Amy Garvey
Cold Kiss
Review brought to you by OBS staff member Annabell Cadiz
Synopsis: “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.”
Review: I was intrigued by the blurb for this novel. I was very curious to see how a story about a girl who brings her dead boyfriend back to life would play out. I was not as impressed as I was hoping I would be. Cold Kiss had fairly good potential to be something romantically beautiful but the characters as well as lack of plot dimmed its chances.
The main character Wren lost my compassion and sympathy early on. I have lost people I loved and have often wondered what would happen if, maybe, I had the potential to bring them back so I could completely understand where Wren was coming from with her loss of Danny. He was her first love and died so young. But Wren spends most of the novel either complaining about how stupid her idea was of bringing Danny back to life or how horrible of a person she is for doing so. I just wanted to slap her a few times and tell her to stop with the self-pity party and get it together! She also spends a great deal of time complaining about how many secrets her mother holds but Evie never once tells her the truth or asks for her help to give her mother a chance.
Gabriel was a pretty great character compared to Wren. He is cliché hot new guy in town with a hint of bad boy and mysterious but I still liked him. He is strong and caring and open with his feelings but he also had a tendency to be too clingy with Wren.
I also didn’t really believe Wren’s feelings for Gabriel. Wren’s feelings seemed too shallow like she only wanted to be with Gabriel for comfort and needed someone to make her feel better about herself. Gabriel’s feelings did seem more genuine but it wasn’t realistic how easily he believed Wren and how much he dedicated himself to helping her.
I love the idea behind both Wren and Gabriel’s powers. I like Wren’s ability to be able to use her powers to make her stronger or even shut people up but her lack of common sense was frustrating. Gabriel’s ability to feel what someone else feels and even be able to see into their memories through those feelings was awesome! It’s also way to close to comfort but I wouldn’t mind having that power *wink*
What I did like about Cold Kiss was the fact that the story immediately starts with Wren’s big mistake. Readers are instantly thrown into Wren’s turmoil and how much she has to fight to keep both her lies and secrets straight. I also liked the writing. The words flow naturally and the book is an easy read.
As much as I felt for Wren and the heartbreak she had to endure, I could never find a connection with her or her decisions. She often acted like such a brat with her mother and never gave her mother a chance to open up about the magic that runs in their family. She acted so unappreciative and selfish.
For fans of stories filled with witchcraft mixed with a zombie like plot, Cold Kiss may be a book you enjoy.
