother she’s ever known…or else defeat her once and for all.

Entwining the stories of both Lynet and Mina in the past and present, Girls Made of Snow and Glass traces the relationship of two young women doomed to be rivals from the start. Only one can win all, while the other must lose everything—unless both can find a way to reshape themselves and their story.

About: Girls Made of Snow and Glass is a young adult fantasy written by Melissa Bashardoust. It will be published on 9/5/2017 by Flatiron Books, an imprint of Macmillan Publisher, 384 pages. The genres are young adult, retellings, fantasy, and fiction. This book is intended for readers ages 12 to 18. This is the author’s debut novel. Her second book will be called Girl, Serpent, Thorn. According to the publisher’s website, “Flatiron Books is committed to publishing intelligent fiction and nonfiction with commercial appeal by authors with distinctive voices.” It is “named after the historic building in which the company is housed.” Please see below for more information about the author and publisher.

My Experience: I started reading Girls Made of Snow and Glass on 8/1/17 and finished it on 8/6/17. This book is a fantastic read! It’s another retelling like no other. I love the concept of snow and glass. This book has fresh ideas and I love both characters and plot. The retelling has resemblance to the original fairytale as well as something new. The story is light hearted and easy to read. I love the magic and the flow of past/present views leading up to the final showdown. I like following two sides to a story.

This book is told in the third person point of view and following two main characters: Mina and Lynet. Mina recounts her life at 16, living in the South where it is always warm, a daughter to Gregory, a cruel Magician. Her father tells her that she cannot love or be loved, but if people who are willing to love her, it would be for her beauty and so she spends a lot of her time looking at herself in the mirror admiring her beauty and feeling unloved. People take an instant dislike to her because of who her father is and she grows up believing she is unable to love or be loved. Even when her father unexpectedly pack up and ask her to move to the North to live at Whitespring, she’s as hated in the new city as in her hometown. The alternating view is Lynet in her current age of 15, a princess at Whitespring who always felt uncomfortable in her own skin. Her father often reminds her that she will grow up to be exactly like her dead mother, delicate and beautiful; however, she is anything but. Lynet likes to climb trees and walls of the castle. Without any siblings and forbidden to play with the commoners, she spends her time watching people from afar. Whitespring is always snowing and cold. People comes and goes. When Mina met Lynet, Mina has plans to do what she must to get what she wants. They both have secrets and it’s their individual secrets that will either bring them together or drive them apart because only one can be Queen.

This book is very well written and organized. I love the intricate details of how one character can see how the other is feeling behind a face they put forth when in public or when one person is trying to act strong when in fact they are nervous. I like the focus of the characters’ insecurities as well as strengths. I love reading about characters that can think and make decisions for themselves. I love flaw heroines who overcome challenges. I love the light romance this story offers. I love the ending and one I didn’t expect to come. This book is definitely an awesome retelling and I highly recommend everyone to read it!

Pro: fairytale retelling, easy to read, light hearted, fast paced, page turner, glbt light romance, magic

Con: none

I rate it 5 stars!

Buy here for free shipping: Book Depository or Flatiron Books’ Website

About the Author:

Melissa Bashardoust received her degree in English from the University of California, Berkeley, where she rediscovered her love for creative writing, children’s literature, and fairy tales and their retellings. She currently lives in Southern California with a cat named Alice and more copies of Jane Eyre than she probably needs. Girls Made of Snow and Glass is her first novel. (Photo obtained from the author’s website and info obtained from Flatiron Books).

More Information about Flatiron Books

Website: https://us.macmillan.com/publishers/Flatiron-books | Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/flatironbooks | Twitter: https://twitter.com/Flatironbooks

***Disclaimer: Many thanks to Flatiron Books for the opportunity to read and review. Please be assured that my opinions are honest.

xoxo,
Jasmine