Don't let this rating fool you, the book is good, there were just a few things that didn't work for me personally. I enjoyed this sometimes. I loved Mina's character from the start. I thought she was so fascinating. I was okay on Lynet. Not that she's annoying or anything, she's really a good girl, I just mean that she was pretty generic as far as YA heroines go so she bored me a bit. I wouldn't have read the book if not for Mina since I don't like spending time on reading books I'm not super into. In addition to that, the story lacks conflict so it feels like it's dragging a bit. I kind of felt like I was stuck in the book. I wanted to see how it ended but I was feeling sluggish trying to get there.

I originally was interested in this because I heard that it was a really feminist retelling and I totally agree with that. I liked how the two main women overcame what the men in their lives had always forced upon them. They were always told that they were enemies but they thwarted those expectations to love each other. The story was good. I think what hurt it to me is that Bashardoust is a new author so her writing style wasn't extremely compelling for me, but I think it's a fantastic book for a younger age group who won't be hampered by the novice style. I don't want this to sound like a ton of insults to the author. I think the story was a great one in general. I loved the twist on the Queen's character. For me, that's what was the best part of this book. Lynet's story was just like any other sixteen year old princess in a YA novel, but Mina was quite unique.

Another pro about the story was the LGBT romance. I think this book is pretty highly-anticipated, which is awesome since the central romance is LGBT. Diverse romances are becoming more common now but that statement really only holds for the M/M sphere. This book is anticipated and is a rare F/F romance that I enjoyed.

In sum, I think this will be well-received. It's feminist, twists the classic tale of Snow White in an awesome way, has good characters, and a cute F/F romance. I'd highly recommend this for high school students.

GIRLS MADE OF SNOW AND GLASS is a feminist retelling of Snow White. Debut author Melissa Bashardoust does an excellent job of weaving elements of the classic story (the mirror, the huntsman, the poison, and so on) into this new, creative version. Mina, daughter of a magician, is a lonely girl herself – plagued by self-doubt and fears about her supposed inability to love. Seeking adoration, she strives to become queen and stepmother to young Lynet. That innocent girl chafes at the pampering and protection insisted upon by her father, King Nicholas. As Lynet grows, she and Mina become close, but they do not share their most significant secrets: both are a result of experiments by Gregory, Mina's father. Mina's heart is made of glass and does not beat; Lynet was formed from blood and snow in the image of the dead queen.

Distorted perceptions and reflections of others' desires abound in this book. There is plenty of adventure, too, when Lynet eventually flees the restrictions placed upon her and the two girls – now women – learn more about their own histories, their own strengths and their own capabilities for independent action. Although it felt a bit slow in parts, I have already been recommending the very unique and original GIRLS MADE OF SNOW AND GLASS and I look forward to the likely movie. This newly published title received starred reviews from Kirkus and School Library Journal.

Ahoy there me mateys! I received this young adult fantasy eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. So here be me honest musings . . .

girls made of snow and glass (Melissa Bashardoust)

Title: girls made of snow and glass

Author: Melissa Bashardoust

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Publication Date: TODAY!!! (hardback/e-book)

ISBN: 978-1250077738

Source: NetGalley

This is one of those books hopping around the blogosphere due to the excitement of a retelling of Snow White with a queer twist and its feminist leanings. Aye, had to check this one out. Plus it has a simplistic yet evocative cover:

Overall I thought it was a likeable story. This is not a book heavy on action or suspense. It also was a little bit confusing at first due to the nature of the flashbacks. At its heart this book seemed to be about family betrayal, overcoming familial obligations, and women choosing how to embrace their future selves and overcome their pasts. Personally I didn't feel that the story was that feminist in tone because for the majority of the novel the three main women in the story seemingly have their entire lives and personalities dictated by the men in their lives. The women don't really seem to fight at all for what they believe in and how they gain control in the end was rather lackluster. Also the queer relationship, while lovely, was certainly not even the secondary plot.

