Synopsis: 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 both 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.
Review: Girls Made of Snow and Glass was refreshing. It is not only a retelling with queer elements, but the way the narrative is structured is certainly unique. This book is told from 2 perspectives, Mina and Lynet, when both girls are teenagers. But they are not teens at the same time, so it feels like 2 distinct stories that come together to make a single cohesive one. It was surprisingly well done. I really enjoyed reading Mina and Lynet both. While their backgrounds are similar, they both had their quirks that made reading both of their stories very enjoyable. Their relationship was also really great. I'm glad it didn't take the "wicked stepmother" route. From the first page, I felt like Lynet and Mina had a very strong relationship and I was rooting for them to find a way through their struggles together.
The story itself was well done. There were a lot of interesting elements that I felt were fleshed out fairly well. I enjoyed getting to experience the north kingdom and the south. That being said, I think this book could have either been longer, or the story could have been a duology. We got to explore a good bit of the north kingdom, but everything that happened in the south felt a bit rushed. I wanted more time to soak in that part of the world. Still, the world building was well-done and the romance was A+. I love retellings, and this one definitely stood out among the rest.
4 howls
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