Sugar and Snow

This is a charming book that was a fast paced easy read.
Intended as a sequel of sorts to The Nutcracker, an 18 year Clara is still waiting for him to return and make her a princess in the Kingdom of Dolls, but then she meets the Mouse King and learns that perhaps the Nutcracker isn't quite who she thought he was.
Clara seemed a bit bland to me, not quite rounded and a very traditional heroine who only started becoming fleshed out towards the end.
Am looking forward to the sequel, as hopefully Clara's wings will spread and she'll start to get more exciting

A strong 3.5

Quick Look:

A nice short book that I absolutely slammed through, Sugar and Snow is a nutcracker retelling that has a redemption arc for the Mouse King- and yes, he is a human person by the time Marie meets him again as an adult.

Marie has lived with her adventures with the Nutcracker, though he never came back to claim her as his princess and took her away to his kingdom. Now, the Mouse King is back for revenge and gets tangled up with Marie and the abduction of her niece Clara. The two travel back to the Land of Sweets to rescue her, only for her to realize there is more to his story than the villain she remembers.

This story is extremely sweet, and it was a great blend of contemporary romance/historical romances enemies to lovers (no trying to kill each other here, but deep dislike) The prose is gentle and fairytale-like while being quite mature. It was easy to read but didn't feel too juvenile, and honored the original story.

My criticisms are that Marie is not a super fleshed-out character, and though her romance is written slowly, I would have liked it fleshed out more. The scenes were very cute and enough to keep me reading though.

Additionally, this is meant to be a series but I think would be best as a stand alone.

If you are looking for a villain gets the girl romance, this is a great one.

This was such a cute and quick, easy read. the retelling of sorts of the Nutcracker was so adorable. I loved the characters, the writing, the setting, it was captivating and I didnt want to stop reading.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for this eARC.

*** contains spoilers***

When I saw this novel and read the synopsis I knew I had to read it.
I love the story of the Nutcracker and I loved the take on that story with a twist.
This story starts with Marie on Christmas Eve still waiting for the Nutcracker to return. It had been 10 years and he had not returned as of yet.
On Christmas Eve Marie meets Lieutenant Lang, a soldier friend of her brother, A possible love interest. He seems odd and you know there's an underlying reason for this. What I wasn't expecting is who he turned out to be. The story then turns into an adventure to rescue Clara - Marie's niece, from the clutches of the one person you wouldn't expect.
The familiar Nutcracker story is present at the beginning of the novel but that changes after a few chapters and the story takes on a new role.
I really loved this version taking on Marie's adventure with the Mouse King.
The fact that the Nutcracker isn't as heroic as we first thought and the moments when you expect it to be revealed that is all a dream, left me with many "ooh" moments.

The authors writing is lovely and the novel just wraps you up and takes you on a magical and cosy journey, I couldn't put it down.
I'm so pleased to know that there is a sequel and I can't wait to read it as I really want to know if Marie and Lang got their happily ever after.

This is a fantastic retelling/continuation of The Nutcracker. I really love that Marie didn't want to be with the cowardly Nutcracker aka Drosselmeier's nephew who had the audacity to kidnap Clara and take her to the Kingdom of Dolls. Marie and Lang (the Mouse King in human form) team up to go save her. I just wanted this book to be longer and I seriously can't wait for their story to continue next year.