Shadows on Snow: A Flipped Fairy Tale

By: Starla Huchton

Narrated by: Lauren Harris

Once upon a time, a dark evil crept into my kingdom, stealing my loved ones and the happy life I knew. The world turned against me, and I swore to become stronger, to keep myself safe.

Once upon a time, there was a handsome prince, hair dark as ebony, skin as pure as the freshly driven snow, and I became the only one who stood between him and death.

Once upon a time, our stories intertwined, and now, healing my heart may be the only way to save us all from the evil that threatens to destroy what little we have left.

©2014 Starla Huchton (P)2016 Starla Huchton

A lovely gender flipped retelling.

Note: I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

I'm a fan of retellings so this book caught my eye when I was browsing my weekly audiobookboom newsletter. I requested a copy and was provided with an audible code within a day. Thanks for that!

I enjoyed this gender swapped retelling of Snow White a lot. It's not just a straightword retelling of the original classic but takes inspiration from many fairy tale themes while keeping the tone of Snow White at its core. There are many twists to the original characters and settings which all feel both familiar and fresh.

The lead female character was very likable and that made the entire experience a lot more enjoyable. The story doesn't just dwell on her relationship with the male lead character at the expense of all others but makes sure to portray a very positive depiction of sisterly love. I really appreciated that because I love seeing loving and positive relationships between women. I thought the romance was well done even though I admit I was nervous throughout about (view spoiler), so it turned out to be unjustified.

I will definitely be grabbing hold of the other books in the series. I really wish they were available in audiobook format as well but oh well.

Fun Fairy Tale Mashup

Shadows on Snow was a pretty fun story and a different take on some classic fairy tales. It seems to have different aspects of Cinderella, Snow White and Sleeping beauty mashed together and changed quite a bit. It is a pretty charming story with good characters and an interesting story. The gender roles are switched up a bit from many of the fairy tales with the female protagonist being the protector and the prince being essential the damsel in distress.

The narration by Lauren Harris is quite good and really fits the style of the story and the characters. I recommend the story, it is a different take on familiar fairy tales and has a good mix of action, magic and romance to keep you interested.

"Please note I was given this free review copy audio book at my request and have voluntarily left this review."

5 stars but

I really enjoyed this book, but I feel it is more for a younger audience. There were some parts that stuff kept going wrong for one of the characters that it was almost too much, but still overall an enjoyable book.

The narrator was really good too.

Disclosure, I did receive this audiobook for free in exchange for my honest review.

great story, but...

*spoilerish*

This story was original, captivating, and entertaining,, but it would have been much more enjoyable if Rae had not been so unnecessarily hostile and bitter, in spite of her PTSD. Strangely enough she actually claimed to be the first one to forgive people despite all evidence otherwise and that she went out of her way to take any offense whenever possible where none was ever intended.

I listened to this at 2x speed.

I was given an ARC copy of this audiobook, but that neither affected my opinion nor my review.

Best book I’ve read in a while

First of all, a warning: this book does hint at and discuss memories of rape. If this may trigger you I suggest not reading.

With that out of the way, I LOVED this book. I enjoy fairytale retelling a, it feels like a chance to go back to the stories of childhood. The conflict and plot is paced well, without any moments that feel slow and boring, but no moments that are so fast as to leave the reader confused either. The main character is relatable, with a personality that has flaws like a normal person rather than the usual perfect people that populate fairytales. I also appreciated the twist in the romantic relationship, how it isn’t an easy happy ever after necessarily.

The narration of the audiobook is clear, with no parts that were muddled or had extraneous background noise. Additionally the narrator does a great job bringing emotion into the story, really engaging me in the storytelling.

All around I highly recommend this audiobook and am sure I will listen to it again soon.

I received a free review copy of the audiobook and left this review voluntarily.