I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Having never been a fan of The Nutcracker (I don't dislike it I've just never been a fan) I was worried I wouldn't be able to get into this story, but my fears were totally unfounded. Wallwork's writing is both vivid enough to give the readers a full picture of the world and not so highbrow as to lose readers in the prose. Some of the dialogue feels a little stiff but overall it was easy to follow along.
Clara is swept away to a magical world of The Nutcracker and the story that follows is lush and fantastical. I was worried the plot would fall flat without the music but the world building more than made up for it.

I'm not a fan of the Nutcracker, but I decided to try The Enchanted Sonata. As a retelling of The Nutcracker, I really thought it would be more appealing. It turns out that I'm still not a fan of The Nutcracker in any form. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay interested enough to really like the story. It's not for me. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

-- I received an eARC of this title via NetGalley in exchange for a honest review. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this opportunity --

This is such a wonderful, magical read. Inspired by tales of the Nutcracker, it reads like a fairy-tale - an ideal read for a snowy winter evening with a mug of tea or hot chocolate.

Young Clara Nussbaum, an aspiring pianist with idealistic views on life, gets sucked into a different world, where she meets the enchanted prince of the realm. She is called to help him solve the mystery and save the Empire's children before it is too late. This turns into a fantastic romp, with magical music and devious oversized rats (reminiscent of the Princess Bride's RUSs, a nod which I hope was intentional), over the course of which Clara and the prince save everyone and fall in love.

It is not a very serious or deep read, but it doesn't aspire to be either. It suits it's genre exceedingly well, and is definitely worth reading!

I wanted to love this book so badly but I'm very sorry to say that while it has some truly wonderful moments there's just something about it that doesn't quite work. The cover is absolutely stunning and I loved the uniqueness and inspiration behind it but unfortunately the execution really lets it down.

The story is a combination of The Nutcracker and the Pied Piper with a little bit of Phantom of the Opera thrown in for good measure and in the beginning it feels like it could be the perfect wintry read. In the first few pages I had that feeling you get when you just know this is a book you're going to love. This may just have been because I adore the ballet and the beauty and magic of the Nutcracker story but it instantly swept me away, making the world around me disappear. I loved the musical references, the wintry setting and the Christmas feel but I'm afraid to say that it wasn't long before that sinking feeling started and the problems I had with the writing became too big to overlook.

I should stress this isn't a bad read and I flew through it in around a day. There are some magical moments and the story is intriguing and unique. I loved how the author brought together elements of the Nutcracker and the Pied Piper and turned it into something new but with plenty of references to the original. I loved how music was such an important part of the story and how the magic system was based around it and I really loved the world the author created. I truly think this could have been a wonderful read and that's why it's so disappointing that it's not.

The style of writing is very much like a fairytale and there are parts which are very good however there are unfortunately far more that are not. I'm a reader not a writer so am struggling to articulate it but there was something a little clunky about the writing and the characters. I was reading an ARC so it's very possible a lot of the errors were due to that, but I suspect not. There are words repeated within sentences, things that don't make much sense and just the wrong words used suggesting a lack of knowledge or research on the part of the author. These are all minor things but when it happens time and time again it becomes all you can see.

Character wise, they're a little lacking in complexity and depth but I can probably let that go given it is a fairy tale type story (they're not particularly known for their emotional depth). Clara is a little annoying and her actions and choices are often a bit silly but she does get there in the end. The Nutcracker is a little more intriguing, possibly because we don't really get his pov (and he's wooden so the expressions don't give a lot away), so I did kind of like him. The villain of the piece was probably the biggest letdown. He felt a little tacked on rather than central to the story which is a shame and I don't think his story was ever fully resolved.

Overall therefore I have to rate this as an okay read rather than a great one. There are some intriguing ideas and some great moments but it's let down by the quality of the writing. Worth a read if you're looking for something simple and festive but don't set your hopes too high.

The story of the Nutcracker has never truly interested me. In fact, it quite disturbed me. Even the Barbie Nutcracker version still scarred me. I decided to put aside my inhibitions to read this book as I loved the author’s previous book, Entwined. If you have not yet read that book, do so. You will not regret it. It was hard reading this book because I kept wanting to compare it to Entwined.

I was slightly disturbed at the thought of rats eating people’s’ faces off. However, putting that aside the world building was done very well. I thought it interesting how there were parallel universes in that two worlds could be connected through magic but otherwise just didn’t interact with each other or even know of the existence of the other.

It was strange that while the prince was only a few years older than Clara, he talked like he was an old man. I understand that generally, royalty are more polite sounding, but the tone was beyond that. As a character, his tone was just off. I don’t know how else to put it. He was way too optimistic and happy for an 18-year-old put in this situation.

The ending was a bit stranger and altogether too perfect. For example, the couple that wanted to stay in the magical world and then suddenly decided to adopt Pyotr.

I give it a 3/5 because while the book did a good job retelling the Nutcracker, I just wasn’t interested. Dixon’s work Entwined is amazing and this just didn’t measure up to it at all.

I thoroughly enjoyed the journey that The Enchanted Sonata takes you on. I loved the interactions between all of the characters and while you can sort of figure out midway through the novel what is going to happen, I still found myself up at 4 am unable to stop reading. I highly recommend it.

The Enchanted Sonata is an interesting retelling of the Pied Piper of Hamelin and the Nutcracker. As soon as I started reading this novel I was hooked. The nutcracker is one of my all-time favorite stories. I feel like the enchanted sonata did the story justice and created such an interesting twist by adding another retelling in. The whole story is an exciting adventure and fresh while sticking to key parts of the original stories.
The Enchanted Sonata is not a super romantic novel but has just enough. It is more action and adventure. I highly recommend this book as a winter read since it’s based at Christmas but it could be enjoyed all year. It will be my every year holiday reread.

