Midnight In Everwood by M.A Kuznair (eARC Review)

Format: eBook

Source: NetGalley

Publisher: HQ

Genres: Historical Fiction, Retelling, Fantasy

Publication Date: 28th October 2021

Synopsis/Blurb (Taken from Goodreads):

“A spell-binding retelling of The Nutcracker, filled with enchanted toys, decadent balls, fierce feminine friendships and a forbidden romance. For fans of The Toymakers, Caraval and The Bear and the Nightingale.

There’s nothing Marietta Stelle loves more than ballet, but after Christmas, her dreams will be over as she is obligated to take her place in Edwardian society. While she is chafing against such suffocating traditions, a mysterious man purchases the neighbouring townhouse. Dr Drosselmeier is a charming but calculating figure who wins over the rest of the Stelle family with his enchanting toys and wondrous mechanisms.

When Drosselmeier constructs an elaborate set for Marietta’s final ballet performance, she discovers it carries a magic all of its own. On the stroke of midnight on Christmas Eve, she is transported to a snowy forest, where she encounters danger at every turn: ice giants, shadow goblins and the shrieking mist all lurk amidst the firs and frozen waterfalls and ice cliffs. After being rescued by the butterscotch-eyed captain of the king’s guard, she is escorted to the frozen sugar palace. At once, Marietta is enchanted by this glittering world of glamorous gowns, gingerbread houses, miniature reindeer and the most delicious confectionary.

But all is not as it seems and Marietta is soon trapped in the sumptuous palace by the sadistic King Gelum, who claims her as his own. She is confined to a gilded prison with his other pets; Dellara, whose words are as sharp as her teeth, and Pirlipata, a princess from another land. Marietta must forge an alliance with the two women to carve a way free from this sugar-coated but treacherous world and back home to follow her dreams. Yet in a hedonistic world brimming with rebellion and a forbidden romance that risks everything, such a path will never be easy.”

My Thoughts & Review

Midnight In Everwood follows Marietta a ballerina who enters a magic world for her final performance before she is forced to give up her passion to marry a man by her parents. The story is a retelling of The Nutcracker. I have to admit I’ve never read The Nutcracker before, but in all honestly I feel it doesn’t really matter whether you have read it or not as the story stands on its own.

What first drew me to this book was definitely the stunning front cover and a promise of a new magical world and characters that I would fall in love with. And although I got all of these things I did find this to be a little difficult to get through I found the storyline to be slow and a little repetitive in places.

The first half of the book is much slower and does pick up but not until we are introduced to the magical world. It’s not until about the halfway point when we actually get introduced to the magical world, which for me was a little too long to have to wait. Although the magical world is well done, I did feel like something was missing, but I can’t quite pinpoint what was missing for me.

Although I wasn’t feeling the slow burn romance trope between the characters overall I thought most of them were well written. There were a few that felt a little underdeveloped and a little predictable and these are the ones I struggled to like.

I was really hoping to love this book, but it didn’t quite meet my expectations. Don’t get me wrong Midnight In Everwood is not a bad book at all it just didn’t blow me away!!

If you’re planning to read this book I would say definitely give it a go as you never know you may absolutely fall in love with it like so many others!!

I would like to thank the publisher HQ and NetGalley for my eARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

My Rating