Thank you so much, NetGalley, Harper 360 and HQ, for the chance to read and review this book in exchange of an honest review.

Marietta wishes to be a ballerina, but as Christmas draws nearer her dancing days are numbered, since her family wants her to get married and take her place in the society. When a toymaker, Dr Drosselmeier comes to live in a neighbouring townhouse, her life is turned upside down and filled with mysteries and magic. Even though his magic can be more dangerous than ever. When she discovers that the set he constructed has magin, at midnight she finds herself in a world filled with secrets and she has to fight to get back home.

Midnight in Everwood is a Nutcraker for adults and it's absolutely brilliant! The setting is lush and evocative and Marietta is a wonderful main character. She's smart and stubborn and she loves to dance, to follow her passion and not to be smothered by her family's expectations and ideas. When magic comes in her life, she finds herself involved in it. I fell in love with this story, the plot, the cover! Everything is perfect, magical and written so skillfully it was impossible not to love everything.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc. I received it after publication day and had already read it via the library.

I enjoyed the book overall. I’m not too familiar with the Nutcracker to know the similarities. I liked the magic and bonds in this story. I also enjoy the romance. It wasn’t overdone or too sappy. I wanted more for the MC and the captain, but it ended well.

Thank you to NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review. This review also contains mild spoilers.

This story delivers everything it promises, and more. From the Christmas aura to sugary sweetness. The magic of this story makes it a perfect read for the upcoming holidays!

Before divulging much further into what is great about this story, I want to touch on what makes it a 4/5 star read rather than a 5/5. I want to note that I don't know much about the Nutcracker so some of this might come from a place of misunderstanding the story.

Marietta, our protagonist, can be a bit hard to "like" at times, even once her actions are explained. She's decent enough with good intentions, and Kuzniar does hold her character accountable, but it is never entirely rectified with more favorable qualities. For example, she is warned by several people several times about leaving Everwood, and she doesn't think twice about it. Then she decides to dance ballet at a ball, setting her up for her entrapment by King Gelum. She is trying to escape the fate of her life in the times she lives in her world, so it is understandable, but it felt silly to not have her take so many of those warnings seriously.

There is also certain logic that doesn't sit right at times. Such as King Gelum having everyone at his mercy when he's holding up Marietta as a hostage and he tosses her aside to duel with Captain Legat. Although it can be argued this was him being cocky, it doesn't feel natural since we see him being sinister for the majority of the novel. Then Marietta knocks him out with her shoe... and Captain Legat is healed by the Star Lights... and that spicy scene tossed into that wintery mix was so random. And how many times is it necessary to use the word "marzipan" and "creme"? I loved the descriptions, but some of these words were overdoing it.

Despite all of these things, I still really enjoyed this story and it quite literally feels like magic. It does have that "Caraval" feel to it which makes it intriguing and enjoyable. Even before we set foot into Everwood. This book is probably best for those who appreciate world-building, as that takes precedence over a lot of the plot. The plot is explosive leading up to Everwood, and it does trickle a bit for the rest of the story, but it is acceptable because the world is enchanting. I personally loved the way the story made me feel when listening to the descriptions. Kuzniar does have a way with words, and this world-building was so unique and vivid that it kept up the intrigue even when there "wasn't much happening."

There are also some nice attempts at diversity within the story, given the time period of 1906. Although I'm not entirely fond of a storyline with gay men in a secret relationship while one is marrying an unknowing woman, it is typical of the time period. It does bring a layer of heartache as well, especially when in Everwood that is not an issue in their community. I can see that Kuzniar was trying to deal with race, class, and LGBTQ+ relationships carefully and that is appreciated.

Overall, the story is enchanting, charming, magical, and more. The world-building takes you on a journey to another place, and I am excitedly anticipating a sequel.

The idea of retelling adult version of Nutcracker is extremely tempting! After seeing this beautifully illustrated, magical cover, only thing in your mind is taking to a journey to Everwood as fast as you can!

