Review: The Reflections of Queen Snow White by David Meredith

Book: The Reflections of Queen Snow White, David Meredith

Series: N/A

Publisher: ebook

Release Date October 2^nd, 2013

What happens when "happily ever after" has come and gone? 

On the eve of her only daughter, Princess Raven's wedding, an ageing Snow White finds it impossible to share in the joyous spirit of the occasion. The ceremony itself promises to be the most glamorous social event of the decade. Snow White’s castle has been meticulously scrubbed, polished and opulently decorated for the celebration. It is already nearly bursting with jubilant guests and merry well-wishers. Prince Edel, Raven's fiancé, is a fine man from a neighboring kingdom and Snow White's own domain is prosperous and at peace. Things could not be better, in fact, except for one thing: 

The king is dead. 

The queen has been in a moribund state of hopeless depression for over a year with no end in sight. It is only when, in a fit of bitter despair, she seeks solitude in the vastness of her own sprawling castle and climbs a long disused and forgotten tower stair that she comes face to face with herself in the very same magic mirror used by her stepmother of old. 

It promises her respite in its shimmering depths, but can Snow White trust a device that was so precious to a woman who sought to cause her such irreparable harm? Can she confront the demons of her own difficult past to discover a better future for herself and her family? And finally, can she release her soul-crushing grief and suffocating loneliness to once again discover what "happily ever after" really means? 

Only time will tell as she wrestles with her past and is forced to confront The Reflections of Queen Snow White. 

*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review. Thanks David!*

You know what I think of when I hear Snow White? Not the Disney Princess… this badass:

Snow from Once Upon A Time. She will always be Snow White for me, now and forever. So when I was asked to read this retelling of Snow White, this was the image engraved into my mind. And this is a type of a retelling of Snow White. This book doesn’t retell the entire tale of Snow White, but rather use Snow’s experience with her Prince Charming, growing up with an evil stepmother and losing her parents at such a young age to teach Snow White how to process grief and the importance of life and hope. And Snow White in this tale is nothing like the Snow White from Once Upon A Time.

I do love fairy tale retellings, and I have a great respect for authors who can take such a beloved story and twist it to make it their own. In this book, Snow White is an aged woman, and is still trying to come to grips of life after her husband, Charming, passed away. She finds the mirror belonged to her stepmother who, through flashbacks, reminds Snow of all the hardships and grievances she has overcome in her life and survived. Some of it was quite hard to read and the author is not explicit with the details of Snow’s traumatic childhood. This Snow White may not be a badass like Snow White from Once Upon A Time, but she is still powerful in her own right.

This story helped remind me that death is often a reminder to the living to keep on living. If we are strong, we can all overcome tough experiences and learn that we are never truly alone.