Since I enjoyed Calonita’s other book, I thought I’d give this one a try next and see how she spices up a princess I’ve never been interested in. Which she manages to accomplish quite well using a dual narrative between Snow White and The Evil Queen who is so named Queen Ingrid here.

Not only does Calonita’s Snow come out as more fully formed, it gives her reason for her happy cleaning personality despite being locked away. Snow sees it as her small part in bringing back the kingdom’s warmth and beauty that Queen Ingrid has left in disrepair. But this Snow White, once she realizes her life is in danger after the Huntsman let’s her go, well that’s when things get interesting.
Snow White feels anger at the queen, she feels guilt for failing to stand up to her for the sake of a kingdom that she is supposed to inherit, and has an overwhelming need to stage a coup which the dwarves are happy to help with. Calonita also gives her more depth in giving flashbacks and backstory to what her parents were like and how that shaped her into the woman she has grown to be.

Additionally, Calonita has bestowed an actual personality and character to Henrich, the prince to Snow’s princess. While they’re a small crush at first sight trope at play, Calonita gives enough them enough bonding time and similarities that it’s easy to see why they’d fall so easily for each other.

As for Queen Ingrid’s story, I’ll admit her narrative was more interesting as it gives a compelling look to her descent to evil. While it is sympathetic to her, it doesn’t excuse Ingrid’s increasingly malicious actions. Yes, the mirror is involved in a devil temptation way, not in a possession way. But while the Mirror clearly has an influence, it doesn’t control her entirely. The choices of murder and poison are all her own.

As with the other books, it skillfully weaves in events from the movie, giving more internal monologue to how the characters are feeling in the moment that animation can’t quite convey.

A few nitpicks I have is that the chapter titles aren’t interesting, they just say Snow or Ingrid as if one wouldn’t be able to tell from the narration alone. And some might be disappointed that the twist (What if the Evil Queen poisoned the prince?) that is advertised on the cover doesn’t take place until like the last two chapters, but I was fine with it. It was more about the journey for me.
4 stars or red apples.