[Book Review] Echo North by Joanna Ruth Meyer

Echo Alkaev’s safe and carefully structured world falls apart when her father leaves for the city and mysteriously disappears. Believing he is lost forever, Echo is shocked to find him half-frozen in the winter forest six months later, guarded by a strange talking wolf—the same creature who attacked her as a child. The wolf presents Echo with an ultimatum: If she lives with him for one year, he will ensure her father makes it home safely. But there is more to the wolf than Echo realizes.

In his enchanted house beneath a mountain, each room must be sewn together to keep the home from unraveling, and something new and dark and strange lies behind every door. When centuries-old secrets unfold, Echo discovers a magical library full of books-turned-mirrors, and a young man named Hal who is trapped inside of them. As the year ticks by, the rooms begin to disappear, and Echo must solve the mystery of the wolf’s enchantment before her time is up, otherwise Echo, the wolf, and Hal will be lost forever.

* * * 

This book absolutely blew me away. Fairy tale retellings are a wild card for me. I either absolutely love it or I hate it. So although I was open minded when going into Echo North but also a little nervous I wouldn't like it. Once I got a handful of chapters into the story I was hooked. I didn't know what to expect when I received this book as a gift because I hadn't heard any readers talking about it but after reading and enjoying it as much as I did you bet I'll never shut up about it. 

"I was called Echo for my mother, who died when I was born, because when my father took me into his arms he said he felt the echo of her heartbeat within me." 

Echo, our main character, is incredibly good-natured and sweet. After getting attacked by a white wolf when she was younger, she carries a scar of claw marks over one eye. She is treated badly by the people in the village she lives in with her father and brother, so she isolates herself by spending all of her time working in the bookshop her father owns. The Wolf is a character that instantly reminded me of Beast from Beauty and the Beast. He's grumpy and temperamental but overall has a soft heart when it comes to our heroine. There is a romance in this story that I surprisingly really loved. Sometimes in fairy-tales the romance is hard to believe because the characters don't reel me in as much, but I really loved the romance between Echo and Hal. I found their flirting to be incredibly sweet and innocent. It was honestly super cute.

What I also liked was the mystery surrounding the house. At first it was a little hard to wrap my head around, but once we really got to know more about the house and the story behind it, the house felt like it's own character. I would have liked to get to know it more but at the same time I think if this book was longer it wouldn't benefit the reading experience. I never was bored or wanted it shorter, but I think if it was longer I wouldn't have enjoyed this story as much.

"Ever north, where the mountain meets the sky and the tree are hung with stars."

One thing I have realized when it comes to me and reading fairy-tales is that I don't normally love the story because of the characters. This was the case in Echo North. I enjoyed the characters for how they served the story but it is the writing and atmosphere that makes me love fairy-tales and retellings like Echo North. Joanna Ruth Meyer has both the writing and atmosphere perfectly sewn together to make this elegant and chilling story. I am in love with her writing and already want to read more of her books.

Overall, I highly recommend this book! If you like fairy-tale retellings or even if you haven't had much luck with the genre I think this is the one to try! I was so pleasantly surprised with how hard I fell in love, and it makes me so happy it's a book I own now. A good chunk of the book takes place in a snowy winter atmosphere, and reading it in the middle of winter was the perfect time to read it. This may be a book I read only in the winter. 

Thanks for reading!