At sixteen, Mina's mother is dead, her magician father is vicious, and her silent heart has never beat with love for anyone-has never beat at all, in fact, but she'd always thought that fact normal. She never guessed that her father cut out her heart and replaced it with one of glass. When she moves to Whitespring Castle and sees its king for the first time, Mina forms a plan: win the king's heart with her beauty, become queen, and finally know love. The only catch is that she'll have to become a stepmother.
Fifteen-year-old Lynet looks just like her late mother, and one day she discovers why: a magician created her out of snow in the dead queen's image, at her father's order. But despite being the dead queen made flesh, Lynet would rather be like her fierce and regal stepmother, Mina. She gets her wish when her father makes Lynet queen of the southern territories, displacing Mina. Now Mina is starting to look at Lynet with something like hatred, and Lynet must decide what to do-and who to be-to win back the only mother she's ever known...or else defeat her once and for all.
Entwining the stories of Lynet and Mina in the past and present, Girls Made of Snow and Glass traces the relationship of two young women doomed to be rivals from the start. Only one can win all, while the other must lose everything-unless both can find a way to reshape themselves and their story.
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[Lynet first saw her in the courtyard]***
(Flatiron Books, 5 September 2017, 400 pages, ebook, A Year of @EpicReads 2019, a book with a crown on the cover, borrowed from @GlasgowLib via @OverDriveLibs)
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So I love Frozen and fairytales and re-telling so this book was a shoe-in. I thought it was a treat to read. Lynet and Mina are great characters, well-written and my heart went out to both of them. This is not a traditional evil step-mother wants to kill her beautiful rival step-daughter story. Both of them have been scarred by the past and are damaged when the truth of their creation is revealed. They are both independent and fierce and determined to write their own stories and roles and not live the live carved for them by Mina's evil father. In case you didn't realise this is a Snow White re-telling. Snow White is one of my favourite fairytales. I loved the fact they are not simpering snowflakes but sort of bad ass most of the time. The plot is lacking at times but the relationship between Mina and Lynet compelled me to read on. There is also some girl love between Lynet and someone whose name I can't remember (oops). The King is also creepy and there are moments where I thought he was trying to replace his dead wife with his daughter and wanted to puke. I spent a few pleasant hours lost in this.