While I found all three women to be somewhat unique characters with the potential for inner strength, I felt that the story telling did not really do them justice. The pacing was a bit slow, the world building a bit flat, and the magic system not nearly explored enough. The age of the characters also seemed off. All the women came across as young, inexperienced, and naive. The villain wanted power for power's sake. The loving father ended up being creepy. The flashback romance aspects of the novel were me least favorite portion. I wanted a fuller rendition of the world, characters, and the magic in particular. I didn't know it was a debut before readin' but some of these flaws seem in line with that fact.

That said I loved the huntsman and stepmother's relationship and history. I adored how the mirrors and their symbolism were used in the story. I thought the relationship between the stepmother and princess was lovely in its complexities. The author's mixing of fairy tale elements was clever. I am glad I read it but it is by no means a favorite. I wouldn't reread this novel but I would check out more of the author's work.

So lastly . . .

Thank you Flatiron Books!

The author's website has this to say about the novel:

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.

To visit the author’s website go to:

Melissa Bashardoust - Author

To buy the novel please visit:

girls made of snow and glass - Book

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The beginning of this book was very strong. I liked the shifting of perspectives between Mina and Lynet.. I was very interested in both of their stories. The middle dragged a bit. I think that a lot of the story of Mina and Nicholas's courtship was irrelevant and needlessly repetitive. I thought that instead of this aside I would've rather read more about Mina or Gregory's magic or more about the curse that kept the North in snow. I almost didn't finish and I started to think maybe this was the first book of a series. The last 50 pages got much better and I quite enjoyed the ending. I would rate this 3.5/5 stars.

Frozen meets The Bloody Chamber in this feminist fantasy reimagining of the Snow White fairytale as you've never seen it before, tracing the relationship of two young women doomed to be rivals from the start: the beautiful princess and stepmother queen.

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.
I received an eARC of this novel through Netgalley, courtesy of publisher Flatiron Books, in exchange for an honest review.

This book literally made my heart ache as I read it. I loved everything about this mix of Snow White, Frozen, and The Bloody Chamber.

Girls Made of Snow and Glass starts off really slow, and kept me guessing for the first half of it. I wasn't sure where the plot was going for a while, but I got completely wrapped up in the plot during the worldbuilding.

I particularly loved the family dynamics in this. I loved how very very different the dynamics were despite the many things that tied Mina and Lynet together during their childhoods.

I really hated Nicholas. Dude was more than a little bit abusive to both Mina and Lynet. For a little while, I was really worried that it was going to veer into the Donkeyskin fairy tale territory, but it didn't which was a relief. Don't even get me started on Gregory. That dude is the absolute worst to literally everybody and I hate every bit of his garbage guts.

I particularly loved reading from Mina's perspective - she was uncertain about herself but determined to make things better for the Southerners. She made the best of every situation she could, but it didn't always turn out as well as she planned, and I loved that.

I think I could have used a little bit more worldbuilding in the northern part of the country, but I understand why we didn't get it, given how sheltered Lynet was.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anybody. You can pick up a copy on Amazon or Indiebound.

Disclaimer: All links to Indiebound and Amazon are affiliate links, which means that if you buy through those links, I will make a small amount of money off of it.

I have to confess that Snow White has always been one of my least favorite fairy tales because I could never get into the idea of one woman deciding she needed to poison another woman just because she might have taken her place as “the fairest of them all.”  That said, as soon as I heard that Melissa Bashardoust’s Girls Made of Snow and Glass was being advertised as a feminist retelling of the Snow White fairytale, it immediately became a must-read book for me.  I just couldn’t wait to find out what a feminist retelling would entail.

