#BookReview of Winterspell by @clairelegrand

Reviewed By: Rachael

Publisher: Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers

Recommended Age: Young Adult

Genre: Retelling, Fantasy

Goodreads | Amazon

About the Book: The clock chimes midnight, a curse breaks, and a girl meets a prince…but what follows is not all sweetness and sugarplums.

New York City, 1899. Clara Stole, the mayor’s ever-proper daughter, leads a double life. Since her mother’s murder, she has secretly trained in self-defense with the mysterious Drosselmeyer.

Then, on Christmas Eve, disaster strikes.

Her home is destroyed, her father abducted—by beings distinctly not human. To find him, Clara journeys to the war-ravaged land of Cane. Her only companion is the dethroned prince Nicholas, bound by a wicked curse. If they’re to survive, Clara has no choice but to trust him, but his haunted eyes burn with secrets—and a need she can’t define. With the dangerous, seductive faery queen Anise hunting them, Clara soon realizes she won’t leave Cane unscathed—if she leaves at all.

Inspired by The Nutcracker, Winterspell is a dark, timeless fairy tale about love and war, longing and loneliness, and a girl who must learn to live without fear.






About the Author: Claire Legrand used to be a musician until she realized she couldn't stop thinking about the stories in her head. A native Texan, she is now a writer and librarian living in central New Jersey.

Her first novel is THE CAVENDISH HOME FOR BOYS AND GIRLS, one of the New York Public Library's 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing in 2012. She is also the author of THE YEAR OF SHADOWS, a ghost story for middle grade readers, WINTERSPELL, a young adult re-telling of The Nutcracker, and SOME KIND OF HAPPINESS, a middle grade story about mental illness, family secrets, and the power of storytelling. SOME KIND OF HAPPINESS is a 2017 Edgar Award nominee and one of Publishers Weekly's Best Books of 2016. Her latest novel, FOXHEART, is a fast-paced fantasy-adventure and a 2016 Junior Library Guild selection. She is also one of the four authors behind THE CABINET OF CURIOSITIES, an anthology of dark middle grade short fiction that was a Junior Library Guild selection, a Bank Street Best Book, and among the New York Public Library's 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing in 2014. 

Do I Recommend this book? Yes yes yes!!! <3

Notes and Opinions: This book was such a dark and, weirdly (but not in a bad way), sexy retelling of The -freaking- Nutcracker!! I'm like seriously obsessed with anything that has to do with The Nutcracker. You watch Clara grow from such a timid girl to a such a strong girl. It was hard to read about her getting pushed around and used but she grows a backbone and I love it. She goes through so much and you feel bad but she learns. Now Nicholas...*swoon*. (Honestly as a kid, I had a huge crush on The Nutcracker....oops). It was a slower read but I seriously enjoyed that because it gave me more time to devour every single detail. I would looooooove a sequel.

 

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Posted in: 5 Stars, Review, Simon & Schuster, Young Adult