Reviewed by Larissa
TITLE: Snow Twink
SERIES: An MM Fairytale Romance
AUTHOR: Sue Brown
PUBLISHER: self-published
RELEASE DATE: November 3, 2020
LENGTH: 138 pages
BLURB:
A shivering runaway twink, stumbling through the snowy night in a panic. A lonely Daddy bear who needs a boy. Will they find each other before it’s too late?
In the Kingdom Mountain theme park, a young kitchen worker dreams of being a boy to a Daddy who loves him, but the evil CEO has other plans for Lyle.
Gruff is built like a bear and with the heart of a Daddy. But as the youngest and smallest of seven gay brothers who live together in the Kingdom Mountain forest, the chances of finding a boy of his own are slim.
Lost in the woods as night falls, Lyle is getting colder by the minute. Will he be saved by the Daddy bear just waiting for a boy like him?
Snow Twink is part of the MM Fairy Tale Romance series. All books are completely standalone and are modern retellings of classic fairy tales with a gay romance twist.
REVIEW:
Snow Twink is a unique spin on the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs fairy tale. Here, “Snow White” is young, traumatized Lyle, who is found nearly dead in the forest by Gruff, one of seven gay brothers who all live together in an isolated cabin in the Kingdom Mountain forest. The brothers are obviously the “Seven Dwarfs”- equivalent in this story, although, ironically, they are the opposite of dwarfs in build and personality; they are described as large and imposing mountain men types with big personalities to match. The villain is the CEO of Kingdom Mountain Theme Park, which is apparently a prison masquerading as an orphanage, where the CEO exploits young, naive, orphan boys. On Lyle’s 18th birthday, he went into the kitchens to “work” (aka slave away) and next thing he knew, he was knee deep in the snow in the middle of the forest with amnesia, on the brink of death. Lyle’s last wish is for a Daddy to come and save him.
Enter Gruff, who instantly falls in love with Lyle and takes him as his “boy”, growling at his six brothers to keep their hands off, staking his claim. Lyle is terrified, skittish and traumatized from the horrible conditions and treatment he received at the Park. He was essentially a slave, deprived of even basic necessities like food and showers. He is sexually inexperienced, but he knows he wants a Daddy and instantly latches on to Gruff and his protectiveness. The relationship develops quickly – way too quickly to be plausible in my view – and then trouble finds Lyle again and drags Gruff and his brothers into the fray as they all seek to protect Lyle. The beginning of the book lays the groundwork and is slower paced, establishing the relationship between Lyle and Gruff, and the latter parts of the book are more action packed with some unexpected twists and turns.
I really tried to like this book, especially because I appreciated the author’s attempt to take something well known and turn it on its head to make it fresh and interesting. No doubt, it is different. But, unfortunately, the pacing was uneven and the events were just too unbelievable for me to accept, even with some suspension of disbelief. Lyle, in particular, was a problem for me. He very much sounded, and acted, like a child, so making his relationship with Gruff sexual didn’t work for me. At all. His amnesia also seemed inconsistent, and then it was just abruptly gone. I actually had to go back to look for certain facts or events because I thought I had missed something, although in actuality I hadn’t; it was just a bumpy plot with some inconsistencies and holes. The rapidity with which these two fell in love was also a bit jarring. I’ve read many instalove stories and have no problem with the concept, but this was taken to an extreme I couldn’t get on board with. Overall, the story just didn’t gel for me; it felt like a lot of pieces that didn’t fit together but were made to, in order to create a storyline. I was left with an overall blasé feeling about Lyle, Gruff and the storyline, and while I kept turning the pages, I really felt no investment in them or the outcome.
RATING: 
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