Girls Made of Snow and Glass was everything I hoped it would be and more.  It’s a beautifully written, character-driven exploration of the relationship between two women who are doomed to be rivals.  Lynet is the Snow White character in the story.  She is the 15 year old daughter of the King of Whitespring.  Lynet is a free spirit who loves to run, climb, and have endless adventures.  She has no interest whatsoever in politics or in ever becoming Queen.  Much to her frustration, her father constantly reminds her how much she looks like her beautiful dead mother and how one day she will take her mother’s place and become Queen of Whitespring.  Lynet doesn’t want to hear it because she just wants to grow up to be her own person, not a mirror image of a mother she never even met.  If she had to choose to be like anyone else, she would, in fact, choose to grow up to be like her strong and fierce stepmother, Mina.

Mina is, of course, the stepmother/Evil Queen figure in the story, and she also very unexpectedly turned out to be my favorite character.  Bashardoust writes such a rich and intricate backstory for Mina that even though she eventually ends up on a similar path to the stepmother in the original tale, it’s easy to see how she ends up in such a predicament.  We meet Mina while she is Queen of Whitespring, but the story quickly takes us back to when Mina was about Lynet’s age and being raised by her father, a well-known, often feared, magician in the kingdom. Mina’s father is cold, controlling, and sometimes hurtful.  In a particularly spiteful moment, he tells Mina that she nearly died of heart failure at age 4, and that to save her, he used magic to replace her dying heart with a glass one.  He tells Mina that because she has no actual heart, she cannot love and cannot be loved.  He goes on to tell Mina that all she can hope for is to make people love her because of her beauty.

When Mina’s father uses his magic to help the King one day, the King decides to repay him by offering him a place to live on the royal grounds.  Once living there, Mina comes up with the idea that if she can make the King fall in love with her, she can someday become Queen and thus earn the love of all of those in the kingdom.  Mina’s plan starts to fall into place and she and her stepdaughter Lynet actually become quite close, that is, until Lynet becomes old enough to become a threat to the throne.  Even though Lynet swears she has no interest in becoming queen, the threat she presents to Mina, who is so desperate to be loved, still starts to drive a wedge between them.

Are Lynet and Mina truly doomed to be rivals or can they figure out a way for each of them to get what they most want?

LIKES

My favorite part of Girls Made of Snow and Glass is the complexity of the relationship between Mina and Lynet.  Their relationship is ultimately the driving force behind this story and it’s no simple battle about who’s the fairest of them all.  These two women, care about one another, and as Lynet grows up, have truly become like family.  When Mina comes to the realization that Lynet may be the greatest obstacle to her finding that love she is so desperate for, it absolutely guts her.  She doesn’t want to have to hurt Lynet in any way to get what she wants.  Their relationship is just beautiful and heartbreaking.

Equally glorious to the complex relationship between the two main characters is the magic!  Okay, so there’s no dwarves, no poison apple, and no kiss from a handsome prince to break a curse.  A bit of a bummer maybe, but the magic Bashardoust has given to her characters more than makes up for it.  It’s just so creative and well, for lack of a better word, magical, haha!

As I’ve already mentioned, Mina’s father used magic to save Mina by giving her a glass heart.  As you probably also gleaned from the book’s title and synopsis, if Mina is the girl made of glass, then there is another girl who is made of snow.  Lynet is of course that girl.  There’s a very good reason why the King keeps telling Lynet she looks just like her mother.  The King had called Mina’s father to him, desperate to save his Queen, who was dying.  Mina’s father was unable to save her, but at the King’s request, used his magic to create an infant girl in the Queen’s likeness.  Using snow, Mina’s father gave the King what he wanted, Lynet.

Mina’s father somehow transferred a portion of his magic to each girl when he used it on them, thus infusing both Lynet and Mina with powers of their own.  That’s all I’m going to say about the magic for now, but trust me, it’s important and it’s awesome and these two young women are just badass, especially when they start using these powers.

Another element of the story that was really a highlight for me was an unexpected f/f relationship between Lynet and a young female surgeon named Nadia.  The romance comes about and develops in such a natural, low-key way and doesn’t at all distract from the rest of the plot, and I just thought it was beautifully written.   

