Blog Tour Stop : The Color Of Snow by Brenda Stanley
Summary (from Goodreads)
When a beautiful 16-year-old girl named Sophie is found sequestered in a cage-like room in a rundown house in the desolate hills of Arbon Valley, Idaho, the entire community is shocked to learn she is the legendary Callidora--a baby girl who was kidnapped from her crib almost seventeen years ago and canonized in missing posters with portraits of what the fabled girl might resemble. Authorities soon learn that the cage was there to protect people from Sophie, because her biological father believes she is cursed.
Sophie is discovered after the man she knows as Papa, shoots and injures Damien, a young man who is trying to rescue her. Now, unsocialized and thrust into the world, and into a family she has never met, Sophie must decide whether she should accept her Papa’s claims that she is cursed and he was only trying to protect others, or trust the new people in her life who have their own agendas. Guided by a wise cousin, Sophie realizes that her most heartbreaking challenge is to decide if her love for Damien will destroy him like her Papa claims, or free her from past demons that haunt her mind.
Sophie is discovered after the man she knows as Papa, shoots and injures Damien, a young man who is trying to rescue her. Now, unsocialized and thrust into the world, and into a family she has never met, Sophie must decide whether she should accept her Papa’s claims that she is cursed and he was only trying to protect others, or trust the new people in her life who have their own agendas. Guided by a wise cousin, Sophie realizes that her most heartbreaking challenge is to decide if her love for Damien will destroy him like her Papa claims, or free her from past demons that haunt her mind.
Personal Thoughts
The Color Of Snow had an interesting premise that immediately caught my attention upon reading the synopsis. The concept of a kidnapped and caged young woman isn't one that I have seen very often in YA books. I'm really glad I joined the blog tour for this book because I ended up really liking the story.
Sixteen years old Sophie has lived an isolated and caged life with her father since she was a baby. He prevents her from having any contact with the outside world insisting that he's protecting her. Because she loves her dad, she obediently heeds him. When she was younger, she met two boys, Donny and Damien, who secretly came to visit her. Tragedy strikes after she kisses Donny and he finds himself dead. Sophie continues her secret relationship with Damien a few years later eventually falling in love with him. Soon after, her dad finds out and attempts to shoot him. The result ? Police officers swarm their home and Sophie finds herself whisked to her mother's family's, who she didn't know existed, place because it turns out she is the famous missing child, Callidora.
As you can figure out, Sophie was an extremely vulnerable and delicate character. Having lived her entire life caged and not knowing that it was something wrong, she found herself being confused and uncomfortable with what was going on around her. Her dedication and love for her father acted like a definite obstruction to her new life, but I thought the author dealt with it in a believable manner. Discovering the outside life after having lived a life similar to a zoo animal isn't something that's easy to get over. The author did a fabulous job at depicting Sophie's new reactions and feelings to the whole process. It was almost like a culture shock to her since her life with her dad was completely different from the lives of others. She wasn't allowed to have friends, she wasn't allowed to look at herself in a mirror, she wasn't even allowed to watch television. Sophie was brave to have been able to go through something like that knowing that life on the outside was much more happier. Sophie wasn't a character I necessarily identified with, but she was one I sympathized with. You can't help but feel for her after all that she went through in her childhood. Her innocence and vulnerability is what made her character likable for me. She gradually began to mature while learning about everything around her, showing her inner strength. Sophie was a unique, complex and refreshing character whose head I liked being inside.
There was so much going on in the book that you can't help but keep flipping the pages until the very end of the story. Family disputes, religious clashes, curses, kidnapping, new relationships and growing up all formed part of the plot line. This kept me engaged throughout my reading process and ensured that I wasn't bored. The author tackled the issues in the book in a masterful way and I do applaud her for that since this isn't a topic that's easy to write about. Most of all though, I loved the originality and uniqueness of the story line. The growing friendship between Sophie and Stephanie, her step-cousin, was also one aspect I loved in the book. It seemed genuine and I appreciated how Stephanie helped her out. There were also so many questions that kept popping into my head whose answers I was yearning to know and fortunately they were all answered at the end of the book. Also, the author blends the past, which tells the story of Sophie's dad, and the present, to ensure that the reader is well-informed of the history behind Sophie's kidnapping.
The Color Of Snow ended up being an intense book that had me immersed in the plot line. It's a different story from the usual YA books and that's a good thing. We need new and fresh ideas in this genre now and Brenda Stanley provides us with exactly that. To sum up, The Color Of Snow was an intense, highly emotional and breath-taking read.
Rating
Cover : 3/5
Plot : 4/5
Characters : 4/5
Writing : 4/5
Plot : 4/5
Characters : 4/5
Writing : 4/5
Author Biography
Brenda Stanley is the former news anchor at her NBC affiliate KPVI in Eastern Iadho. Her writing has been recognized by the Scripps Howard Foundation, the Hearst Journalism Awards, the Idaho Press Club and the Society for Professional Journalists. She is a graduate of Dixie College in St. George, Utah, and the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Brenda lived for two years in Ballard, Utah, within the Fort Duchesne reservation where the novel is set. She and her husband live on a small ranch near the Snake River with their horses and dogs.
Where To Find Brenda Stanley and Her Books
The Color of Snow web site:
http://the-color-of-snow.
The Color of Snow Twitter hashtag:
#TheColorOfSnow
The Color of Snow GoodReads page:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/
Brenda Stanley's Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/
Brenda Stanley's Twitter:
http://twitter.com/#!/
Brenda Stanley's Website:
http://www.brendastanleybooks.
Brenda Stanley's GoodReads:
http://www.goodreads.com/
Tribute Books website:
http://www.tribute-books.com
Tribute Books Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/
Tribute Books Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/
Tribute Books Blog Tours Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/
The Color of Snow web site:
http://the-color-of-snow.
The Color of Snow Twitter hashtag:
#TheColorOfSnow
The Color of Snow GoodReads page:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/
Brenda Stanley's Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/
Brenda Stanley's Twitter:
http://twitter.com/#!/
Brenda Stanley's Website:
http://www.brendastanleybooks.
Brenda Stanley's GoodReads:
http://www.goodreads.com/
Tribute Books website:
http://www.tribute-books.com
Tribute Books Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/
Tribute Books Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/
Tribute Books Blog Tours Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/
eBook
ISBN: 9780983741893
ISBN: 9781476172309
Pages: 413
Release: June 1, 2012
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ISBN: 9780983741893
ISBN: 9781476172309
Pages: 413
Release: June 1, 2012
Kindle buy link - $2.99
http://www.amazon.com/gp/
Nook buy link - $4.95
http://click.linksynergy.com/
iBookstore buy link - $4.99
http://click.linksynergy.com/
Google buy link - $3.79
http://books.google.com/books?
Smashwords buy link - $4.99
https://www.smashwords.com/
PDF buy link - $4.95
https://www.payloadz.com/go/
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