The Enchanted Sonata is a fantastical YA retelling of The Nutcracker mashed up with The Pied Piper. This is a fun read for the holiday season as Clara finds herself in another world on Christmas Eve. The story hits all the right notes with a prince turned into a nutcracker, an army of giant rats, and a magical world of sweets. I liked the way that music was part of the story and how that led into a version of The Pied Piper. The world building is excellent, and the romance is sweet. I'm happy to have received a copy from NetGalley, and recommend this to fans of YA fantasy.

This was a delightful retelling of the Nutcracker! I just loved it. It was so vivid and such a fun romp through the Nutcracker world. The characters were well developed and so likable. I was rooting for Clara and the Nutcracker from the start. A sweet confection and one I will be revisiting during future Christmases. Would highly recommend!

What is it?

“The Enchanted Sonata”is a musical retelling of the classic Nutcracker story with a cameo from The Pied Piper.

Subject

Clara is a young girl who is also a brilliant pianist. She has composed a special piece for the Christmas concert and has been dreaming of how she will end up with the man of her dreams by the end of it. However, her plans are ruined when she receives a magical book and a nutcracker just the night before the concert, and is transported to a magical land where she is the only person who can save the city from an evil magician who has turned all the children into toys with his music.
This is a story about loss of loved ones, the feeling of wanting revenge and how much it affects our lives, music and -most importantly- love. The characters are well-realised and they make you care about them. Description of the winter scenes along with another sensory elements like gingerbread smells and chocolate adds to the festivity of the story.

Overall [♥♥♥/♥♥♥♥♥]

First of all, i loved the idea of music being magical in a literal sense. The story did not disappoint when it comes to making the reader feel warm inside and giving all the christmassy feels we all love and want. However, there were some things that made me question why i was trying to finish the book…
The things with retellings is that you should have something different, something new to offer to the reader. I didn’t really get that from this story. Everything was predictable and the writing-style with the added musical parts were not enough to keep my attention. The other thing that bothered me the most was the portrayal of the Nutcracker. I know that there needed to be something more than just a piece of wood but the way Clara “appreciated” some physical attributes of the Nutcracker was just disturbing.
I also had a problem with the way Clara was in love with Johann (the pianist she wanted to marry) but with the story progressing Nutcracker started making the same remarks i had about this not-healthy relationship, so i guess it was okay at the end. My favourite was Erik Zolokov, the magician who had turned all the kids to toys and sent the whole city into chaos. He was mysterious, charming in a way most villains tend to be and just interesting. He and his story might have been the most interesting part of this retelling.

My biggest concern however, is this embedded gender-segregation throughout the whole book. The way women characters acted around men, the language being used (describing the colour of Clara’s dress as “feminine blue”, using the adjective “masculine” to talk about the auras’ of the soldiers, etc) I don’t know if this was a conscious decision or not but it bothered me a lot.

✧♬✧♬✧♬✧

So in the end, i have mix feelings towards this book. The pacing of the story is not that fast and it can feel dull at points, however the last few chapters are thrilling and heart-warming. If you are looking for a light-hearted holiday read, especially for a younger audience, this book will do the job. And in the end, isn’t the holidays all about feeling good? (∪ ◡ ∪)

I honestly had so much fun reading this book! It was so whimsical and the perfect read for around Christmas time. I read this within a day, because I was so entertained that I almost couldn't stop reading. It was so cute!

What a great magical tale. Ideal for this time of year. It's wintery and heartwarming. The writing is rich with descriptions, and you can really enjoy the story as if you were there.

The Enchanted Sonata is the Pied Piper/Nutcracker mashup-retelling (with a sprinkling of Phantom of the Opera) that you never knew you needed! It’s a lyrical, magical tale that’s perfect for Christmas.

I loved this book so much I stayed up til midnight to finish it – and if you know how much I like my sleep, that is really saying something. The Nutcracker’s never been one of my favourite stories, but I really really loved the way that it was made fresh here – this is definitely a story you can read without needing to know any of the background as it hangs together as its own story perfectly. There’s a real sense of magic in the story that sweeps you along – I smiled at the various references, but never felt that they detracted from the originality of this story.

