Ginny and Kai are in love.
Or so Ginny thought.
A mysterious girl with beauty as flawless as ice enchants Kai. When he is swept away by this intoxicating snow maiden, Ginny must cast aside her fears and pursue him. In the face of mortal danger, will Ginny and Kai's love hold strong, or melt slowly away?
This is a book that started out well and ended well. Everything in the middle of that, for me, was a little bit 'meh'. The story was gripping and of course I cared what happened to Kai, but I think that Jackson Pearce made a few mistakes which brought the book down.
Firstly, let me make an admission. Despite having had 'Sisters Red' and 'Sweetly' sat gathering dust on my TBR shelf for around three years, I have never ( repeat, never) read a book by this author before. I've heard amazing things but just never got round to it. However when I got this in a book bundle from the awesome people at Hodder Children's I couldn't wait to try it.
Now, I'm not debating the fact that this was a good book. TJhe writing was especially good and I loved the settings. The start was strong, with a moderately creepy prologue and then a too-good-to-be-true young couple just forewarning that something bad was bound to happen. And it did. From the very start I was thinking "No! Don't!" every time Mora was around Ginny and Kai and it felt like a punch in the gut when Kai was taken away. I didn't feel like he was at risk though - that was Pearce's biggest mistake for me. Though I wanted him back I didn't think he was going to die or anything. Thus, I never really thought the stakes were too high and I think this resulted in me just not caring enough.
Another reason I don't think I cared was Ginny. She was a nice girl, she had a good heart. She was also stupid and naive, putting herself into bad situations and getting out just by luck, or being saved by someone who shouldn't have to save her stupid ass. Half the time I was facepalming and though I never wanted her to die like I do most stupid book protags, I did want to slap her at times. About halfway through the book I stopped trying to find any character development and I just read on because I was enjoying the plot.
That being said, the plot went a bit haywire around the 2/3 mark, when Ginny is saved/kidnapped by some Snow Queen worshipping gypsies and saved by a gutsy gypsy princess (who in hindsight was just what this book needed, just without the unnecessary plot behinfgtheir meeting). I spent this part of the book frustrated because it did nothing for the whole thing!
By the ending, I was somewhat relieved because Ginny got a backbone and the inevitable happiness happened and I got to close this book.
Because although I did enjoy it and it killed a nice few hours in a hot bath, there are other books on my pile which are probably worth my time a little more. So I can't have loved it that much.
Book released 2014 by Hodder Childrens
Book received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review
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