Kat Whyte has lived what seems to her a fairly normal life. She's lived with her Uncle Barney on his apple orchard. He seems to love her and he's cared for her as well as he could. She's learned to care for his animals and also the orchard. One thing Kat has never done is leave the orchard, she's always wanted to but her uncle has told her time and time again that it's dangerous for her to leave, and she must never go to the market. But one morning, Barney wakes up and he can no longer see. He goes to the market himself, even though he's blind and when he comes back he tells Kat that he's hired a young man, Jeremy Simkins, to help her run the orchard, Kat is to teach him how to care for the orchard. As the years go on, Kat's uncle becomes a hardened drunk and he becomes meaner and meaner to Kat, until he finally strikes her and sends Jeremy away for good. Jeremy has fallen in love with the beautiful Kat and leaves her with plenty of money to care for herself until he can come back to find her, but she must leave her uncle in order to protect herself. What Kat doesn't know is that she is the princess of a country called Mayhem, and if the queen of Mayhem, her mother ever finds her she will kill her without thinking twice.
I really enjoyed this story. It's told from the point of view of the magic mirror, who happens to be a man locked inside a mirror. He has secrets that you don't find out until the end. I loved how we get glimpses of his personality and how we see Kat and all that happens to her through his eyes. I have read a lot of fairy tale re-tellings, this is the first Snow White that I can remember reading, I thought the story line was well done. I enjoyed the characters. I hope that Melissa Lemon continues to write such fun books!
I downloaded this book for free from the publisher at Netgalley. I was able to read it for free in exchange for a non-biased opinion.Labels: Cedar Fort, clean ya, fairy tale re-tellings, melissa lemon