There are a few bizarre sentences scattered throughout the book, and I’m not sure if these were just errors, or meant for effect. But the occasional jarring (/nonsensical!) sentence actually highlighted for me how flowing the rest of the prose was. Our main character, Clara, has devoted her life to the piano, and music forms the basic of the Pied Piper character’s magic – well, reading this felt like listening to a sweeping piece of music. The scenery, especially the snowy scenes and those in the amazing chocolate house Polichinelle’s, is gorgeously drawn, which makes it easy to lose yourself in the story. This is a very visual book, and it feels like an old-fashioned fairytale.

I loved the device of the book within a book – at the beginning of the story, Clara receives a nutcracker toy and a storybook from an unknown person, and begins to read about Prince Nikolai, only to find herself thrown into the story! This meant that we got a great look at Nikolai’s character before he was transformed, and made him a lot more sympathetic than an eight-foot wooden soldier could have been. This also allows Clara some wonderful moments of bafflement at the world which she has fallen into – I found this really amusing. I loved her horror at the size of the rats, and her reaction to the badass nuns – oh, and her awe at the chocolates available at Polichinelle’s! It just felt really magical. Erik, the Piper character, was a proper fairytale villain, but I was fascinated to find out more about his background. I loved the nod to the Phantom, with him living in the bowels of the Opera House.

I don’t really know how to describe how utterly magical this felt while reading it. It felt like the book equivalent of sitting down in front of Disney’s Sleeping Beauty as an adult – a rich visual experience tinged with nostalgia and fairy magic and a little bit of amusement at the naivete of fairy tale characters. It made me go ‘aww’ out loud at two points towards the end, and well, any book worth losing sleep over must be very good indeed! If you’re looking for a magical, musical winter read, then The Enchanted Sonata is a must. Five out of five cats.

I'm an avid reader of fairy-tale retellings and this book has blown me away! This is the first Heather Wallwork book I've read, but now i'm putting all her books on my tbr!!! Since I read the synopsis to the book I knew I had to have it and boy let me tell you that this was no disappointment. 

This book was marvelously written and was chocked full of magic and wonder! The main character was so beautifully written and i loved watching her grow as a person to see what she wants versus living to fill an obligation. You see her get swept away and learn to make choices for herself and learn what it is to truly grown up stand up in the face of adversity and how one can save themselves.

The way Heather wrote about music is this novel was absolutely captivating. Never before has someone written about music with such magic and realism that it could take my breath away and floor me. 

The Pied Piper and The Nutcracker retelling tied so well together. Heather was elegant and how she melded two beloved classics together. I absolutely loved the characters in this novel. Even our main villain is one I loved to hate but ended up loving when I got this backstory! And of course our dashing hero had me swooning! Sure there is a little instalove but what YA isn't these days? I mean this book was perfect and made for the best Christmas read!!!!

This book contains all the best elements for a successful fairy tale. An untested hero, an unwitting heroine, a mystical land with fickle fairies, creepy beasts, dark magic, and a hateful nemesis. Throw in a confection or two, stir in a some elements of several well known stories, raise the tension a notch or three, and you have the perfect way to spend a few hours with a cup of cocoa, freshly baked cookies, and a thought to be pondered “What makes music .....magic?” Listening to Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite while you float away to the Waltz of the Snowflakes, Waltz of the Flowers and the Dance of the Prince and the Sugar Plum Fairy may be the inspiration needed.

A very special story. My time was well spent in the land of Imperia.

Thank you NetGalley and Amazon for a copy.

DNF at 5%. I usually don’t feel this strongly about dnfing a book so quickly, but here we are. The writing felt very childish which was odd considering this is supposed to be YA. It felt very much like a middle grade, like it was trying to over simplify things. I also already couldn’t stand the main character. She started off as again very young and not what I anticipated. Also I hate when I’m not being shown something is happening in a book, rather just being told. Like there isn’t enough description and it left me confused and feeling like we were rushing the start of the novel.

3.5 stars.

In this loose retelling of The Pied Piper and The Nutcracker, pianist Clara is pulled into another world that's been enchanted by an evil musician. Along with the prince (Nutcracker), she embarks on a quest to undo the spell, save the kingdom -- and hopefully get home in time for an all-important concert in the "real" world.

