Another one I deleted accidentally!

This is one of those books that I picked up and was immediately angry with myself for not picking this up the moment that I got it! I loved the other YA series I’d read by Gena Showalter, the Everlife trilogy. I think that I searched for someone to have a copy of this on Twitter for a books for trade deal, and was lucky enough to get it. In fact, when I finished this, I immediately jumped onto Twitter again and reached out to see if there had been any physical ARCs of the second book that came out this past fall. Because I’d love to have a matching set!

Now when I started, I didn’t realize that this was not only going to be a fairy tale world for a setting, Enchantia, but that it also would begin in the real world that we are in, a world with no magic, that we know of. Basically the main character finds out that she is part of the Snow White fairy tale, but isn’t exactly sure what character she is. She believes she is the evil queen, hence the title, for the majority of the book. And something that we learn with this story, something I’ve seen in a lot of the reimagining stories for villains, is that we are all heroes in our own stories, and others are the villains. I loved the way this story handled that, and how it made it all work in the end.

I totally was on Everly’s side for the story. But I was also wanting her not to do the vengeance actions she was going to do when she decided to just own the character everyone had pushed her into becoming. And oh did I love Prince Roth Charmaine. I was so mad at him during certain parts, but really, I just adored him by the end.

This book really had everything. There was humor, but there were also so many moments I was moved to tears on Everly’s behalf. The world was beautifully written, so vivid. I think this would be a great tv series. Similar to the tv show that I did watch all but the last seasons of, Once Upon a Time. Loved, loved, loved, and now I need the second book!

Review first posted on Lisa Loves Literature.