Daring You To Read...Touch of Frost by Jennifer Estep

Daring You To Read is a weekly feature here on Tynga’s Reviews where we dare you to read some of our favorite older releases (at least 6 months old). All the books/series we choose to feature are titles we adored and think you should give them a shot! We think it’s a super awesome way to discover that special book who might have slipped off your radar!

You’ve already read the book? Let’s us know what you thought!
You are accepting the dare? We’d love to know!
Have a dare of your own? Leave a comment ^^

As you've probably guessed by now, Jennifer Estep is one of my top five authors. I first fell in love with her writing when I discovered SPIDER'S BITE (which I previously dared you to read) and her Mythos Academy series is some of the rare YA that I really adore. I always have her books pre-ordered because she always delivers amazing adventures, thrilling story arcs, and characters that spark strong emotions, be they love or hate. So I figured it was about time that I dared you all to try TOUCH OF FROST, the first Mythos Academy book.

The books follow Gwen Frost, a 17-year-old Gypsy girl who has the gift of psychometry (i.e. the ability to know an object’s history by touching it). Gwen's magic is a gift and a curse -- she can learn a lot by touching an object but she can't control what she gets so it can be embarrassing, good, ugly, and everything in between. She finds herelf at Mythos Academy after a magical incident.

Located in the fictional town of Cypress Mountain, North Carolina, Mythos Academy is a school for the descendants of ancient warriors like Spartans, Valkyries, Amazons, and more, where they learn how to use their magic and various skills to fight Reapers of Chaos. The Reapers want to free Loki from his mystical (and mythological) prison so that he can take over the world and lord badness over everyone.

I dig this series because of the awesome world building. The setting -- a magic school -- is one we often see in the literature but Jennifer Estep takes it in a fresh direction. We've never seen a school quite like this! The mixture of mythologies is great and and I think the author's done a great job of blending them and bringing new ideas to the table. Another nice touch is that the different gods have champions who act for them on Earth and Gwen happens to be Nike's champion!

Another reason to read this book? Gwen's a kick-ass protagonist and she only gets more endearing as the series goes on. She's snarky, plucky, and not afraid to be herself, even when she's dropped into a situation completely beyond her understanding. She's also willing to take on challenges and fight for the greater good, even though she doesn't always do it in the smartest way possible. (She follows her heart, not always her brain, but she does learn over the course of the series, which is great.)

I would be remiss if I didn't mention all of the amazing secondary characters in the novel. Gwen's sword Vic cracks me up every time. He's so unapologetically bloodthirsty. Logan Quinn is the perfect crush and perfect warrior -- very swoon-worthy but still approachable enough that you can believe he will take an honest interest in Gwen. Gwen also makes some great friends, some quite unexpectedly, which makes them all delightful.

This is one series that won't let you down so I urge you to pick it up as soon as possible. The fifth book in the series, MIDNIGHT FROST, is due out in August so now's the perfect time to get caught up!

Want more? I bet you do! Here's the cover copy for TOUCH OF FROST:

My name is Gwen Frost, and I go to Mythos Academy — a school of myths, magic and warrior whiz kids, where even the lowliest geek knows how to chop off somebody's head with a sword and Logan Quinn, the hottest Spartan guy in school, also happens to be the deadliest.

But lately, things have been weird, even for Mythos. First, mean girl Jasmine Ashton was murdered in the Library of Antiquities. Then, someone stole the Bowl of Tears, a magical artifact that can be used to bring about the second Chaos War. You know, death, destruction and lots of other bad, bad things. Freaky stuff like this goes on all the time at Mythos, but I'm determined to find out who killed Jasmine and why—especially since I should have been the one who died...

My thoughts

Read an excerpt

Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository

And here's the rest of the series, including "First Frost", the e-prequel novella, and Entangled, an anthology containing the novella "Halloween Frost" (#1.5):

What do you think? Have you read this series? Are you willing to accept my dare?

Posted by jenn at 06:08

 Daring You to Read, Jennifer Estep, Kensington, young adult  7 People left their mark

Born and raised in the Toronto area, Jenn moved to St. John's, Newfoundland, eight years ago for school. She's still in school (thankfully on another degree!), now trapped in her dissertation. When she's not dissertating, which happens more often than it should, Jenn spends her time reading, watching movies, playing volleyball, travelling, and enjoying the local music scene. Her latest addictions: yoga and Almond Crunch cereal.