Midnight in Everwood is such a cozy, beautifully written book. I loved all of the Nutcracker vibes. The characters were written wonderfully and I couldn’t get enough. I will be purchasing a copy for the library.

ABSOLUTE MAGIC. This was wonderful - nostalgic, exhilarating, romantic, beautiful, inspiring. The characters are deep and complex and their growth throughout the novel is great to witness. Every time I would take a pause from reading this book, I would have to remind myself that I don’t live in a sugar-coated fairy tale. But boy, would I! The author’s writing voice was pure magic - very well written - it felt like every word was well thought out and selected carefully in order to provide the best story possible! Definitely recommend! :)

Midnight in Everwood is a delightful retelling of The Nutcracker. This cover is absolutely gorgeous and the story inside is just as mesmerizing. Marietta Stelle is a young woman in Edwardian England on the cusp of adulthood. Marietta is passionate about dancing ballet, but her traditional parents have decided that it is time for her to hang up her dancing slippers and join society as a married woman. Her last performance is set for Christmas Day hosted by her own family. Leading up to the Christmas performance a mysterious toy maker named Dr. Drosselmeier moves in next door. He has his sights on Marietta, but the more she gets to know him the more she has her doubts. Her parents give her an ultimatum, either quit dancing and marry Dr. Drosselmeier or she will be cut off financially. When confronted with the choice Marietta makes a rash decision and ends up in an enchanted world filled with tasty confections, and intrigue. She becomes entranced with the decadent palace of the vicious King, but she doesn't recognize the dangers lurking until it is too late. She becomes entrapped in Everwood as one of the King's "pets" where her love of dancing is used against her. In this beautiful winter wonderland Marietta must use her wits and trust the right people to find her way home. With whimsical writing and colorful characters you can't help but fall in love with Everwood. There was a scene in the forest towards the end of the book that I felt was really unnecessary. Until that plot point this novel read very YA. I think it could have been skipped personally. Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I've been lusting after this book since I first saw the beautiful sprayed-edge Waterstones special editions, and I'm so glad that its content is as beautiful as its cover. Lush and dreamy and fantastical and reviving my childhood obsession with the Nutcracker? Everything I could possibly want. Thank you so much for the opportunity!

This was a magical, cozy holiday read! The descriptions were lush, and the story heartwarming. A wonderful take on a classic tale.

Midnight in Everwood is a fantasy retelling of The Nutcracker focused towards the big humans. If you have read the original story, you can foresee how the story will turn out. One might call this shallow, but it was still enjoyable. My problem with MiE was it was too much fantasy for me, not in a high fantasy type, but in a forced into places type! I am typically a thriller reader, so this could be just my problem. It also took me long time to finish this.

Thank you Harper 360 via Netgalley for the reader’s copy.

A journey through a magical wonderland of imagination. I highly enjoyed this book and the places it took me. I'll definitely be on the lookout for more from this author in the future.

I picked this title up because The Nutcracker is my favorite story and I am always up for a retelling. I sadly just didn't connect with the story after trying to read this one multiple times. Maybe it's just not the right book at the right time for me, I'm not exactly sure what it was about it that couldn't let me continue on, I'm struggling to put my finger on it. I will try to pick it up again and hope that it was just the mood that I was in that wasn't allowing me to get thru this read.

Thank you to Netgalley and publishers for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

After seeing The Nutcracker and The Four Realms I've been so into the idea of The Nutcracker. I know the gist of it but I've never really read the title or really got into it beforehand.

I love the idea's behind the retellings but most of them end up being way too slow paced for me or there's too much "filling" and I lose interest.

I love the cover and the concept behind this title. But it just wasn't working for me. I don't want to say it's a DNF because I really want to finish this title some day; but as of now, it's waiting for me in my TBR.

This is my first book by the author. This book is just not for me.

Midnight in Everwood has a magical premise. I’m sad to say this Nutcracker retelling missed the mark with me.

I picked this book up multiple times and put it down. The pacing is a bit too slow. I’m consistently waiting for something to happen.

Yet, I will say this, the author is good at writing cliffhangers moments and building anticipation. There is an abundance of world-building, cliffhangers, and edge of your seat moments only to fall short.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper 360 for the opportunity to read and review this magical book.

Thanks so much to the publisher for the review copy of this book. I am late with this review, but I can't tell you how fun it was to read a book with holiday vibes in the middle of March when I needed a pick me up.

I loved this novel and I already plan on giving it a reread later this year when it is more seasonally appropriate.

This one gave me Christmas vibes. I didn't hate it but I also didn't love it. The story is well written and Marietta is likeable enough. I did adore Mr. D, though. I think overall it was an okay read and I would read another like it in the future.

I almost stopped reading this book about a chapter in because I was having trouble getting through the highly descriptive, slightly stilted style.

I’m very glad I didn’t.

This is the story of Marietta, a young lady cloistered by her controlling family who wishes to pursue her passion as a ballerina. With the threat of marriage looming and her dreams about to crumble, she finds herself forced into the sinisterly sweet magical world of Everwood. Here, darkness and whimsy walk hand in hand and Marietta will require all her wits to survive.

I love how this story uses twisted whimsy. Wonder and terror walk hand in hand in Everwood in a way which reflects the reality of Marietta’s life as a Victorian lady. From a terrifying king covered in wriggling mice, to blood which freezes like jewels into the floor of an ice castle, the imagerie in the story is haunting and beautiful

The emphasis on friendship between women as a way to derive strength and move through trauma was refreshing. Marietta, Pirlipata, and Dellara’s friendship was beautiful to watch form and I believed the way these strong but hurting women slowly opened up and helped each other.

The romance was nice, but this is Marietta’s story and her growth was satisfying and well-developed.

