E-Arc: Kingdom of Sweets by Erika Johansen

I received an e-Arc from the publisher and Netgalley for an honest review. Thank you!

Author: Erika Johansen
Date: November 28, 2023
Pages: 368
Publisher: Dutton

Summary:
Light and dark—this is the cursed birthright placed upon Clara and Natasha by their godfather, Drosselmeyer, whose power and greed hold an entire city in his sway. Charming Clara, the favorite, grows into a life of beauty and ease, while Natasha is relegated to her sister’s shadow, ignored and unloved.
 
But Natasha seizes the opportunity for revenge one Christmas Eve, when Drosselmeyer arrives at the family gala with the Nutcracker, an enchanted gift that offers entry into an alternate world: the Kingdom of Sweets.
 
Following Clara into the glittering land of snow and sugar, Natasha discovers a source of power far greater than Drosselmeyer: the Sugar Plum Fairy, who offers her own wondrous gifts . . . and chilling bargains. But as Natasha uncovers the truth about a dark destiny crafted long before her birth, she must reckon with forces both earthly and magical, human and diabolical, and decide to which world she truly belongs.

Review:
Whoah…this took me an adventure of the ballet of the Nutcracker and the movie : The Nutcracker and the Four Realms! I loved it. A dark adventure! It is dark.

This takes you down the road of a retelling of a the Nutcracker. I found it to be suspenseful and had me gasping at quite a few moments! The story did focused on the twins – Clara and Natasha. I will say it felt more like a journey for Natasha to figure it all out.

Bad decisions come back to haunt Natasha and yet do they get resolved? What exactly happens?

It’s a dark, dark retelling. The world was amazing. I could picture it in my head. The good parts and then the darker parts…the darker parts did get to me. I was like “ooh!” My imagination did run wild. I will say this story did take me a while to read because it was different but overall I simply liked it. The story did keep me entertained and I wanted to know what was going to happen. It wasn’t an awful book, just different in my opinion!

So if you like dark retellings..then this book is for you! The cover is awesome.