Saturday, September 24, 2011

Review: Cold Kiss by Amy Garvey

From Goodreads: 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. 

My Rating: 3 hearts 

Thoughts on the Novel: Cold Kiss by Amy Garvey is a standalone book that I thought was on the lighter side of paranormal. If it wasn’t for the fact that Garvey made Wren a witch who uses her powers to bring her boyfriend back from the dead, Cold Kiss might have been a contemporary novel about a girl dealing with issues like love and grief. 

Wren, the protagonist, is a character whose actions are easy to understand. When Danny dies, she chooses to resurrect him, only thinking of how much she misses him and how good it would be to have him back. I liked that when Wren slowly realizes that the Danny she brings back isn’t the same, she is willing to accept her mistake and figure out how to let Danny go once and for all.

While I liked the (living) Danny that I read about from Wren’s flashbacks, I thought Danny the zombie was relatively boring. He was really clingy in the first part of the book, and in the second part, whenever he appeared to have trouble controlling his temper, Wren would make him fall asleep.

Of course there’s a love triangle because our living narrator needs a guy who is alive to be interested in her too. That role goes to Gabriel, someone I would have liked better had he no abilities of his own. To me, it felt like he was only present in Cold Kiss so that Wren had somebody to lean on since she refused to tell her mother what she did or ask for her help. Speaking of Wren’s mother, she barely pried into Wren’s business even though Wren was sneaking out at night and looked like she was falling apart. 

Cold Kiss was released by HarperTeen on September 20, 2011. 

Comments About the Cover: With the focus on the lips and the use of colours that remind me of winter and its chill, I think the picture on the cover represents the title pretty well. 

In exchange for an honest review, this ARC was received from the publisher (HarperCollins) for free via NetGalley. 

8 comments:

  1. I totally agree about Danny. He seemed so sweet when he wasn't a zombie! But as a zombie, he was really annoying and creepy *shivers*. I also got really annoyed that Wren's mom didn't really think much about her daughter sneaking out. Really??? Nice review!!!!

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  2. I feel the same about the cover. On first glance of teh cover I would think Cold Kiss would be one I would like reading in the winter.

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  3. Sounds like the love interests in this book were a little disappointing. Great honest review :)

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  4. Hm. I like the overall concept of this one, but the love triangle aspect doesn't sound amazing (sometimes I think they're well done, but this doesn't seem like one of those times), and it frustrates me when parents are clueless or absentee in YA books. I still might pick this one up, but I may move it down the list some. Thanks Zahida!

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  5. for the way your review sounds it looks like, according to my own personal way of rating, like a 2 stars book for me >_< so I doubt I will enjoy it. I am super cheap with stars (I do rate book in my goodreads) If I think the book I read is fun, enjoyable, good and I think most people will enjoy it, then I give it a 3 stars (some people would give 4) then when is really good I give 4 and 5 when it blows my mind. I don't think I will read this novel. I have seen many 3 stars, which mostly equal to my 2 stars (according to my own taste XD) In goodreads.

    Thanks for sharing my dear. ^___^

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  6. I haven't read this one yet, but I'm kind of feeling sorry for Danny. Poor guy. He didn't ask to come back from the dead just to be the annoying and boring zombie boyfriend. LOL

    And Agh! Sounds like the mom really needs to get a clue.

    I'll probably be skipping out of this one, but I really enjoyed your review.

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  7. I too hate it when parents are completely clueless. The romance sounds a bit weak. All in all, sounds like it didn't quite live up the it's potential. Thanks for the great review!

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  8. "Of course there’s a love triangle because our living narrator needs a guy who is alive to be interested in her too". Argh, all these unnecessary damned love triangles. Why not just make ZombieDanny more interesting instead?

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