Rating: 5/5
I received a copy of eARC for my honest opinion.

A retelling of The Nutcracker, um yes, I had to have it. The Nutcracker story is one of my favorites Christmas stories and of course the ballet of it is amazing. So, when I saw a retelling of it, I knew that I had to read this.

I loved that the author stuck close to The Nutcracker but added their personal touches to it. I thought the world-building was done great. The plot does follow the beloved book and ballet of and so much more. I loved the twists and turns in the book, I thought at times her godfather was someone else and then to be given more information that took the plot a little to a different side and it never lost the wonderful feeling of a fantasy book. The author's writing style really helped me to feel like I was a part of the book instead of just reading it. There were a few typos in the book but I was not to the point where I was like huh. The romance is a slow burn, but it was done great where I wasn’t like OMG how much longer? Instead, it was more of Prince Jaemis and Klara having time to learn about each other and how to learn the differences of a human vs a fae. The characters were easy to connect with. I really enjoyed Klara, she acted like I would if I was thrown into an unknown world and I thought I was still dreaming. I like how she reacted to finding out that she was not dreaming at all but what she was feeling and seeing was all real. Her character is a strong, independent woman who is not scared to give everything she must to protect her loved ones and is not scared to go after what she loves. I thought Prince Jaemis was of course one good looking fae prince, I mean how many are out there that are just meh. He is loyal, courageous and of course he is cursed so he can be a little broody. I loved the chemistry between those two and let me tell you there are some spicy scenes in this book and I did say “Its about time” when it finally happened.

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves retellings, fantasy, slow burn, spicy scenes, fated mates, cursed princes, one bed & forced proximity.

I want to thank NetGalley and BooksGoSoical for the opportunity to review this book.

I really enjoyed this book! The story is magical and the romance is a slow burn. It was a great read!

This book is a Nutcracker retelling and unfortunately it just wasn’t for me. I read a couple of chapters but just couldn’t get into the story unfortunately. I will as always give it another try in the future.

A huge thank to Netgalley and Verika Sloane for giving me a chance to A Curse of Frost and Fate in exchange for an honest review.

First things first ,trigger warnings include : mature language, mild violence, use of hallucinogens, graphic sex
Secondly, tropes you can find in this book are insta love, fated mates, slowburn, there-is-only-one-bed

To start this review of, I need to establish that as a Nutcracker retelling, and so one could describe this book as a seasonal read, perfect to be read in December or on the peak of Christmas holidays. Since I read it in March -lightyears apart as seasonal reads go- it just didn't give off the right vibe to me and thats the main reason I rated it with 3 stars.
Other than that, the story was pretty decent and the writting was simple enough to make it a pleasan read. Klara and Jaemis' story was one of love at first sight just like in the original story, but with the exception of Jaemis' curse, which held him back from giving in to his passion for Klara, and vice versa, since Klara could only end up getting hurt if she developped feelings for the prince since her time in his world was limited.
The insta love/slow burn contrast didn't sit right with me in this story, but it was mended by the efforts of the side characters to push the couple together, which was a comic relief at the least, if not totally something new as far as the "meddling friends" trope goes at any romance.

Overall, it was a very nice story, preferably to be read around Christmas for maximised effect of immersive reading.

If you love fairy tales with love, magic, and adventures, then you cannot miss this retelling of the Nutcracker, which is one of my favorite Christmas stories.

Klara is an ordinary girl, who is thrown into a magical world and spends her entire time trying to understand and forge connections with everyone around her. Jaemis is the cursed prince, who feels a burden to save the world around him. They both try to fight this 'forbidden' connection between them, as they try to get Klara back home.

Although a slow start, I really ended up enjoying this. I would like to give this book a 4 out of 5 stars. I thoroughly enjoyed this story and would recommend it to everyone who likes reading fantasy, magical, and paranormal romance,

Looking forward to reading more from this author

A Curse of Frost and Fate by Verika Sloane was my first book from this author and I enjoyed the storyline and worldbuilding.

Thanks NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for access to this e-arc.

