Reviewed by Larissa
TITLE: The Snow Prince: A Contemporary MM Snow Queen Retelling
SERIES: MM Fairytale Romance #3
AUTHOR: Raleigh Ruebins
PUBLISHER: self-published
RELEASE DATE: November 6, 2020
LENGTH: 231 pages
BLURB:
He was Prince Sebastian Ambrose, heir to the throne of Frostmonte Kingdom.
But I knew him as my best friend… and hopeless crush.
My life was like a fairy tale. I grew up in the quaint little village of Berrydale, one of the five towns ruled by Frostmonte Kingdom. I had no money. Almost no family. But Prince Sebastian was still my best friend.
Then the queen caught us kissing in the Christmas tree lot.
One night changed our lives forever. I was shipped off to the mountains, and Sebastian was finally swept away to Frostmonte Castle. Now eleven years later, I’m back in Berrydale, and I sure as hell don’t want to be. Everything has changed. Sebastian has become an icy, reclusive prince, set to marry a princess.
But then he’s in front of me. And I can see something broken in his eyes. Everything in me wants to fix it. Knows I can fix it. The feelings I’ve buried deep inside come rushing back all at once… forbidden feelings included.
…And then I end up in his bed. His stupid, giant, four-poster, royal bed.
I swear the Sebastian I once knew is still in there, under the frost-cold exterior. We can never be together, or he risks losing the throne. But there’s no chance I can stay away.
The Snow Prince 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:
The Snow Prince is a retelling of the fairy tale The Snow Queen, which I can honestly say I don’t think I ever read. I looked it up after finishing The Snow Prince, I can now see the foundation for Raleigh Ruebens’ story, but she definitely gave it a unique spin that is different enough from the original that if you’ve read it, this is a fresh story, and if you haven’t, you’ll still enjoy it, as I did, because The Snow Prince is a lovely story all on its own.
This is an “other side of the tracks”, best friends to lovers, second chance romance between Sebastian – aka Prince Sebastian Nigel Fairleigh Ambrose, Prince of Frostmonte, heir to the throne of Frostmonte Castle – and his childhood best friend, Henry Denton. Sebastian’s mother, the evil ice queen, Queen Charlotte, who rules over the kingdom of Frostmonte, let Sebastian stay with his aunt down in the village of Berrydale during the school year, and Henry lived next door. Henry was poor, but Sebastian didn’t see or care about the economic or societal standing differences between them. If anything, Sebastian wished he could be with Henry all the time in the village because Henry made him feel like he was someone special; Henry saw him and treated him like Sebastian, not Prince Sebastian.
At the age of fifteen, Sebastian realizes he loves his best friend Henry and finally gives in to the desires he’s kept locked down, revealing his feelings to Henry and discovering that Henry returns them. The joy they briefly experience from that mutual revelation, and the subsequent kiss, is very short lived because the Queen catches them in the act and quickly squires Sebastian away from Henry, back to the castle, never to return to Berrydale or Henry again. Henry is then shipped off to boarding school far away, and Sebastian is left to focus on becoming a Prince – the Prince his mother wants him to be, not the Prince he wants to be – in isolation and loneliness in the cold fortress of Frostmonte Castle.
Eleven years pass with Sebastian and Henry each trying to live without, and forget about, the other, and failing miserably. They are so hopelessly in love with each other that they simply can’t get closure. When Henry’s mother dies leaving him the cottage in Berrydale, Henry reluctantly returns, and it’s only a matter of time before his path crosses with Sebastian’s again.
Suffice it to say, Sebastian and Henry’s reunion is bumpy and fraught with anger, hostility and miscommunication. But it is also infused with a surprisingly strong bond of trust despite their separation and associated hurts, as well as a very obvious, abiding love for each other. The fairy tale element really only appears in the last quarter of the book and it’s a bit jarring because up until that point, you likely won’t even remember this is a fairy tale retelling. It just stands on its own as a great story of two men fighting for their love against outside forces that would keep them apart if they let them. The resolution felt a bit forced, but nonetheless satisfying.
As noted from the lack of emphasis on the fairy tale aspect, the overarching theme is about something different: it’s about an exploration of love and loneliness, and I don’t just mean love between Sebastian and Henry. A great deal of this story revolves around Sebastian’s journey to understanding and accepting his identity and learning to love himself for who he is. Does he want to be a Prince and eventually the King, and if so, what does that look like? Does he have to be the Queen’s type of royalty or can he forge his way as his own man, a gay man, and implement change? Most of all, can he find a way to love himself enough to make himself a priority and allow himself to love Henry, and to accept Henry’s love in return.
Sebastian and Henry are given dimension and we feel their emotional turmoil – particularly Sebastian’s – throughout the story. They have great chemistry together and make a very well balanced couple that you will root for. Overall, The Snow Prince is an enjoyable story that will give you all the feels and leaves you satisfied with a very solid HEA.
RATING: 
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