The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman

From Amazon

Alice Hoffman is at her electrifying best in this fairy tale for grown-ups. The story begins with a little girl who makes a wish one snowy night and ruins her life. She grows up with a splinter of ice in her heart until one day, standing by her kitchen window, she is struck by lightning.

Instead of killing her, this cataclysmic event sparks off a new beginning. She seeks out Lazarus Jones, a fellow lightning survivor. He is her opposite, a burning man whose breath can boil water and whose touch scorches. As an obsessive love affair begins between them, both are forced to hide their most dangerous secrets - what turned one to ice and the other to fire.

The Ice Queen is a haunting story of passion, loss, second chances and the secrets that come to define us, if we're not careful.

My review

A quirky adult fairy tale telling the story of two characters with opposite problems who are both struck by lightning.  Upon meeting they strike up a relationship and learn how to cope with their problems. It's through this shared friendship that they begin to help one another deal with things.

Fairy tales like real lfe don't always run smoothly and events can happen that can change how we feel about ourselves and others.

This is the first story of Hoffman's that I've read and at just over 210 pages it doesn't take long to read but I do thoroughly recommend reading it, if you enjoy magical tales with a touch of fantasy thrown in. It's very well written too and this will definitely not be the last of her books that I read.

I'm a sucker for stories that verge on the magical and gave this an 8/10.