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O P E N I N G H O O K:
BIANCA SIGHED IN DISMAY. The vacuum cleaner was broken again. It was a black and blue monstrosity. When it did work properly, it pulled Bianca every which way whenever she turned it on.Sometimes she wondered what her mother would say if she bought a saddle for the vacuum cleaner and just rode it around the museum. But lately it was giving her problems. This was the second time this month that it refused to work. Bianca double-checked to make sure it was plugged into the socket properly, placed a new piece of duct tape on the cord, and then tried to turn it on once more...still nothing.
"Stupid piece of crap," she muttered under her breath. "Oh God," she groaned as she picked up the heavy vacuum cleaner and put it back in the utility room. She would have to tell her mother, Rose, about the broken machine after story time in the Princess Room.
(Page 5, US e-book edition)
This review was first posted at A Backwards Story on March 28, 2014
during Fairy Tale Fortnight
If you love fairy tales as much as I do, when you finish reading FIRST FROST, you're going to be a little bit devastated. This is the same sense of ugly-weeping that comes from realizing you will never have a library as beautiful as the one Beast gives Beauty. It's tangible sadness. Why? The book's main character, Bianca, works in her mother's Museum of Magical and Rare Artifacts...which is a fancy way of saying fairy tale museum. How amazing would it be to have a fairy tale museum in town? And themed rooms such as the Princess Room, where weekly storytimes for children take place? Going to the Narnia exhibit a few years ago was incredible, even though it wasn't "real," and I know I'd have the same feeling in a fairy tale museum. It would be even cooler if, like in FIRST FROST, the artifacts in the museum were real. From a red cape to a brick from a Little Pig's house to a sample of Rapunzel's hair, there are many dangerous items hiding in plain sight.
No one believes the items are real, of course, especially not Bianca. It would be neat if they were, but she lives in the real world and knows better. Only...Bianca doesn't know as much as she thinks she does. Her mother has been hiding a deep, dangerous secret from her. They're direct descendants of the first Frost, Snow White herself, and knee-deep in an ancient curse that has already stolen away Bianca's father. When her mother is captured by an evil villain bent on destroying the family once and for all, Bianca must throw aside everything she's ever known, discover magic, and journey through a land she never believed could actually exist.
While FIRST FROST starts off a little slowly, I didn't mind because as I stated in my opening paragraph, I was in complete awe of the fabulous museum. Once Bianca discovers the truth behind the museum and has her eyes opened, the story really gets rolling. Bianca isn't in the journey alone, either. She travels between worlds with her best friend Ming, and the girls come across a travelling Prince Ferdinand and his companion Terrance. Proper males brought up never to leave a damsel in distress, they quickly accompany the girls on their journey. Each character is uniquely developed, too. They may not be deep characters, but they're a lot of fun to be around. There's the pompous prince who isn't necessarily the dashing hero girls dream of. Terrance has a mysterious, intriguing background that comes into play later on. Ming is a true friend despite her fears. And Bianca is a great example of a true hero: One who is brave in the face of danger despite the fact that she's terrified. She loves her mother fiercely and will do anything to save her. She grows so fast and becomes very powerful by the novel's end. It was a pleasure to watch her blossom. I enjoyed all of the nods to various fairy tales along the way and really appreciated the way Liz DeJesus turned ordinary fairy tale items into important objects that played a role in Bianca's journey. I ultimately had a lot of fun reading this and would pick up another book by DeJesus in the future.
~*~
Mother and daughter looked into each other’s eyes for a brief moment. She felt ready to fight alongside her mother and actually be of some assistance. Bianca wanted to argue with Rose, but instead she reluctantly obeyed and went upstairs. She made it as far as the top of the steps.
“Come out, you coward!”
Lenore shouted.
If there was one thing
Bianca knew for sure, it was that her mother would never, ever back out of a
fight. She slowly inched her way down the stairs. Rose stepped out of the house
and was far away from the safety of her wards. Bianca tried to call as little
attention to herself as humanly possible. She duck-walked across the living
room until she was directly underneath the broken window. She peeked every now
and then to watch her mother in action.
“Where’s the book?”
Lenore asked.
“Where is my husband?”
Rose demanded.
“How about we make a
trade? Your husband for the book,” Lenore said.
Rose remained silent.
Bianca knew that somewhere in her mother’s mind she was seriously considering
trading whatever book Lenore was talking about for her father.
“You’re not getting
anywhere near that book,” Rose replied.
Lenore snarled and
contorted her face in anger as she created a fireball and threw it at Rose.
She created a wall of
water around her, and the fireball vanished with a hiss. She then used the
water that surrounded her and attacked her adversary.
