Summary

The Nutcracker is back—but so is the Mouse King, and now she must choose between them…

No one believes Marie’s story about her magical journey with the Nutcracker Prince. She’s even started to doubt it herself. But then her brother Fritz brings his fellow cavalrymen home for the family’s annual Christmas party—and one of them demands she return the Mouse King’s seven crowns to him. The Nutcracker finally reappears, and the familiar battle lines are drawn, but is Marie on the same side she was before? How can the Mouse King be so intriguing, and the Nutcracker so disappointing? And when Marie’s niece Clara disappears, can she trust the Mouse King to help get Clara back—or is he still set on revenge?

If you’re into villain redemptions and fairy tale retellings, if you find Labyrinth to be a very intriguing film, if a book needs to have fencing, fighting, revenge, giants, chases, escapes, true love, and miracles in addition to kissy bits to hold your attention, then you’ll love this fantasy novel. Revisit everyone’s favorite holiday fantasy, and learn who the real heroes and villains are! 

Review

This book is my absolute everything. Don’t wait, just go read this. Like, now. Why are you still here? *shooing motions*

I absolutely love Sugar and Snow, and immediately upon finishing I wasn’t sure which I want more – the next book, or to start back at the beginning and read this one again! This is the first book in a trilogy, but it ends in such a way that it could be a stand-alone (so no cliffhangers, yay!) I have a deep and abiding love for The Nutcracker and am so here for all the quality Nutcracker content, and I also love a good villain, so when I saw this is a bit of a love triangle between Marie, the Nutcracker, and the Mouse King you’d better believe I had high hopes! And I’m so pleased to report those hopes were met AND THEN SOME.

I love genre romance and I love fantasy, so I am always on the lookout for a great fantasy romance. The tender buds of the relationship between Marie and Lang are so wonderful in this, and I can’t wait to see how their relationship continues to grow in the next book. I also really love the research Irene Davis put into this book, and her notes in the Author’s Note gave me some great resources to check out the original story. I haven’t read the original story (I didn’t know there was one! Just the ballet, whaaaaat) but there is enough information implanted into Sugar and Snow that even not knowing all the origin story (like the Nutcracker’s curse and the story of the Mouse Queen) wasn’t a detriment because enough information was so seamlessly woven into the story that I thought it was entirely the author’s invention! (Now that’s skill.)

As I said this is book 1 in a trilogy – here is the planned release schedule for all three books. I CANNOT WAIT for Hawk and Hound!!
Book 1: Sugar and Snow (Available November 18, 2021)
Book 2: Hawk and Hound (Available July 2022)
Book 3: Curse and Crown (Available November 2022)

A digital ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley for review. All opinions are unbiased and my own.