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A review by smartie_chan
Snow White by Alice Callisto, Jeanette Rose
2.0
Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
1.5 / 5 Stars
Content Warning(s) for this book :
Attempted Suicide, Non-Consensual Touching, Self-Harm, Mindcontrol, Graphic Violence, Depression
I'm also very tempted to put Lots of sexual content in the Content Warnings list, because boy oh boy, was this smutty. You see, I was told, that this would be a 3 out of 5 on the steam level and I thought, well, I'll just skip the smut parts. But BOY OH BOY was I wrong in assuming so. Because there is no skipping. Azura is thirsting for Snow 24/7. And when she isn't thirsting, she's telling us how evil and horrible and e v i l she is. I didn't mind the super duper mega evil speeches at first, because I was aware that the Evil queen would be - who would have thought - evil. What I did mind though, were the intrusive sexual thoughts. Some of them made me laugh actually, because that's usually what happens when I read smut.
I'm either having a good time, because the smut is just funny to me (sex-repulsed ace here :P ) OR I'm highly uncomfortable. And let me tell you, this book actually managed to fulfill both of those things.
But anyways, back to the extremly sexual thoughts.
I'm not a fan of love at first sight, but honestly, I would have been thankfull if this book had been that, because what we got instead was lust at first sight and that's one of my most unliked tropes of all time. I'm aware that that's a completly subjective opinion and maybe you will read the book and have a good time, but I for my part, didn't. It was just too much. Because Azura finds Snow EXTREMLY SUPER HOT the second she sees and and it's all downhill from there. I can't tell you how often I had to read either of them talk about how Snow's/Azura's boobs jiggled as they did literally anything - like walk, or breath and a lot of other crazy things. (The book doesn't actually use the word jiggle, but that's basically what it's saying)
Especially when the book included non-con elements and really really uncomfortable smut scenes.
There's two in particular that I'd like to bring to your attention.
Scene 1
Snow is suffering from depression and intrusive thoughts. That's a fact. A fact that she's telling Azura about. Which means, she's very vulnurable, emotional and very open. It's an important, intimate moment ... until you remember that Azura is half naked, and VERY horny when Snow comes in, WHILE Snow talks and after she leaves. The same goes for Snow. I had to pause for a second, put the book aside and read something else. This scene made me feel horrible. If you want them to be horny, fine, whatever, but PLEASE can't they have one normal conversation inbetween those horny moments? It just felt all kinds of wrong to combine the horny and painful talk with each other.
Scene 2
Azura has passed out because of Spoiler reasons and Snow's very first plan of action is to start kissing her. Just no. I don't care that she would have probably consented to it if she were awake. That's not how consent works. You can't just ask someone "Oh yeah, by the way, were you even interested in having sex with me yesterday or did I rape you lol"
If you talked about it BEFORE and this is some weird kink you share, then sure, go for it. If it's not, then touching an unconcious party is assault. End of story.
It's made even worse by the fact that Snow DOES feel bad after, but it's written and presented in such a way, that the feeling of guilt is something she should not be feeling. The book makes it sound like "No, don't worry Snow, it was totally fine to start making out with a passed out person, you're fine, honey"
If the book was trying to depict an unhealthy, toxic relationship, I wouldn't even be as mad as I am, but the sad part is, that the book is not trying to go the "They shouldn't be together" route. In fact, it's going the "Happily Ever After" route and that started to make me feel not so great as well.
It's not as bad at the beginning of the book, but the farther you get into it and the more you learn about the cast, the worse it gets.
You see, I don't think Snow should be dating anyone to beginn with. Because she's mentally very unstable. The book calls her naive, but I'm not sure I'd use that word. She's very emotional, insecure and faking it, till she's making it. She's also victim of toxic positivity, by herself and those around her. As someone whose actually suffering from depression herself, I couldn't help but be uncomfortable with some scenes. Because, we don't treat Snow with the respect she deserves. We TELL her to be Better and then she is. We TELL her to tink quote "happy thoughts, happy thoughts" and then she does. We gaslight and manipulate her, worsening her self-hatred in the process. Which would have beeen - again - fine, if the book hadn't pushed the Azura X Snow ship.
