A great retelling of The Nutcracker story. A perfect read for the festive period. A feel good tale with all the magic and splendour one could ask for. #ACurseofFrostandFate #NetGalley

Verika Sloane brings us A Curse of Frost and Fate. As someone who grew up loving the Nutcracker, both play and the Barbie movie, it was my delightful surprise to find this steamy re-imagining. First thank you so much to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read this before the publishing date. So as for the story I was honestly in love with the world building, the action, the various creatures, and the tie of fate between Klara and the Prince. If you need something fantastical with a dash of dream and hint of nightmare, I’d say give this book a try! It is perfect for a winter read and a pleasantly surprising story. Coming December 17th!

𝔄 ℭ𝔲𝔯𝔰𝔢 𝔬𝔣 𝔉𝔯𝔬𝔰𝔱 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔉𝔞𝔱𝔢
Vᴇʀɪᴋᴀ Sʟᴏᴀɴᴇ

DO YOU LIKE CHRISTMAS AND THE NUTCRACKER STORY?

“𝑨 𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒂 𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒎 𝒉𝒊𝒎”

If you answered YES to the previous question, then this is the book for you! This is a retelling of the most famous ballet from Čajkovskij, re-imagined as a fantasy with a sparkle of romance.

Klara goes back home for Christmas time and she wants to spend her holidays with her family. Everything seems to be as always: chatting, bickering with her siblings, sharing gifts and so on. One day, the wonder Uncle Voss (a character that I fell in love with from the beginning) gives to our Klara something to drink that makes her dream about a prince and a monster fighting for saving her life. But that’s a dream or not?

Reality and dream alternate in her routine for a while, until the moment she gets stuck in a new realm, where magic is real. A realm with immortal fae, magicians, various creatures, a balance between darkness and light, dethroned king and queen, a mortal curse and… she found out that the villain wants her to finally take all the power he needs to rule.

I absolutely loved how Verika choose to develop the connection between Klara and the prince, Jaemis. Their love story is a slow burn, complicated but not like all the others. I like the way they learn to know each other, how they handle their being a human and a fae. But, mostly, I loved the fact that they are wonderfully sweet and cute.

I also liked that we get to know a lot of different species of magic creatures, alliances, and the way that all of them interact. In doing so, the descriptions have to be well managed and the author did it. I never get bored reading those parts.
Action, descriptions, passion and feelings alternate perfectly, and you’ll find yourself more and more curious.
The only part that I can blame is that I found several grammatical mistakes or strange structures in the syntax.

I want to thank @netgalley and @verika for the opportunity!

I am pleasantly surprised by this book! I was a little discouraged at the beginning and I almost decided to DNF, but I kept going and I’m so glad I did! What a story! What a happy ending! I really truly did enjoy it!

Our aesthetic and worldbuilding in this one can be a great read around the holidays and fill that void of something to set the mood. But sadly think a lot of this fell short for me after I hit the halfway mark. There was a lot of promise in the description and the idea of a Nutcracker retelling but I don't think this necessarily lived up to that.
Maybe if it was reworked and some things changed I would probably be able to give it 4 stars instead of 3. I wasn't a big fan of the main character as she came off as really unlikeable and somewhat spoiled but with no purpose to it or redemption relating to that. So I think it wasn't intended but it honestly made it worse. Maybe I'll come back to this eventually.

I really enjoyed this book! I flew through it on one afternoon and I am so sad that it's over. The author did a great job with the plot and keeping the story moving with no stagnant parts. The characters were very relatable and fun to learn. Great read!

A Curse of Frost and Fate

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Overall a fun read. I’ve only ever heard the original nutcracker story so to see another take on it was good. I love spicy retellings.

Definitely put me in a festive mood. I do feel the world building was overdone and because of that, the book felt slightly too long.

Absolutely beautiful cover.

A Spicy 🌶️ Nutcracker Retelling!

This book made me want to take a trip to the ballet on Christmas Eve. I definitely had Baz Lurman directing this book through my head the whole time I was reading.

Verika built beautiful whimsical worlds that I desperately wanted to visit. Of course you get to visit the Sugar Plum Ferry.

There was fighting,dancing, adventure, love, and loss.

I felt Like I was in the forests and castles, and old estate while reading. The characters were so fun even the small extra fantastical creatures we only met for a short while we’re so interesting.

