I ran across Stitching Snow by R. C. Lewis when it was suggested at one my book club meetings (and described as “Snow White meets Star Wars”–which means I’m having a Snow White-themed week on the blog…)  This book wasn’t picked for our monthly read, but I decided to read it anyway.  Because: fairy tale retelling!  It wasn’t quite Star Wars…but it might be “Snow White meets Mockingjay,” in a good way.

Sixteen-year-old Essie has been fending for herself since she was nine years old, living in a mining colony where her closest “friends” are seven drones (droids) she built herself.  She trusts no one, spending her time fiddling with tech and earning extra money fighting cage matches at the bar (really!)  Everything changes when a small ship crashes nearby, and Essie pulls Dane out of the wreckage.  He tells her he’s on a treasure hunt–but the treasure turns out to be the missing Princess Snow, heir to the throne of the most powerful planet in the system.  Essie, of course, is really Snow, and soon she’s unwillingly drawn into interplanetary politics and conflicts.  But she has a choice–to be a pawn or to be a leader, to run away again from her father and stepmother, or to embrace the courage and compassion her mother tried to teach her. Continue reading “Stitching Snow by R. C. Lewis” →

I really, really, really want to read Winter, the final book in Marissa Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles Quartet.  But it won’t be out until November.  So in the meantime, it was some consolation to read the prequel, Fairest, providing the backstory of the terrifying Lunar Queen, Levana (and, incidentally, Winter’s stepmother).

I’ve reviewed the first three books in this series (Cinder, Scarlet and Cress).  It’s a sci fi series, where a Lunar kingdom is hostile towards Earth, and fairy tales are played out in clever ways with cyborgs and satellites.  This one…is the story of Snow White’s stepmother.

Fifteen years old when the book opens, Levana is the unwanted, disregarded younger princess, always in the shadow of her cruel and shallow sister Channary. Levana dreams of attaining renown, respect…and the eye of Evret, a handsome palace guard.  But Evret is devoted to his beautiful wife, and they’re expecting a child.  This doesn’t interfere with Levana’s belief that they’re fated to be together, and she’ll use all her royal power and her ability to manipulate minds and emotions to seize what she wants–beauty, Evret, and the throne too. Continue reading “Book Review: Fairest by Marissa Meyer” →