Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Cold Kiss Review

Cold Kiss - Amy Garvey
*September 20th, 2011 HarperTeen

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 Cold Kiss is a beautifully written paranormal romance, conveying young love in a poignant and aching manner.

Cold Kiss has all the requisite elements of a paranormal romance, and will no doubt be very much appealing to the target demographic. As set up in the synopsis, leading lady Wren is caught in quite the predicament with her more-than-mortal love triangle. With this genre, why have only one enticing gentleman when you can have two?

The strongest aspect of Cold Kiss, however, is Garvey's writing. The voice is exquisite and unique, beautiful and vivid. The descriptions, the digressions, everything is expressed with fluid writing that just flows beautifully. The aspect that was a little lacking, however, was the plot. Not a lot of action happens, and questionable aspects of world-building aren't entirely resolved by the end of the novel. At the times when the plot dragged, even the nice writing got bogged down.

With that being said, Cold Kiss is an emotion-charged read, and it follows that vein nicely. Most of the characters are fairly likeable, or at the very least, neutral. (Interesting to note that Cold Kiss breaks from convention a little in that there is no explicit antagonist - only antagonized situations - which perhaps more closely resembles real life.)

With beautiful writing and aching emotion, Cold Kiss is a touching read about young love.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great review. Very measured and insightful.

While I applaud lyrical writing (lord knows the genre is starved of it) the fact that Cold Kiss doesn't have an antagonist gives me cause for concern. It doesn't sound particularly gripping. Books don't have to be a page turners, but there has to be something dramatic happening right? I'm not sure doomed love is enough.

Can you hint at some of the dramatic situations without giving anything away?

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