I Knew There Were Gonna Be Snakes....

TITLE: The Cold is in Her Bones
AUTHOR: Peternelle van Arsdale
PUBLISHER:  Margaret K. Elderberry Books
PUBLISHING DATE: January 22, 2019

FROM GOODREADS: Milla knows two things to be true: Demons are real, and fear will keep her safe. 

Milla's whole world is her family's farm. She is never allowed to travel to the village and her only friend is her beloved older brother, Niklas. When a bright-eyed girl named Iris comes to stay, Milla hopes her loneliness might finally be coming to an end. But Iris has a secret she's forbidden to share: The village is cursed by a demon who possesses girls at random, and the townspeople live in terror of who it will come for next. 

Now, it seems, the demon has come for Iris. When Iris is captured and imprisoned with other possessed girls, Milla leaves home to rescue her and break the curse forever. Her only company on the journey is a terrible new secret of her own: Milla is changing, too, and may soon be a demon herself.  

The Cold Is in Her Bones is a novel about the dark, reverberating power of pain, the yearning to be seen and understood, and the fragile optimism of love. 

MY THOUGHTS:  I sort of picked this up on a whim at the beginning of the month.  Basically it was a library book I knew had to go back soon so I thought I'd give it a chance. And honestly, at first I wasn't sure about it and even when I finished, I was still kind of undecided but after a few days have passed, I realize how much I really enjoyed "The Cold in Her Bone." 

Let's get the obvious out of the way.  There are snakes.  Lots of them.  In fact, the main character, Milla, ends up with two growing - yes I said growing, in her hair.  And they all sort of become best buds.  In a snake-in-your-hair-what-are-you-gonna-do-way.  I managed not to totally freak out but have to admit I did not read it before bed, or in bed, you get the picture.

So the MC Milla has grown up in the country, near a town which has been cursed.  She has only her brother, her mother and her father and none of them really like her all that much.  She lives a very sheltered life so you can imagine how she feels when Iris moves next door and she finally has a friend.  However, Iris becomes possessed and is taken away so Milla decides she wants to rescue her only friend and hey, if she can learn more about this curse and the snakes growing from her head, then that's a plus as well.

Now while you definitely won't gather it from my review, the author has written a really lyrical tale. It's a great mix of folklore and fairy tales.  She has also done a great job featuring strong female characters.  Milla wants to rescue her friend and is not depending on anyone to help her.  And Milla is not afraid of battles.  Of course with her permanent hair friends she usually has the upper hand.  I think the novel is as much about friendship as it is about snakes, oops I mean Medusa. And I have to admit I know little about the Medusa myth.  Does this surprise anyone?

So basically this was kind of a hidden gem for me.  It's a rather short book and I did find it a tad slow at times but the story was worth a few pacing issues here and there.  If you like fairy tales, mythology or retellings, then I'd highly suggest you pick this book up.

RATING: 4 PAWS

If I can give a snaky book 4/5 paws then that's definitely high praise right?