A review by nicolemhewitt
The Evil Queen by Gena Showalter

My favorite aspect of this book was the mystery of how the "real" lives of the characters mapped to the Snow White fairy tale. Throughout the entire book, you're never quite sure if Everly is actually the Evil Queen or who the true Snow White is. This carried me through the book and kept me turning the pages even when the story felt a little too long and drawn out (which, unfortunately, it sometimes did for me). Everly's character was a little hard for me to connect to---I have trouble caring about unlikable characters, and she is possibly the Evil Queen, after all. She also sometimes reads a little young, but this is definitely mature YA (lots of violence, some sexual activity), so that might be a disconnect for some people. But Everly's struggle to come to terms with her baser instincts was interesting---and her conflict over her feelings for Roth definitely drew me in too. (I definitely liked Roth, even though sometimes I wasn't sure I would.) And I REALLY loved how we start at the end of the book and then circle back to that scene, when it all has so much more meaning (at the end). I enjoyed the end of the book immensely.

***Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was given and all opinions are my own.***