DISLIKES/ISSUES

I only had a couple of issues with this story, the main one being that the men in it are just so UGHHH.  The King was basically a good man and he meant well, but at a certain point, it really started to bother me how much he kept obsessing on how much Lynet reminded him of her dead mother and how she was destined to take her mother’s place someday.  I know he didn’t mean it in an incestuous way, but it was still a little creepy.

Don’t even get me started on Mina’s father.  If you’re one who likes to have characters to hate, he’s your guy.  Aside from the fact that he did save Mina’s life when she was a little girl, there’s nothing else redeeming about him. He’s just a selfish, manipulative jerk.  He also had a creepy obsession with Lynet since he “made” her.  I have to admit, I spent much of the book wishing something horrible would happen to him.

Aside from the horrid men in the story, I did think the pacing was a little slow early on in the story and that it took me a little while to get used to Mina’s narrative being told from a present-day perspective as well as one from when she was 16.  Once I got used to the way Mina’s story was being presented, it was no longer an issue for me.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Girls of Snow and Glass is a book I’d recommend without hesitation to anyone who enjoys stories that are character driven.  I’d also recommend it to those who love fairytale retelling and even to those who say they’re burnt out on retellings. Even though this story borrows the overall idea of a young girl being in the way of her stepmother, Bashardoust has crafted such a creative story that if I hadn’t known this was a Snow White retelling going in, I don’t know that I would have guessed it.  It’s a uniquely fresh take on a timeless tale.

RATING:  4 STARS

Thanks so much to Netgalley, Melissa Bashardoust, and Flatiron Books for allowing me to preview Girls Made of Snow and Glass. This in no way shapes my opinion of the book.

I unfortunately just couldn't get into this book, and I had to DNF it. Maybe later I will be able to get into it, but right now I can't see myself finishing it anytime soon.

Fantasy is not usually something I'm drawn to but when I heard that this was a feminist retelling of Snow White, I had to pick it up. I'm so happy that I did because this debut novel was phenomenal. 

Girls Made of Snow and Glass stars Mina, the 16-year-old girl looking for loyal followers and Lynet, the 15-year-old princess who's never left her kingdom. In a world that's divided into a perpetual summer vs. a perpetual winter, these two girls fight to figure out where they belong. The book does take place in revolving dual-POV, and Mina's POV takes place years before Lynet's story.

If you're wondering about how close of a retelling it is, I would say that it's not a typical retelling. I still call it a retelling though because it's clear that Mina, the stepmother figure, has a connection to mirrors and Lynet is meant to be the innocent princess who's never travelled out of her kingdom. The plot doesn't have the Seven Dwarves plot which I loved because I thought it'd be out of place if it was included. This retelling doesn't concern the plot but rather the characters, but even so, the interpretations of the classic characters is unique and wonderful.
The writing of Girls Made of Snow and Glass was also lovely, though it does take a bit for readers to really get into it. I loved the writing and even thought it was 3rd person POV, I felt like I really knew the characters. I loved that both Mina and Lynet were so well-rounded and I really related to both. Lynet really struggled to figure out who she was, after spending her whole life being expected to follow in the footsteps of her mother. Mina, on the other hand, really struggled to accept herself and channeled that struggle into working hard to make others accept her. Both characters were really unique and fleshed-out and I loved reading about them. 

There's only a minor romance in this one but it's between Lynet and her royal doctor (a woman her age who she quickly becomes entranced by) and it was the loveliest thing.

Overall, I highly recommend Girls Made of Snow and Glass even if you aren't a fan of fantasy or retellings because it's just a lovely well-written feminist novel.

I was super excited when I first heard about this book. I mean, it was pitched as a feminist Snow White retelling? Sign me the heck up!

