Kiss of Frost by Jennifer Estep

*Synopsis*


Kiss of Frost (Mythos Academy # 2) picks up shortly after Touch of Frost left off. 17-year old Gwen Frost is a gypsy girl who uses her psychometry abilities to find lost things. She can tell the history of said object simply by touching it which lead her to being placed at Mythos Academy in the first place. 


Gwen has been designated by Nike, the Goddess of Victory, to be her Champion and carries a sword named “Vic” almost everywhere she goes.


Gwen has been forced to learn how to defend herself with not only her own sword, but with a bow and arrow as well after she was involved in the unfortunate circumstances surrounding Jasmine Ashton and her death. Ashton was a Reaper who followed the destructive path of the God of Chaos himself, Loki.


It isn't long before Gwen is once again the focus of attacks, supposedly by a Reaper seeking vengeance for Jasmine’s death. Naturally, Gwen doesn't tell anyone, and the incident goes without notice by the Pantheon of Mythos Academy, including Professor Metis who Gwen is supposed to trust with this information.


This all comes to a boil when on a trip to Winter Carnival; Gwen is once again targeted by a Reaper and a Fenrir Wolf who wants her dead.


Gwen learns some valuable lessons over the course of this book. The first is that she can use her psychometry abilities in order to learn how to use a bow & arrow and her sword against an opponent that wants her dead. She has effectively turned into a weapon that is able to fight back instead of cowering behind others.


The most important fact that Gwen learns along the way is that people have been lying to her from the very start about what really happened to her mother, and why. It now appears that Gwen holds the key to whether or not the Reapers are successful in breaking Loki out of his prison.


*Gwen Frost’s World*


Jennifer Estep’s Mythos Academy series features Vikings, Romans, Samurai’s, Celts, Valkyries, Amazons, Ninja’s and Spartans. It combines Norse, Greek and Egyptian Mythologies. Of course, Gwen is the only gypsy at the school, but she understands that the gods have also given them a purpose in this world as well just like her mother, and grandmother before her.


For Gwen, she is her usual snarky self but also a bit dreary and repetitive at times as well. Her ability of reminding people that (1) her mother is dead, (2) that her mother told her to breathe whenever she was stressed out or in difficult situations, and (3) that she is just a gypsy and was not privileged with money and training since she was born, is just downright annoying. Fine Gwen, we get it, but you now have plenty of support and opportunities to learn how to defend yourself and even make friends in your school if you truly wanted to.


On the positive side, Gwen seems to have made some long lasting friends in her best friend Daphne Cruz (Valkyrie), Carson Callahan (Celt), and Oliver Hector (Spartan). Later, of course, Logan comes to the rescue and it’s obvious that he has been hiding his true feelings for Gwen.


*Overall Thoughts*


Hmmm, how should I put this to not put off my desire to continue reading this series as well as her Elemental Assassin series? Estep loves to recap what happened over the course of the previous book, or series. She kicks the horse in the head until it is truly dead and being processed into shoe leather. I’m not sure what the point of doing this is other than she is trying to catch those who have not read the previous books but decided to join in the middle of the series.


There really isn’t any mystery as to who is behind the attacks on Gwen and why. Gwen was told at the end of Touch of Frost that Jasmine’s family blamed her for her death and to be prepared for their retribution. 


So, when the actual villain is introduced upon arriving at the Winter Carnival, and after learning some key facts about him by Daphne, warning lights should have been blinking like mad.

Unfortunately, Gwen is so teed off at Logan that she instead aims at a totally innocent and sad character whom I hope gets his own happy ending before the end of this series.

Gwen’s failure of telling anyone, especially Professor Metis, what’s happening to her, especially with the Fenrir Wolf, is a key factor into what eventually happens in the end.


Thankfully, I already have Dark Frost on my Kindle which I intend on reading soon! It was also announced that Book # 4 is called Crimson Frost and releases in 2013.



*Rating* 3.5
*Genre* YA Paranormal