Idgie Says:The author of this short story (155 pages) approached me for a possible review and at first I was going to pass as on my initial read I took it simply for a fantasy/fable story, of which I am not keen. But then I read the description over again..............what might have happened to Snow White and Prince Charming once they became old married folk? Hmn...
This story is not at all what I expected. In between introspective discussions with the old Queen's mirror, the pages tell a very interesting back story of just exactly what happened to Snow White during her entire lifetime to date. It's not a pretty tale. There's violence, hate, fear, attempted suicide and loathing. But there's also Prince Charming. And Sex. And Love.
Snow White is trying to get her head back to where it needs to be and find out if she feels she has worth without her King.
This is not a Fantasy/Fable story - it's a story about finding and respecting yourself and realizing you can stand on your own two feet.
I did enjoy the "after happily ever after" story of their lives, and I still think Charming's a pretty cool guy.
Amazon Digital Services
January, 2014
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What happens when "happily ever after" has come and gone?
On the eve of her only daughter, Princess Raven's wedding, an aging Snow White finds it impossible to share in the joyous spirit of the occasion. The ceremony itself promises to be the most glamorous social event of the decade. Snow White’s castle has been meticulously scrubbed, polished and opulently decorated for the celebration. It is already nearly bursting with jubilant guests and merry well-wishers. Prince Edel, Raven's fiancĂ©, is a fine man from a neighboring kingdom and Snow White's own domain is prosperous and at peace. Things could not be better, in fact, except for one thing:
The king is dead.
The queen has been in a moribund state of hopeless depression for over a year with no end in sight. It is only when, in a fit of bitter despair, she seeks solitude in the vastness of her own sprawling castle and climbs a long disused and forgotten tower stair that she comes face to face with herself in the very same magic mirror used by her stepmother of old.
It promises her respite in its shimmering depths, but can Snow White trust a device that was so precious to a woman who sought to cause her such irreparable harm? Can she confront the demons of her own difficult past to discover a better future for herself and her family? And finally, can she release her soul-crushing grief and suffocating loneliness to once again discover what "happily ever after" really means?
Only time will tell as she wrestles with her past and is forced to confront The Reflections of Queen Snow White.