The thing that's finally pushing Snow into suicide is Azura. Do they have talk after that? No of course not. Because that would require actual communication. Which they don't have. Not any that matters.
The sad part about this is, that the book IS capable of showing realistic distress. There is a scene where Azura is having a semi-panic attack/PTSD moment that has actual consequences on hair emotional state.
The characters themselves are fine, for the most part. Azura is vague and mystical and it gets to a point where I'm like "Just tell me, please, what is it you want" I do feel like her motive made sense at the end, but since we only learn about it in the last 10% of the book, it feels a little ... rushed, out of nowhere maybe. Same as the villain. Those were done dirty. Because no, Azura isn't the viallain. At least not officially. I'd still argue that Snow would be better off without her, but oh well, we can't have everything I guess.
Snow herself is - personally - the best character in the book. Partly because the writing style compliments her simple, cinnamon role, sunshine ways. The style is very simple, at times repetetive and VERY different from Azura's - at least at the start. I found this a very intersting choice, and learned to love it the farther we got into it.
The book is very creative when it wants to be, which makes it even sadder that I didn't like most of the execution.
The main story itself is cool, but ignored for most of the time. Because the book didn't really care about who would actually be the new queen. There's a lot of stuff the book wants to do, but everything feels only half-baked.
If it were up to me, I would have cut the whole fairy part of the book and given Malecifent more page time and development.
I think I've made it clar that I thought the Azura x Snow pairing to be toxic, but I just wanted got give you one more gem before I finish this review.
Snow, while talking about the Evil Queen: I can fix her.
Some stuff that I loved:
+ Opposite Attract / Grumpy x Sunshine
+ Snow White is POC
+ Snow White Retelling
+ Smart Fairytale References
Final words: Not my cup of tea, would not reccomand.
1.5 / 5 Stars
Content Warning(s) for this book :
Attempted Suicide, Non-Consensual Touching, Self-Harm, Mindcontrol, Graphic Violence, Depression
I'm also very tempted to put Lots of sexual content in the Content Warnings list, because boy oh boy, was this smutty. You see, I was told, that this would be a 3 out of 5 on the steam level and I thought, well, I'll just skip the smut parts. But BOY OH BOY was I wrong in assuming so. Because there is no skipping. Azura is thirsting for Snow 24/7. And when she isn't thirsting, she's telling us how evil and horrible and e v i l she is. I didn't mind the super duper mega evil speeches at first, because I was aware that the Evil queen would be - who would have thought - evil. What I did mind though, were the intrusive sexual thoughts. Some of them made me laugh actually, because that's usually what happens when I read smut.
I'm either having a good time, because the smut is just funny to me (sex-repulsed ace here :P ) OR I'm highly uncomfortable. And let me tell you, this book actually managed to fulfill both of those things.
But anyways, back to the extremly sexual thoughts.
I'm not a fan of love at first sight, but honestly, I would have been thankfull if this book had been that, because what we got instead was lust at first sight and that's one of my most unliked tropes of all time. I'm aware that that's a completly subjective opinion and maybe you will read the book and have a good time, but I for my part, didn't. It was just too much. Because Azura finds Snow EXTREMLY SUPER HOT the second she sees and and it's all downhill from there. I can't tell you how often I had to read either of them talk about how Snow's/Azura's boobs jiggled as they did literally anything - like walk, or breath and a lot of other crazy things. (The book doesn't actually use the word jiggle, but that's basically what it's saying)
Especially when the book included non-con elements and really really uncomfortable smut scenes.
There's two in particular that I'd like to bring to your attention.
