Review - Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust

 

 

Title: Girls Made of Snow and Glass

Author: Melissa Bashardoust

Pages: 384

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Release Date: 16th April 2020

 

Blurb from Goodreads:

Sixteen-year-old Mina is motherless, her magician father is vicious, and her silent heart has never beat with love for anyone. In fact, it has never beat at all, for her father cut it out and replaced it with one of glass. When she moves to Whitespring Castle, 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. Lynet would rather be like her fierce and regal stepmother, Mina, but when her father makes her queen of the southern territories, Mina starts to look at Lynet with something like hatred, and Lynet must decide what to do - and who to be - in order to win back the only mother she's ever known . . . or else defeat her once and for all.

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My Review:

*I received an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley*

Mina lives with her father who is a magician. They are shunned by the local villagers and Mina leads a lonely existence. She has never known love and cannot love because of the glass heart her father put in her chest.

When Mina and her father move to Whitespring Castle where the king resides, Mina decides to use her beauty to capture the king’s heart and become queen in the hopes that she will finally know love. But marrying the king will mean becoming stepmother to the young princess, Lynet.

Lynet is always being compared to her mother, the late queen. When she’s fifteen, Lynet finds out why she resembles her mother so eerily – Mina’s father, the magician, created Lynet from snow using the dead queen’s image.

As Lynet learns the truth and events lead to strains in Mina and Lynet’s relationship, the princess must decide on her future and whether Mina is now her enemy.

Will Lynet take Mina’s place on the throne?

I was a bit hesitant going into Girls Made of Snow and Glass as I recently DNFd the author’s most recent book, but I ended up enjoying this one a lot more.

Mina and Lynet were both relatable and likeable protagonists who I felt sorry for – Mina because she grew up with a father who didn’t treat her well, and Lynet because her father was trying to mould her into her dead mother. Both of them had also been lied to. I was surprised that I liked Mina more and found her chapters more interesting.

I haven’t read many Snow White retellings, but I think this is my favourite as I liked the way the relationship between Mina and Lynet was explored and handled.

The magic was intriguing and I felt that there was just the right amount of it in the novel.

The plot was interesting and held my attention, but I wasn’t gripped and I didn’t feel overly invested in what happened. I liked the way the novel ended.

The writing style was easy to follow and I didn’t feel confused at what was happening at any point.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read.