Book Review: Kiss of Frost by Jennifer Estep

Kiss of Frost by Jennifer Estep
Series: Mythos Academy #2 
Release Date: November 29, 2011
Publisher: Kensington
Pages: 368
Received: ARC from author 
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Goodreads Page

There are NO spoilers here, but if you see that a character is mentioned then you kinda know they didn't die in the first book!

Still not sure? Check out my review of Touch of Frost instead!

Summary

From Goodreads:

Logan Quinn was try­ing to kill me. My Spar­tan class­mate relent­lessly pur­sued me, swing­ing his sword at me over and over again, the shin­ing sil­ver blade inch­ing closer to my throat every time. A smile tugged up his lips, and his ice-blue eyes prac­ti­cally glowed with the thrill of battle...

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...

Review

I missed you so much!!

Opening Kiss of Frost was like hanging out with an old friend after a too-long separation. I know it hadn't really been all that long in the grand scheme of things (it's only been about five months since I reviewed Touch of Frost), but I missed Gwen and all of her friends so much.

Kiss of Frost picks up shortly after Touch of Frost with Logan giving Gwen fighting lessons. I was REALLY looking forward to getting some charged scenes between the two of them during these lessons, but alas, Logan Quinn rarely does what I want him to do (and I love that about him).

But don't worry, those scenes DO come later.

I think I have a girl crush

Much as I love Logan and learning all about the Reapers and the war between the Greek gods, the real draw for me is Gwen.

Gosh do I love Gwen. I just want to invite her over for endless sleepover parties. She's sarcastic and brittle, but she's rarely annoying about it and when she does cross the line she immediately recognizes it.

But what I really love about Gwen is her combination of vulnerability and courage. She's the type of character that makes me want to reach out to her and say things like "Oh honey!" while wrapping her in a hug and giving her a cookie and some hot cocoa. She's a little sad and a little dorky, but underneath it all she has a backbone of steel and she WILL do what needs to be done.

It's a good thing I love Gwen so much

Because otherwise I probably would have been bored with a good part of the book. There wasn't nearly as much action and mystery as there was in the first book and it was pretty much just my very strong love of the characters that kept me engaged.

A few seeds of mystery are planted early on, but then the kids leave on a school ski trip and not much happens for about 100 pages. Even though the action was low, I still had fun tagging along with Gwen at the ritzy ski resort (they had funnel cake and a carnival!). After about 100 pages, though, the action does pick up a bit and Gwen is back to her sleuthing ways.

And can I just say her psychometry gift? TOTALLY COOL! Gwen learns a bunch of new things she can do with her ability, and it is really one of the more awesome abilities I've read about. I would be touching as many people as I could (and probably get a lot of really weird looks in the process because, yeah, that makes me sound kinda perverted, but it's not and it would be so worth it!)

My whiz kid gift must be precognition

There were a few red herrings that did keep me on my toes and one surprise I didn't expect, but, sadly, I saw the Big Bad coming wwaaaaayy too soon. And the solution. I hate it when that happens. It's like accidentally stumbling on where your parents hid your Christmas presents.

It wasn't until the final 60 pages or so that my precog sputtered and died. This is where the real meat and potatoes of the story came in, and to think I assumed this would be the part of the book where everything would wind down after the big climax!

Oh no, that's not what happened at all! Gwen discovers some pretty interesting things that really start to flesh out her understanding of this whole Reaper/Gods war thing. She also BROUGH IT and laid out a really spectacular fist-pump-inducing line.

Because it just needs to be said

Vic, the talking sword, is still MADE OF WIN. A new fenrir wolf character is also introduced and he's so cool! I'll take one of each, please.

Bottom line

I cannot wait to find out what happens in the third book now! The ending is wonderfully frustrating because it promises some really cool things in book three, but it's a cliffhanger. I am so ready for Gwen to go after the Reapers until she and Vic are "bathed in their blood and hungry for more!" (as Vic would say).

I wish the action had been a little more consistent and I'm super impatient to find out more about the Reapers and the Gods, but I love every single one of these characters so even if they did nothing but eat cookies all day I would be happy to tag along (and not just because the cookies sound fantastic!)

Explanation of rating system: Star Rating Key 

Do you have any questions about Kiss of Frost that I haven't addressed? 
Feel free to ask in the comments!

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