Heart of Snow by Katherine Buel

The Selection is a lie. The five girls chosen each year do not vanish into a life of royal luxury, as most believe. Snow knows this because she knows her aunt Lyric—the Witch-Queen of Cresilea—murderess and usurper.

When the Selection comes to the remote village where Snow has hidden since her father’s murder, she puts herself forward, trusting in her scarred face to hide her identity, and enters the castle she fled seven years ago—a place now haunted by unnatural whispers and eerie shadows.

But more is at stake than Snow’s revenge, or even the fates of five girls, and she must learn all she can about Lyric’s magic—and her own—before it’s too late.

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Snow White and her sister, Rose Red, grew up as princesses. When their mother died, their father married their aunt Lyric, only to die at her hand at the wedding feast. In the confusion Snow was whisked away by the guard captain, who burned her face to keep her unrecognisable. Her aunt claimed the throne, called her father's death an assassination and annexed a neighbouring country in revenge. Snow and the captain have lived quietly for seven years, hiding from Lyric's men. Snow has always assumed that Rose is dead.

But now Snow is drawn back to the castle, to face Lyric and finally learn what her plans are, and what it will cost to thwart them.

I love fairytale retellings. I'm endlessly amazed by the depths writers can spin out of a page long story. In this story Katherine has mixed elements of Snow White, Rose Red, Lord of the Rings and probably others I'm just not recognising to come up with something new and exciting. In this version, Snow, her stepmother/aunt and various other (female) characters have magic. Lyric is using it to subdue the kingdom. Snow wants to use it to stop her.

The familiar elements are here; the mirror, the apple, the Huntsman, dwarves, the glass coffin. They all have some kind of twist, though, and nothing's quite what it seems.

If you've read many of my reviews, you know that I'm not a fan of instalove. Never have been. This technically isn't technically instalove, but because there's a time skip that goes right over the time when they're starting to trust each other, it still feels like instalove to me. However, this is very much a me issue and I know readers who will love this relationship.

All in all it's a clever read, an interesting read, and I'm glad I read it. I'll be on the lookout for more by Katherine.

Heart of Snow publishes on the 8th July, 2021. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.