Not going to lie, the cover of this book drew me in immediately. Along with the pretty title. This was a sweet and magical book. The characters were lovely and well developed. The world-building was unique and intriguing. This was an enjoyable, fun, and cozy read, with magic and romance. I would recommend this book!

I enjoyed this book! The enchanted sonata keep me hooked. It was fast paced magaical and interesting. The characters were well developed and clara she is my favorite. I would love to read more books. From heather dixon wallwork.

A new twist on the classic tale of the nutcracker, perfect for any lover of classic tales with a twist

The story is a retelling of the classic, The Nutcracker. It is funny and magical. It is also one of those books to read during the Christmas Season to give you the warm and fuzzy feeling. I will definitely recommend it to my friends!
Thank you Netgalley and Smith Publicity for providing this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a fun Nutcracker retelling that, of all things, made me laugh a ton. I don’t know if the author was trying to make me laugh with the way she worded things, but I hope she was! I definitely recommend this as a winter/pre-Christmas read to anyone who has kind of a dumb sense of humor or who can at least look past dumb humor. 4 stars.

I got this from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review which I can happily give because I have a lot to say about this novel.
I gave The Enchaned Sonata a 3 star rating for a series of reasons all having to do with personal things like being about to give up on the book but then picking it back up just because the villain was more interesting at the start, and then because I got really bored of it and then didn’t feel like picking it back up for a month. Other than those personal reasons this book happened to be one of the most deeply detailed and well thought out books I’ve read in a while and if it wasn’t for that it would have earned those extra two stars.
The story itself is fascinating – told from two worlds- Clara is preparing for one of her most important concerts while Crown Prince Nikolai is worrying about his own world and being an Emperor to people who he doesn’t think he has the right to rule over just yet because he hasn’t earned it. The two are brought together through a series of events and must figure out how to get things back to the way they were and defeat the musician Erik who has caused so much trouble.
I think what I liked so much about this is all the details that the author has obviously put into this, as she’s a musician herself and often times when I read books about music it’s either all music and no details or the other way around but this one had a nice mix of the two and there’s much appreciated for that. The world itself was so well thought out she must have been writing this book for years. I did note, many times, that there were scenes that I would recommend they use as new cover art if they ever got around to it because it would be pretty and would fit so well with the title but that’s also just who I am as a person.
One of my biggest issues was the size of the paragraphs, but I don’t know if that was because my copy of it was digital or if all of them were that dense. It could be an issue that only had to do with the copy that I received, but when I finally get around to buying a physical copy I’ll see if they’re that long myself. It’s nothing that would stop me from recommending this title to someone.

I love retelling sooooo much. This is a retelling of the classic The Nutcracker. A fairytale that hasnt gotten many retellings sadly. The books writing is absolutely beautiful, as well as the world building, but some of the characters fell flat.

An enchantingly beautiful retelling of the Nut cracker.
I'm a sucker for retellings and I loved this one.
But there werr both positive and negative aspects of this book.
I'm giving it 3.5 stars and recommendinv for a quick read

I was hoping for an interesting, magical, and sweet book to get me in the Christmas spirit but this book would've been better suited for 10-12 year olds. For a middle grade this book wouldn't have been bad but for YA I was hoping for deeper characters, a stronger plot, rich language, and a sense of maturity that usually comes with the genre. The writing was quite juvenile and the book was bland.

There were some quotes that didn't make sense like this one:
"The outfit made her look a simple sort of pretty, one that said, You musn't kiss me, but I can let you borrow this library book."

The world building was weak and it seemed as if the author built the world as the book went along. I feel like if the world had been described better, I may have enjoyed the book more, but there were times in the book where I had no grasp of the surroundings since the author didn’t explain it well. One thing I can appreciate is that the author used the proper terminology for the piano, as I am a pianist and it irks me when they get the description of piano wayyyy off.

I find this book quite difficult to rate, because it has both positive and negative aspects so I'm on the fence about many things.

The cover and the synopsis immediately drew me to the book, I love the Nutcracker story. (Thank you, first Barbie movie.) The writing is a big plus, because the details are very lush and you fall right into the story. On the other hand many descriptions drag on and on and feel like too much at times.

The plot was interesting - a retelling of The Nutcracker mixed with a cool take on The Pied Piper - but it's often confusing, jumping from different POV's to the different worlds and the past and back.

The characters were alright, though they were often not very well developed. (Especially the villain.)

I feel like this is a big case of "It's not you, it's me". The story deals very heavily with music, which is beautiful, because it sets a great tone and is perfectly woven into the story. On the other hand you'll feel bit left out if you have absolutely know idea about it and don't play any instruments.

The book has a some flaws, but it has a great theme and makes a good Christmas read if you enjoy music and fairytale re-tellings.

I am something of a collector of Nutcracker retellings. I have SO MANY. That's why I requested The Enchanted Sonata. This book was an excellent addition to my collection and I loved every page of it! It was a perfect Holiday read and I highly recommend it.

It was very atmospheric and I liked where the story was going from the start, but I kept finding myself putting it down and procrastinating every page. I can't even really explain why, other than that I didn't care about the characters at all. Maybe it was because Clara was so young and I wasn't expecting that. I don't know. I love Heather Dixon's other novels, so I might give this one another try at another date, but for now I've lost interest.

This was a beautifully written story. I love the reimagining of The Nutcracker. It was vividly whimsical and a delight.
We follow Clara in the story and her character was just a delight. Every detail and words were imaginative and the characters well thought.
This definitely read as a fairytale, fantasy, and timeless piece