Blog Tour: Poisoned by Jennifer Donnelly

Hey Guys,
I’m so excited to be a part of the blog tour for Poisoned, the new Snow White retelling by Jennifer Donnelly. If you’re a fan of new feminist retellings then you do not want to miss out on this one. Check out my review below.

Poisoned
By Jennifer Donnelly

Published By: Hot Key Books
Publication Date: October 20, 2020
Date Read: October 26, 2020
Genre: YA – Retelling
Source: ARC from Hot Key Books
Format: Paperback
Pages: 410

From Goodreads:
Beautiful Sophie, with lips as red as blood, skin as pale as snow, and hair as dark as night, is about to come of age and inherit her father’s throne. But Sophie’s stepmother wants rid of her – beautiful she may be, but too weak and foolish to reign. And Sophie believes her, as she believes all the things that have been said about her – all the poisonous words people use to keep girls like her from becoming too powerful, too strong.

When the huntsman carries out his orders of killing Sophie, she finds a fire burning inside her that will not be extinguished, and sets off to reclaim what was taken from her.

Jennifer Donnelly turns her feminist eye to this most delicious of fairy tales and shows Snow White as she’s never been seen before.

I’ve always been a huge lover of fairytale retellings. It stems from my complete obsessive love of everything Disney and I just love seeing how author’s reimagine the classic stories. When I heard about Poisoned, I knew it was a book I just had to read. I love the Snow White tale and it’s actually one that I haven’t read many retellings of. So, I was really looking forward to seeing how Jennifer reimagined this tale.

One thing about Poisoned I wasn’t expecting was that its dark! A lot darker than I thought. I actually loved that about it. Although I am a self-professed Disney Nerd, I’m also well aware that all of these tales I love so much were so much darker when they were first imagined by the Brothers Grimm. So I actually loved that Jennifer kept this dark theme in with her reimagining. This was my first book by Jennifer Donnelly so I didn’t really know what to expect going in. I ended up enjoying this book. It’s a dark and twisted retelling of Snow White and it was definitely a page-turner.

I did find the beginning of Poisoned a little bit on the slow side. It took me a good 50+ pages to fully get into it and invested in this story. For that first part of the book I just wasn’t really as interested. Then as soon as Sophie ends up with her new mechanical heart then I started getting much more interested and intrigued in this story.

Poisoned is a great, feminist twist on an old classic. It’s filled to the brim with intrigue, action and a dash of romance. Honestly, for me I wish the romance had been a little more central to the story. I’m definitely a hopeless romantic at heart and I love a big romance in my books so I was a little bit disappointed that there was only a little bit but that’s just my personal preference. Poisoned was a great retelling and one every feminist will love. If you don’t mind romance being a small factor then you’re going to love this book.

About The Author

Jennifer Donnelly is the author of seven novels and a picture book for children. She grew up in New York State, in Lewis and Westchester counties, and attended the University of Rochester where she majored in English Literature and European History.

Jennifer’s first novel, THE TEA ROSE, an epic historical novel set in London and New York in the late 19th century, was called ‘exquisite’ by Booklist, ‘so much fun’ by the Washington Post, a ‘guilty pleasure’ by People and was named a Top Pick by the Romantic Times.

Her second novel, A GATHERING LIGHT, won the Carnegie Medal, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Borders Original Voices Award, and was named a Printz Honor book. Described as ‘rich and true’ by The New York Times, the book was named on the Best Book lists of The Times (London), The Irish Times, The Financial Times, Publishers Weekly, Booklist and the School Library Journal.

REVOLUTION was named a Best Book by Amazon, Kirkus, School Library Journal, and the Chicago Public Library, and was nominated for a Carnegie Medal. The audio edition was awarded an Odyssey Honor for Excellence.

In 2014, Jennifer teamed up with Disney to launch the bestselling WATERFIRE saga, an epic series about six mermaids on a quest to rid the world of an ancient evil. The first book in the series, DEEP BLUE, was released in May, 2014; the second book, ROGUE WAVE, launched in January 2015.

Jennifer Donnelly lives in New York’s Hudson Valley with her husband, daughter, and two rescue dogs.

Follow Jennifer at www.jenniferdonnelly.com or on Twitter: @JenWritesBooks

Jennifer’s Website | Jennifer’s Twitter