Monday, January 2, 2012

Kiss of Frost by Jennifer Estep (REVIEW)


KISS OF FROST (Mythos Academy #2) by Jennifer Estep
354 Pages // Paperback
Published November 29, 2011 by Kensington Teen
Received for Review from Publisher
Rating: 4 Hearts

I’m Gwen Frost, a second-year warrior-in-training at Mythos Acad­emy, and I have no idea how I’m going to sur­vive the rest of the semes­ter. One day, I’m get­ting schooled in sword­play by the guy who broke my heart—the drop-dead gor­geous Logan who slays me every time. Then, an invis­i­ble archer in the Library of Antiq­ui­ties decides to use me for tar­get prac­tice. And now, I find out that some­one at the acad­emy is really a Reaper bad guy who wants me dead. I’m afraid if I don’t learn how to live by the sword—with Logan’s help—I just might die by the sword...

KISS OF FROST is the sequel to the fun and exciting TOUCH OF FROST by Jennifer Estep, which probably was one of my favorite young adult books of 2011. I’m a sucker for fun and exciting and girl power, and while KISS OF FROST wasn’t quite as good as its predecessor, it was still a great YA novel that I wholeheartedly recommend. This series is full of action, excitement, romance, and great characters that will make you laugh and cry and fear for. Estep has a winning combination of a fun twist on the old “boarding school for superpowered teens” plot and great characters, which is why I will tell you this. YOU MUST READ THIS SERIES. And spoilers might be mentioned within.


In KISS OF FROST, we’re back to Mythos Academy a few weeks after the events of TOUCH OF FROST. The  way the story begins is helpful to people who have not read the first book – in fact, you can actually jump into book two without having read book one due to the amount of rehashing involved – but somewhat off putting if you have read book one. The first 150 pages are chock full of plot recaps, reminders, and basically a retelling of every event from book one. Multiple times. Even as we hit the climax, we are still being told about the events of book one. It slows down the pacing a bit, but as I said, if you haven’t read book one, you can still read book two.

That was really my main issue with KISS OF FROST. We meet a new potential love interest, new enemies, new denizens of Mythos Academy (particularly Logan’s Spartan friends Oliver and Kenzie, who become critical players in the story arc), and new world building that brings a lot of new details to this already well-created world. At the end, we even have a slight guide to the world which brings a lot of the details together, and I can only assume that book three (DARK FROST, out June 2012) will bring more details, especially considering that AWESOME chapter one preview.

As Gwen’s powers develop, so does the enormity of the situation resting on her shoulders. The character development in KISS OF FROST is great – not like some stories where the main character never grows as a person. She’s learning to fight back and stand up for herself, which is what I love to see in young adult fiction – girls that take things into their own hands. Yes, she has a boy that drives her, but Gwen is a great heroine. And Logan is still a great, mysterious bad boy – and not the kind of bad boy that is actually BAD. He cares about Gwen and will do anything to help her. He’s almost like a sweet bad boy, which is the type of bad boy that I love. But don’t expect constant sparks of love and gooey and kissing here.

If you haven’t picked up TOUCH OF FROST, what are you waiting for? Go to Amazon or Barnes and Noble or your local Indie and PICK IT UP NOW. This is a series that you cannot miss.

VERDICT: KISS OF FROST might not be as good as TOUCH OF FROST, but it is still a great sequel to one of my favorite current young adult series. A definite must read.

♥♥♥♥ - FOUR HEARTS

No comments:

Post a Comment