I really liked this story I just wanted to like it more. If I could take out the few (really only a few) spots it lagged for me I would of given it 4 stars. The story was great and parts and I couldn’t put it down while in a couple it just dragged for me. I’m happy that I finished though. For a lover of the nutcracker since I was a child it was fun to see the story in this new way.

So for now I guess I’m be here in Tereene waiting for my chance to travel to a more magical realm.

Also as always the character that in this telling is called Godfather/Voss can get it 😏

This is a spicy reimagining of the Nutcracker - it sounded like a promising holiday/winter theme read, but I must admit, I was deeply disappointed. I struggled through it, sometimes skimming through whole sections, this sadly wasn't for me.

Why? Well, first and foremost, the book needs to be edited. There was a ton of spelling, grammatical mistakes. The tone was a bit awkward, it was heavily adult at times juxtaposed with very whimsical, childish moments. I really didn't like the MC, and honestly didn't love any of the other characters. The book was also WAY TOO long, it could of been done in under 300 pages.

I wish I could have better things to say about it, I feel like I cant even post on GR, Amazon or BookBub because I skimmed through large parts and considered DNF-ing a couple times. I feel like with some polish, an editor, and cutting the book in half - this book could be a fun read!

2 stars for cover and premise.

All in all, this was only just good for me. It wasn't bad by any means, but it also didn't suck me in at all and make me want to keep reading. While some of the characters were interesting (the watchers in particular) I just never found myself caring all that much about what happens to them. I can't say anything about it being a spin on the nutcracker though because I've never read or seen it.

Klara is more or less a normal girl who finds herself in anything but a normal situation. Targeted by some crazy dude who controls mice for reasons unknown (until the end), Klara ends up being transported to a completely different realm. One filled with magic and things from fairy tales. For a while, she's not even convinced it's anything but a dream.

Jaemis is a fallen, cursed prince. He was away trying to save a princess he was friends with (not knowing to do so would transfer her curse to him) when his kingdom was overtaken by the mouse king and his parents thrown into the dungeons. Since then dark magic has plagued the kingdom and darkness continues to creep over the lands. Before the curse overtakes him, Jaemis is determined to free his parents if nothing else. But a chance overhearing of the usurper's plans is going to change everything.

Jaemis and Klara first encounter each other in Klara's parent's home. Jaemis had followed the mouse king and they fought, but Klara gets caught up in it all. Only to wake the next day thinking it was all in her head. Later, Klara gets pulled from her world and lands next to Jaemis who is currently fighting a bunch of the mouse king's minions. From there the two of them travel together trying to figure out why Klara is so important to the enemy and how they will get her sent back home before she destroys the balance there. You would think that this sets up the story for quite a bit of excitement. And I guess it occasionally does. But so much of the story is just slow. And while I am not a huge fan of fated mates, I wouldn't have minded a whole lot here. The problem was that Jaemis was so determined to not find any happiness that even their relationship was tediously slow. Which is unfortunate.

On this journey we meet a bunch of other people of different kinds, Jaemis nearly drowns for some self discovery, Klara finds out she has elemental powers, and of course these two obviously start falling for the other. When the finale starts, Jaemis is so easily fooled by an obvious trap. Then Klara also gets fooled by an obvious trap. Up until that point I did not consider these two people stupid, but boy did I after these events. All ends up well enough for them in the end though. That is until their happy together is literally snatched from them when Klara is abruptly pulled back to her own world. Where she wallows in despair at having lost the greatest love of her life. Until she finally realizes why she was brought back when she was and how she can still save Jaemis's life. I'm not sure how much I liked the very end. While it was expected that Jaemis and Klara would find themselves back together, and I did hope that Klara's parents were able to reunite with their best friends, I don't know how I feel about Klara's siblings now being involved. On one hand, I get it. They're family. On the other, I didn't really like them and they were never a part of it before so why should they be now.

ARC from NetGalley
2.7 stars

The premise behind A Curse of Frost and Fate has me hopeful for a great winter read but fell way short of any expectation I had for it. A re-telling of the Nutcracker with a spicy twist should have been a fun romp through fantasy and holiday. I ended up making in 10% through and DNF'd.

Why? Because I found the main character to be a spoiled rich kid. I found the narrative to be less than engaging. I found the writing to be choppy, poorly done and not well thought out. In short. The book dragged and life is too short for bad literature.

