Format: Kindle eARC
Published: September 20, 2011
Publisher: HarperTeen
Genre: YA Fantasy, Paranormal
Description:
“It seemed so right. Danny was mine, I was his, and that wasn’t going to work if he was dead. So I would make him not dead, not anymore. I didn’t think any further than what it would feel like to kiss him again, to wrap my arms around him and bury my head against his shoulder. That was my first mistake. It also turned out to be the biggest.” When her boyfriend, Danny, is killed in a car accident, Wren can’t imagine living without him. Wild with grief, she uses the untamed powers she’s inherited to bring him back. But the Danny who returns is just a shell of the boy she once loved. Wren has spent four months keeping Danny hidden, while her life slowly unravels around her. Then Gabriel DeMarnes transfers to her school and somehow, inexplicably, he can sense her secret. Wren finds herself drawn to Gabriel, who is so much more alive than the ghost of the boy she loved. But Wren can’t turn her back on Danny or the choice she made for him—and she realizes she must find a way to make things right, even if it means breaking her own heart. Amy Garvey’s transcendent teen debut is perfect for fans of Shiver and Beautiful Creatures. Wren’s unforgettable voice and story will stay with readers long after the last page is turned.
Review:
Cold Kiss by Amy Garvey is an interesting take on the lengths one person would go to be with the one they love after they die.
Main character Wren loses her boyfriend Danny in a tragic car accident and is suffering through a horrible grieving period. She has always known she is different than other people, her whole family is - she can cause lightbulbs to explode, create fire by thought, her mother and aunt have these powers as well - only her mother has never fully explaned what she is or what she can do. One night Wren decides she misses Danny too much and wants him back. And she creates a spell that her special powers enable. She brings Danny back to life. Sort of.
Danny is living in a zombie-like state in the senile neighbor's garage waiting for Wren's visits, slowly beginning to piece together the memories of the past leading up to his death. Wren meets a new boy at school, Gabriel, who can sense she is "different" by reading her mind and coaxes her into telling him the whole story and together they set out to solve the mystery of righting what she has done to Danny.
To me, the premise of this story was good; however, the execution was not. For one, Wren missed Danny so much she brought him back from the dead, but once she did, she seemed to find him more of a nuisance than being happy to have him back. Also, the main characters were well developed, but the secondary characters, such as Wren's friends fell flat to me. Even Danny never got a chance to really develop as a character.
I really liked the concept of this book and kept hoping for more explanation as I read on, the kind of "oh now everything comes together moment", but that never happened here. Amy Garvey left some loose ends on what I felt like was a really great story. It was a quick, enjoyable, easy read, but left me wanting more closure in the end. This book would definitely do well with a sequel.
Rate: 3/5
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