Creative spin on Snow White; a little overhyped but solidly entertaining and newish enough to be memorable.

This book tried so hard to be about feminism and the relationships we choose. And it failed by it's lack of characterization and trying to hard to be everything to everyone. While I liked the characters of Mina and Lynet, they seemed so one sided. With another book where one simple conversation would have eliminated the entire story. It was an enjoyable take on Snow White but I was left really bored and flat with the nove

This book was number one on my to be read list. I appreciate given the opportunity to read and review this book. Unfortunately, I was not able to get around to reading this. The character sounds very relatable to me. I do have a physical copy of this book and hope to get to it very soon. I apologize I was not able to review it before the release date.

I loved this terrific debut retelling of Snow White! I simply can't believe this was a debut because the writing is so superb and free flowing and such a delightful spin on the classic tale. I can't believe either that it took me so long to jump on this book because it was just awesome!

<i>*This book was given to me by NetGalley in return for an honest review*</i>

I had the hardest time with this one. I wanted to finish it, but life is short. It was reallllly slow and the characters were flat. Couldn't do it.

When the book finally gets to the part where Mina and Lynet decide to stop listening to other people and work together, then I was like, you know what, clever. But it took so long to get there and I really wanted more of it!

DNF. I made it 40% of the way through and just could not imagine wasting my time finishing it. It's not that the writing is bad or the characters or even the world building. But the pacing is TERRIBLE. It was just so much back and forth and trying to justify emotions and feelings and after a certain point if I need THAT much telling about a character to justify their arc I'm over it. I was disappointed because I loved the idea and description but the pacing just tore me down and made me stop caring. In serious need of a brutal edit.

I apologize that I have not yet provided a review. I really wanted to like this book, but I found that it was not engaging and lacked character development. As a high school librarian, I look for gems to add to our collection and sadly, this missed the mark. Thank you for allowing me to review it.

Rating: 3 stars. Nothing special, nothing particularly compelling, but not horrible either. I liked the skeleton of this book in terms of how self-aware and emotionally in-touch these characters were, and there were compelling rearrangements in this Snow White retelling, but these factors were largely buried in the slow plotting and overly brooding atmosphere. It needed some life via humor or action in order to excite me, but it instead was plodding and somewhat predictable.

Rating: 3 stars. Nothing special, nothing particularly compelling, but not horrible either. I liked the skeleton of this book in terms of how self-aware and emotionally in-touch these characters were, and there were compelling rearrangements in this Snow White retelling, but these factors were largely buried in the slow plotting and overly brooding atmosphere. It needed some life via humor or action in order to excite me, but it instead was plodding and somewhat predictable.

With GIRLS MADE OF SNOW AND GLASS, I definitely fell in love. It's a sapphic retelling of Snow White, told from the alternating perspectives of the "evil" queen and the exiled princess herself. It's a beautiful treatise on how women are boxed into types and how they can step out of those boxes and reclaim their power. The writing is lyrical and melodic, which ups the atmosphere of an old fairy tale or modern poetic epic. There were so many heartbreakingly beautiful descriptions.



The characters are complex, deep and flawed and lovely real people. Their tangled, emotionally fraught interactions power the plot much more than the fantasy elements, which seem rather to serve as metaphors for their personal struggles. The queen, Mina, is a girl with a heart made of glass and a vicious father, who insinuates her way into the king's favor because becoming queen is a way to never be powerless again. Lynet is a daughter made of snow in the image of the dead queen; made to be a poor replacement for someone else, she struggles to be her own person.



The plot is dreamlike, alternating between Mina's past and Lynet's present (in which Mina is now a grown woman), and unfolding in a poignant tale of two women fighting to control their own lives under the thumbs of domineering men and an oppressive society. The core is really their relationships. Their inital mother-daughter bond is fractured by the pressures of a society that pits women against one another, in which the only way to life yourself up is to destroy the other. Mina fears that Lynet's royal future will sideline her, stripping her of all the power she fought so desperately to gain. Misunderstandings and betrayals lead into a final conflict where each woman is forced to contend with the fact that they were made to live for someone else, and it doesn't have to be that way. Lynet also falls in love on the way with a woman who doesn't expect her to be anything but herself.



Gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous book.

I truly enjoy retellings, especially ones that take established stories and turn them on their heads. I love the characters, the world, and the overall fantasy in this book. I loved the different POVs, how the characters were so different, but also so similar, and how I truly couldn't predict anything. I also love how simple and incredible this cover is. I know for a fact that many readers love this book and I can't wait to recommend this book to friends.

WHY DID I LISTEN TO GIRLS MADE OF SNOW AND GLASS BY MELISSA BASHARDOUST?
Girls Made Of Snow And Glass by Melissa Bashardoust absolutely appeals to me because it is a feminist retelling of Snow White (at least that is my impression). I felt like this book was completely up my alley. I saw it on Hoopla and it took me all of zero seconds to decide to use one of my monthly borrows. Bashardoust’s debut was a compelling and fantastic audiobook. As it turns out, my expectations were met with this audiobook.

WHAT’S THE STORY HERE?
Girls Made Of Snow And Glass follows two main characters – Mina and Lynet. At one point in the story, Mina is a sixteen year old girl with no mother and a magician father. Her heart doesn’t beat and she is kind of cold. Eventually she goes on to marry the king and we see her as an adult and as the stepmother to Lynet. Lynet meandwhile during the story is fifteen. She looks exactly like her dead mother. Only, Lynet would rather be like her stepmother Mina whom she admires very much. As it turns out though, Lynet isn’t actually born of the dead queen but was made of snow. Regardless, her father makes her queen of the lands that Mina had originally been in charge of. So, it kind of sets these two women up to be rivals. Only, they have to subvert that to both come out okay in the end.

HOW DID I LIKE GIRLS MADE OF SNOW AND GLASS?
I found Girls Made Of Snow And Glass to be a very compelling listen. Bashardoust wrote a book that honestly was perfect for me to begin the snowy season with. I felt like it was atmospheric. Also, it was great how this book turns the evil stepmother trope on its head. It is so cool to see positive relationships between women. Also? There is the fact that there is not a handsome prince who saves Lynet. Rather, she falls in love with another young woman. It is sweet and wonderful. There’s really just a whole lot to like about this book and I feel good about wholeheartedly recommending it.

HOW’S THE NARRATION?
The audiobook is narrated by Jennifer Ikeda. I am actually not sure if I have listened to an audiobook narrated by her before. If not, I certainly want to pursue more of her narrations. She does a really bang up job. Her voice is well suited to this kind of fantasy story. I did not find my attention wandering while listening. Ikeda legit has exactly what I want to hear when listening to a fantasy audiobook. Girls Made Of Snow And Glass is 12 Hours and 56 Minutes long but well worth the time.

Even though I found Girls Made of Snow and Glass a tad bit slow and simple, I still enjoyed reading it as it kept my attention.

Girls Made of Snow and Glass is a real surprise of a novel. Sure, I understood it featured two multifaceted royal ladies, a deconstruction of the Wicked Stepmother trope, and an f/f romance, but I still didn’t expect much from it. The book gleefully shows up your expectations from the first page, in which Princess Lynet is hiding out from her royal duties and finds herself entranced by Nadia, the new court surgeon. The lush writing is just as compelling as the perspectives of Lynet and Mina.

As lovely and nice as Lynet is, Mina’s story is the more engrossing of the two. The latter’s chapters has us follow her from her beginnings as the literal glass-hearted outcast daughter of feared Southern magician Gregory and shows us how she rose to the position of queen using her wits, charms, and her secret ability to manipulate glass. All of her actions have roots in her desperate desire to be loved and her belief that because of her glass heart, she is incapable of love. She’s a bit wicked at times, but she isn’t pigeonholed into the wicked stepmother role. She’s just a human being scarred by rejection and trying to take care of herself because no one else has ever taken care of her.

