Gathering Frost (Once Upon A Curse #1) by Kaitlyn Davis

I read this book a few months ago, back before I started Here’s to Happy Endings and only did my reviews on Goodreads and Amazon, and I thought that it definitely deserved a place here on the blog itself, because it was such an amazing book.

There isn’t much hype around this book, and I don’t really understand why – the book is fantastic, the story is beautifully written, and the plot (which is another fairytale retelling – yes, definitely my weakness) is unique and enjoyable.

Our story starts off with our heroine, Jade, when she is just a little girl.  She is outside with her mother, enjoying a beautiful day, when all of the sudden there is a large earthquake and an enormous castle just rises from the ground where the earthquake originated from.  A beautiful queen emerges from the castle, and Jade, like many little girls, think that the queen is a wonderful woman like the queens in a lot of the books she has read.  She runs over to the queen, despite her mother’s pleas to stay with her.  Jade falls under the queen’s icy spell, which removes the emotions from everyone in her kingdom, pretty much creating mindless zombies who love the queen and think their new lives are amazing.

Fast forward a few years, and Jade is now a teenager, and is part of the guard who works for the queen.  While she is the only girl who works in the guard, she is amazing at her job, knows how to fight, and doesn’t take any nonsense from anyone.  After her shift, she enjoys going to rides on her horse, and one particular evening she comes across the queen’s son, Prince Asher, who she has been looking for for quite some time.

When she gets back to the castle, the queen gives Jade the task to go and find the prince, and this begins her journey into coming across a group of people who are trying to fight the queen, by living underground in a community and trying to create a life as close to normal (note – not mindless zombies) as possible.  At first Jade is resistant to joining this group, but as time goes on and she makes a few friends and even starts to develop feelings for the prince (because what fairytale would be complete without a romance?), she slowly decides to get on board and help.

The only part of this book I disliked was the dialogue at the end.  I thought the entire novel was beautifully written, but the ending seemed incredibly rushed and forced.  It definitely didn’t go along with the rest of the book.  I have to say that I am really looking forward to the next book in the series, and this one will definitely keep its spot on my favorites shelf!

I can’t even begin to describe how fantastic this book is.  There are so many elements that make this a great read, from the Sleeping Beauty theme, to the romance between Jade and Asher (it isn’t an insta-love, trust me), to the evil queen, it’s just a great read if you’re into fairytale retellings.

Note: I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.