Lenore used an ice spell
and froze the water, and caused it to crash all around her with soft clinks.
“You have to learn to
control your brat. I can smell her better now that she’s downstairs,” Lenore
said and then cackled.
“You shut your filthy
mouth about my daughter,” Rose shouted.
“Want to come out and
play, little one?” Lenore taunted.
“Bianca! Stay inside the
house. Do you hear me?!”
“Mom, let me help,”
Bianca pleaded.
“You do as I say!” Rose
snapped.
Bianca’s heart skipped a
beat as she ducked underneath the window. She knew she was safe inside the
house because of the wards. Bianca risked a peek at the battle, and the witches
were fighting viciously. They were both putting everything they had into their
spells and doing everything in their power to destroy each other.
Lenore had Rose trapped
in a small tornado. Bianca could see her bright red hair whipping in every
direction imaginable as her mother struggled to counter the spell. It was enough
time for the dark witch to reach in and take something out of her pocket.
Lenore pulled out a tiny glass vial and drank a black potion that swam inside
the container.
What is that?
Lenore flashed her sharp
yellowed teeth at Bianca and then turned her attention to Rose. Bianca turned
her gaze to her mother and saw that she had finally countered Lenore’s tornado
spell. Lenore took a deep breath and then blew black fire at Rose. The dark
flames took on the shape of a sinister dragon.
Bianca gasped; she had
never seen anything so menacing in her life. The dragon’s yellow eyes zeroed in
on Rose. It chuckled as it looked upon her. It launched itself at her mother
and wrapped itself around her body. The dragon pried Rose’s mouth open and
shoved its clawed hand down her throat.
“No!” Bianca shouted.
The blood in her veins froze, her stomach dropped, and her heart leaped to her
throat. She watched in horror as her mother did everything she could to fight
off Lenore’s monster…and failed.
“Mom!” Bianca dashed to
the front door and stopped herself from running into the front yard.
Lenore had kicked Rose
in the stomach and grabbed a fistful of her red hair. The smoke dragon took
away Rose’s voice. She was now mute. She looked like a fish out of water as she
tried to cast a counter spell, but it was no use. The damage had been done. Her
mother had lost her voice and the battle. Rose turned her green eyes to Bianca.
“There, now we can have
a little chat…no interruptions. Come on out here and sit with me a while,”
Lenore said. The false saccharine in her voice was obvious.
Rose shook her head
violently. Bianca knew what her mother wanted her to do. She wasn’t sure she
could obey Rose’s request to stay inside the house now that she was in danger
of losing her life.
I can’t just sit here
and do nothing. God…what do I do?
What do I do?
“Come here!” Lenore roared as her face contorted with rage, making her look uglier and older than she actually was. Lenore yanked on Rose’s hair so hard she opened her mouth as though she were screaming…except no sound came out of her lips.
~*~
C O N T E N T R A T I N G S
Content Ratings: highlight between ( ) for details
No clue, guys! I read this over a year ago before I had a Content Rating. But the second book rated a PG13. It's clean, but has a few darker moments. I think the first book was a little tamer, but they should be close to the same!
C O V E R D E S I G N:
I wish the background image wasn't drowned out by everything lying on top of it. I want to see more of the girl in the pretty dress, please. I want it to pop out! I do like the way the white used for the title and author were pulled from the white created from this effect of diluting the background, but I do wish the image stood out more, because it could be so striking.
~*~
O F F I C I A L I N F O:
Title: FIRST FROST
Author: Liz DeJesus
Release Date: June 22, 2012
Publisher: Musa Publishing
Received: For Review
Publisher: Musa Publishing
Received: For Review
SUMMARY:
For generations, the Frost family has run the Museum of Magical and Rare Artifacts, handing down guardianship from mother to daughter, always keeping their secrets to “family only.”
Gathered within museum’s walls is a collection dedicated to the Grimm fairy tales and to the rare items the family has acquired: Cinderella’s glass slipper, Snow White’s poisoned apple, the evil queen’s magic mirror, Sleeping Beauty’s enchanted spinning wheel…
Seventeen-year-old Bianca Frost wants none of it, dreaming instead of a career in art or photography or…well, anything except working in the family’s museum. She knows the items in the glass display cases are fakes because, of course, magic doesn’t really exist.
She’s about to find out how wrong she is.
~*~
Liz DeJesus was born on the tiny island of Puerto Rico. She is a novelist and a poet. She has been writing for as long as she was capable of holding a pen. She is the author of the novel NINA (Blu Phi'er Publishing, October 2007), THE JACKETS (Arte Publico Press, March 31st 2011) FIRST FROST (Musa Publishing, June 22nd 2012) and GLASS FROST (Musa Publishing).
AUTHOR LINKS:
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