Upon a Frosted Star – M.A. Kuzniar

Published By: HQ
Pages: 384
Released On: 28/09/2023

The invitations always arrive the same way – without warning, appearing around the city on the first snowfall of the year, simply inscribed with ‘Tonight.’

When struggling artist, Forster, finds an invitation, he’s bewitched by the magic of the evening, swept up in the glamour of this notorious annual party and intrigued as to who is behind them.

Determined to find out more about the mysterious host, Forster discovers an abandoned manor house silent with secrets and a cursed woman who is desperate to be free…

*****

Thanks to NetGalley and HQ for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.

This is 384 page of sheer deliciousness.

Midnight in Everwood was one of my favourite books of 2021 and as soon as I’d finished it, I knew Kuzniar would become a firm favourite. She just has this ability to merge fantasy and fairy tale with reality and struggles, and yet still make everything feel so magical and sparkly and I love her for it.

I’ve seen this book be described as a cross between Swan Lake and The Great Gatsby, and I can’t think of two better stories to write about. You don’t really need to have read or know about either of them to enjoy this, but I think it adds a little something extra. You can see the inspiration without it being overwhelming, like a rewrite or an adaptation. It is its own book.

It’s a good thing Kuzniar has chosen to write magical book, because the way she writes, the way she forms sentences, the description, the flow, the poetry of it all, is just like magic to read. There’s no other way to explain it. She just shines off the page.

Our main characters are Forster, a painter, Marvin, journalist, and their good friend Rose. They’re all very different and have their ups and downs. They work perfectly against each other and all add something to the story, especially Forster’s story, being the main character out of the three. They’ve very well written, full of depth and they feel very real like you could be friends with them.

This, like Midnight in Everwood, is set a lot in the winter months full of snow and rain and ice. And that’s my favourite time of year. And she’s really managed to capture the beauty of the winter, as well as the harsh edge and danger it holds.

There is always a worry about whether a second book will live up to the success of the first, like singer’s get with the second album. And not to sound like Goldilocks here, but this isn’t better than the first, isn’t worse, but is just right. Midnight in Everwood was spectacular because it was one of a kind, unlike anything I’d read before, and really put her name on the map. But with this one, she’s still held on to the spark that made the first so good, but she’s more sure of herself. There’s this focus and this passion – that’s not to say the first book didn’t have this, because it did – but there’s almost a second layer of magic to it that comes from already bringing out a very successful book.

A lot of the chapters are set in a theatre and describe ballet performances and whilst they’re not always positive scenes, they are beautiful. As a theatre lover, I adore it when books are set in one, and Kuzniar has truly brought the magic (I keep using that word but there isn’t an alternative) of the stage to life in a sometimes creepy but stunning way.

It flits between the main story set in the early 1920s, flashbacks to the early 1910s, as well as letters and newspaper cuttings. It sounds like it could be confusing but it works so seamlessly that I can’t think of a better way to write it.

I won’t spoil the ending for you, but I shall say it was unexpected, didn’t go in the way I thought it would, and it will stay with me for quite a while.

I found myself in tears on numerous occasions, at sadness, happiness, wonder, joy, anger, and of course, magic, as well as just the beauty of it all.

As the risk of sounding corny, this story glides on the page as a beautiful swan glides on a still lake.