Mini-Reviews: Snow Like Ashes and Even in Paradise

Welcome to Mini-Reviews, in which I give you a quick opinion on a couple of new books. Today I'm featuring a YA fantasy and a book that I thought was a YA contemp, but is actually a retelling ... and both of them had plot twists that I guessed early on!

Snow Like Ashes

by Sara Raasch

Published on October 14

by Balzer + Bray

Source: eARC from the publisher

Synopsis from Goodreads: Sixteen years ago the Kingdom of Winter was conquered and its citizens enslaved, leaving them without magic or a monarch. Now, the Winterians’ only hope for freedom is the eight survivors who managed to escape, and who have been waiting for the opportunity to steal back Winter’s magic and rebuild the kingdom ever since. Orphaned as an infant during Winter’s defeat, Meira has lived her whole life as a refugee, raised by the Winterians’ general, Sir. Training to be a warrior—and desperately in love with her best friend, and future king, Mather — she would do anything to help her kingdom rise to power again. So when scouts discover the location of the ancient locket that can restore Winter’s magic, Meira decides to go after it herself. Finally, she’s scaling towers, fighting enemy soldiers, and serving her kingdom just as she’s always dreamed she would. But the mission doesn’t go as planned, and Meira soon finds herself thrust into a world of evil magic and dangerous politics – and ultimately comes to realize that her destiny is not, never has been, her own.

My mini-take: I'm a big believer in trusting your instincts as a reader. If I'm not connecting with a book after four or five chapters, things rarely turn around for me. I'm also a picky fantasy reader who looks for a simultaneous complexity of world and characters with a simplicity of concept. 

Sadly, Snow Like Ashes wasn't for me. I love strong heroines, but Meira's constant going-to-prove-myself-whatever-it-takes attitude felt reckless rather than brave. I didn't really understand the season-themed story world. The book features a love triangle comprised of three fickle people, and had a plot twist that I saw coming. That was the main reason I kept reading -- I wanted to see if I was right.  (I was!) I can see from my Goodreads stream that some of my fellow bloggers and friends have liked this, so don't take my word for it -- if you're a big fan of fantasy, definitely read other reviews and/or give this one a try. And if you loved this, let me know why in comments!

Even in Paradise

by Chelsey Philpot

Published on October 14, 2014

by Harper Teen

Source: eARC from the publisher

Synopsis from Goodreads: When Julia Buchanan enrolls at St. Anne’s at the beginning of junior year, Charlotte Ryder already knows all about the former senator’s daughter. Most people do... or think they do. Charlotte certainly never expects she’ll be Julia’s friend. But almost immediately, she is drawn into the larger than-life-new girl’s world—a world of midnight rendezvous, dazzling parties, palatial vacation homes, and fizzy champagne cocktails. And then Charlotte meets, and begins falling for, Julia’s handsome older brother, Sebastian. But behind her self-assured smiles and toasts to the future, Charlotte soon realizes that Julia is still suffering from a tragedy. A tragedy that the Buchanan family has kept hidden … until now.

My mini-take: Even in Paradise felt like a book that I've read many times before.  I wrote that on Goodreads, and then another blogger messaged me and was like, "hey, Jen this is a retelling of Brideshead Revisited." Well ... okay, then.  I haven't read the book, seen the movie or the mini-series, but this still felt like a pretty familiar story:

Charlotte, a poor scholarship student at a fancy boarding school, befriends Julia, a rich, madcap girl from a super-connected Kennedy-esque family. When Julia was fourteen, she was the sole survivor of a car accident that killed her sister and her sister's boyfriend. The story's pace is pretty slow, and there's an obvious CHADDS (Constantly Hinted At Deep Dark Secret) that you have to wait for until the end.  I had a prediction about the CHADDS ... and ... I was right :)

I'm not generally a fan of "wait and wait and wait until the big reveal" plots, unless the reveal is truly surprising. And for me, this story didn't bring anything new or surprising to the whole "rich people behaving badly and then throwing money at all the problems they make" plot. But if you love stories like that -- or if you're a Brideshead fan -- you should definitely give this a try.

If you want to see the plot twist for each book, click on the spoiler button below:

Spoiler for Snow Like Ashes: the orphaned Meira keeps having dreams about these two women and their babies, and I, having watched a lot of soaps in my youth, could see that there'd been a baby swap. Spoiler for Even in Paradise: Even though I have not read Brideshead, I could guess pretty easily that Julia had been driving the car when it crashed. That was most of what the plot was hinging on, and it wasn't really enough.