The Color of Snow, Brenda Stanley (5 stars)

The Color of Snow Summary

Can a troubled young girl reenter society after living in isolation?

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.

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Review

Have you ever finished a book and sat breathless, unable to close it?

After reading The Color of Snow in twenty-four hours, I sat and did just that while uttering one single word... wow.

When the story begins, Sophie is being rescued from what appears to be her kidnapper, but who is actually her father. Torn from all she's ever known, Sophie is given back to her mother's family. People she has never met. She's confused, delicate, and afraid.

Sophie's mother and father, Luke and Vee, fell in love hard. A tragic event tore them apart and started a chain reaction of dishonesty, dispair, and death. Sophie is now living with the burden of a curse, one that she believes causes people she loves to die. A curse conjured by her own grandmother.

Terrified to lose those dear to her, Sophie struggles to love. Her newfound cousin, Stephanie, fights to get Sophie to see her own power in the choices she makes. Can she love her new family and Damien, the man willing to prove the curse wrong? 

With each page turn, I tried to guess what was coming next. I couldn't. The author does an amazing job building an intricate and seamless storyline. Rarely have I seen flashbacks so effectively woven into a story. Never was I confused or disoriented, because each piece was carefully constructed to not give too much away but always keep the reader engaged.

There's so much about this story to love: memorable and haunting characters; a well-paced, intricate storyline; emotionally charged highs and lows; unforgettable story developments; and the desire to know more when it ended. It's stunning, taking the reader on a journey of sadness and salvation. The scene where her father finally admits the truth took my breath away and broke my heart.

If you aren't yet convinced to read The Color of Snow, I'll leave you with the opening sentence. One I believe is an excellent example of hooking the reader from page one.

It had snowed over five inches the day I was born, and it wasn't until the day I was saved that the snow was as deep or as blue.

Rating: 5 stars

Brenda Stanley's Bio

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.

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Note: I received a complimentary copy from Tribute Books for review purposes. No other compensation was received. A positive review was not guaranteed or requested; the views expressed are my own.

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