Ash and Snow by Silvana G. Sánchez

Description from Goodreads:

You thought Snow White was the victim?

Maleath Snow is on the run. The King is dead, and the Evil Queen is not at all pleased.

When the King met his end, Snow’s conviction never wavered, for the times are dark and justice must be stolen.

Now the Evil Queen must die too.

To reclaim the White Throne, Snow will need the help of The Seven, a posse of mercenary Mages with a secret hideout in the woods. Her search will lead her to meet Ashton Thorne, Prince and heir of the kingdom of Thorn Hall.

Together, Snow, Ash, and The Seven will embark on a dangerous adventure to defeat the Evil Queen.

As the last flame of hope is extinguished, darkness calls for desperate measures to be taken.

Will Snow’s claim to the White Throne prevail?

Dark fantasy, steamy shifter romance, and magical mayhem clash in this thrilling fast-paced Snow White retelling!

This is a dark and steamy Snow White retelling featuring an anti-hero and a strong heroine. This is an allies-to-friends-to-lovers and fated mates story suitable for 18+. Ash and Snow is the first book in the Cursed Kingdom series and the story will continue through future books.

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My Review:

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

It's ironic. Snow White is my least favorite fairy tale but I tend to read Snow White retellings the most besides Beauty and the Beast. I was really excited to read this book. I thought the premise was really interesting. Unfortunately, this just didn't do it for me.

I thought the pacing was just way too fast. So many things kept happening that I just stopped being surprised. I feel that the author did not give us enough time to savor or take in some of the elements they threw at us. I also thought the romance was way too fast. It made me not feel like there was no chemistry at all. The spicy 18+ scenes were, in my opinion, poorly written as well. I wasn't expecting erotica or anything but I ended up just skimming through them. I love me some spicy scenes but in this case, I think it would have been better if it faded out with the implications of what was happening.

The characters weren't bad. I did really enjoy the Seven a lot. I just wished they were more developed. After reading the entire book I feel like I know next to nothing about their personalities besides little quirks. Snow was a bit disappointing as well. Based on the first line in the synopsis and the fact we're told in the first chapter that she's one of the main reasons Aurora is cursed, I expected her to be this morally grey badass. Instead, it felt like she never had a plan and was just bumbling about. I guess I wished she was more on top of things as that would have made things more interesting. I will say I really did like Ash as a character. I found him interesting and I do think he was a good balance to Snow's personality.

Overall, as much as I have critiqued this it was an okay read. I can see where the author was trying to go with this story. I think mainly if the pacing was fixed, I would have really enjoyed the book.