Crown of Ice by Vicki L. Weavil - Ashley's Pre-Reading

*I received this book as an eARC from Month9Books in exchange for an honest review*

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Title: Crown of Ice
Author: Vicki L. Weavil
Publication Date: September 9, 2014

Synopsis: Thyra Winther's seventeen, the Snow Queen, and immortal, but if she can't reassemble a shattered enchanted mirror by her eighteenth birthday she's doomed to spend eternity as a wraith.

Armed with magic granted by a ruthless wizard, Thyra schemes to survive with her mind and body intact. Unencumbered by kindness, she kidnaps local boy Kai Thorsen, whose mathematical skills rival her own. Two logical minds, Thyra calculates, are better than one. With time rapidly melting away she needs all the help she can steal.

A cruel lie ensnares Kai in her plan, but three missing mirror shards and Kai's childhood friend, Gerda, present more formidable obstacles. Thyra's willing to do anything – venture into uncharted lands, outwit sorcerers, or battle enchanted beasts -- to reconstruct the mirror, yet her most dangerous adversary lies within her breast. Touched by the warmth of a wolf pup's devotion and the fire of a young man's desire, the thawing of Thyra's frozen heart could be her ultimate undoing.

Crown of Ice is a YA Fantasy that reinvents Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen" from the perspective of a young woman who discovers that the greatest threat to her survival may be her own humanity.

Why?: For some reason, "The Snow Queen" has been a really popular Hans Christian Andersen story to re-tell recently. I've read/seen so many re-imaginings of it and I'd never even really heard of it before Jackson Pearce's Cold Spell. I love re-tellings though, and I love when it's of a story that isn't really overdone, so of course I jumped on the chance to read Crown of Ice!  It sounds exciting and mysterious and magical and everything a story based on "The Snow Queen" should be.

Expectations: I really enjoyed all the retellings I've read of "The Snow Queen," so I have pretty high expectations for this one. I think this one will be a little closer to the original than the others I've read though, so I expect the mirror to play a bigger role. I also expect quite a bit of adventure and magic and world-building. 

Judging a book by its cover: I really love this cover. I love how the girl looks icy, and I definitely think that's how the Snow Queen might actually look. The colors remind me of snow and winter, and I love how the title looks against all of it. This book would definitely catch my eye in a bookstore or library, and I'd be really likely to pick it up and walk out with it (after paying for it/checking it out, of course!). 


--Ashley