The beginning of the story was also promising. It took place in 1906. Marietta Stelle was dreaming of becoming a dancer but unfortunately her plans were derailed by her parents’ intension to force her marry with the sinister toy maker next door called Dr. Drosselmeier. She feels in her guts that was something wrong with the man which was absolutely true!

She finds herself in Everwood with bunch of other women who were forced to be dancers of the king, after being fooled by neighbor doctor. Before getting killed, she has to find a way to escape this haunted land!

The things made me have second thoughts about this book are: haphazardly and one dimensional developed characters and their relationships. I couldn’t relate with Marietta from the beginning and at the captivation process, I was expecting to see more moving, powerful women bounding. Also the love interest as sub plot was not realistic for me! And the conclusion was also semi- satisfying.

The idea and the beginning of the story were promising but the entire execution of the classic needed extra development, emotional depth.

So I can only give three stars because of creative idea to adapt Nutcracker into adults’ world. But this book still made me feel like I just read a YA fantasy novel!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Harper 360 for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

This was beautifully whimsical and magical, everything you would want in a book to get you ready and prepared for the festive holiday season ahead. This was perfect and I adored this more then I expected to!

I really, really wanted to love this one but unfortunately, it was just a huge miss for me. At first, the writing style seemed flowery and beautiful but by the end, the same metaphors seemed to be used over and over again and I found it was simply too repetitive. The amount of times eye colors were compared to chocolate and caramel were outrageous. Writing style doesn't usually bother me but in this book, I couldn't look past it. I wanted to give the book an extra star because the story told was good but since it was a retelling, I couldn't even bring myself to do that. As soon as I read "She could hear his smile" I wanted to DNF this book. I may have if I hadn't been reading it for review. If you enjoy flowery writing, many, many references to ballet dancing, a plethora of indulgent metaphors, and worldbuilding that isn't overly complicated, this may be for you. Unfortunately, it just wasn't for me but I'm sure this is going to be the perfect book for the right type of reader.

Wow wow wow! Candy Land is messed up. 😆 The decadent descriptions of the frozen sugar kingdom is lushly detailed and conjures images straight from the Christmas ballet. But the thread of darkness running beneath the snowy surface lends an eerie unease to the atmosphere. The story is wonderfully juxtaposed in metaphor, if slightly predictable in its socio-political points. Those points bear repeating in our world, though, so no harm no foul.

One thing that surprised me is how highlighted ballet is; I mean, I expected it to be, but it's not merely something Marietta does. I actually learned quite a bit about balletic form, steps, and some of its popular history. More importantly, it doesn't necessarily feel like excess information because of how it ties into the larger theme of empowerment.

Speaking of empowerment, the female friendships in this book! So genuine, so real and honest. It's deeper than women supporting women: it's believing in one another, holding one another accountable, but never leaving one another behind. Highly uplifting.

And the romance. So very dream-like and unexpectedly poignant. The story plays with many different facets of strength and weakness; I loved to see Marietta exploring them through her sexuality, especially after experiencing sexual attention that was genuinely frightening to her. Though it could wander at times into the saccharine, the romantic sub-plot is thoughtfully nuanced, lending additional weight throughout the dream.

You won't forget this story upon waking up.

Magical and lovely and perfect retelling of the Nutcracker just on time for the holidays.. This was a delightful novel for me, as I have been really into retellings lately (Sing Me Forgotten, Malice spring to mind) and for adult readers who check YA (this is adult but I think you know what I mean) hoping for some sugar plummed fun they won't be disappointed.

Who doesn’t love the nutcracker? I was quite excited to read a story inspired by it for adults.

I love the idea behind Marietta’s story: she’s fighting societal expectations and her family’s plans for her to achieve her dream of being a dancer. I also loved the beautiful and delicious(all those sweets!) world of Everwood that was created. However, I just didn’t get what I was expecting from this story.

