Snow so White by C. Gockel

Read in January 2024

Summary:

In the village of Somer, 20-year-old Cherie lives in a Magickal haven protected by Jack Frost. When his spell weakens, the Queen targets Somer, threatening its Magickal inhabitants. To have her village and prevent war with the Fae, Cherie embarks on a dangerous quest with Jack's help and her own small Magick. Along the way, she befriends Grendel, a vampire and learns about a curse that has trapped an entire city. Failure means losing more than just her life!

 

Main Characters:

Cherie: the protagonist. She's a 20-year-old girl who recently lost her grandmother. Despite her relatively weak Magick, she is still interesting. As we learn alongside her, she possesses a unique quality. She goes through some growing through the book, but I kind of wish she had grown more. Being the first book in a series, she may still have room for growth and change.

Jack Frost: a cursed man who can only visit the real world through mirrors. I found him annoying at times and overly protective of Cherie, borderline manipulative. I found his relationship with Cherie disturbing and, at times, almost abusive. Not my cup of tea!

Grendel: a vampire. She's entertaining. Kind of the jester or comic relief of the novel. I thought she was the most interesting character.

Evil Queen: the ruler of the world. She's hunting anyone who possesses any Magick.

 

World-Building:

The world-building was relatively simple. It was probably because the setting was a version of the USA, kind of urban version. What I found missing is the world's description. As someone who hasn't been to the USA, I don't know how everything looks. At a time in the book, we are in an alternate, urban version of Chicago and I had a hard time visualizing the setting.

 

Themes/Tropes:

• Friends-to-Lovers
• Found Family
• Dark Secrets
• Slow Burn Romance
• FMC
• Evil Queen
• Poisoned Apple
• Mythical Beings
• Supernatural Elements

 

Entertainment Value:

The book is quite entertaining once you get into it. It's a bit hard to understand at the beginning and it took me some 4-5 chapters to get into. As much as I love folklore and mythical creatures, there was too much crammed into this book. We have vampires, fae, Jack Frost, Snow White, Evil Queen, a Chinese dragon, and even demons and hell. I don't think this mixture of folklore and mythologies from different parts of the world are working together here. The author used more than just Snow White as an inspiration for these series, with of course Jack Frost, but Grendel is based on the monster Grendel from Beowulf. If you enjoy being baffled and clueless, this book is a must-read.

 

Cover Art:

I'm definitely someone who judges a book on its cover. That's why I was initially drawn to this book. The cover is gorgeous! 

 

Would I read this book again?

No, unfortunately not. I also don't plan on continuing the series. The way the relationship between Cherie and Jack Frost was at the end of the book gave me shivers, and I don't want to read more about this kind of relationship.

I was sad that I didn't like this book more. I love retellings of old fairy tales and this sounded like something I would love, but I didn't.

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