REVIEW: Cold Kiss by Amy Garvey

 

Author: Amy Garvey

Pages: 336

Genre: Young Adult

Publisher: HarperTeen

AMAZON: Cold Kiss

Cold Kiss was kindly provided to me by Netgalley for HarperTeen

Synopsis. (Goodreads)

“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.

Amy Garvey’s transcendent teen debut is perfect for fans of Shiver and Beautiful Creatures. Wren’s unforgettable voice and story will stay with readers long after the last page is turned.

REVIEW: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Cold Kiss was kindly provided to me by Netgalley.

I was really stumped when it came to rating Cold Kiss, it was a book that I couldn’t put down which is a good thing but one I found really depressing and morbid.

It is the story of Wren and Danny, experiencing first love when Danny is killed in a drunken car accident. Wren is going through the stages of grief when she decides to try and bring Danny back from the dead by performing a ritual spell – and succeeds. Wren has always had unusual powers like others in her family but doesn’t understand them so was unsure her spell would even work.

When Danny returns, he is definitely not the same; he is cold, stiff and possessive. The only place Wren can hide her secret is in her neighbors locked loft until she can work out a way to fix what she has done and visits him daily between school and family time.

When newcomer Gabriel DeMarnes first sights Wren, he knows she is different; he has clairvoyant abilities and is aware somehow of Wren’s powers; he also has the ability to get snippets of peoples thoughts which is how he found out about Danny.

Things become a bit much when Danny starts remembering his past and that he is in fact dead. I was surprised by how much Gabriel wanted to help; it was truly noble despite the way he was constantly treated by Wren.

I didn’t really connect with Wren as a character, she was naturally grieving, she was flawed and she had a lot of questions about her family powers which her mother constantly avoided answering but the way she treated everyone was a bit disheartening. Gabriel was thoughtful and kind and tolerated a lot from Wren, I was unsure of his intentions initially but they proved innocent, he seemed to truly care for her despite not really knowing her.

There are a number of unanswered questions I still have, I am not sure if there will be a sequel but I wish we were given more information on the family powers, why there is distance placed between her mother and aunt as well as why her father left, it is bought up but left open with no resolution which I found quite annoying.

Cold Kiss was an engaging and well-written story. It really tugs at the heart-strings and pulls you in with the emotions being portrayed – grief, helplessness, angst. It gives a unique spin on zombies as we know them, not at all as gruesome as they are depicted in some other books I have read.

I will definitely read more books written by Ms Garvey.