I’m so behind on reviews and I read this like six months ago and it was a library copy so I can’t refer back to it so I apologise in advance!

Disclaimer: I love K. M. Peyton with the fire of a thousand suns and I will read anything she writes. Also this was the first book I read after the Lemony Snicket fiasco so it might have benefitted from the comparison, idk.

Anyway, my first K. M. Peyton books were the [b:Flambards|380292|Flambards (Flambards, #1)|K.M. Peyton|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1400885430s/380292.jpg|2071224] series (review pending!), and then her horse/pony stories, and then anything I could find because I love her writing and characters and settings. When I picked up Snowfall and read the blurb, I was expecting a story about a rebellious teenaged girl in Victorian England who defies society’s expectations by running off with a group of male friends and taking up mountain climbing. Which… kind of happens? But also a more accurate description would be “teenaged girl in Victorian England who defies society’s expectations by thinking A Lot about sex and living in a commune and hiding from society and also there’s a bit about horse racing and hunting and an awful lot of lovelorn pining from just about everyone”.

And don’t get me wrong, I loved this book and devoured it in one sitting, but the plot is… slow. And rambling and unfocused. Which is fine if you know and love Peyton’s style and you’re happy to go along for the ride, but if you’ve never read a K. M. Peyton book then I wouldn’t recommend this as your first.

Also I know Peyton can write about climbing in excruciating* detail from [b:A Midsummer Night's Death|389770|A Midsummer Night's Death|K.M. Peyton|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1354686410s/389770.jpg|2883770], but there was very little climbing here and a lot more lovesick wandering through alpine meadows.

(Maybe I’m remembering wrong? Maybe I need to reread [b:A Midsummer Night's Death|389770|A Midsummer Night's Death|K.M. Peyton|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1354686410s/389770.jpg|2883770]. What a chore.)

The horse bits were great, as always.

The romance and emotional stuff was also great, actually, but then I like romance. And Peyton has always been a skillful observer and describer of human behaviour.

Overall, if you who like reading English historical novels about the emotional dramas of the upper class, read this book! If you know you like K. M. Peyton, read this book! If not… maybe steer clear of this one.

*Excruciating in a good way. ( )

A great romance of Victorian England, about a girl who leads a secluded life in a vicarage, for the first 17 years of her life. Her brother Ben later helps her escape the vicarage to go on a mountain climbing expedition. Little does she know that this trip of death, excitement, love, and adventure, will change her life, forever. ( )