Book Review: Stealing Snow by Danielle Paige

 

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Seventeen-year-old Snow has spent the majority of her life within the walls of the Whittaker Institute, a high security mental hospital in upstate New York. Deep down, she knows she's not crazy and doesn't belong there. When she meets a mysterious, handsome new orderly and dreams about a strange twisted tree she realizes she must escape and figure out who she really is.

Using her trusting friend Bale as a distraction, Snow breaks free and races into the nearby woods. Suddenly, everything isn't what it seems, the line between reality and fantasy begins to blur, and she finds herself in icy Algid--her true home--with witches, thieves, and a strangely alluring boy named Kai, none of whom she's sure she can trust. As secret after secret is revealed, Snow discovers that she is on the run from a royal lineage she's destined to inherit, a father more powerful and ruthless than she could have imagined, and choices of the heart that could change the fate of everything...including Snow's return to the world she once knew.

This breathtaking first volume begins the story of how Snow becomes a villain, a queen, and ultimately a hero. 

My Thoughts:

I really love fairy tale retellings!  At first glance, I thought this was a retelling of Snow White, which is my favorite fairy tale of all time.  It seems like this is more of an Ice Queen retelling though, which I still really enjoyed this book.  

Snow is stuck at Whittaker, an institute for those with sever mental health issues.  She is really all alone except for her nurse, Vern, her friend, Bale and her cocktail of pills, which she refers to as her seven dwarfs (see why I thought it was Snow White at first?).  After Snow and Bale share their first kiss, something strange happens to Bale and they are separated.  Now Snow just has her nightmares, Vern and a soap opera to keep her distracted.  But strange things start happening to Snow that she doesn't understand.  Then one night Bale disappears and between his disappearance and another patients distraction, Snow is able to escape from Whittaker.  

After escaping, Snow ends up in Algid.  Snow soon finds out that Algid is her real home and her mother took her to the "other world" to try to protect her.  Algid is in the icy hold of the King and everyone is looking to Snow to save to them but all Snow wants to do is rescue Bale and head back home...wherever that may be.

I liked Snow most of the time but found that she could be extremely stubborn and selfish a lot.  Some of the time I wanted to smack her to make her see reason.  She was never weak though and at the end, when she had to make a very hard choice after having quite the secret revealed, she did what needed to be done. 

I loved Gerde!  She was so sweet and caring and you really can't help but find her charming. Kai is very standoffish and cold.  He has his reasons but at first I didn't really care for him.  He cares a lot for Gerde though and helps both her and Snow.  I really hope we see more of both of them in the next books.  

The Robbers were my favorites.  I really enjoyed Jagger and can see the potential love interest there.  I am very curious about the masks that he wears and who he really is.  Fathom and Howl are also very entertaining.  Margot has an interesting back story and I ended up understanding her even though I didn't really like her.  

This story had a lot of little twists that kept it interesting.  Some things I could predict but there were a few things that totally surprised me like the Duchess and Snow's mother.  The beginning was a little slow but it quickly picked up and kept me entertained.  I will definitely be finishing this series!