I was given this as an e-arc from NetGalley so thank you so much but all of the thoughts and words are my own.

What a wonderful story, so descriptive that you can imagine every scene in your mind, it made me cry! The wintery feel to the story and waiting for the snow really gave you a sense of the loneliness they both felt.

I loved the FMC, brilliant character development explaining how she ended as she did.

This is definitely going on my pre-order list as I want to read this again at Christmas time!

5 Stars and would throughly recommend.

This sparkling Gatsby inspired Swan Lake retelling is a glorious take on a classic. The champagne and jazz lifestyle of artist Forster takes a turn when he meets a mysterious dancer at a secret soirée. As love blooms, curses unfold and Forster is swept down a dark and magical path as he follows his heart.

This winter story doesn’t shy away from the darkness of original fairytales and includes some creepy moments amongst the glitz and glamour of the Roaring Twenties. Broken up by years as well as chapters, we are taken back in time through alternative viewpoints and the pace doesn’t falter. A small cast of generally very likeable characters, and a super protagonist in Forster. I liked this!

You’re telling me Stephanie garber said this book was amazing and your expect me not to like it??? Such a heartwarming book istg it really did remind me of the nutcracker. My inner child is screaming🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹

I really enjoyed Midnight in Everwood, although I struggled slightly with the writing style, so I expected to enjoy Upon a Frosted Star just as much. Sadly it fell a little flat for me.

From what I knew about it before I started reading, it sounded exactly like my cup of tea - The Great Gatsby meets Swan Lake in a fairytale romance.

I found it hard to identify with the characters, and didn’t particularly like any of them. Although I could appreciate the effort the author had gone to make the writing feel like a fairytale, I never found it flowed naturally, and the descriptions and dialogue felt stilted at times.

The 1920s setting was spectacular and I liked the attention to detail, particularly with the clothes, food and historical and cultural references.

I love books with fantastical elements but it almost felt like the magic didn’t go far enough here. For a book that I should have loved, I found it really dragged which was a shame. I’m not sure how much of that was due to the writing style and how much to the pacing.

A book with lots of good elements but overall it was a little disappointing.

A couple of winters ago, I read a wonderful novel called Midnight in Everwood, which was a retelling of the Nutcracker ballet. I enjoyed it so much, that I knew I would look out for other books by the same author, so I was delighted to receive an ARC from Harper Collins for Kuznair's new novel Upon A Frosted Star. The cover is stunningly beautiful, instantly grabbing my attention and as it is a retelling of my favourite ballet, Swan Lake, I knew I just had to read it immediately. I have spent a happy couple of days completely engrossed in this magical, wintry fairytale.

In this novel, we follow a male protagonist called Forster, an artist who has lost his passion for painting, until one evening, he sees a ballerina dancing at a party. He becomes besotted with her and begins to paint her, transferring the images in his mind onto canvas in an attempt to hold onto their brief encounter. His new paintings sell well and he decides to find out more about the mysterious ballet dancer, Detta, and the annual winter party at which she performs. But all is not as it seems, and Forster uncovers a far more dangerous and magical mystery than he ever could have anticipated.

This is a novel of star-crossed lovers, with a very unique take on a long-distance relationship! It perfectly illustrates the pain of a difficult love affair - of being separated, time and time again from the one your heart yearns for above all others. The slow and steady chipping away at the heart and soul of the lover who constantly gets left behind is expertly suggested here. Just like Swan Lake, this is an epic, heart-rending tale of magic and enchantment, love and loss.

What I most love about this author is her ability to make a novel read like a dream. She truly is a visionary author. Her prose sings off the page, the world building is just mesmerizing and fellow bookworms will appreciate the literary references made throughout the book. In this story we have glittering winter parties, invitations that fall from the sky along with the snow, rivers of chocolate cream, chocolate fountains and champagne saucers with secrets hidden in the glass. Just like Midnight in Everwood, this is a confection of a novel that will make your mouth water for champagne-fizz and dainty petite four cakes in pretty pastel colours, as Forster, Detta and their friends dance their way through 1920's London, York and Paris. When the story progressed to a castle in Wales, I did wonder if there was to be some reference to Merlin, but that connection was never made by the author.

I loved every page of this novel and I feel like I have discovered a new favourite author. I hope that she continues to write in this style and re-imagines more famous ballets in future books - Le Sylphide, Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, The Firebird etc - what wonderful novels she could craft from such a rich theatrical heritage! And how wonderful would it be to have a whole collection of these stunning winter novels, each retelling a classical ballet in visionary, fairytale style, all sat together on a bookshelf? I really do think that this could be the start of a series that bibliophiles and collectors are going to go crazy for.

