Winterspell & Homecoming
In Claire Legrand’s Winterspell, Clara Stole, the daughter of New York City mayor, leads a double life. Since her mother’s murder, she has trained in self-defense in the hopes of finding out who killed her mother. On Christmas Eve, disaster strikes and her father is kidnapped by magical, mechanical creatures. She is forced to journey to the war-ravaged land of Cane with the dethroned prince Nicholas, who has secrets of his own. With the dangerous faery queen Anise hunting them, Clara may not leave Cane unscathed, if she ever leaves at all.
Legrand’s twisted retelling of The Nutcracker is certainly not what Grandpa read to me when I was a child, but that doesn’t mean I loved it any less. I loved it more, in fact. With Clara, I felt like I was looking in a mirror. Her anxiety and fears were relatable. As someone who deals with anxiety, I just wanted to wrap Clara up in a blanket, hand her a cup of tea, and protect her from her mounting problems. Legrand really went the extra mile in making sure her descriptions of Clara’s anxiety, self-consciousness, and stress were realistic.
As the book continued, I loved watching Clara face her anxieties and grow into a confident young woman. She was no longer a shy girl forced to choose between two awful outcomes, under the thumb of powerful people and societal expectations. Clara took control and realized that she was powerful in her own way.
The romance between Clara and Nicholas was exceptionally well done. The yearning between these two was almost unbearable – in a good way, of course. Legrand made the reader want to force these two to just kiss already! We can’t take the suspense anymore! But of course when Nicholas and Clara were finally able to confess their feelings, it was sweeter than sugarplums. My romantic heart was all aflutter reading these two and their romantic highs and lows. I must admit my heart broke alongside Clara’s with Nicholas’ sudden betrayal earlier in the book and it rejoiced when he admitted how awful he had been.
Not only did Legrand accurately portray anxiety, but I also found the love story to be believable. She wasn’t forcing any clichéd standards upon Nicholas and Clara. Legrand let us enjoy Winterspell for what it and The Nutcracker, are at their hearts: a love story. Hence why I was overjoyed to read the novella set after the last chapter in Winterspell titled Homecoming. To see how Clara and Nicholas had changed since Clara had last been to Cane two years prior (eight years for Nicholas) was refreshing. There was excitement, but also nervousness and hesitancy. What if their feelings for each other had changed? What if there was no longer a place for Clara in Cane? Legrand gave readers that last look in on this couple and it was a satisfying ending to a delightful fairy tale.
Although the romance really stole the book for me, I enjoyed seeing Anise interact with Clara. She may have been seen as the villain by many, but through Anise Clara gained self-confidence and she learned how to control her magic. Clara was able to view her body not as shameful but as strong. As Clara herself stated in Winterspell, Clara and Anise could have been great friends, if Anise would have been willing to create a world where humans, fae and mages could live in harmony.
Winterspell is a dark, timeless fairy tale that made me wish Legrand would write another retelling soon!
Winterspell and Homecoming Rating: ★★★★
Legrand’s twisted retelling of The Nutcracker is certainly not what Grandpa read to me when I was a child, but that doesn’t mean I loved it any less. I loved it more, in fact. With Clara, I felt like I was looking in a mirror. Her anxiety and fears were relatable. As someone who deals with anxiety, I just wanted to wrap Clara up in a blanket, hand her a cup of tea, and protect her from her mounting problems. Legrand really went the extra mile in making sure her descriptions of Clara’s anxiety, self-consciousness, and stress were realistic.
As the book continued, I loved watching Clara face her anxieties and grow into a confident young woman. She was no longer a shy girl forced to choose between two awful outcomes, under the thumb of powerful people and societal expectations. Clara took control and realized that she was powerful in her own way.
The romance between Clara and Nicholas was exceptionally well done. The yearning between these two was almost unbearable – in a good way, of course. Legrand made the reader want to force these two to just kiss already! We can’t take the suspense anymore! But of course when Nicholas and Clara were finally able to confess their feelings, it was sweeter than sugarplums. My romantic heart was all aflutter reading these two and their romantic highs and lows. I must admit my heart broke alongside Clara’s with Nicholas’ sudden betrayal earlier in the book and it rejoiced when he admitted how awful he had been.
Not only did Legrand accurately portray anxiety, but I also found the love story to be believable. She wasn’t forcing any clichéd standards upon Nicholas and Clara. Legrand let us enjoy Winterspell for what it and The Nutcracker, are at their hearts: a love story. Hence why I was overjoyed to read the novella set after the last chapter in Winterspell titled Homecoming. To see how Clara and Nicholas had changed since Clara had last been to Cane two years prior (eight years for Nicholas) was refreshing. There was excitement, but also nervousness and hesitancy. What if their feelings for each other had changed? What if there was no longer a place for Clara in Cane? Legrand gave readers that last look in on this couple and it was a satisfying ending to a delightful fairy tale.
Although the romance really stole the book for me, I enjoyed seeing Anise interact with Clara. She may have been seen as the villain by many, but through Anise Clara gained self-confidence and she learned how to control her magic. Clara was able to view her body not as shameful but as strong. As Clara herself stated in Winterspell, Clara and Anise could have been great friends, if Anise would have been willing to create a world where humans, fae and mages could live in harmony.
Winterspell is a dark, timeless fairy tale that made me wish Legrand would write another retelling soon!
Winterspell and Homecoming Rating: ★★★★