To start off, this isn’t an easy book to get through, it’s slow. The language is overly descriptive and there’s not a ton of dialogue. Some of this language creates beautiful imagery, a lot of it is unnecessary. There are also a lot of brand names used. I personally don’t care to know that a diamond brooch is Cartier, or a cap is Burberry or someone wears Jicky perfume, it’s information overload.

I would have liked the relationships to be deeper. Marietta makes friends, she falls in love, but I did not feel those connections. I was excited for a love story and as much as I loved the idea of Marietta and Legat, I didn’t get enough from them.

Also, it was a bit…political? It kept taking me out of a 1906 fairytale world and into present day every time Marietta’s privilege is brought up. When I’m reading fantasy I want to be immersed and forget about the world around me.

The resolving of a storyline involving one of the villains felt very anticlimactic. Maybe this book isn’t a standalone and that’s why, but I didn’t get the impression there was a setup for a second book.

I don’t know, underneath the flowery language and magical details, this story just ended up feeling hollow. The ending was fine, but it didn’t satisfy me. This particular story didn’t fulfill my storytelling wants.

*thank you so much to M.A. Kuzniar, Harper 360 HQ and NetGalley for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review*

A new retelling of The Nutcracker but for adults? Color me intrigued. This story follows Marietta Stelle who longs to become a ballerina, but in 1906 her parents have other plans for her, particularly for her to become the wife of the mysterious and rich new toymaker who moved in next door, Dr. Drosselmeier. Marietta however, has sensed something wrong and dark about him and soon finds herself escaping him and his magic by running through a clock and entering into the magical snowy lands of Everwood. Now she finds herself trapped as a dancer for the king along with other women he has held captive and must join together to escape his clutches before he kills her. Throw in a dashing captain, a kick-ass fairy, and a warrior princess and what you get is definitely an interesting spin on the original classic. While the premise of this story had all the makings for something I would love, I found myself loving interest the further along I got into the book, I found myself not even caring as Marietta was in Everwood (which is essentially suppose to be the whole magical point of this book) which sucks. I didn’t really care for the romance and Marietta was a bit annoying for me, like at certain points I was questioning what was even going on in her head??? At one point she risks the plan the lives of the other two captives to say goodbye to her crush?? Mam, we are all gonna die and this is what you’re gonna risk our lives for? This definitely reads more like YA than adult. Sadly this book just didn’t meet my expectations and the premise of the book was so good but the execution never really met up to the potential. While I didn’t enjoy it as much, if you are a fan of the classic story definitely give this a try, maybe you’ll like it.

*Thanks Netgalley and Harper 360, HQ for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

This retelling of The Nutcracker sounded so magical and appealing to me. I thought it started out really good. Then it slowed down for me. I just couldn't make it to the end after trying it. I do feel others will enjoy this, so I don't want to say it wasn't good. The writing was well done, it just wasn't for me!

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the gifted copy. All opinions are my own!

This book was just not for me. It started out well enough; I really liked the atmosphere and I found the villain interesting. And then about a third of the way in it really slowed down. Weirdly, it was when Marietta entered Everwood that things became a bit of a slog, despite this being the point that I would assume things would start to get really interesting. And then about three quarters of the way in, things really fell apart for me. I felt that the last quarter of the book was so full of overdone tropes and cringey romantic lines that I found it really hard to make it all the way to the end.

I was disappointed that the villain I found so interesting at the beginning just disappeared and played no part in the end of the book. The female friendships that are talked about in the book's blurb felt inauthentic. The book is promoted as Adult but it had a very YA feel.

While this book wasn't for me, I don't think that it is unreadable. I do feel like there is definitely an audience for it. I would just be cautious about who I recommend it to because I feel like a lot of the promises made in the books description are never really fulfilled.

This was truly atmospheric there was so much depth into the characters! I adore the world building and was so enticed!