The Snow Queen book two by KM Shea

I originally read book one of this series in March.  I was supposed to be prereading it for one of my teens because so many things can go wrong with a fairytale re-write, but then, I got sucked into Rakel's (the snow queen) story and wanted to see the series through to the end.

WOW.

K.M. Shea is a fantastic fairytale re-writer, and she does not disappoint in book two.  I do not want to give away anything (so hard to write a review when book two completely hinges on book one) so I will just say this.  This portion of the story is such a beautiful picture of forgiveness, love, and the entire time I was reading it, I drew parallels to the Gospel.  This is NOT Christian in nature, but the themes of love and forgiveness are so deeply woven in each chapter, you can't help but notice the parallels.

I highly recommend The Snow Queen.  I am already reading "book three" but it appears that each chapter in this book contains a short story that sprinkles throughout the timelines of the first two books.  I am not sure if it adds more to the story than what was wrapped up in book two or not?  Either way, the ending in book two ties up loose ends nicely.  

When I turned the last page and laid the book down yesterday, it felt like I just said goodbye to a group of friends, I love books like that.  You get so swept up in to the story, that you forget you don't really know Rakel or Phile, or Oskar or Halvor, or little Gerta and Kai in real life.  These stories make you forget lots of things, like the pile of laundry you were supposed to be folding, or that it is ten o'clock and you have an early morning tomorrow, or that the water was boiling for the eggs...

None of these (except of course book one) are stand alone books.  You need to read them in order and if possible I would buy The Snow Queen Saga as it contains all three books in one.  (it comes in both paperback and kindle versions)