Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George

Rejected at birth by her own mother -who refuses to name her - a young girl, known simply as Pika (girl) or Lass, grows up the best she can next to her many brothers and sisters in a country where winter has gone on relentlessly for 100 years or more.

Cold and poverty are the constant companions of her family but the Lass is happy enough, specially after her eldest brother, Hans Peter, comes back home after working in a merchant ship for several years. Hans Peter changed a lot during his time away, but he is the one who the Lass feels closest too, so she soon has but one wish in her heart: to see her brother happy again.

Gifted with the ability to understand animals, the Lass gets something of a reputation in her country, though she continues to live in peace in her little town, up until one cold night when she's 17 and a huge polar bear shows up at her house offering her a strange deal: if she comes to live with him for a year and a day, the bear will give her family fame and fortune.

She accepts and soon finds herself and her pet-wolf Rollo, whisked off to a magnificent ice palace where nothing is what it seems. A place filled with mysteries that concern not only her bear but her brother as well. The Lass is out to get answers, but the price for them might prove to be too high.

Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow is a retelling of two of my favorite fairy tales from childhood, so I guess this rating is going to be completely biased because of that, but I honestly loved this book. The Lass (She does get a name, eventually) was a great heroine, determined and brave without advertising it. The bear, Rollo, and Hans Peter were also very big players of this story and I loved each of them, particularly Rollo and the bear.

The story has a really nice pace, taking us from when the Lass is born until her adventure ends without your feeling like it's taking forever to get there. My only complaint about the story is that I wanted more of it, I didn't want it to end. It was the perfect book for a rainy afternoon.