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• fiction • fantasy • dark • mysterious • tense • magical • 368 pages • 5-Stars

The Kingdom of Sweets is a captivating fairytale. It is a dark and magical retelling of The Nutcracker about two sisters cursed from birth and a mysterious world of snow and sugar. The sisters (Clara and Natasha) are forever changed one memorable Christmas ... ⬇️

⭐️⭐️💫

I was into this at the beginning - I especially loved the vivid imagery of the Kingdom of Sweets - but it lost my interest by the end. The author writes in the acknowledgements that writing for her has become “an often grueling exercise in endurance”, and I feel like that shows. It‘s kind of also how it felt to read it. 😬 #BOTM

I liked parts of this book.I‘ll admit that other parts were just outside of my grasp of understanding.Parts seemed very deep,and I‘m sure there was more to them than what I read into them. I have a feeling this is one of those books that needs to be read more than once. I did find it darkly magical. I was looking for a good Christmas read. Not sure I found it in this story. I think I‘d have understood it more if I knew more about the Nutcracker

I like the concept of a Nutcracker retelling and this plot line of a kingdom of sweets. It‘s a slow pick though because everyone was so unlikable. Typically, I have no problem disliking my MC‘s, but I need to either empathize with their situation or have fun trash-reading their despicable-ness. Neither of those happened here. I mean Clara - I need to root for Clara!

#Rushathon #DashingDecember

This is the 3rd take on the Nutcracker that I‘ve read in the past few years & I think this may be the best one. That being said, it‘s still a soft pick. Overall, it was good & I liked the darkness of it & the world building of the Kingdom, but I don‘t think it‘s a story that will stay with me. I do have the 1st book of the author‘s Queen of the Tearling series on my Kindle & it might inspire me to finally read it.🎄

Definitely a darker fantasy than I was expecting but honestly that pleasantly surprised me. I liked the way this was ended too. #botm
Book 73

While I had fun listening to the music alongside reading this holiday novel based on The Nutcracker, I must admit that I never found myself loving the story… I love novels featuring twins, but Clara and Natasha were just too divided for me to really root for them, and while the book improved (and the Rasputin cameo added to the fun), I just wanted something a bit less darkly fairy and a little bit more heartwarming!

For the most part, I enjoyed the ride even though I don't know the original story of The Nutcracker. I think knowing the real story would have made this story better.

I am stretching myself by reading more fantasy books.

Toward the 3/4 mark, I started to lose a little interest, but ultimately give this a "pick."

#Naturalitsy #MidwinterSolace

My #HyggeHour consisted of 30 minutes finishing making little work holiday sacks while listening to The Haunting Season & 30 minutes starting the tagged book. I guess I was feeling more spooky/sinister tonight! 😉

Not a great photo but I‘m wearing my bookish holiday pajama bottoms that I bought last year. They are cozy—soft but not too warm. No cocoa tonight for me but I did have some holiday chocolate. 🍫❤️💚

I liked this dark retelling of The Nutcracker. I really liked the ending.

If you're looking for a seasonal read that isn't a romantic comedy you should check out The Kingdom of Sweets. It's a dark fairytale inspired by The Nutcracker that centers around a set of twins (one light and one dark), their magician godfather, and a fairy who rules over a land of confections. It's dark, twisty, and wonderful. 4☆

Whew! This book was a wild ride! I definitely enjoyed it, but it was much much darker than I was expecting. 😱 Also all of the characters were pretty much bad people and not likable at all! 😂 That didn't bother me though, because the story was interesting and the writing was good! If you're looking for an interesting, super dark retelling of The Nutcracker, then give this one a try! ❤️💚❤️💚

And some fun holiday thoughts!

My books for #BOTM this month (I hope I get to the tagged this month!!)

Our trees (including outdoor-balcony tree ☺️) and mantle…

My advent calendar this year…

And a book a friend recently gave me — anyone read it?

Happy holidays all!!
🎄♥️🎄♥️🎄♥️🎄♥️🎄♥️🎄♥️

Book of the Month: part 1!

My #botm box arrived today! I picked five books this month so the actual box was huge! 🙈 I'm super excited for the tagged book and plan on starting that soon, since it's a retelling of The Nutcracker! 🥰 Did anyone else pick either of these?

My December #botm and #aardvark selections. Aardvark really knocked it out of the park for me this month, I would have actually added one more if I had the space.

Natasha has always been in Clara‘s shadow, but decides to take control of her life after Drosselmeyer‘s Christmas gifts. Only, nothing about the nutcracker, the Sugar Plum Fairy, or her own sister is what they seem.

I liked the idea, but was disappointed. The 1st half dragged, & the end combined huge time skips with trying to tie in historical events. It was trying to do too much, & I didn‘t find Natasha to be an engaging protagonist. 🌕🌕🌗🌑🌑

I was so excited to see that the December Book of the Month choices were up early! I decided to go with the Nutcracker book plus some historical romances! 🤭💕📚 What did everyone else get? #botm

I was super excited to see that #BOTM was already up today! I was just looking at my library and Libby for Gwen and Art Are Not in Love the other day (and neither have it), so that was a pleasant surprise. And The Kingdom of Sweets looks like a good edition to my #WinterGames TBR.

Book of the Month surprised me by dropping books early! Looking forward to the tagged for a darker holiday read. #BOTM

Saw that #botm picks were already up! I went with this retelling of the nutcracker. I also grabbed a couple of romances. I‘ve had the new Evie Dunmore on my TBR forever and the other is one I haven‘t heard of before.

#BOTM is up already!! I‘m going with this dark Christmas fairytale for the holiday season!

(I also have the audiobook for “A Winter in New York” on hold through Libby, and it says it‘s available soon!) 🥰