Title: Midnight in Everwood

Author: MA Kuzniar

There’s nothing Marietta Stelle loves more than ballet, but after Christmas, her dreams will be over as she is obligated to take her place in Edwardian society. While she is chafing against such suffocating traditions, a mysterious man purchases the neighbouring townhouse. Dr Drosselmeier is a charming but calculating figure who wins over the rest of the Stelle family with his enchanting toys and wondrous mechanisms.

When Drosselmeier constructs an elaborate set for Marietta’s final ballet performance, she discovers it carries a magic all of its own. On the stroke of midnight on Christmas Eve, she is transported to a snowy forest, where she encounters danger at every turn: ice giants, shadow goblins and the shrieking mist all lurk amidst the firs and frozen waterfalls and ice cliffs. After being rescued by the butterscotch-eyed captain of the king’s guard, she is escorted to the frozen sugar palace. At once, Marietta is enchanted by this glittering world of glamorous gowns, gingerbread houses, miniature reindeer and the most delicious confectionary.

But all is not as it seems and Marietta is soon trapped in the sumptuous palace by the sadistic King Gelum, who claims her as his own. She is confined to a gilded prison with his other pets; Dellara, whose words are as sharp as her teeth, and Pirlipata, a princess from another land. Marietta must forge an alliance with the two women to carve a way free from this sugar-coated but treacherous world and back home to follow her dreams. Yet in a hedonistic world brimming with rebellion and a forbidden romance that risks everything, such a path will never be easy.

‘It is dangerous to dream, Marietta. It will fill your head with tales sweet as sugarplums, until reality is nothing but disappointment.’

But Marietta does dare to dream and finds herself in Everwood, a mystical village in another world called Celstra.

‘Why, you have discovered the delights of Everwood, of course. A land of sugar and ice, Enchanted beyond measure.’

Everwood was such a magical place. The descriptions made me feel so festive (and also cold and hungry!!!!)

However Marietta got right on my wick! I’m all up for a girl setting her own path but she had no actual means, was just rude to everyone and she was a self-centred, spoiled girl! Although saying this, in the last quarter of the book she did get better! Maybe it’s what she was taught!

So in conclusion, this book was magical and I do wonder if Marietta and Legat did ever see each other again?