For the longest time, Lynet is oblivious to her stepmother’s struggles and what life is like outside the eternal wintry wasteland of Whitespring. She’s the pampered princess doing as she pleases with no plans to take up the throne anytime soon. Then her father dies, she finds out Nadia is spying on her for Lynet’s creator Gregory, and Mina somewhat inadvertently chases Lynet out of Whitespring. This is where Lynet’s growth begins as well as her discovery of her own snow-based powers.

Admittedly, Lynet’s personal and magical growth far outpace her actual movements and decisions, making it feel as though she changes so much from doing so little. Her actions: fleeing the North for the South, learning about her snow powers on her own, finding and mistakenly trusting Gregory, and returning to the North to face Mina once she understands what must be done. This is also when she really begins her relationship with Nadia, but the romance is very mild and I’m a bit sad they didn’t have more time together throughout the book.

Though Girls of Snow and Glass is largely unremarkable and I’ll probably forget about it before long, there’s one thing about it that’s sure to make readers recall it fondly: its focus on the importance of family and familial love. While she’s busy trying to make people love her, Mina only thinks of gaining the romantic love of the king and the worshipful love subjects would have for their queen. Until the very end of the novel, she’s oblivious to how much Lynet loves her as a mother–the only mother Lynet has ever known–as well as to how much she herself loves Lynet as a daughter.

It’s doubtful I’ll ever reread Girls of Snow and Glass, but there’s not a single part of me that thinks reading the book was a waste of time. It’s something like a modern fairy tale with its complicated characters and themes about the many forms love comes in. So yes, it’s a worthwhile read, especially if you want to spend June reading books with queer characters just to gay it up a little extra this Pride Month.

This was one of the best retellings I have ever read. It was so atmospheric and lovely. The dynamic between the two main characters was so intriguing.

This retelling of Snow White takes on the evil stepmother trope. Are they inherently evil? Jealous of their step-daughters beauty to the point they would have them killed? Or are they simply more human than even they themselves had ever realized?

I loved this book and it kept me on the edge of my seat the entire read. We love having a diverse array of characters and love mysteries that feature LGBTQIA+ characters. This was a pleasure to read and has been a favorite handsell.

I thought this story (while a bit slow moving in the beginning) was a really thoughtful retelling of Snow White. While there are no dwarves to be seen, Bashardoust uses magic in a believable way—it carries the plot without operating as a vehicle for action. Both Mina and Lynet, our two protagonists, are delightfully nuanced—both neither wholly good or evil. Bashardoust's work with Mina as the Evil Stepmother was the best part of the book. She digs into her, making her not quite a villain, but an incredibly complex character in her own right.

This book is well worth the beginning hurdle and is highly recommended to those who love fairy-tale retellings, magic, and complicated characters.

“The word that Lynet hated so much had sounded like a luxury to Mina. She had tried to think of a time when she had ever felt delicate, but she couldn’t for as long as she could remember, she had always felt herself covered in invisible fractures, a map of scars like the ones that ran up and down Felix’s arms. Perhaps she was so broken that she had become unbreakable.”

Girls Made of Snow and Glass is an exquisite retelling of Snow White, reinventing a tale about jealous queens and helpless maidens into a story of female empowerment. The familiar tale is dissected with precision and carefully imbued with new layers of complexities. The final result is a gorgeously rendered story about a glass queen and a snow princess, both working to defy the roles the men in their lives have forced upon them.

This book was very, very good. I live for fairytale retellings and this is among the best of the best. It's very imaginative. I think all of the new additions to the classic story were FANTASTIC. The most important being the relationship between the two main characters, Mina and Lynet. The character arcs in this book are so dynamic and well-thought out. I think the one mishap of the book is that the plot is weaker but if you love good character work, then this book is for you.

If you're a fan of fairytales but want something different and unique from them, then this is for you. I recommend this absolutely! Can't wait to see what Bashardoust comes up with next.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the review copy.