Touch of Frost
Author: Jennifer Estep
Series: Mythos Academy (#1)
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corporation
How Received: author ARC
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...
Buy | Borrow | Brush Off
I can always tell how much I like a book by how often I put it down. I put Touch of Frost down because I had to leave for work, came home intending to read it, couldn't remember where I put it, and read another book until I found it a few days later.
It neatly summarizes what I thought about it. I liked it enough to want to keep reading, but not having it around wasn't really that big of a loss.
The main problem I have with this book isn't the school (it's awesome) or the mythology (it's cool) or the kick ass fight scenes (they're, well, kick ass). It's the main character and her love interest.
I like Gwen, don't get me wrong. And I like Logan. (Please, this isn't a spoiler; if you can't figure out he's going to be the love interest from the first time he's introduced, you're dull.) It's the entire way it was set up.
The thing about this book is that I would have loved it had the love bit haven't been emphasized. And the good thing about this book is that the characters [SPOILER ALERT] don't even date or kiss or anything by the end. They're just plodding along being romantic-ish. [/SPOILER ALERT]
But they're so OBVIOUSLY going to end up together at some point. The killer boy and the Gypsy girl!? Oh, and she keeps LITERALLY running into him. And he's all SMOLDER SMOLDER and she's all BLUSH GEEK WHOOPS and I'm all I'VE READ THIS IN EVERY OTHER PARANORMAL ROMANCE OUT THERE PLEASE GIVE ME SOMETHING NEW.
I would have much preferred to learn more about Daphne's love story. That I liked. It was interesting and cute.
But besides that, I did like Touch of Frost, at least enough to be interested in what might happen in the sequel. Everything seemed a little cliche and cheesy at times, but that didn't stop me from enjoying it. (Maybe it's because I adore the name Gwen and any variation thereof.) I liked the way the mythology was brought in and I LOVED the teachers, absolutely adored them.
Overall Rating & Final Comments: 7/10. I could have used a little less cheese and a little more drama or a little more genuine humor. However, the school and the mythology are really cool.