I was not disappointed. Bashardoust's writing is absolutely gorgeous and evocative, perfect for a reimagined fairytale. (Plus, I legitimately felt cold while reading!) This was a truly unique retelling, and I loved what the author did with the story. It felt a bit slower at the beginning, especially with Mina's flashback chapters, but it wasn't too disruptive, and was certainly forgivable in light of the strong character arcs. The romance wasn't heavily explored, but what we did see on the page was sweet - honestly I could have used a bit more, and wouldn't mind a sequel to explore that. But I appreciate that the focus was more on the relationship/conflict between Mina and Lynet. Complicated family stories are my kryptonite, and I really enjoyed seeing it in a fantasy setting.

I just really, really enjoyed this, and hope we get to see more from Bashardoust in the future!

I 100% recommend this book if you love unique retelling with a chilling twist!

What can I say about this book? I had no clue what to expect.Firstly, there are no weak female characters here. It's kind of a feminist twist on the Snow White story, which I found surprisingly refreshing. It takes place in a world with neverending winter and is focused on two women, Mina, the daughter of a magician, whose heart is made of ice. Because she is told she can never love or be loved, she marries instead for power. And Lynet, who was created out of snow to reflect the image of her dead mother. One girl has no desire to be Queen while the other who wants it too badly. This story focuses on these two women as they struggle with eachother, the truth, and with love. I was excited to find f/f romance because it's so rare to find and honestly, I loved how easily the relationship flowed. It wasn't forced or abandoned; it was slowly and subtly built.

Simply put, I loved this book. I couldn't put it down and even when I did, I couldn't help but wonder more about this world and its characters. I highly recommend it!

I’ve come to enjoy YA retellings, especially if they are for some of my favorite characters, and Girls Made of Snow and Glass did not disappoint. In this debut novel by Melissa Bashardoust, two women learn the meaning of what it is to love and be loved.

Full review on my blog: https://thecleverreader.wordpress.com/2017/08/26/earc-review-girls-made-of-snow-and-glass/

This is a standalone YA Snow White retelling that impressively sets out to challenge a fundamental premise of the story, the female rivalry between the queen and the princess. Can both of these women be protagonists? And can their relationship be founded on love instead of jealousy? This feels like such a necessary revisionist take, and I loved so much of what the author did with the fairytale, but there were times when the execution felt sloppy and underwhelming.

In a kingdom where the north has long been cursed to eternal winter, Princess Lynet feels stifled by the legacy of her mother, and by her father's insistence that she will follow in the footsteps of the dead queen. She feels that her father doesn't see her for who she really is because he can't see past her superficial resemblance to a woman she never knew. In alternating chapters, we meet Lynet's stepmother Mina as a teenager coming to court from her home in the south when Lynet was still a baby. The socially alienated daughter of the feared magician Gregory, she is told that since he replaced her weak heart with one of glass, she will be forever unable to feel love or be truly loved in return. Though obviously untrue, this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy because Mina believes it. She learns to scheme and manipulate because she doesn't believe that any other road to happiness is open to her. Both girls owe their lives to Gregory's dark magic and are burdened by the weight of that knowledge, but it also gives them powers of their own that they may need in order to break free. Both are also damaged by the vastly different yet equally harmful actions of both the magician and the king, neither of whom understand their daughters at all. Bashardoust introduces her protagonists in a loving mother-daughter relationship, then shows piece by painful piece every trauma from the past and present that seems to doom them to be rivals. The long and tumultuous arc of this relationship is the consistent focus throughout, which is great since I love character-driven stories, but other aspects of the book seem to suffer from neglect in the meanwhile.

Neither the prose nor the dialogue come across as particularly strong, for starters. There is almost no attempt whatsoever at world-building or complex politics and intrigue, which I'm honestly happy without in a fairy tale story, but I need a stronger sense of atmosphere and narrative voice for that choice to make sense. Bashardoust's writing is middle-of-the-road at best, and I couldn't help feeling like the book needed something better.

