Rating: 4/5 stars

Category: children, fiction, historical

Publisher: Harper Collins

Publication date: 27 October 2022

Pages: 548

Illustrated by Alex T. Smith

Source: The Write Reads Tour, Netgalley

Trigger: death of a sibling

Hello Readers, welcome back to my blog.

I was so excited to join this book tour. With my third tour with The Write Reads, I feel very privileged.

SYNOPSIS

Perfect for fans of Serafina and the Black Cloak and The Night Gardener, this middle grade historical fantasy follows a girl who makes a dangerous wish in order to bring her brother back from the dead.

It’s winter, 1683, and the Great Frost has swept into London.

By day, thirteen-year-old Thomasina and her friend Anne peddle sweets on the frozen river, hearing rumors of the magical Frost Fair that awakens there at night. They say if you can find it, Father Winter himself will grant any wish you have.

And Thomasina has an impossible wish: the return of her twin brother, whose death left her family fractured.

But once they discover Father Winter’s icy kingdom, Thomasina and Anne quickly realize the Frost Fair isn’t exactly what it seems… and that some wishes never come for free.

Review

Thomasina is thirteen years old and she was a twin but in a time where asthma is treated by knowledge and not commonly known, her brother died when he has an attack. Four years on, things have not been the same in Thomasina’s life, her father is no longer the man she grew up to know and her mother has withdrawn from life entirely. One day, Thomasina meets a man who promises to bring her twin back to life if she visits his magical frost fair four times at night and tells no one. She will temporarily lose memories of her twin but only for a short time and he will be back to life. Thomasine visits the fair twice and finds some troubling things but she is desperate to have her twin back that she explains away most of her worry. What happens when she makes a new fried who is equally worried for her and her worries about the magical frost fair is warranted?

It’s preaching like the Parson’s that drives people from church and throws a bad light on Christianity. It was also a very comical scene. The minute Inigo said Thomasina would lose her memories of Arthur for a while, I would have dusted my slippers and ran again like she did the first time she saw the kelpie. When things sound too good to be true, they usually are. I gave this story 4 out of 5 stars because I loved the heart warming tale. The mode of the story really suited the winter months and has such a poignant message to impact. The chapters were not too long and the language used was simple enough to follow for this genre. The author did a wonderful job and I love the morality that would educate children of the target age.

If you like this review and are interested in reading or listening to this book, you can purchase this book using the links below:

Waterstones (UK) – https://tidd.ly/3prSyR7

Book depository (Free worldwide shipping) – https://tidd.ly/3FvdFrh

Audible (audio books) –  https://tidd.ly/3EtH3gz

The links above are affiliate link, which means I will get a small commission which helps me continue by blog, if you buy the book using any of these links the price does not change for you so there is no added cost to you.

You can also support me by buying me a cup of coffee – https://ko-fi.com/book_latte_kech