I picked this story up craving something light and wintry for the season, and in that sense it completely delivered. The setting, characters, and tensions were engaging -- enough that, even while I was annoyed by some narrative choices, I still wanted to keep reading. I found Clara charming and the Nutcracker sympathetic.

In the past (with Entwined) I've found it a little hard to place Heather Dixon Wallwork's work. Bits of it seem a little mature for middle grade, but the depth characters and content is kept very light. I think that, as a middle grade reader, I would have enjoyed this book and seen little wrong with it. A more mature reader might feel a bit talked down to, though: The number of flashbacks and use of the fairy book all seemed to be a device to make sure the reader absolutely could not miss any information, while also giving the characters easy answers to the various mysteries in the story. So much of the intrigue in the plot was answered by a flashback or a chapter in the magical book, when it would have been much more engaging had the characters used more agency to claim their answers/resolutions. At least, that was how I felt.

(I also was not invested in the side plots, including a side romance... at all. Sad to say. In the end, the amount of happy endings pushed the story past cute into a dangerously sweet zone. Which, perhaps, is fitting, given the setting.)

All this said -- I still enjoyed the story, and it kept me reading. I'd recommend this to younger readers, especially those interested in music or fairytales.

I was given a free copy on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

he Nutcracker and The Pied Piper are two of my favourite stories, and when I saw that they had come together in The Enchanted Sonata by Heather Dixon Wallwork, I was thrilled. This book is fast-paced, and it contains a cast of characters who are each well developed. A perfect holiday read.

What a truly enchanting book.
I was completely swept away by this story. Its a beautiful tale with elements of
fairy tales such as the Pied piper, Nutcracker and Christmas Carol.

Clara is a very talented Pianist and her talent takes her to places she never could even dream of. Even if she does have her future completely planned out in her head. This take follows her and how she meets the Nutcracker prince and with the adventures they go through finds out that the future cannot always be planned.

Heather Dixon Wallwork's writing is truly beautiful; it hold a musical flair in itself and I felt that I was being played an intricate piece of music throughout the book.

A perfect Holiday read!

3.75 - 4 Stars - First thing to know. I am obsessed with The Nutcracker. When this book came out, I knew that I needed to read it! I loved how the tale was reshaped into a story of a young ruler trying to save his kingdom, and a young pianist finding her talent. I thought that the world was extremely vivid. I liked to imagine this fairy tale land filled with snow, candy, and glass-spired buildings. While I am never super fond of killing off creatures that aren't sentient, they did seem to have quite the (massive-sized) rat infestation, and the lead villain was relatively interesting. I was impressed by the magic of music in this book, and the author's knowledge of music and composition. My favorite thing about this book was probably being swept up in the world and beautiful descriptions. I didn't like that Clara's motivation for a lot of the book was her love interest, but at least she grew, acknowledged it, and it became healthier at the end.

I received this book for free from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

As a both a fan of The Nutcracker and a pianist myself, I was incredibly excited to get my hands on this book. What I didn’t want was the word for word retelling of The Nutcracker that I’ve come to expect from books similar to this, and on that front I was not disappointed. Dixon has rewritten the story of The Nutcracker to be both recognisable and unique, an I loved every page. I only wish that both the world and the characters were expanded upon a little more as Dixon seemed clearly to want to make the story as much her own as possible and I feel that, overall, more expansion would have helped with that.

*Thanks to NetGalley for providing me an e-ARC in exchange for my honest review*

This book was absolutely magical. When I first started reading it, I did find it to be a bit slow but then after a few chapters I got really into it. I enjoyed this story so much, I loved the twist on The Nutcracker. Clara and the Nutcracker/Nikolai were adorable together and I really enjoyed their friendship. I also enjoyed all the characters, the story telling and the Clara and the Nutcracker storybook. I can definitely see The Enchanted Sonata as a movie in the future.

What a great story to read in Christmas time! Inviting since the very beginning, this modern nutcracker's ballet version tells the story of the young and talented Clara Stahlbaum, someone with a plan for life - marry the pianist Johann Kahler( that she loves secretly or so she thinks!) and play music.
Presented to the reader as someone that lives to play her late father's Sonata, not in her wildest dreams she could have thought of what she was about to face that Christmas Eve.
In a magical world where a Prince and a Villain teach much more than just the usual rivalry story, her destiny becomes clear and Clara can now see that she has so much more to offer and live for than she would have thought.
Overcoming challenges leads to a true discovery of oneself therefore this book is one of the best books I have read this year, kept me thinking what would happen next and how the story would developed for each character.