I can't wait to see what this author comes up with next. I find her books so enchanting, they always make me smile and I plan to re-read both her snowy novels again this coming wintertime. Upon A Frosted Star is definitely a book worth reading if you like magical realism, fantasy or fairytale re-tellings. Enjoy the wintry magic of the Lake!

Blessed Be

Marie x

I liked this, can’t think of what it reminded me of though.

Thanks to NetGalley and to the author for giving me the chance to read and review this book.

Thanks to Netgalley and HQ stories for this advanced copy .

Enriching! As soon as I saw this available for arc I was so excited, especially after reading the authors previous book ‘Midnight in everwood, which incidentally is another beautiful book. Upon a frosted star is everything I hoped it would be.. simply stunningly beautiful. 5/5

Thank you to Netgalley and HQ for approving me for an ARC of this book.

I was incredibly excited to be approved to read this book early, having truly loved the Magical historical world created in ‘Midnight in Everwood’. I had pre-ordered a beautiful sprayed edge special edition from Waterstones on the basis of author and blurb alone, even though it is not due for commercial release until the last quarter of the year. So did it live up to my already high expectations?

Yes…and no.

‘Upon a Frosted Star’ is set in postwar London - where an artist, socialite and wannabe reporter are enjoying the excesses of prohibition bars and the glamour of Gatsby-esque settings and figuring out how they will make their mark on the world. Our protagonist Forster is particularly seduced by the mystery of an annual party to mark the return of winter, where invites are clues scattered in unknown London locations. He is equally entranced by the beautiful anonymous ballerina who performs there every year, only to disappear like Cinderella before the end of the ball. He is sure that there is more than meets the eye, and vows to discover the identity of his mysterious muse…

Much like ‘Midnight in Everwood’, I was quickly drawn in to the fairylike quality of this tale. The characters were more archetypes than the fully-fleshed out characters you usually expect in modern fantasy novels but I almost felt like this was deliberate. For foremost, this felt like a book about literature, about the effect stories have on your life. Referential in parts to F Scott Fitzgerald, gothic literature and fairytales themselves - the author weaves the genre expectations together, tells the tale and then dumps you back afterwards, reminding you that this was a fairytale.

Things I loved about this novel - it immersed you well into the glamour of these peoples lives and made you nostalgic for an era before you were born. I also loved that it clearly occupied the same world as the previous book even though it is a standalone, it was a great little ‘Easter Egg’ that I wasn’t expecting and felt satisfying as a reader to find. You absolutely do not need to have read the authors previous work to enjoy the story but it added extra depth and it greatly added to my enjoyment.

I believed in the friendships of the characters and enjoyed the romance, though these were often approached with a dreamy, vague air that may make readers feel that it is more YA than adult even though the characters are in their twenties and thirties.

The only criticism that I will make is that the ending felt a little rushed after the delicious prose that came before and in that it lost a little bit of it’s magic. But maybe that was the point.

I would recommend this book to people wanting an easy in to the fantasy genre, book club readers and anyone that enjoys a good historical novel that wants to broaden their reading horizons. You may not like this book if you are wanting “spicy” romance or prefer character driven over storyline driven novels.

I really, really enjoyed "Midnight in Everwood" by M.A. Kuzinar so wanted the same magical qualities in "Upon a Frosted Star". It didn't quite meet up to my high expectations but it was still a pretty good story and the author is still a very good writer of this genre. I enjoyed the mash up of The Great Gatsby and Swan Lake - the champagne, gin, carefree lifestyle of the Bright Young Things alongside the mysterious Detta who appears at her parties once a year, and her curse. However, I sometimes felt as if I had stumbled upon a Young Adult novel rather than Fairy Tales for adults which is more of the vibe I had been hoping for. Still, for any reader in winter, this book is bound to transport them to a winter wonderland.

Swan Lake is a story that many have heard of and know bits about, but this magical reimagining will have footsteps dancing across your memory.
Forster is an artist who is struggling for inspiration, but when he unexpectedly finds an invitation to a luxurious winter’s event and sees the ballet dancer Detta Kova he is entranced and has suddenly found his muse and his paintings take on a magical air. Yearning to know more about Detta he seeks to know more and to meet her again, but there is magic at work and winter is the only time he can see the beautiful dancer.
The story is told mostly through Forster’s eyes, but also through that of Detta as she tells us of her journey to become a dancer and part of Rothbart’s theatrical experience. Things aren’t what they seem and both Forster and Detta are pulled into an artistic world of surprise, intrigue and magic laced with romance and sadness. A truly wonderful retelling of the Swan Lake story that will capture the readers hearts and have the words dancing across their heads.

