This was a great retelling of Snow White! It shows the darker side of this fairy tale which I always love. This book kept me engaged from beginning to end, looking forward to reading Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly! ( )

An interesting version of Snow White’s tale, told in part from the perspective of the evil in the mirror. ( )

It was a different retelling of Snow White, with mixes of other fairy tales. A metal clock for a heart; a prince. Six Dwarves. An evil stepmother. A strong willed princess determined to fight her way back to the throne. This was the first book I read by Ms. Donnelly and it was good. ( )

Just spent the last two hours reading this fantastic book by Jennifer Donnelly! This is the retelling of Snow White but instead it’s Sophie, who is a princess who will be inheriting the crown when she turns 18. Her stepmother, the Queen, with the help of the King of Crows, tries to kill the princess. The entire story is a twists and turns of drama and emotions, and you can’t help but root for Sophie. She learns many things along the way, including kindness is a very special thing along with love. There’s a quote in the book that I think sums up the entire book “encounters in the darkwoods, thieves, girls in trousers ... nothing good can come of this.” Highly recommend this book. ( )

Sophie’s stepmother has been telling her her whole life that she is too soft to be queen. Kindness is weakness and will only get you hurt. Sophie knows she will never be a good ruler, but she never imagined her stepmother would go as far as having her killed.

She awakens in the Dark Forest with a clockwork heart ticking in her chest in place of the one the huntsman carved out. Now Sophie must embark on a journey to the King of Crows’ castle to get her real heart back before the clock winds down, and, with the help of the seven brothers who rescued her and the many struggling villagers she meets along the way, finally claim her rightful throne.

I enjoyed this one. Donnelly is not subtle with the themes, but since they’re good themes and very poetically worded, it didn’t bother me quite as much as it could have. It’s a pretty classic character arc, but the addition of the clockwork heart and all the stuff with the King of Crows at the end is honestly pretty cool. ( )