Seas of Snow by Kerensa Jennings: Book Review

Seas of Snow is the first novel from Kerensa Jennings, and I’m very much looking forward to her next one. Here is my review of Seas of Snow.

Seas of Snow: Back Cover Blurb

1950s England. Five year old Gracie Scott lives with her mam and next door to her best friend Billy. an only child, she has never known her Da. When her Uncle Joe moves in, his physical abuse of Gracie’s mother starts almost immediately. But when his attentions wander to Gracie, and even more sinister pattern of behaviour begins.

As Gracie grows older she finds solace and liberation in books, poetry and her enduring friendship with Billy. Together, they escape into the poetic fairy tale worlds of their imaginations.

But will fairy tales be enough to save Gracie from Uncle Joe’s psychopathic behaviour – and how far will it go?

Seas of Snow: My Thoughts on the Book

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I don’t feel like the blurb does justice to just how good it is at all.

Told in alternating voices, we get to know both Gracie and her Uncle Joe quite well.

It is harrowing to watch Gracie turn from an innocent little girl full of light and happiness to a girl who has been forced to grow up too soon and face the harsh realities of her world. I really enjoyed watching the blossoming friendship between Gracie and Billy. He is her rock, her light, and he’s a really interesting character.

Uncle Joe is a psychopath of the highest order, and delving into his mind is fascinating. He is an awful character, and I think Kerensa Jennings does an amazing job of writing his character and thought processes in a way that both disgusted me but fascinated me and kept me reading.

I couldn’t review this book without mentioning Gracie’s mother. She made me feel such mixed emotions. On the one hand, I empathised with her predicament and her complete and utter terror when it comes to Joe, but on the other hand, there where times when I wanted to slap her.

I’m not going to spoil the book for anyone, but I will say that the ending was fantastic.

If I had to be picky, the only real thing about this book I didn’t like was the poetry. I got what the author was saying – Gracie used poetry as a means of escape – and I liked the concept, but it was a bit too much.

The parts where Gracie is reading poems drag a little. It wasn’t really relevant to the story to go into such a level of detail and I began to feel like the author was just trying to hit a specific word count or make it clear that she knows how to read poetry.

Having said that, the story was good enough that I still kept reading to the end, and I think that as the author’s writing style develops, this sort of thing will fade out (and if it bothers you, just skip those pages).

Seas of Snow: Conclusion and Rating

Overall, I enjoyed Seas of Snow, and I think it’s a really good debut novel. The story is interesting and the characters are believable. I love really getting into a character’s head, and I felt like I did that here. I would definitely be interested in reading Kerensa Jennings’ books in the future! 4/5 (without the poetry, this would have been an easy 4.5).

Seas of Snow is available on Amazon now.

Have you read Seas of Snow? Does it sound like your kind of book? Let me know in the comments 🙂

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Disclaimer: I was sent a free copy of Seas of Snow in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. As an avid reader, I would never recommend a book I didn’t truly enjoy.