The exclusive focus on Lynet and Mina also left several critical side characters woefully underdeveloped, most notably Lynet's love interest Nadia, who arrives at court as the new surgeon at the age of seventeen and promptly begins performing amputations and such (!!!!!). The super-skilled-teenage-doctor thing needed way more than the surface-level explanations we got in order for me to buy it, and it was especially odd to me that the characters in the book were more taken aback by her gender (when there isn't any other explicit sexism on display) than by her age. And Nadia is just one of several supporting characters from whom I would have appreciated a POV chapter or two (Felix, anybody?). Yes, this is Lynet and Mina's book, but as it delved deeper and deeper, I couldn't help but think that seeing how some other characters perceived the two of them could have actually added a great deal of clarity to their story.

In addition, there were a couple of bits that just seemed obviously sloppy to me. For example, there is a scene in which Lynet is being hunted down by a search party in a snowy wood, and though they come mighty close to finding her, there is no mention of whether or not she has been leaving footprints in the snow. Another similarly silly oversight is too spoiler-y to mention, but you get the general idea.

On the bright side, I don't think that the things I found lacking in the writing would have bothered me at all when I was a teenager myself, so I actually feel pretty confident in recommending this bold revisionist Snow White to younger readers who are, after all, the target demographic.

And yes, there are definite Frozen feels. And no, I don't consider that a bad thing at all. :-)

Absolutely amazing and spellbinding. Finished in one sitting. Melissa Bashardoust weaves a mesmerizing retelling of Snow White. The writing flows and the characters are crafted in such a way that you have to love them, even when you hate them. Mina and Lynet will capture your hearts. There stories are told in both the present and the past and intertwining together.

I was drawn to this book because I love fairy tales retold, and I heard there was a f/f romance. Snow White is a princess made of snow while the "evil stepmother" is a Queen made from glass. It was an interesting way to explain her heartlessness and my favorite part was that the two were fighting against their love for each other rather than hate for no reason. However, as the book went on I felt the conflicts were mere contrivances designed to hit certain story beats. The motivations seemed lacking and the King character was mean and uncaring for no real reason. I liked the plot a lot but it didn't seem to fit with the characters as written. The f/f romance was sweet but almost felt like an afterthought. Solid effort but nothing noteworthy here.

I received an ARC copy of Girls Made of Snow and Glass in exchange for an honest review. Thanks goes to NetGalley.Release date: September 5, 2017

Girls Made of Snow and Glass first caught my eye when the cover was revealed, and then I found out it was a Snow White retelling and I needed to have it. I have a soft spot for retellings and this one didn’t disappoint. It had all the feels of Snow White but written in a fresh new way. I seen reviews compare this book to Disney’s Frozen and I did see small similarities, I love that movie so all good things from this book.

This book is told from dual point of views, Lynet the Snow White character and Mina The Evil Queen Character. Mina’s POV start when she was a child living in the south and I found myself wanting more of her chapter’s. I loved reading her chapters. Lynet’s POV starts in the present and stays in that time line.

The romance in this book is marketed as F/F Romance. The romance between Lynet and Nadia is such a slow burn, nothing happened between them until the end. But there romance is so sweet, so if your looking for a swoon worthy lesbian story then this isn’t that story. Lynet and Mina’s relationship was my absolute favorite part of the story.

This book does have feministic undertones, that girls can be powerful they don’t have to be fragile to be a princess/queen. That girls are much more than there beauty.It tells young girls to be themselves even when other push you to be something else, to stand up for yourself and be whatever they want to be. I love how Mina and lyne both work towards what they want. How Snow White falls for a girl instead of Prince Charming.

I also loved the wintery scenery and atmosphere. The world building truly made you feel as if you were surrounded by winter winds and snow. This is where some of the Frozen feels come into play.

Overall this was a beautiful retelling of Snow White. The story has a wonderful dark fantasy fairytale feel to it and the characters are amazing. I will definitely be keeping my eye out for books by Bashardoust in the future.

I went into this book with little to no actual plot knowledge. I knew it was a retelling of Snow White, I knew it was being marketed as having "feminist" elements, and I had an inkling that the Snow White character would be queer. These things are all accurate to the story, but they in no way to justice to the plot, characters, and heart of this book.

