Monday, November 21, 2011

Review: Kiss of Frost

KISS OF FROST
(Mythos Academy #2)

Jennifer Estep
Paranormal Young Adult
368 pages
Kensington
Available November 29th
Received from author for review

THE STORY
It's been an exciting couple of months at Mythos Academy for Gwen Frost, what with having mythological creatures and psychotic Reapers after her, becoming Nike's Champion, and developing a crush on the beautiful and unattainable Logan Quinn. For the little gypsy girl with the gift of psychometry, life is never dull.

Just when Gwen thinks having to watch Logan repeatedly make out with his current girlfriend right in front of her when she has made it crystal clear to him how she feels about him is the worst thing that can happen, the murder attempts begin. Now her bruised heart is the least of her worries, her involvement in the death of a classmate making her a possible target for the deceased's Reaper family, and they seem dedicated to seeing her demise come to pass.

Escaping the dangers of the academy and keeping the new threats on her life to herself, Gwen attends the school ski strip in the hopes that meeting up with kids from other schools similar in nature to Mythos will take her mind off both Logan and those who are after her. But a change in location doesn't lessen the threat, and she finds more physical and emotional danger on the snowy slopes than she did on campus grounds.

MY THOUGHTS
As we've come to expect from Ms. Estep, Kiss of Frost gives us a fully-developed mystery that relates to the book before it but can be easily understood on its own, unraveling things in a way that keeps us rapidly flipping the pages and concluding without a dreaded cliffhanger. We get nice character growth and maturity as well as the introduction of a few new characters to keep things fresh, while also gleaning some additional knowledge with regard to the broader story arc of Loki and his Reapers of Chaos. All these elements are mixed with a romance both heartwarming and heartbreaking, causing an assault on our emotions as we smile and laugh while simultaneously rubbing our chests to assuage the vicarious pain we can't help but feel.

Gwen progresses beautifully in this second installment, her previous melancholy over having to attend Mythos abating a bit as she settles in, only flaring up on occasion when she's overwhelmed by the strength, speed, and beauty of her peers. Those momentary flashes are understandable and remind us that she's in transition from outsider to intrinsic member of the Mythos student body, making her all the more real for her insecurities as they pop up unbidden. She exhibits a great deal of strength both physically and emotionally, making us proud as she takes charge of her circumstances in a way she didn't in book one. Where previously she found herself a floundering damsel in distress in need of Logan's heroics, she now expands her knowledge of her psychometry to do the saving herself. And when Logan admits to an attraction to her despite his relationship with someone else, she doesn't allow the confession to soften her so that she's content with the crumbs from his table, instead calling him on his behavior while letting him know his whispered sentiments in dark corners simply aren't good enough.

Logan–ever the bad boy we wish we could muster up a solid animosity for but simply can't–both tortures and appeases us again this time around. His blatant displays of affection with girlfriend Savannah claw at our hearts as we experience firsthand the pain those actions cause Gwen, but then he's there with words both Gwen and we long to hear spoken with an indisputable sincerity, a salve to our very fresh and very open emotional wounds. His indecision would be frustrating if it weren't so effective in drawing us into the story, and Gwen's mature handling of it prevents the drama from ever crossing the line into something that would have us scoffing in disdain at the triteness of it all. We get a tiny glimpse into the secret that haunts him, giving us just enough to help us understand him better while keeping so much of him still a delectable mystery.

Overall, Kiss of Frost improves upon its predecessor, strengthening our attachment to the characters and continually piquing our curiosity as to the impending war. While the villain is a bit more easily identifiable in this story, Ms. Estep never fails to impress us with her ability to create layers, allowing us to pat ourselves on the back for our astuteness on one page only to flip to the next and suck in a breathe as we are shocked and pained by what's revealed. Though this book leaves us with a complete story, the release of Dark Frost cannot come soon enough, our time with Gwen and Logan always ending too quickly.

Rating: 4.5/5

31 comments:

  1. I LOVE your blog! I read it everyday. You write some of the best reviews I've ever had the pleasure to read, and they're always spot on. I'm glad you reviewed this book, because I've been interested in the first one, and I'm glad to see that when I get into it, the second one won't be a let down. :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hmmm... I think I should pick up the first one! I didn't hear great things about it but people are loving the second book! Hate when that happens


    Krazyyme @ Young Readers

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sounds like a great story with lots of mysteries in it. Your review is nice. Keep posting and thanks for sharing such a wonderful story.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ahhhhhh, Jenny!!!! I saw the first book for this one the other day and for some reason, I didn't pick it up, but now I really wish I had! I LOVE the whole Reapers of Chaos idea, and I definitely need to meet Logan! Bad boys are my favourite! ;)

    Amazing review as always, Jenny! :) I'm SO happy that this book improves on the first book -- which I'm definitely picking up now! If only I'd read your review before LOL!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I can't wait to read Kiss of Frost! Loved the first Mythos Academy. One of the things I enjoy most about Estep's writing are the genuine conflicts between characters, and the fact that they cope with them in very believable ways. Glad to hear this continues to happen in this series!

    Now excuse me, I'm just going to go fidget impatiently and wish I could start reading this NOW! Lol

    ReplyDelete
  6. LilyKat - THANK YOU!!!! Your comment just completely made my day:) I love Jennifer Estep's books, the way she writes is just really appealing to me and I adore her characters. I think this series is going to get better as it goes based on these first 2 books!

