The Snowboat by Capella Van Ryan

The female protagonist in this novel claims that a woman such as myself will never be seen as desirable by men, and if I should ever have the misfortune to marry I’ll ultimately get divorced. There are two main reasons for this: 1) I’m tall, and 2) I’m American. Well okay then.

What’s it About? 

Nicolette wasn’t always every man’s dream but she knew exactly what she wanted and how to get it. By being in the background, observing what made a woman desirable to all men, Nicolette mastered her appearance and her mannerisms to perfection to the point she became the centre of attention wherever she went.

When a wealthy businessman proposes after days of meeting Nicolette, she is shocked and unsure of what the future holds as they barely know one another. The idea of being more important than money and a man’s work, happy and in love consumes her and she hopes love will blossom. Unfortunately, married life is never easy, and in this case becomes worse than anything ever imagined.

First Impressions

I found it very hard to actually read this book through to the end. Not only was the story line slow, but I found the main character to be very unlikable and selfish. And not just because she said I was undesirable. Nicolette blatantly states that she is perfect, and this is why others don’t like her and treat her poorly. She also claims that she has a sixth sense when it comes to people, and can see the true nature of people through their eyes. I’m sorry, but the fact that she managed to marry not one, but 2 abusive a-holes who she later killed shows that her sixth sense isn’t worth much.

 

A Contradiction in Terms

So Nicolette is a pretty terrible human being. I mean, she says that Chinese, Russian and Ukrainian women are all whores for selling themselves to be with Western men. Ummm…it’s called human trafficking, and I have a feeling it isn’t exactly their ideal career choice. Direct quote: “This is when mail order brides who debase themselves by being more than willing to be bought and paid for to some weirdo of a guy they have never met. This is when one can pay thanks to the Russian Ukrainian and the Chinese women, rendering men to think little of all womenkind because of these few whores.” Aside from her awful opinions though, she also makes a lot of contradictory statements that drove me slightly crazy.

Firstly, she maintains that her first husband will always remain the love of her life, and that whenever she should happen to die they will meet again in Heaven. However, she killed her first husband because he physically abused her. Not exactly husband of the year. Secondly, after marrying for the second time she says that the first three months of this marriage were heavenly, even though her husband repeatedly rapes her and threatens to kill her during that time.

An Apostle of What? 

So after sexually abusing and raping her for years, with the help of both his mother and gardener, Nicolette finally decides to kill them all after overhearing their plot to end her life. Believe it or not, she’s actually successful in ending all of their lives. She then discovers that her husband was involved in a human trafficking operation, and uncovers detailed notes on all of his contacts from the providers of the women to the clients who bought them.

Rather than doing something with all of this evidence, she decides to keep it hidden. You see, Nicolette seems to be oblivious to this little thing called killing in self defense, and instead is under the impression that all of this contact info would be beneficial were she ever to be arrested for murdering her husband. The fact that she managed to stop one shipment of women from falling into the hands of her husband makes her see herself as an “apostle” to these women.

What in the actual f*ck is she smoking? She could have saved countless women and put an end to the entire operation, but instead she chose to be selfish and do absolutely nothing. Does she really think that because one shipment of women wasn’t sent to her husband that their keepers are going to let them go? No! They’ll just be sold off to somebody else.

*UPDATE: The author has mentioned that in future books Nicolette undergoes a bit of a transformation, and actually goes on to save some of these women. Happy to hear it!*

*A copy of this book was provided for an honest review*

Series: First of 10+

Should you read it? I can understand reading about a flawed character. After all, we are all flawed. Nobody’s perfect, in spite of what Nicolette claims. But I find it hard to read about a character with absolutely no redeeming qualities.

Smut Level: Too nasty for my tastes. At one point Nicolette’s husband rapes her with his foot. Direct quote: “Nicolas demands I sit on his foot. Yes the idea which popped into my head as to what he wanted me to do with it came to pass, he fucked me with it.”

Get it on Amazon: Click Here. $4.67 Kindle Price. Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd. 519 Pages.