Well, I've been trying to read this for the last few months and only making it through a page or two at a time before I zone out and get distracted, so I'm going to DNF at 18%. It has good bones, but man oh man does this need editing. It drones on far too much, and as much as I usually love description in books, this one has too much lol. It's too bad, as it really could have been great, but sadly just can't hold my attention.

I had a great time reading this book! As a fan of all things Christmas. I really appreciated a Christmas-themed fantasy romance that could be mistaken for something on the Hallmark Channel. The chemistry between the Nutcracker Prince Jaemis and Clara was on fire and I loved all the spicey scenes. It’s a solid addition to any romance collection

A Curse of Frost and Fate is a Nutcracker retelling which feels more like an imagining than a traditional retelling. I loved the characters and how the world of the nutcracker is linked to our world. This was definitely a spicy-focused book, with insta-attraction and plenty of spicy scenes. If you love fairy tale romances with unexpectedly strong FMCs and over-protective MMCs, then you'll love this story.

This was a NetGalley read.

I wanna romance, nutcracker books, so bad, but this one was really hard for me to read. I feel like the plot moved slowly, and I was not a fan of the writing style. I loved the concept of the book though.

As a Nutcracker lover, I had to read this book. The description was appealling and the magic pulled me in. While I did enjoy reading it, I was not expecting the amount of mature content in this. I normally prefer my books with very little spice, so I was caught off guard with this one. Still, I had a nice time reading it!

A fantasy retelling of the Nutcracker, I am already interested. I love retellings of fairytales and other folktales. These stories give a new spin to an old fable. This story is a creative take on the Nutcracker. Although, this story is a retelling of a fairytale, it is a little steamy and sexy. Cleverly written and the plot will have you wanted to take a cold shower.

Disclaimer: Thank you NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for this copy and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Thank you for the net galley.

I love The Nutcracker and couldn't wait to read this but unfortunately I just couldn't get into it and DNF around 25%.

I found the characters were too juvenile and unlikeable and I simply couldn't like them. The romantic chemistry felt like it was forced and made for rather uncomfortable reading.

It wasn't for me, that Nutcracker magic just wasn't there. Sorry!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When I first requested this, I had no idea what it was about. I was completely sucked in by the cover and I was fairly certain I had seen this title pop up on TikTok and Instagram. Color me surprised to find out that it is a Nutcracker retelling!

I actually am not familiar with the Nutcracker at all. I'm probably one of the only people on the planet who doesn't know anything about the original ballet LOL. I think I would have enjoyed this more if I was more familiar with it. Overall, I thought it was a ok read but it was long and had some serious spelling and grammatical errors that were hard for me to over look. Hopefully in the published copy, those were addressed since I know the ARCs we receive normally go through one more round before publication. The spice was decent and I'd be willing to see what else this author puts out in the future.

the cover?: i mean it speaks for itself doesn't it?! it's absolutely beautiful and you know you're getting a fantasy with love and loss
the FMC: Klara- transported from her NYC apartment on Christmas Eve to a magical realm... or did she just have too much to drink and have an extremely vivid dream? Either way- she encounters a fantastical land filled with magick, royalty, and a guy who makes time stand still when she looks at him 😍
the MMC: Jaemis- hottie Prince who is cursed by the Mouse King that will lead to an untimely death. Enter Klara in the middle of the chaos to bring his world crashing down- he wants her more than he should and doesn't want to experience what he can't have when the curse takes him over. Will he be able to resist her? or will his need overcome his fear of his curse?
POV: 3rd person dual perspective
HEA: yes!
spice: spicy/steamy- there are several open door spicy scenes, so many sweet (and passionate) kisses throughout, and so so so much pining
TWs: house fire, kidnapping, overall pretty clean with no gore
standalone?: yes!

this spicy retelling of The Nutcracker was everything I could want!
read this book if you love
📖 fairytale retellings
🌎 fantastical world building
🔮 supernatural characters
🧹 magic
🧑‍🤝‍👩 interesting and lovable side characters

I am a huge fan of The Nutcracker and so I was extremely excited to read this reimagining. That said, it was engaging and fun to read but nothing truly stood out for me to say it was fantastic. There were also many spelling and grammatical errors that made it difficult to stay in the story. Knowing what I read was and ARC, I hope those were fixed.

