Many people fell in love with this book but I, sadly, was not one of them. KISS OF DECEPTION flashbacks, anyone? (I was in the same boat with that one.) I have come to expect a lot from fantasy, as it is my favorite genre, and SNOW LIKE ASHES did not deliver. 
 I struggled to establish a connection with any of the characters. Meira's personality seemed to change throughout the book and the secondary characters, besides Sir, lacked depth. Also included, a love triangle complete with the stereotypical scene of the two guys literally fighting over the girl. Unfortunately, the love triangle doesn't seem completely resolved by the end of this book so I expect to see it adding drama to the next installment as well. 
 The writing is relatively simple; there weren't any knock-your-socks-off quotes and even the lands themselves were named things like Winter and Summer-with capitals of Jannuari and and Juli, respectively. However, this is also somewhat of a positive because the book reads easily. 
 Conveniences abound. Everything always worked out for the main character perfectly. When there was conflict, it actually turned out not to be a real issue, if that makes sense out of context. There were even twists that seemed to be there just to make things easier for the characters. Plus, (view spoiler)[as much as I like Sir, I thought his "death" was a step in the right direction for the plot, Meira's character development, and FINALLY something that didn't benefit the characters. But nope, he is miraculously saved. (hide spoiler)] 
 Readers who prefer lighter fantasy novels will probably enjoy this, but if you are looking for the next Game of Thrones, this definitely isn't it. When compared to other YA fantasy giants like THRONE OF GLASS, which actually has quite a few similarities to this book, ToG just does it better, in my opinion.