Lynet and Mina are remarkable characters. Princess Lynet has been forced every day to grow up an exact copy of the mother who died before they ever met; Mina has been an outsider her entire life, first in the village where she grew up, and then in Whitespring where she meets a King and hatches a plan to at least be respected, even if she could never be loved. Their relationship together is the driving force of every element of the story. The depth with which the mother/daughter relationship of the Snow White and the Evil Queen is dealt with is compelling and occasionally heart-wrenching.

On both a story level and a meta level, Lynet and Mina are characters whose ability to define themselves on their own terms has been taken away. On a story level, their fathers both manipulate and control their daughters to become who they are expected to be. But on a meta level, Lynet and Mina have become archetypes without any control: they are the Princess and the Evil Stepmother. But neither of them is willing to accept any of these definitions that have been put on them any longer. The story is deeply about agency and about self-definition, about relationships and the power to control your own connections to others in your life. Is is about, especially, the viability of female relationships and about how, even with the men in their lives trying to control how they relate to one another, the connection between these women has the power to go beyond that control.

I could honestly gush all day about how excellent and complex the mother/daughter relationships in this book are, but I'll try to talk about other stuff now. Suffice it to say, I sobbed through the final paragraph of this book because it just brought everything I've already explained to a conclusion incredibly well.

The other best part of this book, in my opinion, is the subplot of Lynet having a crush on another girl. Lynet spends a lot of the book confused about her feelings towards Nadia, the new surgeon in the castle. This is absolutely a subplot, not central to the story, but I thought it was handled remarkably well and I loved the twists they went through together throughout the book. I also thought that the power imbalance between them was handled in a way that helped make their relationship much stronger as the story went on. Beyond that, though they aren't named or in more than one scene, there is a very small scene with a wlw couple where they are clearly in a relationship in a public place and there is no mentioned homophobia or feeling that they are anything less than accepted by the community at large.

My only real problem with this book came with the pacing. There is a lot about this book that feels slow and peaceful, which I enjoyed a ton. So weirdly, my complaint isn't that this book needed to be faster but that it could have taken a bit more time with certain plot lines. I think there should have been more periods of time that were allowed to go slowly, especially later on in the story. I know that the plot has to constantly keep moving, but I think if those moments had been stretched out some of the reveals would have had more impact. Other than that, I thought this book was incredibly atmospheric and magical in a much more understated way.

This book was magical, complex, romantic, and fascinating. It was driven by female characters taking control of their stories and destinies and I absolutely loved it. Seriously, this book is not to be missed.

I love retellings so I am always excited to read anything new in this genre and I really enjoyed this one. There are two main characters, Mina, the Queen and Stepmother and Lynet, who is the Snow White characters and step-daughter and the story is told from their alternating POV, which I really enjoyed. Both of the main characters are unique and likeable. One of the most interesting parts about this book is that the characters do not hate each other and the theme of women helping other women is a great one. I did find the first part of the book to a bit slower, but that was mainly because it is introducing the reader to the background of both of the main characters. The rest of the book moves along at a fairly steady pace, although I didn't find that there was any huge problem that needed to be solved. In my experience with YA fantasy, there is usually some conflict or threat and there wasn't really in this book. I did really enjoy the author's writing and world-building and I do believe this is the first Snow White retelling that I have read. It was definitely an interesting retelling of this classic story and I look forward to reading more from the author in the future.

Thank you to the publisher, Flatiron Book, for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I had hoped, more than anything, that I would love Girls Made of Snow and Glass. I was promised a feminist f/f fairy tale retelling, but all I got was a slow, dull book where the LGBT+ themes took a backseat to…whatever the hell was happening.

I really really wanted to like this book. But I had to DNF it, which I always hate doing.

I thought the concept was awesome: a girl made of snow, and a woman with a glass heart. It was what initially pulled me to hit the ‘request’ button. But the alternating POVs with the time hopping (where Lynet’s POV was in the present, while Mina’s chapters were her backstory and leading up to her becoming the Queen) made it just a headache and a half.