I wanted to love this - after all, what a beautiful cover - but I really didn't. The writing was on the verge of purple prose, clichéd and sadly unconvincing.

The characters were bland and two-dimensional and the plot really lagged. I skimmed through to the end but found even that hard going.

Looking forward to seeing the reactions of more readers. It may just be that this is not my genre of choice and many people go on to love it.

Be prepared to be swept up into a story of magic, enchantment and intrigue. It certainly enchanted me because I couldn’t stop reading…

It was so vivid and magical and honestly beautifully written. I adored the story and the element of historical fiction really added to its magic. An era of extravagant parties and flapper girls. Of shrugging off the horrors of war and adding a spark to life again. Detta’s parties truly added that spice of magic and I loved the elaborate balls that were so wonderfully described that you felt you could almost be there yourself.

At the first drop of snowfall, the invitations go out to one of the most talked about parties of the year. Forster snags an invite and whilst there, meets an enchanting dancing figure that he just can’t forget..

It was such a trapping, steady plot. It flowed effortlessly through the seasons and the transitions were just gorgeous. With the odd glimpses into Detta’s past and Forsters mission to change the curse had me barrelling through the pages as fast as my kindle would allow.

I seriously adored this book. The cover is beautiful too so I may need to upgrade my kindle e-book for the physical one to stand proudly next to Midnight in Everwood…!

❄️ "Don't you know it's always more fun to play a villain."

" Upon A Frosted Star" by M.A. Kuzniar follows struggling artist Forster who after attending a fabled party becomes obsessed with the mysterious hostess who he makes her his muse and wants to learn more about her but discovers a dark secret.
❄️
I would give "Upon A Frosted Star" by M.A. Kuzniar a 5 ❄️ star review because, I loved the writing, I enjoyed that the main pov is the male main characters, I liked the relationship between characters, the romance was wonderful, but I had a few slight problems though I still enjoyed reading this.

Thanks to Netgalley and HQ stories for this advanced copy.

I was a big fan of Midnight in Everwood so I was excited to read the next book from Kuzniar. However, it didn’t share the same magical quality as Everwood and I felt the cons outweighed the pros.

Frosted Star is told from the perspective of Forster who attends a lavish party with his friend Marvin and falls for a mysterious ballet dancer he sees that night. As he tries to find out who she is he realises she has a much darker past than he could begin to imagine.

I loved the setting of the book and the wintery feel it had throughout. The lavish parties jumped off the page and made me wish to be there. I also enjoy the way Kuzniar beautifully writes dialogue.

My issues came with the characters as they all felt underwritten. Beginning with Forster, it was an interesting choice to have the story told from the male perspective and after a while I grew bored and felt he was too hollow of a character to hold the story.
My favourite character was Detta but I feel she did not have enough time in this book. It isn’t until around a third that the narrative changes to her perspective and we slowly begin to gain insight into how she ended up the way she is. I would have loved to have had more of the story from her perspective and much earlier in the book as by page 100 I was forcing myself to continue reading.

It also felt at times as if Marvin and Rose had no real need to be apart of the story, especially towards the end. They offered no real connection to Forster and Marvin never held much of an antagonist position.

A character I would have loved more of is Rothbart. He had the potential to be a much bigger villain but as we rarely had Detta’s POV in the book, we did not get much Rothbart either.

I also had issues with the pacing of the book. As mentioned previously, it often felt like a struggle to continue reading this book to get to something interesting with many of the chapters feeling like filler. I believe the ending has a lot of potential but only if there is more build up to it throughout the story.

Overall, I think the book is just fine, but does not hold a candle to Everwood. The magic spark is not there and having the story told from a male perspective did not work for me.

Wow, I adored this book. Kuznair’s writing style is beautiful; I felt absolutely transported into her beautiful, Gatsby-esque version of Swan Lake. I usually read books from the point of view of an FMC, so it was wonderfully refreshing to follow Forster alongside Marvin & Rose. I felt his love, pain and passion emanating off of the page. I would absolutely recommend this to everyone I know who loves wonderfully written fantasy, and I will immediately be buying Midnight In Everwood so that I can cosy up with more of Kuznair’s writing.

A stunning blend of Swan Lake, The Great Gatsby and I think…. some references to Once Upon a Time (which I loved). This is a haunting captivating and heart shattering love story. I really felt for Detta and Forster, I loved the decadent descriptions, the excess and the looming darkness the M.A. Kuzinar crafts into her worlds so well, I adored Midnight in Everwood and Upon a Frosted Star is just as exquisite, though, slightly darker in villainous actions , I did want to read a bit more in the Epilogue because the ending was brutally brilliant, but otherwise, it’s an easy five stars from me. Huge thanks to HQ for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.