Synopis:

Legends tell of a witch who became a queen—the heartless villain in the story of Snow White.

But now the wicked queen is stepping out of Snow White’s shadow to become the heroine of her own legend.

Her real “once upon a time” begins when she is just Ayleth, a young witch who lives in the forest with her coven. The witches practice their magic in secret, hiding from the White King and his brutal war against witchcraft.

Ayleth, however, faces a war of her own. Her magical gifts have yet to reveal themselves, and as the threat of the Royal Huntsmen intensifies, Ayleth fears she will never become the witch her coven needs.

To prove herself, Ayleth sets out on a perilous quest that sends her to the White Palace, a decadent world of drama and deceit. There, Ayleth encounters an unlikely figure from her past: Jacquetta, a witch who once held Ayleth’s heart—and betrayed her.

As events at the palace escalate, Ayleth finds herself caught in the web of the White King, whose dark charisma is as dangerous as the sinister force that seems to be haunting the palace—and perhaps even Ayleth herself. With the threat of discovery looming, Ayleth and Jacquetta must set aside the wounds of their past and work together to survive.

As she uncovers the secrets of the White Court—and those of her own heart—Ayleth must find the strength to transform into someone she never imagined she could be.

A powerful witch, the very wickedest of them all.

Rating:

Review:

This book is such a difficult one for me to rate. Overall, I liked it. That narrator was great, the worldbuilding was great, the idea of the story was great. But for a lot of it, I was just bored. This was a really long audiobook, about 16 hours. That hardcover is 544 pages. That’s a really long book. And I don’t feel like the plot was interesting enough or complex enough to require that many pages. Everything took so long to happen. I have to admit that I dozed off a few times and when I woke up it didn’t seem like I had missed anything at all.

About halfway through is when the plot really started cooking and I felt like things picked up fast. The romance story was fabulously executed. Two women who had been separated through tragic circumstances and then come back together in a time of need. It was romantic. It was sweet. In the end, it was exactly what this book needed. Ayleth was a whiner for a lot of this book and it was annoying. She was upset she had no magic talent. She was upset that everyone blamed her for her sister’s death (no one actually DID blame her, but she kept insisting that people did). She was disgusted by her mother’s affinity for dark magic, but equally horrified at a woman who doesn’t want to affiliate with coven magic. She gets a lot better when she arrives at the city though. She finds her strength in a big way, but I was still left wondering…how exactly does this woman end up as the evil queen? Ayleth was way too big of a goodie two shoes for that.

When it all starts to set into motion though…oh…my…God! My face was painted in shock. All of the little pieces that had been planted earlier in the book came together in the most deliciously evil way possible. I loved it. I was completely enthralled with the ending of the book. If it had all been that fascinating then this would have easily been a 5 star book for me. I positively squealed when we got to the ending and she said the line. “Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?” The ending was so great. I really just wish the rest of it could have been just as amazing. I will be reading the 2nd half of this duology an crossing my fingers that it drags less than this one.