It was part of the reason why it felt so agonizingly slow; by the time I finished a chapter and was properly attuned to that character, we changed timelines and everything was different. I had to remember what was going on in that timeline, who knew what and such and it was too much of a hassle. The intertwining of the past and present just flat out didn’t work.

As a result, I wasn’t connected to either character and had no desire to keep reading. I had to DNF it at a third of the way through the story, which is a shame, but I’ve learned a lot through book blogging: if I have to force my way through a book, then that book isn’t going to be enjoyable for me.

I’m afraid this will be a short review. I thought this book would get better as I read, but I found the more I read, the more I couldn’t stand it. The characters felt vapid and dull, the world-building flat, and the plot itself dull. I didn’t mind one of the main characters, Lynet, and I liked her fascination with the court surgeon, Nadia. It’s a nice f/f romance (I would assume it’s a romance since Lynet seems more than drawn to Nadia) but even when I stopped at 47%, there wasn’t a lot of development in that area. What could have been a promising, budding relationship was shoved onto the back burner.

I’m not sure if some point of the novel was to show the men in both Lynet and Mina’s lives as horrible, but I definitely thought so. Sure, Lynet’s father, King Nicholas, is protective of his daughter, but he soon becomes overbearing, and later, his odd wishes for Mina and Lynet’s relationship is hard to understand. Quite frankly, it seems downright cruel. The same goes for Mina’s father, Gregory. I mean, we immediately see him as a vicious man with plans to use his daughter to his own gain. I don’t disregard or unlike Mina’s dislike of him.

I didn’t care much for the writing. I was not enthralled while reading the first few chapters, and the desire to continue reading this book decreased each day. Soon, it became a chore, and at that point, I realized I couldn’t care less about the fates of these two women. But I won’t deny that their wish to break away from the path both their fathers (and Mina’s husband) had for them is admirable. Both desire to make their own way in the world they’re in, and we see them ever so slowly possibly going in that direction.

Unfortunately, this simply didn’t capture my attention, and I was both disappointed and saddened at the result.

<em>This review first appeared on http://fictionistmag.com/</em>

<em>Girls Made of Snow and Glass</em> is the Snow White I never knew I wanted. 

It follows the stepmother, Mina, and the princess, Lynet, in alternating points of view. Both are in third person, so it's not so jarring when the shifts occur, but there was also an element of time changing -- some of Mina's story was told in the past, but then it starts catching up with Lynet's chapters until both characters' POVs are firmly in the 'present.' This gets a little confusing if you think too much about it, but if you just read along and let the writing do its job, it flows well. 

The story itself starts out a bit slowly, placing our princess in a frozen castle in the north of her unnamed kingdom and painting her as a bored, spoiled child -- albeit a bored, spoiled child who dislikes her lot in life and liked climbing tall buildings. 

The story that unfolds goes a little differently than the one Disney told. I won't give anything away, as always, but the magical (and non-magical) touches added to this story make it infinitely more riveting. Plus, small (but not immediately plot-related) spoiler: There's an LGBT main character who falls in love. They don't hate themselves for it, they don't question it, and no one makes any disparaging comments about it; they just love someone of the same gender as they are. A+ from me in that respect -- that romance was adorable. A slow burn, too, for those who don't like romance getting in the way of plot.

Overall, the main characters were well-rounded (except Mina's evil father, Gregory, which honestly kind of bothered me), the story is enchanting, and the two Bashardoust pulled off the multiple POVs well. 

One of my only issues with the book was that, though it's only 384 pages, it felt like 600. At times, the characters seemed to go on and on and on about what they were thinking, even at times when it was heavily implied already. But even so, the plot and writing were well executed and I did want to keep reading. Especially near the end of the book, when I basically couldn't put the book down at all. 

An easy four out of five from me, with a definite recommendation for anyone who enjoys fantasy or fairytale retellings.