Girls Made of Snow and Glass

 Author: Melissa Bashardoust

Read by: Jennifer Ikeda

Hi Everyone

I am finally addicted to the world of audio books.  It has taken me long time to learn how to simply listen to the words penetrating my mind via my ears, rather than the busy talk going on in my own mind.  I still love to sit down with a book in my hand, but I now see a place in my world for audio books.  I am constantly surprised at how much I can achieve while listening to one.  I find it a release from the chores needing done; I find it a joy when I go for a walk; I enjoy listening to someone else's voice telling me a story.  I have become a better listener to the people around me because I have learnt to listen rather than think about how to answer or give my point of view.  In the days that we are living right now, I think it is important to listen to each other and it is just as important to be able to quieten our own thoughts for just a little while. Audio books are a great way to do so.

The good thing about audio books is that they are click away and free when you connect to the library via 'Libby' or 'Borrow box'.  You can also access free audio books from 'Librivox'. We have a library of audio books right at fingers so we can learn to listen.  We expect our children to listen to the people around them but as adults I think it easy to lose the art.  I remember clearly, listening to read-alouds at school and now I find the same pleasure in hearing a good story.

Anyway.... to Girls Made of Snow and Glass

Brilliantly read! I was enticed by Jennifer Ikeda's clarity and voice.

The story line was awesome! Definitely different! And the plot evolved at a continual pace which kept me wanting to know what came next. As I write this I find it really hard to explain my thoughts without adding in 'spoilers'. So, I guess you need to take my word for it and read or listen to a copy.  

I have to add in that I enjoyed Nina (step mother) and Lynet. They both carried their own burdens to the degree that I found them quite similar.  I friended both of them as I listened to their stories.  My heart reached out as I discovered their inner needs that aren't that much different to all of ours.  They may have been characters playing their part in a plot, but they had a lot to teach us, especially if you listen to their hearts. Again, if say much more I will need to add in 'spoilers'!

It's like listening to fairy-tales as a child, then listening to one now that I am grown-up.  Young adult books are fabulous for enabling us to continue evolving our imaginations. That's the only way I can explain this book and the experience I got from listening to it while I worked my way though my adult chores.

Description:

At sixteen, Mina's mother is dead, her magician father is vicious, and her silent heart has never beat with love for anyone - has never beat at all, in fact, but she'd always thought that fact normal. She never guessed that her father cut out her heart and replaced it with one of glass. When she moves to Whitespring Castle and sees its king for the first time, Mina forms a plan: win the king's heart with her beauty, become queen, and finally know love. The only catch is that she'll have to become a stepmother.

Fifteen-year-old Lynet looks just like her late mother, and one day she discovers why: a magician created her out of snow in the dead queen's image, at her father's order. But despite being the dead queen made flesh, Lynet would rather be like her fierce and regal stepmother, Mina. She gets her wish when her father makes Lynet queen of the southern territories, displacing Mina. Now Mina is starting to look at Lynet with something like hatred, and Lynet must decide what to do - and who to be - to win back the only mother she's ever known...or else defeat her once and for all.

Entwining the stories of both Lynet and Mina in the past and present, Girls Made of Snow and Glass traces the relationship of two young women doomed to be rivals from the start. Only one can win all, while the other must lose everything-unless both can find a way to reshape themselves and their story.

Happy reading