Why 2 stars? Because the cover is very well done and had me excited to read the book. The thought behind the book was there but poorly executed. With a re-polishing and thorough editing of the book I think all of the pieces are there for a fun read.

Pros: The cover is pretty. The idea of a Nutcracker retelling is exciting and the concept of making it a lil spicy had me jumping up to go grab this to read.

Cons: The MC is unlikeable. There are a lot of grammatical errors. The world-building is overdone. The book is very jargony. The title is derivative and reminiscent of every author trying to emulate SJM's A ______ of ______ and ______ title energy.

It feels like the author was trying to prove that she knew how to write and so picked up the dictionary and pulled out the longest, most ridiculous words possible to emphasize her point. Some readers may enjoy this book, but it was painful to finish for me.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

What a fab book for December and the Christmas season. A retelling of the classic Nutcracker story with a magic and saucy twist, not for everyone admittedly but a great read. It's a long novel so settle down for a fun read.

Well, that was much spicier than I anticipated for a Nutcracker retelling 🤣

I had a really hard time with the juxtaposition of the cutesy whimsical bits and the mature content. But, the main characters did have good chemistry.

Was it a bit cheesey? Yes. Was it a fun holiday read? Yes.

3.5/5 ⭐️
3/5🌶

This story has a very interesting premise as a retelling of the classic Nutcracker story. Although this book still needs a ton of editing (lots of errors and weird structuring) I still enjoyed where the author was going with it. I was not familiar with the original Nutcracker story that the ballet is loosely based on so that was fun to learn about.

Tropes:
Fated mates
Modern girl in a fantasy world
Forced proximity
One Bed
Cursed Prince

Lots of magic and fantasy in this story. I enjoyed the world building but would've liked to see more. As it stands right now it's a good story but I think with good editing this could be amazing.

Klara proves to be an outspoken, strong-minded, and brave FMC. She's unexpectedly thrust into an unknown world with magic and can take it all in stride and hold her own. She was no simpering female in need of rescue. In fact, on more than one occasion she helped save the Prince.

Jaemis is your typical honorable prince with the weight of the world on his shoulders. You learn very quickly that he's cursed and is resigned to his fate but determined to save his parents and kingdom from the evil Mouse King & Queen. When Klara comes into his life he learns he has more to live for than just his responsibilities.

I only love fated mates in fantasy and paranormal stories because they just work. Magic makes it work 😉

I would definitely give this one a try if you are a fan of the tropes listed and the Nutcracker story. Even with all the errors (of you can overlook those) this was a fun read.

I received an advance review copy for free from BooksGoSocial & Netgalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This was a new genre for me and overall, I enjoyed it. It is well written with engaging characters and I recommend to anyone wanting to try this genre.

Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read this eARC!

I was so excited for this, I loved the idea of a spicy nutcracker retelling, howeve, this was very subpar. It felt very adult and then also very childish at times. I felt like there wasn't enough editing. I found most of the characters to be annoying. Honestly, this story was lackluster at best and it felt like a chore to read.

I loved the premise of this book but I couldn't quite connect (especially with the opening chapter and the portions that related more to Jaemis's world). I also thought the book could use some more editing-- I didn't mind some of the issues, but I DNF'd at a point where a paragraph was fully incomprehensible due to sentences being spliced together in a weird way.
I may have liked it if I'd stuck with it, but I just couldn't quite immerse myself in this one.

Over the course of the last few years I have come to the realization that some indie published titles are amazing and well some aren't. This one was somewhere in the middle. Although it wasn't horrible it wasn't all that good either. I think for the most part the length played a big part in the errors on this story. I liked it but it was just far too long. I think if it would have been around 250 pages that would have been enough to be fast paced and really tie down the plot and characters.

Klara goes home for another family holiday, only to be swept away to a magical world. She joins forces with the prince to defeat the Mouse King from taking over both worlds. This is a very steamy, modern retelling of The Nutcracker.
From a leisure read perspective, this book is fantastic! The reimagined telling of the Nutcracker is just what I need for this time of year. Rather than sitting by a roaring fire, the spicy content in this book will be enough to ward off a chill. One of my favourite Christmas stories just got even better!
However, speaking as a middle school librarian, this book is very much not appropriate. So, while I will be adding a copy to my personal library, it will not be making its way onto the shelves of my school library.