    Krazzyme - I hope you do! I loved Gwen in this one, she made some real progress from book one and I always like when characters grow like that:)

    booksonline - You're welcome, her books are some of my favorites so I can't recommend them enough:)

    Mimi - Logan is fabulous, I adore him. I want to hate him most of the time, but I just can't do it, I know there's so much more too him and I can't wait to find out what it is.

    BJ - YES! Exactly. I always get sucked into her books because of her characters and the things they go through, and she definitely ratchets up the emotional element in this one which I loved:)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I loved the relationship between Logan and Gwen in Touch of Frost and am glad that she stays strong in this one despite Logan's actions. I'm looking forward to learning more about him in this one!

    ReplyDelete
  8. This book is new to me, but I really want to read it. It sounds really good. Great post!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Okay, you've convinced me to give this one a try. :P I wasn't the biggest fan of Touch of Frost, but...it sounds like the sequel nails it! Thanks for sharing your thoughts. :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. I didn't read this review really carefully since I haven't read the first one, but it sounds interesting. My thought though was, who names a character Gwen? It sounds like she was born in the 1940s. Like having a teenaged girl named Nancy or Linda in this day and age. It sounds weird.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I love how Gwen matures in this book. I always love it when the female MC can take care of herself. I'm curious about the ever brooding Logan. I gotta check this series out.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Zahida - I really enjoy Logan and Gwen, I have a thing for antagonistic relationships where there is a lot of tension, and these two have fabulous tension:)

    Mrs. Q - Hope you give them a try, I think they're fabulous:)

    Lauren - I think this one improves on book one. Gwen doesn't mope quite as much about having to be at Mythos and she takes charge a bit which I really liked:)

    Alison - Aw, I kind of like the name Gwen:) It does have an older feel to it, but I think it kind of works since she's got gypsy heritage and all that. Suits her:)

    Rummanah - Me too! I was so glad Gwen did a lot of the saving herself this time instead of relying on Logan. In book one, it made sense for her to need to be rescued a bit more because she had no idea why she was at Mythos to start with, but now that she does, she wants to learn to take care of herself. And I love Logan. That is all:)

    ReplyDelete
  13. I still haven't read the first one in this series, even though I have it. I should nudge it up the TBR list.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I've stayed away from this series as I could never warm up to Spider's Bite (though I will give it another try). Logan sounds like the type of guy I would really like to strangle. I'll take your word for it that he's not being mean on purpose and I like that it's not overly dramatic or drawn out. Maybe I'll look this one up over the summer.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Yikes! I still haven't read book one. What am I doing with my free time?

    It's so exciting to hear when series books get better. It makes the anticipation for more that much sweeter. I don't know Logan yet, but it sounds like I won't be able to resist him either. Poor Gwen.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I'm so glad that this installment was better than the first. It seems with YA, so much of the time, to be the opposite and then the third book is better. LOL!

    I only scanned your review because I haven't started this series yet, but maybe next year. I really do love Jennifer Estep's work. Gin is one of my favs!

    ReplyDelete
  17. I did like the short story I read, so yes I am intrigued ;)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Amanda - You should, there's good stuff waiting for you:)

    Jennifer - These definitely have an entirely different feel from her Elemental Assassin books, obviously not quite as dark, so you may find these more to your taste:)

    Missie - Seriously. It's not like you have a job to do and a blog to run and additional fictional boyfriends to find. Slacker ;-)

    Jen - With both her series I think they've gotten better as they go, she just does a great job of building up her characters slowly so you get to know them a bit more each book and that makes each one better than the last I think:)

    Blodeuedd - Good! Hope you give the books a try then:)

    ReplyDelete
  19. Yeah... I STILL must read the FIRST. *sigh* But I REALLY want to ASAP!

    ReplyDelete
  20. this is just AWESOMEly said!!!! YAY to Jennifer!!!

    ReplyDelete
  21. This is so ridiculous!! I bought the first book when you wrote that first review..:D And its still sitting on my Nook. I need to get busy...QUICK!!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Oh I'm worried that Logan will tick me off so much I'll want to throttle him. So, glad you mentioned that you still end up loving him. I'm going to be reading this one next and I'm stoked!!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Okay, this first one is on my shelf. I WILL read it over break so I can get excited about this second one (which you've already generated, darn you). How awesome that it gets better!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Great, great review Jenny! I'm super curious about Estep's books, I have to say. They definitely seem like something I could enjoy, so I'm hoping to get to them soon!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Girl, you are a master at reviewing! This one sounds awesome! The layering, and the fact that it improves upon its predecessor is enough for me! :)

    ReplyDelete
  26. I've had the first one in this series for ages and can't wait to read it! I only skimmed your review so I wouldn't really get spoilers but I'm happy to hear the second one is awesome too!

    ReplyDelete
  27. Dude! This series is my new boom diggity to read! It captures everything I want in a book! Loved the review!

    ReplyDelete
  28. omigosh SO excited for this book! I totally adored the first in the Mythos Academy series and I'm pretty much dying to get my hands on this one! Thanks for the review...even though it made me even more impatient!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Jeez, I really need to read this series--so many of my friends rave about it! And Logan sounds like one of those boys you just love and hate at the same time. If only they weren't so darned appealing...

    ReplyDelete
  30. I was a bit on the fence about the first book, but this second one sounds like quite an improvement. I love when characters have a complex character arc and really come into their own over the course of a series. It'll be interesting to see how Gwen further evolves in the last book!

    ReplyDelete
  31. I loved so many things about this book but, yeah, the villain was a little too obvious for my tastes. I love how Gwen is growing and settling into her life at Mythos. Logan is super swoony :)

    ReplyDelete