DAY 3 of our Book Gifts Christmas Advent Calendar - The Taste of Snow by Stephen V. Masse

The Taste of Snow by Stephen V. Masse

When winter arrives in the Austrian Alps, eleven-year-old Nicole Kinders is given a candy cane by the mysterious shopkeeper, Boznik, who tells her that the candy cane is magic. After her first taste, it seems the whole world becomes more colorful, more delicious, and more dangerous. A quarrel between students on the tram home from school leads Nicole to intervene, beginning a frightening series of events that threaten Nicole. She finds herself losing the joy of holiday preparations, and realizes that the vexing secret she keeps is influencing every part of her life. She finds no help from the magic candy cane, and decides she must return it to the shopkeeper.

Available to buy from...

Amazon.com   Amazon.co.uk   Barnes and Noble  Hardback

"A fresh Christmas story interspersed with joyful, age-old holiday traditions." --Kirkus Review

"A beautiful and heart warming story that I really enjoyed from the first page. A marvelous thought provoking story for young and 'old' readers" --Beck Valley Books

"This is a rare story that brings us back to the simplicity of other times. The story is of two sisters in the Austrian Alps one of whom acquires a magical candy cane. For her the magic is not quite what she expected." --Amazon Review

Stephen V. Masse was born in Boston. He wrote his first practice novel at age 13, handwritten into a composition book. His children s books are Shadow Stealer (Dillon Press, 1988) and Short Circus (Good Harbor Press, 2010) and The Taste of Snow (Good Harbor Press, 2011) The Taste of Snow was awarded Honorable Mention in the 2011 New England Book Festival for best books of the holiday season, as well as Honorable Mention in the 2012 New York Book Festival. In addition, Masse wrote A Jolly Good Fellow, winner of the Silver Medal in the 2008 Independent Publisher Book Awards, as well as Honorable Mention in the 2008 New England Book Festival for best books of the holiday season.

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Stephen says...
The best thing about Christmas for him is... the time we take to make togetherness happen -- the magic that comes from people sharing special moments or memories around a table, around a fire, making crafts or decorating, singing, playing music, telling stories. The anticipation, the aroma of real pine, the little bit of extra patience we offer or receive from others.Never being one single thing, but a whole season of things which when folded all together makes the celebration joyous and memorable.

This year is special because... it will mark the 5th year anniversary of the publication of The Taste of Snow. The book has been very well received by middle readers and their parents, and has won many awards, among them Honorable Mention in the 2015 Holiday Book Festival and Honorable Mention in the 2016 Readers' Favorite Book Awards.

Hover over the advent calendar dates to find out which book is hidden behind...

Merry Christmas from all the Beck Valley Books reviewing team xx

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Sharon Martin Blogger & Promoter at Beck Valley Books beckvalleybooks@gmail.com | http://beckvalleybooks.blogspot.com

Book Review - The Taste of Snow by Stephen V Masse

I LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH, AS ITS THE HOLIDAY SEASON I REALLY WANTED TO SHARE AGAIN ;-)

Book Review

The Taste of Snow by Stephen V Masse

About the Author

Stephen V. Masse was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He wrote his first practice novel at age 13, handwritten into a school composition book. Educated at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, he studied creative writing, and was author of a weekly newspaper column, "Out of Control." His first novel for children, Shadow Stealer, was published in 1988 by Dillon Press. He also runs a home remodeling business in the Boston area, and is active in the Santa Claus Anonymous charitable fundraiser.

Authors Website

Book Description

When winter arrives in the Austrian Alps, eleven-year-old Nicole Kinders is given a candy cane by the mysterious shopkeeper, Boznik, who tells her that the candy cane is magic. After her first taste, it seems the whole world becomes more colorful, more delicious, and more dangerous. A quarrel between students on the tram home from school leads Nicole to intervene, beginning a frightening series of events that threaten Nicole. She finds herself losing the joy of holiday preparations, and realizes that the vexing secret she keeps is influencing every part of her life. She finds no help from the magic candy cane, and decides she must return it to the shopkeeper.