The Curse Of Frost and Fate is a Christmas story which is why I had started reading this in December originally. It’s a Nutcracker romance—my first nutcracker story—to be precise. Before this I was unaware of the original Nutcracker story and the ballet. Of course, I had some idea from tidbits of what I had heard of it but I never knew the full story.

This book is loosely based reimagination of the original Nutcracker story, giving this book a creatively tied, story inside a story structure.

Curse of Frost and Fate is about a girl called Klara whose Christmas night at her home ends with her getting tipsy and entering a different world; a world where nutcrackers, faeries, snow queens, curses, magick, witches and the mouse king, all of them exist; a world Klara has only read about in books.

I won’t say a lot about the plot of this book because I fear I’ll end up spoiling something.

But if I had to describe this book or rather recommend this book in a simple sentence, I would say that this book is about traveling and travelers, and for people who live their life in the moment and carpe diem the whole way through. Reading this book certainly felt like I was living it, living the whole story.

Speaking of living the story, the prose was impeccable. I felt like I was right there. It was just the right amount of descriptive writing and the writing of the actual story which gave them both a perfect balance.

One thing I do have a complaint about is the exposition. Somewhere in the middle, I kind of felt like the plot wasn’t moving a lot. Like I said, the book is about travelers, so there’s obviously a lot of world building and thus, exposition is valid but there were certain parts where I felt that the worldbuilding was slowing the actual plot.

I really loved the romance as well. There’s a point at the end of the book where the female main character says something referring to the love interest and I couldn’t agree more. She said, “The bar has been set really high,” or something like that and I was nodding my head like a maniac. Like…. Sis, same! There were many steamy toe-curling worthy scenes as well. Wink, wink.

I also loved, and I mean, loved when the antagonists were reintroduced in the climax, ‘cause that shit blew my mind! I wished there were more scenes about the antagonists and how they faced setbacks and planned their moves… the battle scenes especially should have had more to it because it felt really rushed to me. Because it just happened very quickly and I was there like, “That’s all?” I needed more!!!!

I guess, overall, I would like to give this book a 4 out of 5 stars. I thoroughly enjoyed this story and would recommend it to everyone who likes reading fantasy, magical, paranormal romance and especially to people who like to seize the day!

Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publishers who gave me the opportunity to read this book in return of an honest review. Thanks for reading!

As a true nutcracker obsessed soul, I had to give this book a read for the holiday season. An adult retelling of the original tale, I found this version to be very inventive and captivating. The romance between Klara and Prince Jaemis starts the moment the two lock eyes and evolves into a passionate love between the two over the course of the book. There is romance, sword-fighting, magic, curses, and deception involved, something for everyone. If you like fantasy and retellings this is definitely one to pick up.

This was a fun read- nothing better than an adult version of the Nutcracker!!

I’d recommend this if you’re looking for a fun easy read. I’m a sucker for retellings of classical fairytale stories, so I was already intrigued from the get-go!

Thank you to Netgalley for sending me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read this arc.

I have to begin by admitting that this book was not my cup of tea. So I had a hard time rating this. The stars really are for the writing style, which I enjoyed. But everything else I hated...

I DFN'ed this on at 50% because I just could not read any further.

This book is a retelling of the fairytale The Nutcracker. One of my favorite fairytales growing up. So as soon as I saw this book I wanted to read it. I think that the premise of this book is good, but the execution is just not my thing.

It's just so oversexed... It's all about sex... It's just a no for me.

When the book started it sounded promising. it felt very familiar to the original tale. The twist is that Klara lives in our time. But it felt familiar and I liked the idea of a dual perspective.
However, that was everything I liked.

The characters are very poorly developed. As soon as they see each other they think about sex and lust after one other.
It's not a love romance, but a lust romance. It's all they can think about! And since they are the only charters you follow you only read about their beautiful bodies and everything they want to do to each other.

I expected it to be a romance, which I liked. But their love is just not developed at all. They just lust after each other.

I wanted to see more of the world, better character development, and a better love story.

But if you like this type of book, then I suggest go for it! I liked the way it was written, just the story and what it turned out to be was not my thing.