I give five stars to this beautiful and enchanted story that truly celebrates the power of music and magic.

First of all, let me thank Netgalley and Amazon Publishers for the chance to read and review this book: The Enchanted Sonata by Heather Dixon Wallwork

As always, these thoughts are my own.
I give this story 3.75 stars.



Synopsis: The Enchanted Sonata, a retelling of The Nutcracker Ballet with a dash of The Pied Piper, will captivate readers of all ages.

Clara Stahlbaum has her future perfectly planned: marry the handsome pianist, Johann Kahler (ah!), and settle down to a life full of music. But all that changes when Clara receives a mysterious and magical nutcracker.

Whisked away to his world–an enchanted empire of beautiful palaces, fickle fairies, enormous rats, and a prince–Clara must face a magician who uses music as magic…and the future she thought she wanted.



The Nutcracker + The Pied Piper…. Genius


Heather Dixon Wallwork is one of my favorite fairy tale authors. Her story Entwined is glorious and I love it! Her writing style is so cute and light; I’m confident that any of her stories are a safe, happy read, including this one. I love this for a happy Christmas read!

I love the focus on music, having come from a musical family, and the writing was glittery and lovely and I finished it in just a few hours, which was nice. It would be amazing to read this book aloud to children during the Christmas season.

That said, it really ought to be labeled as a Middle Grade or Young young adult novel. It’s not really YA. The story is light, but it’s also simple. It’s happy, but that doesn’t make the motivations terribly believable. I really loved the addition of the Pied Piper, but his motivations specifically were decently shallow. (Not that some irl motivations aren’t shallow, they definitely are). There were a few errors and left out words, but that’s to be expected in a galley, so those didn’t factor into my rating. (but they would in a finished copy, because, you know, typos are my thing.)

The army fights the war against the rats with candy… and it just feels geared more toward a younger audience. Had I gone into the book expecting middle grade, I would have come out with a higher rating.

So I was very excited to read this book when I first heard about but it took me a hot minute to actually get around to reading the book since I wanted to read it in December. So this book did start out slow for me but once I got past the first 15% of the story it started to pick up and then I couldn't put it down. There are things that bugged me. Clara obsessing over Johann Kehler for about 80% of the book was one of these things. Come on Clara you have a giant sized Nutcracker prince who adores you. I also really didn't like Johann because he proved himself to be jealous and petty at the end of the book. I would have really enjoyed seeing more of Nicolai and Clara after they reunited at the end of the book.

Things I did like was the world building and character development and how this book was so great and why did it take me so long to read it? I pretty much loved all the characters even the law-breaking nuns. I'm definitely going to have to buy a physical copy of this book to add to my collection. This book is enchanting and is a definite must-read for the season.

Rating: 4½ stars out of 5

You know what the best feeling in the world is? Well, I'll tell you. It's when that book you hummed and hawed over reading finally jumps to the top of your TBR list and becomes one of the loveliest surprises you've read all year.

Admittedly, as far as re-tellings go, this started rough. It's a mash-up of The Nutcracker and The Pied Piper, and goodness was that obvious for the first one hundred pages. Subtlety was not the order of the day. It begins with Clara receiving a nutcracker as a Christmas gift and a storybook that eventually draws her into the magical world where the bulk of the novel takes place. Tiny little deviation to say I hate it when re-tellings use the name of the characters from the original. Like, please show me the Alice in Wonderland re-telling that does not have the main character as Alice or Ally. Anywho, in reading that storybook along with Clara, we learn the story of how the Prince of Imperia becomes a nutcracker with a little help from a magical piper bent on revenge. This piper's music turns all the children and soldiers of the empire into toys and nutcrackers, leaving it open to attack by monstrous rats and the threat that if the Prince can't prove he can be an emperor as a half-transformed nutcracker, then he'll be stuck as one forever. You can definitely appreciate the parallels between both stories, and the rats is the most blaring commonality. It took some time to stand well on its own, though. And once that time at around the halfway mark came, this story shone.