Our Book Review

A beautiful and heart warming story that I really enjoyed from the first page.  Full of Christmas wonder, I would like to think that every child would read this book, although 'christmas' themed this could be read at any time of year.  The story also brings alive the true meaning of family and love that binds each member together.

The story follows two sisters, Nicole and Ashley, from a lovely family who live in Austria.  On the way to school one day the girls visit the market keeper, Boznik, who gives Nicole a 'magic' candy cane.  As Nicole anticipates the full 'magic' to appear she fails to realise that the magic can show in many forms and believes that the candy cane has only brought her bad luck.  First she is attacked by golf balls by the nasty Brunheim boys (now her enemies) but luckily escapes with only bruising, she is then stricken by fever, missing church and St Nicholas festivities that she has been looking forward to for ages, but overcomes this and recovers, then the tragedy of the house fire which she luckily escapes from, gains help and saves the home of further damage, followed by the surprise visit of her Grandparents to save the day.

To make the nasty Brunheim boys suffer, Nicole decides to take the day off school and make them believe she is seriously ill following their golf ball target practice at her and her little sister, but she is caught in a mountain blizzard, tragedy sadly strikes and her world is turned upside down, will the magic appear once again to save the day? 

I loved how close the family were with each other, especially the two sisters, a lovely refreshing change.  The stories told by the girls father and grandfather were really interesting and cleverly had hidden messages for the children to pick up on and in the end helped Nicole survive.  The story is full of Austrian Christmas traditions for every reader to enjoy and would definitely bring the Christmas season alive and reminds you that magic moments can be taken for granted, they don't necessarily have a flashing signs.  As an added bonus the author has included a special recipes section at the end of the story with wonderful Christmas recipes.

A marvelous thought provoking story for young and 'old' readers, full of positivity, highly recommended.

Our Rating

 

amazon.co.uk          amazon.com




WIN A SIGNED COPY - CLICK HERE

SIGNED BOOK GIVEAWAY - The Taste of Snow by Stephen V Masse

This event will take place from April Fool's Day (April 1st) at 12:01am est

through April 7th at 11:59pm est. 

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It's April Fool's time and we want to have a little fun with our readers.

Over 30 bloggers have prizes valued at $25+ - some silly and bizarre; others just plain fun!

So take a break from playing pranks and enter to win with us! 

There is also an awesome $100 GC to ThinkGeek Grand Prize which is open to the US and Canada.

The participating bloggers helped fund this great prize, so in order to win it - you need to enter some of their giveaways!

Thinkgeek has all kinds of fun and bizarre products from zombie slippers to unicorn meat, so we thought this was fitting!

Grand prize will be located here and will go live at time of the event: $100 ThinkGeek GC US/CAN

OUR GIVEAWAY

SIGNED BOOK - THE TASTE OF SNOW

BY STEPHEN V MASSE

OPEN INTERNATIONALLY

Ending on 7th April at 11.59pm est

When winter arrives in the Austrian Alps, eleven-year-old Nicole Kinders is given a candy cane by the mysterious shopkeeper, Boznik, who tells her that the candy cane is magic. After her first taste, it seems the whole world becomes more colorful, more delicious, and more dangerous. A quarrel between students on the tram home from school leads Nicole to intervene, beginning a frightening series of events that threaten Nicole. She finds herself losing the joy of holiday preparations, and realizes that the vexing secret she keeps is influencing every part of her life. She finds no help from the magic candy cane, and decides she must return it to the shopkeeper.

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This amazing SIGNED BOOK giveaway is Open Internationally
ending on 7th April at 11.59pm est

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Congratulations!!!

 

We have our winner

 

J Thompson

 

Happy Reading !!

 

Special thanks to the author for this amazing prize x