The Bibliophile's Bookshelf

Title: Snow Bound

Series: All That Glitters #9

Author: C.J. Brightley

Genre: Young Adult, Clean Romance, Fantasy, Retelling

Rating: 4 stars

Review:

Ice goblin magic, an enchanted prince, and a peasant girl with nothing but courage and compassion

Life in the North Lands has always been hard, but this winter is the most desperate Gytha has ever seen. Her family is desperate for any help.

Even from the enormous white bear.

Alexander offers food and kind words in his deep, growly voice, and Gytha cannot help but trust him. Even if he does have long, white teeth and claws.

But what he asks in return for his help will test Gytha’s very soul. For a year and a day, she must endure loneliness and isolation in the prison of the ice goblin queen, without letting the queen’s twisted words or the uncanny, silent goblin servants break her determination or her faith in Alexander.

What if Gytha’s courage and compassion are not enough to overcome the ice goblin queen’s magic?

What will it take to free the bear prince? Gytha, and the friends she has made in the frozen North, will not rest until they find out. Courage is not real until it is tested.

What will come will test them all. -summary from Goodreads

Snow Bound was an intriguing read!

To be honest, I thought this was a Snow Queen retelling, so I was a little confused as I was reading. This is actually an East of the Sun, West of the Moon retelling which is a fairytale I am completely unfamiliar with. Despite my unfamiliarity with this story, it was a fun read.

One thing I noticed with this book, that is true for most of the other books in this series, is that the main characters are eighteen or older. I am so used to reading about heroes and heroines that are thirteen, fourteen, fifteen. It’s not too often that I find a story with an older protagonist. I love how they were older and more mature.

Gytha is such a sweet, kind character, and one who really loves her family and wants to do whatever she can to support them. I especially love Gytha’s motivations in this book. In modern media, the female protagonists are strong, independent, fiery, stubborn, blade wielding characters who act like they don’t need anyone. Now I am not saying this is a bad thing, but there are so many of them that I want a main character a little more like me. Gytha is that character. She didn’t do what she did because she was enacting revenge or trying to prove a point, but simply because it was the right thing to do and she was returning a kindness.

I also especially loved the family side of things, for both Gytha and Alexander. I love how Gytha has such a supportive, loving family, something that is also missing from the majority of modern media. I really enjoyed the storyline with Alexander’s family. It was super emotional, but also heartwarming seeing this bond between siblings.

I enjoyed Alexander’s character. I thought he was interesting, and I would love to have more backstory on him. One of my favorite things about this book was that they didn’t push away his trauma after his curse was ended. It wasn’t brushed aside and never spoken of again, it was actually a big part of the story and something that was frequently addressed. I just think that was really cool.

Brightley did a good job of depicting how people aren’t meant to be alone and need people, as well.

The setting of this story was interesting, but one I was struggling to get into. It was very far North, when I am more used to forested areas, so the concept of nothing but ice and snow didn’t capture my attention as much. The descriptions were well written, and I could picture the setting easily though!

I want more of the Goblin Prince and his wife! I loved the small snippets of them, especially towards the end. It was so intriguing and I need more!

Snow Bound is a sweet, wintery clean romance retelling with curses, goblins, family, and a kind main character!

*I received an ARC copy from the author and all opinions are my own.

Quotes:

“Right was still right and not wrong, even if it had grown more uncomfortable.”

“‘I know it is hard, but you are brave. You can do hard things because they are worth doing.’”

“‘If you marry me, I will have no regrets. If you die, I will grieve for all my days that your pride and hurt kept you from accepting me, and I will feel hurt that you would rather die than attempt to make a happy life with a woman who loves you.’”