Looking back, this novel didn't feel very character-driven. In fact, I'm not quite certain what to label it as exactly. Not that it's necessarily a bad thing, since it does make me think more on this book than I do others. The primary character is Clara, of course, but it often diverted off for a chapter or two to a group of people in the big candy emporium. About a quarter of this book was also taken up by the story of the Prince's fall to nutcracker shame, and the story of how the piper came to be/his motivations. These sections were an interesting diversion from the story and wove the plot together well.

Wallwork's writing style really helped sell this book. The humour laced throughout is the perfect tone, in actions, setting description and dialogue alike. In particular, the Prince was a stand-out, being rather witty and often bringing a smile to my face. I even chuckled out loud in a few spots. I even cried at one point, which is the only reason this is getting five stars without hesitation! I would also like to give a shout-out for the more musical descriptions. It is such a central part of the story, and I loved how she would describe certain pieces of music. A song about travelling being reminiscent of rolling hills and speeding trains. Clara's love for music is almost tangible. I would be remiss if I didn't say some in spots the writing felt ... younger. Like at some points it felt a little middle grade, then would veer back into a more mature territory with words like pleached—which I can't wait to use in my own writing—and bicephalous. There were also a few written sound-effects that left me a bit more confused than understanding, but that's neither here nor there.

As with the original Nutcracker tale, there is of course a blossoming relationship between Clara and her nutcracker Prince. It's inevitable and sweet and cute and yet you can't help but take a second and go "what the hell is this?" She's falling in love with an eight-foot tall walking and talking nutcracker LOL! She likes the way his paddle of a hand feels on hers and it just sort of leaves you like, "ooooo-kaaaaay." I shan't give any spoilers, but please keep an eye out for a side character romance that is pretty much the sweetest thing you've ever seen.

My only complaint was a small section in the [Abbey. They deal with a handful of nuns, and the head sister is, as you would expect, very vocal about her belief in God and that He would want this done, etc. etc. etc. Well, of course you might roll your eyes at that, but I got a little miffed by the Prince when he kept making snide comments about it. I grew up Christian, and while I've struggled a bit with several aspects of it as an adult, I took a bit of offence to his brush-off attitude to these nuns. Clearly, you don't believe in God, but don't be a dick about it to those who do and make it their life's work. (hide spoiler)]

I think this may be a favourite Christmas book of mine now, and I've only ever had one of those before. So in other words this is exciting!

I LOVE the whole Nutcracker fairytale. It's the perfect Christmas story. So of course I have to read/watch every adaption that comes out.

The Enchanted Sonata definitely lived up to my Nutcracker related expectations.

Now a talented pianist, Clara receives the Nutcracker and a mysterious book on Christmas Eve. Whisked away to the kingdom of Imperia, Clara's faced with a world where all the children and soldiers have been turned into toys.

The musical elements of this book were MAGICAL. Eric changes everyone into toys by playing his flute. He learns to use this magical music to teleport, travel between worlds, manipulate light, and so much more.
In addition to magical music, there's the giant rats who regularly breach the borders, fairies that are powerful but like to stay on the sidelines and manipulate from there, and of course, incredible sweets (in the form of a candy shop with some of the greatest sounding sweets I've ever heard of).

I absolutely loved the villain of this story. Eric Zolokov is the new version of the Mouse King, which works because he can also magically control the vicious rats that terrorize the cities.
In order to defeat him, the Nutcracker has to rally the remaining members of his kingdom behind him - without revealing that he's actually Prince Nikolai. And with Clara's help, maybe find the right music to play to turn everyone back again.
The relationship between the Nutcracker prince and Clara was absolutely adorable. We of course, no how it will end but it's still fun to watch it get to that point. From Clara's initial freight of him, to their friendship and more, I was rooting for them from the very beginning.
The world created was absolutely delightful. It was a "realistic" Kingdom with just enough fairytale thrown in to make Clara's adventure exciting.

And the side characters! Zizi and Alexei are completely adorable. Pyotr is a little orphan boy you just want to hold forever, and the nuns are badass's with weapons and illegal wiretapping.

The only thing I didn't like with this story was how simply Eric's backstory was told. I loved how much we got to learn about him and his past, but it was laid out too quickly and outright. I need at least a little mystery in my bad guys!

This is the perfect cozy Christmas book to read this season