The Secret of Snow

by Viola Shipman

Nancy Peterson (Narrator)

• ISBN10: 1665104325
• ISBN13: 9781665104326
• Publish Date: 26 October 2021
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Graydon House
• Edition: Library Edition
• Format: Audiobook (CD)
• Duration: 11 hours and 25 minutes
• Language: English

Reviews

[Nadz@Totally Addicted to Reading]

Starting over is never easy, especially when you spend most of your life running from your past. A situation, fifty-year-old Sonny Dunes of The Secret of Snow will discover after her replacement by an Artificial Intelligent meteorologist. An embarrassing meltdown on national television saw her career hitting rock bottom.  The only station willing to offer Sonny a job was in her hometown, Traverse City, Michigan. The very place she dreaded returning to. Tragic family events led to her leaving home and abandoning all she held dear in her quaint little hometown.

The Secret of Snow introduces Sonny a talented meteorologist, who also had a talent for running away. The moment things get rough, Sonny runs. However, in running, she burnt several bridges. This adversely affected her ability to form lasting relationships. Returning home meant interacting with persons whom she treated poorly in the past and facing painful memories.

Initially, Sonny rubbed me the wrong way with her woe is me attitude.  It is never easy losing all you have worked so hard for.  However, her actions in the aftermath were that of a spoilt brat instead of a mature fifty-year-old. Then, as the story progressed, I saw another side to her. A side which made me sympathetic to her position.  

Sonny grieves not only the loss of her job but also that of her younger sister and her dad. She has gone through the stages except for the final stage, acceptance. She struggles with acceptance, especially with the loss of her sister. Guilt associated with the loss of her sits heavily on her shoulders. Her journey of self-discovery, healing, forgiveness, renewal of old relationships and the formation of new ones was heartbreaking, heartwarming and fun. 


The Secret of Snow had its share of drama with Sonny, dealing with opposition to her employment as the chief meteorologist. Not everyone welcomed her, and they made their displeasure known in the many attempts to sabotage her. Accompanying the drama was humour and a dash of romance.

The Secret of Snow provided a behind-the-scenes look of the work involved in reporting on the weather. If you have never experienced a winter weather in Michigan, The Secret of Snow will have you thirsting for such an experience. 

I enjoyed watching Sonny come alive in this tale, letting go of the pain of her past and embracing all life offers. Overall, The Secret of Snow provided a heartwarming story of family, friendships and love. It shows that starting over may be frustrating, but it opens the door for bigger and better things.

[Jeff Sexton]

The Ghosts Of Christmases Past. This is a story of how running away from your pain can be just as painful - even when buried - as staying and working through it. Here, we actually get to see a bit of both, along with a fair degree of real-world, perfectly-within-story-yet-real, commentary. Unlike the last book from Shipman I reviewed, where one character was seemingly designed as little more than a strawman pin cushion for the author to lob everything she (he) hated about that type of person into the book, the characters here all felt much more authentic and true to the situations they found themselves in. Even Sonny's precipitous meltdown near the front of the book is wild, yet "realistic" - many of us would at minimum *consider* doing exactly what she did, and if we found ourselves in the exact situation she was at that moment... yeah, totally realistic. :D But just as realistic is the pain and the ghosts that Sonny has been running from for 30 years, and when she is forced to go home and ultimately confront the pain... also, so very realistic. Spoken as someone just slightly younger than Sonny (nearly 40) who very nearly lived her scenario. (In my own case, there was an accident where I was driving and both of my brothers were in the car, yards from my house - our mom heard the impact. Fortunately we all survived with little lasting damage, but because of that I could that much more easily empathize with Sonny - I could well see my life turning out very differently had that particular day become much, much darker.) While this is more drama than comedy, with a dash of romance thrown in (YMMV on that one, but I thought it was subtle enough that it added more than it detracted), there is certainly enough comedy here to keep the drama from being overwhelming, while allowing the parts that *need* to hit harder to do so. Truly an excellent book, and very much recommended.