*Review* Frozen by Melissa de la Cruz & Michael Johnston May 11, 2014

***As always mild spoilers may follow***

Rating:3 stars
Pub date:17 September 2013
Publisher:Putnam Juvenile
Genre:Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, Dystopian, Paranormal
Format:personal copy, hardcover, signed; ARC obtained from ARCycling
Status:Book one of the Heart of Dread series

Summary:

From New York Times bestselling author Melissa de la Cruz and Michael Johnston comes this remarkable first book in a spellbinding new series about the dawn of a new kind of magic.

Welcome to New Vegas, a city once covered in bling, now blanketed in ice. Like much of the destroyed planet, the place knows only one temperature—freezing. But some things never change. The diamond in the ice desert is still a 24-hour hedonistic playground and nothing keeps the crowds away from the casino floors, never mind the rumors about sinister sorcery in its shadows.

At the heart of this city is Natasha Kestal, a young blackjack dealer looking for a way out. Like many, she’s heard of a mythical land simply called “the Blue.” They say it’s a paradise, where the sun still shines and the waters are turquoise. More importantly, it’s a place where Nat won’t be persecuted, even if her darkest secret comes to light.

But passage to the Blue is treacherous, if not impossible, and her only shot is to bet on a ragtag crew of mercenaries led by a cocky runner named Ryan Wesson to take her there. Danger and deceit await on every corner, even as Nat and Wes find themselves inexorably drawn to each other. But can true love survive the lies? Fiery hearts collide in this fantastic tale of the evil men do and the awesome power within us all.

My thoughts:

I have to take a moment and marvel that there is finally a Melissa de la Cruz book that didn’t wow me. I went in knowing it wasn’t received at well as other things she’s written, but c’mon. It’s by Melissa freaking de la Cruz. I had hopes that it was a fluke. I don’t know what it was, but whatever it was, I don’t know what happened with this book.

I was so excited for a new Melissa de la Cruz series. I bought a signed copy as a Happy Birthday to me present. The whole idea of Frozen intrigued me. Everything’s FROZEN. Ice age-esque. So. Excited. Finally, I decided to read it. I found out my library had it on audiobook so I decided it’d be a good listen while I do things around the house book. Nope.

The action in the beginning had me listening to sections a few times and checking my physical book. There’s so much info dumped at a time. I’m still not sure if I caught everything or not.

I was hoping the characters would redeem it. Nope. Reading or listening, I really couldn’t get into the two POV characters of Nat and Wes. I honestly didn’t care about them and would frequently have to replay or reread sections because I would zone out.

It also felt way too much like Under the Never Sky. I didn’t like how Into the Still Blue went and Frozen really felt like an alternate version in a way. Maybe if I’d read this first, my feelings would be swapped. Either way, I was distracted by that though a lot, too.

Some parts screamed Melissa de la Cruz wrote this and once I started noticing that, I started looking out for parts to mentally scream to myself “YAY! She totally wrote this part and I can tell it!” While it’s neat that I can hear her writing voice, it’s also annoying because it should be a seamless transition and one style shouldn’t over power the other. I know he’s helped her on other works, but I’ve never felt a voice struggle like I did in Frozen. Now, don’t get me wrong. Melissa can write a killer romance scene and I enjoyed those. But, they weren’t enough to redeem the suck.

If I gave up on books more easily than I do, I might have bailed. My love for Melissa de la Cruz kept me in til the end, but also distracted me. Now that I know what to expect, I’ll probably reread it. Hopefully without the distractions it will be a lot better. I’ll still definitely read Stolen when it comes out later this year. I’m interested enough in the story to at least give it a shot!

About the authors:

 

 

Melissa de la Cruz is the New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of many critically acclaimed and award-winning novels for teens including The Au Pairs series, the Blue Bloods series, the Ashleys series, the Angels on Sunset Boulevard series and the semi-autobiographical novel Fresh off the Boat.

Her books for adults include the novel Cat’s Meow, the anthology Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys and the tongue-in-chic handbooks How to Become Famous in Two Weeks or Less and The Fashionista Files: Adventures in Four-inch heels and Faux-Pas.

She has worked as a fashion and beauty editor and has written for many publications including The New York Times, Marie Claire, Harper’s Bazaar, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Allure, The San Francisco Chronicle, McSweeney’s, Teen Vogue, CosmoGirl! and Seventeen. She has also appeared as an expert on fashion, trends and fame for CNN, E! and FoxNews.

Melissa grew up in Manila and moved to San Francisco with her family, where she graduated high school salutatorian from The Convent of the Sacred Heart. She majored in art history and English at Columbia University (and minored in nightclubs and shopping!).

She now divides her time between New York and Los Angeles, where she lives in the Hollywood Hills with her husband and daughter.

 

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