Review: Lord of Snow and Ice

Title: Lord of Snow and Ice
Author: Heather Massey
Format: ebook, 251 pages
Pub. Date: October 1st 2013
Source: Author

★★★★

Three and a half stars, rounded up.

Lord of Snow and Ice is a retelling of the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast. This is a romance that features magic, snow, kingdoms, and a relationship that should not be.

First of all, I have to say that I love the cover. It's simple but pretty, and I think it does well to capture the essence of the story line.

One thing that really impressed me about the story Lord of Snow and Ice is the descriptive writing in regards to both the setting as well as the characters. I very much felt that I was "there", and was easily able to visualize the places and the people that the author wanted me to see. Being someone that loves winter in the first place, I really liked all of the snowy language and that aspect of the setting. This is a place that I enjoyed visiting, so to speak. The story did drag on a bit at times, but it maintained my interest throughout.

The key part of this story that made me disconnect from it overall, is the characters. While well described, I didn't particularly like the main character, Clarysa. I can't really pinpoint why, but I was just often annoyed by her and her actions. She did come into herself a bit as the story progressed, which made it a bit better.

Overall this is an interesting take on the story of Beauty and the Beast that is worth reading just for the setting descriptions alone. Fans of retellings and romance take note, those who find naive characters or fairy tales a deal breaker, look elsewhere. Thanks, Heather, for my copy of this!