First Frost by Liz DeJesus - #review

First Frost by Liz DeJesus
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Bianca Frost is a quiet 17-year old young woman.

Little does she know that soon she will be hip-deep in real magic.

The Frost family (women) have run the Museum of Magical and Rare Artifacts for generations. Bianca thinks it is all related to the stories her mother Rose tells to the local children, which are mostly fairy tales. She thinks the only magic is how her Mom can turn energetic kids into a rapt audience. But it's more than that. Much more.

Towards the beginning of the book, events force Rose to sit Bianca down and have 'the talk'. No, not that one. The one where Bianca learns that the woman outside who threw a brick through their window is a real witch, who is calling Rose out. Lenore (the witch) is the daughter of the witch from the Snow White and the Seven Dwarves fairy tale. And Snow (aka the First Frost) just happens to be Bianca's great-great-grandmother. Upshot of the evening. Lenore wins. She takes Rose to another dimension, telling Bianca if she ever wants to see her mother again, she (B) will find a magickal book and return it to her.

Bianca and Ming (her best friend) find the book and sally forth to the faeries' green to rescue her mother and find her father David, who had disappeared 10 years ago when Lenore made him a bear. They meet several helpers in the green, not the least of which are the latest incarnation of Prince Charming and his friend and adviser, Terrance, who we find out later is the grandson of the Big Bad Wolf.

With all those faerie tales mashing together, you would think it would leave one dazed and confused to keep track of everyone. But Ms. DeJesus does a wonderful job of keeping all the characters distinct, allowing her readers to follow the story with ease.

The beginning of the book seemed to go a little slow for me, but by the time they went to the faeries' green, and one obstacle after another was placed in their way, I was on board with the rest of the group. It was like an interactive Disneyland (without the long lines and waiting)! If you like faerie-tale retellings or 'what happens after HEA', put First Frost on your TBR.

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 (Disclaimer:  I 'purchased' this copy for free at Amazon, having received an email from deal-notification service such as Bookbub, BookRiot, eBookSoda, Freebooksy, Robin's Reads, etc.  I was under no obligation to review.)

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This book helped me fulfill the following 2019 read-a-thons and reading challenges:

#WintersRespite Read-a-thon
#BeatTheBacklist2019 RC
52 Books in 52 Weeks RC (#15-main character a teen))
GoodReads RC
Alphabet Soup (Author Edition) RC (L)
A to Z RC