Kiss of Frost by Jennifer Estep

Kiss of Frost by Jennifer Estep

Book Stats:
Reading level: YA
Genre: Urban fantasy
Trade Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Kensington
Release date: November 29, 2011

Series: Mythos Academy #2

Source: Kensington

Reviewer: Jenn

Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository

At Mythos Academy, teen warriors in the making train to take up their roles protecting humankind. With her snarky, self-deprecating voice and strange gift of psychometry - the ability to know an object's history just by touching it - Gwen Frost is an outsider both to the students of the Academy and the rest of the world. But now that she's taking private tutoring with the Academy's most notorious young Spartan, and has Nike's own sword to protect her, she's ready to make mark...

Oh my gosh, I was *so* excited when Kiss of Frost showed up at my door! After enjoying the first book in the series, Touch of Frost, as much as I did (my review here), I had big expectations for this book. Thankfully, Jennifer Estep more than delivers! Kiss of Frost has some great action, lots of character growth, development on the romantic front, and almost enough of Vic, Gwen’s snarky sword, gifted to her Nike, the goddess of victory, after Gwen became her champion.

Gwen is a fantastic protagonist, as I mentioned when I talked about Touch of Frost. She’s smart, quirky, sarcastic, and self-aware. She knows she’s not a great warrior but she works with what she has. She’s also determined to do her best, which I admire. Another quality I like? Gwen acknowledges it when she’s about to do something that could end badly. I hate it when characters blunder around and act surprised when things don’t go their way; Gwen does what she’s going to do and is prepared for the consequences.

We also get to see Gwen learn more about her psychometry, which was a fantastic and unexpected development. (It starts in the first chapter of the book so I feel comfortable mentioning it here.) Jennifer Estep has done something truly clever and the possibilities of what Gwen could do with this new aspect of her gift are pretty incredible. I’m left wondering what other ways her psychometry could be used...but I’m sure that Jennifer will fill in the blanks soon enough. :)

Logan fans will be pleased with the fact that we get to learn a bit more about him in Kiss of Frost. Among other things, we find out why he’s hesitant to get into a relationship with Gwen and we learn about his family. Yay! Plus he remains as handsome and charming and frustrating as he was in Touch of Frost. Double yay!

I could go on and on about what I loved about the book but I’m worried I’ll start gushing and let out spoilers so I’m going to cut myself off for now. Rest assured, Kiss of Frost is fabulous and you should be running to the bookstore or library for this one. Just make sure you start reading early in the day because you won’t be able to put it down!

Thank you, Jennifer (and Kensington), for such an amazing early Christmas present -- I’m sure I’ll be re-reading Kiss of Frost soon!

Read an excerpt

Posted by jenn at 01:30

 Jennifer Estep, Kensington, Review  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.