My only complaint is that, although I was able to get into it, the writing style sometimes leaned towards too purple prose, especially when Marietta was in the real world. However, if you can get past that in the beginning and end, this is a beautiful story about friendship, self actualization, and the horror that can lie beneath the beautiful.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Harper 360, for the digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Marietta loves to dance, but her family has decided she is now of the age to be married and that dancing is not an appropriate life choice for her. When a young toy inventor moves into the neighborhood her family throws their efforts into introducing Marietta to him and hopefully making a love match. But Marietta senses something off about him. Her intuition is found to be true when he tries to force her into a marriage and Marietta hides in one of his wooden creations, a clock. Marietta finds herself transported to a magical realm with the kingdom of Everwood. Marietta at first is enchanted with Everwood, but the beauty of the realm is hiding something dark and she finds she can't escape it.

Midnight in Everwood is a retelling of the Nutcracker. The descriptions of the realms are beautiful and the book transports you to a magical land. I loved that the author had her main character fight against the norms of society for her time period by fighting for her own destiny and fighting for her own career. While there is a love story, the main character doesn't allow the new love to sweep her away from her own ambitions and she finds her own happy ending.

So beautifully written! Such a unique concept too, and though the pacing was slow at times it felt justified due to some lovely world building. I wish I’d read it over the holidays because it gave me such Christmas vibes!

I also thought Marietta was relatable in many ways. To have a protagonist who goes after her dreams when so many things stand in her way is quite inspiring.

Once Marietta reaches Everwood, which is halfway through the book, I feel like that’s when the real story begins. The romance was really intriguing but what made the book shine for me was the friendships she made along the way. The supporting characters in this were so well developed and sometimes felt even more likeable than the main character. Can’t wait to read more by this author!

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to finish the book. It started off really slow. I kept waiting for it to pick up and it just never did. The writing wasn't bad it just didn't catch my attention. I have read several reviews stating it does pickup towards the middle and the end. I will eventually try to read it again and update my feedback accordingly.

The perfect holiday read! It was fun and well written. Definitely perfect for fans of the Nutcracker who like a YA twist.

Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an E-ARC.

***Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an electronic copy of this book in exchange for honest feedback.***

As someone who is incredibly familiar with the Nutcracker, I was very interested to read this darker twist on the tale. During this particular retelling, Midnight in Everwood took some interesting liberties with the story that I did not see coming, but I thought were really well done.
The world of Everwood was excellently detailed and crafted, and each description brought the world to life in clarity. It was exactly as I’d imagine the Land of Sweets to be if it had darker undertones to it. The world building was probably my favorite part of the novel, as well as the tie ins to the original story, which I’ll get into a bit more later. Never once did I have an issue with imagery or envisioning what was happening around Marietta. Sometimes I thought there were a little too many descriptions, but even those were so well done it was hard to mind.
While I did enjoy this story, it took a while for me to get into. I think I was expecting Marietta to travel to Everwood a lot faster than she did, so it was difficult for me to sit through all of the scenes in her regular life, but they were all necessary to the story, and I completely understand why they were there. I think the pacing might have been a little off in the beginning as well, as some scenes I had trouble putting down, and others I had difficulty keeping my focus on. Still, once she arrived in Everwood, I was completely hooked.
As for the characters, Marietta was an interesting protagonist. You wanted to root for her, because her ambitions were so high, and she was determined to follow her dreams instead of living the life society had laid out and expected her to take. This was certainly admirable, and I enjoyed watching her journey as the plot evolved. However, she was interesting in the way that while you wanted to root for her, she was also hard to like at times. She could be so set on her goals that she became self-centered and disregarded the feelings and aspirations of those around her, which caused a few problems. She did acknowledge her actions later on in the book, though, which I definitely appreciated. Her arc was well-developed, but it was hard to like her at times.
I particularly enjoyed the friendship between Marietta, Dellara, and Pirlipata. What started out rocky and untrusting soon developed into a bond unbreakable by distance or time. The three lifted each other up and were consistently supportive. They were willing to endure anything to ensure each other’s safety, even if they were unable to admit it at times. This plot line added another layer to the story, and I thought it was done well.
Finally, I want to discuss how impressive some of the tie ins to the original story of the Nutcracker were. A lot of the references were rather discrete or subtle, and if you weren’t entirely familiar with it, you might’ve missed them, which made the references all the more rewarding when you were able to pick them out. Some were incredibly obvious, such as Legat being the Nutracker and King Gelum being the Mouse King, while others you had to search for. This was one of the biggest reasons I had so much fun reading Midnight in Everwood. While I liked the story as a whole, the satisfaction of correctly pinpointing which parts were references and which parts were made new for this story was delightful.
While I did have some issues with Midnight in Everwood, I really liked it overall, and I’d definitely recommend it for those who are fans of the Nutcracker, or like me, who have danced in it over ten times. Either way, this will be a great read around Christmas time, so be sure to add this one to your list!

Midnight in Everwood
by M.A Kuzniar
4.5 stars

Midnight in Everwood is a retelling of the nutcracker, It is so enjoyable. I've never read the Nutcracker, so this was so interesting to read.
Marietta Stelle loves ballet and will do anything to keep dancing she doesn't want to stop; her parents don't want that they want her to get married and let go of that dream. A mysterious person shows up and starts to show interest in Marietta and wants to have her hand in marriage. As she tries to get away from him, she is transported to a magical place called Everwood. Where everyone warns her to leave it's not safe to stay, she realizes this is not a place for her and she needs to break out which takes time, courage, and patience. She finds out what love is and true friendship while in Everwood and once she's out she knows how to stand her ground and go after what she wants.
I loved reading this book and being transported to Everwood makes you believe in magic.
Thank you, Net Galley and Harper 360 for this advanced copy for an honest review