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O P E N I N G L I N E:
When the earthquake began, my mother and I were in Central Park. "Pedal!" I remember her shouting. "Pedal!" And I did. My little legs pumped in circles, my heart lifted as I felt her fingers release the bike, and suddenly I was riding on my own. For the first time. The breeze whipped against my grinning cheeks, stinging my eyes.
But then the ground shook. The earth began to tremble. And I had no hope. In a flash, I was on the ground, sandwiched against the concrete as screams rose around me. Darkness stole my vision as my mother's arms encircled me, hugged me closer. Teeth chattering, I tried to be strong. But tears leaked from my eyes, the cries of a baby. Shame burned my chest.
Time passed but my young mind had lost count. Minutes. Hours. I still don't really know. But when the ground stilled, I woke to a new world.
(pg. 10, US E-ARC edition)
I've often seen Kaitlyn Davis' Midnight Fire series around, but I'm not really into paranormal, so it never appealed to me. When I heard that she was coming out with a new series entitled Once Upon a Curse , I was immediately intrigued. Fairy tales are right up my alley! The first novel, GATHERING FROST, is more of an original retelling than it is based on anything specific. If the summary hadn't claimed that the story was tied to Sleeping Beauty I would have never suspected it, for the ties binding the two together are very loose. (The queen actually reminded me of The Snow Queen!) It didn't matter to me, though, because the story was so interesting and kept me reading to the point where I'd groan when I had to go to work or finish my lunch break. The next novel in the series, WITHERING ROSE, sounds like it will be much more closely connected with its inspiration save for a big twist: The beast will be the one to save Beauty!
The series centers around a new world: A major earthquake has forced our modern world to combine with one straight out of a fantasy. Young Jade sees a beautiful princess emerge and, in our Disney Princess-obsessed youth, thinks she will make everything right, never suspecting that she's actually embracing an evil queen. With the merger of two worlds, the New York City skyline is gone along with electricity and other modern conveniences. In its place is magic. The queen of Kardenia is able to wield it and bestow upon her subjects the gift of indifference. Nobody cares about their loved ones or has the ability to have feelings save for the occasional twinge of fear to keep them on their toes.
Jade was only six when the world shattered and remembers nothing about her former life. She's the only female in the queen's guard and a skilled fighter. She's okay with the ice in her heart; it's been there as long as she can remember. When the queen's son Asher resurfaces after being AWOL since the earthquake, the queen involves Jade in a plot to gain his trust and bring him back. Jade allows Asher and the rebels to capture her and bring her to their base. In gaining Asher's trust, however, she finds her frozen heart thawing and realizes that, away from the queen's influence, she is able to have emotions again. Can Jade really embrace her past in favor of her newfound comrades when the queen still has an icy grip on her heart, or will she betray her new friends in order to finally be free?
I really enjoyed the way GATHERING FROST had the feel of a fairy tale despite being a completely original story. At only 200 ebook pages, I wished it was longer because I wasn't ready to say goodbye to the characters, but the length will feel perfect to many readers who feel bogged down by longer page counts. The romance was handled well, and had a lovely quality to it that will appeal to both younger and older readers, a line that's very hard to draw and walk along in YA. It's also more of a slow-build than it is insta-love, which I always appreciate, and it still had a fairy tale quality to it. I also really liked the way Jade grew as she learned to have her own thoughts and emotions. I wasn't anticipating the direction the novel took, either, and it kept me turning pages to figure out how the final climax would shake out. I really like the way the modern era merges with a more archaic one, and am excited to see that this has happened in more places around the world than just NYC (Sorry to all the characters facing crazy, evil monarchs, but !!!!!), which means many more books set in this world..and hopefully exploring many other countries and cultures!
GATHERING FROST was a fun, fast, engaging read, and I would definitely be willing to read another book from Davis in the future!
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C O N T E N T R A T I N G S
Content Ratings: highlight between ( ) for details
Romance: PG13 ( kissing )
Language: PG+ ( super vague innuendo that won't be picked up by younger readers and still feels clean )
Violence: PG13 ( Death and murder )
Violence: PG13 ( Death and murder )
Other: --
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C O V E R D E S I G N:
This definitely had a fairy tale feel to it! I would pick it up blind at a bookstore to find out more!
I like the fact that, since Kaitlyn Davis is self-published, she designed the cover herself. It didn't look homemade...And the story was well-honed, too, like something I'd pick up in the store and enjoy!
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O F F I C I A L I N F O:
Title: GATHERING FROST
Author: Kaitlyn Davis
Author: Kaitlyn Davis
Release Date: February 17, 2015
Publisher: Kaitlyn Davis
Received: For Review
Received: For Review
SUMMARY:
Will his kiss be enough to revive her frozen heart?
Once Upon A Time meets La Femme Nikita in GATHERING FROST, a dystopian romance from bestselling author Kaitlyn Davis that reimagines the classic fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty.
Jade was only a little girl when the earthquake struck. Before her eyes, half of New York City disappeared, replaced by a village that seemed torn out of a storybook. Horses and carriages. Cobblestone streets. A towering castle. And, above all, a queen with the magical ability to strip emotions away.
Ten years later and Jade has forgotten what it is to feel, to care...even to love. Working as a member of the queen's guard, she spends most of her time on the city wall staring at the crumbling skyscrapers of old New York. But everything changes when the queen's runaway son, Prince Asher, returns. Jade is tasked with an unusual mission--to let the Prince capture her, to make him trust her, and then to betray his secrets to the crown. In return, she'll earn her freedom. But life outside the queen's realm is more than Jade bargained for. Under Asher's relentless taunts, her blood begins to boil. Under his piercing gaze, her heart begins to flutter. And the more her icy soul begins to thaw, the more Jade comes to question everything she's ever known--and, more importantly, whose side she's really on.
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****Giveaway*****
Enter to win...
$20 Amazon gift card
and
1 digital copy of the complete Midnight Fire series!
and
1 digital copy of the complete Midnight Fire series!
Thank you for joining my blog tour and for this amazing review!! I'm so excited that you enjoyed Gathering Frost and I hope your fans will also enjoy learning about my new series! Have a great week :)
ReplyDeleteI loved sleeping beauty so I really think I would love to read this book!
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