Scene 1
Snow is suffering from depression and intrusive thoughts. That's a fact. A fact that she's telling Azura about. Which means, she's very vulnurable, emotional and very open. It's an important, intimate moment ... until you remember that Azura is half naked, and VERY horny when Snow comes in, WHILE Snow talks and after she leaves. The same goes for Snow. I had to pause for a second, put the book aside and read something else. This scene made me feel horrible. If you want them to be horny, fine, whatever, but PLEASE can't they have one normal conversation inbetween those horny moments? It just felt all kinds of wrong to combine the horny and painful talk with each other.
Scene 2
Azura has passed out because of Spoiler reasons and Snow's very first plan of action is to start kissing her. Just no. I don't care that she would have probably consented to it if she were awake. That's not how consent works. You can't just ask someone "Oh yeah, by the way, were you even interested in having sex with me yesterday or did I rape you lol"
If you talked about it BEFORE and this is some weird kink you share, then sure, go for it. If it's not, then touching an unconcious party is assault. End of story.
It's made even worse by the fact that Snow DOES feel bad after, but it's written and presented in such a way, that the feeling of guilt is something she should not be feeling. The book makes it sound like "No, don't worry Snow, it was totally fine to start making out with a passed out person, you're fine, honey"
If the book was trying to depict an unhealthy, toxic relationship, I wouldn't even be as mad as I am, but the sad part is, that the book is not trying to go the "They shouldn't be together" route. In fact, it's going the "Happily Ever After" route and that started to make me feel not so great as well.
It's not as bad at the beginning of the book, but the farther you get into it and the more you learn about the cast, the worse it gets.
You see, I don't think Snow should be dating anyone to beginn with. Because she's mentally very unstable. The book calls her naive, but I'm not sure I'd use that word. She's very emotional, insecure and faking it, till she's making it. She's also victim of toxic positivity, by herself and those around her. As someone whose actually suffering from depression herself, I couldn't help but be uncomfortable with some scenes. Because, we don't treat Snow with the respect she deserves. We TELL her to be Better and then she is. We TELL her to tink quote "happy thoughts, happy thoughts" and then she does. We gaslight and manipulate her, worsening her self-hatred in the process. Which would have beeen - again - fine, if the book hadn't pushed the Azura X Snow ship.
The thing that's finally pushing Snow into suicide is Azura. Do they have talk after that? No of course not. Because that would require actual communication. Which they don't have. Not any that matters.
The sad part about this is, that the book IS capable of showing realistic distress. There is a scene where Azura is having a semi-panic attack/PTSD moment that has actual consequences on hair emotional state.
The characters themselves are fine, for the most part. Azura is vague and mystical and it gets to a point where I'm like "Just tell me, please, what is it you want" I do feel like her motive made sense at the end, but since we only learn about it in the last 10% of the book, it feels a little ... rushed, out of nowhere maybe. Same as the villain. Those were done dirty. Because no, Azura isn't the viallain. At least not officially. I'd still argue that Snow would be better off without her, but oh well, we can't have everything I guess.
Snow herself is - personally - the best character in the book. Partly because the writing style compliments her simple, cinnamon role, sunshine ways. The style is very simple, at times repetetive and VERY different from Azura's - at least at the start. I found this a very intersting choice, and learned to love it the farther we got into it.
The book is very creative when it wants to be, which makes it even sadder that I didn't like most of the execution.
The main story itself is cool, but ignored for most of the time. Because the book didn't really care about who would actually be the new queen. There's a lot of stuff the book wants to do, but everything feels only half-baked.
If it were up to me, I would have cut the whole fairy part of the book and given Malecifent more page time and development.
I think I've made it clar that I thought the Azura x Snow pairing to be toxic, but I just wanted got give you one more gem before I finish this review.
Snow, while talking about the Evil Queen: I can fix her.
Some stuff that I loved:
+ Opposite Attract / Grumpy x Sunshine
+ Snow White is POC
+ Snow White Retelling
+ Smart Fairytale References
Final words: Not my cup of tea, would not reccomand.