Jennifer Estep

Oh Gwen. Oh dear sweet poor angst-filled Gwen. Estep puts Gwen through the ringer this book--which is saying something considering she was almost sacrificed in the first book and then had her almost boyfriend Preston try to murder her multiple times in between making out with her. The book starts easily enough--everyone has to go to the museum for a history project! Just what all high school kids, warrior or otherwise, want to do on the last day of winter break.

Oh and then Reapers attack and show more all hell breaks loose. Guess the project is scraped huh?

The one thing I've gotta say about this Mythos Academy--they really need a better vetting system for their students and staff. I mean, how exactly no one noticed this Reaper's movements, shenanigan's and crazy insane plots makes me wonder if there aren't way more agents of Chaos running around then folk want to admit to.

Over the course of the Mythos Academy books Gwen's had a pretty rough ride--in the first book she finds out about her secret heritage and that she's Nike's Champion (oh and by the way the world is on the brink of chaos), the second book she's emotionally manipulated and nearly killed a half dozen times plus finds out the truth about her mother's death and now in DARK FROST she's facing the consequences of not being fully prepared to handle her destiny or her powers. Even though Estep ups the anty each book for Gwen to deal with I never felt there's a sense of contrivance.

Each new hurdle Gwen has to overcome feels organic to her story. She's slowly learning how to harness her powers and thus taps into something dangerous in a moment of desperation. Her fighting abilities are continuing to show progress because she's been training really hard every day. The relationship problems she's having with Logan are a direct consequence of her inability to harness her powers and their shared inability to understand the other's pasts and how it affects them now.

Gwen doesn't dwell, which I appreciate. As much as she is overly nosy and does seem to walk herself into danger because of it, I'd far rather see her suddenly in danger then moping over Logan not talking to her.

I did want to cry foul about what happens in the beginning with Daphne and Carson. While its a great way to introduce a new level to Daphne's character, as well as give us a piece of the larger picture (without making a big deal of it) it felt rushed. I'm not sure if that's because it came after a very intense few scenes and was one emotional anxiety too many or if it could have been presented later in the book, but the timing bothered me.

Book 4 CRIMSON FROST (that's not ominous or anything), doesn't come out until...oh lovely 2013. Wonderful. Rest assured I am eagerly awaiting this next book!

And remember kids, pink saves lives. show less

Have you ever bought a book that sounded SO good and that everyone was totally loving on but for some reason didn't get around to reading it right away, and then when you finally did you can't figure out why you waited so long because you absolutely LOVED it? (Does that make any sense?) Well that's what happened with Touch of Frost! I have no idea why I haven't read it before now because I've been really psyched about it since I read the first promo for it - mythology, magic, and monsters? I show more was hooked from the beginning, but I kept getting books I had to read for review and as I'm sure you reviewers out there know, the books you want to read just for you can get pushed to the back of the bus. I finally just made myself take the time to read it and you know what? It only took me a day and a half because I couldn't put it down!! I loved it, loved it, loved it! Jennifer Estep is a goddess herself to me because of her ability to write in such a way that you fly through the book without realizing that you've totally lost a day or so in your life, and you don't mind at all because the book was totally worth it!

Gwen Frost loses her mother and her normal life at the same time. Her mother is killed by a drunk driver and she is taken out of her routine and plopped down in Mythos Academy, a place where the students and teachers actually believe that the gods and goddesses in the myths are real, and that the God of Chaos, Loki, is trying to escape from his prison to wreak havoc on the world that we live in. Nuts, no? Sure, Gwen has a gift, but it's a Gypsy gift, psychometry, which Gwen describes as the ability to touch an object and immediately know, see and feel its history, but in a school that is filled with Spartans, Valkyries and Amazons, she doesn't really stand out at all. Nor does she fit in at all. She has no friends because all the other students are rich, beautiful, powerful and pretty much full of themselves. They've also been trained to be warriors their whole lives, and Gwen can't figure out what the heck she's even doing there. No one will give her any answers either, they just keep telling her it will become clear in time. Extremely frustrating for a teenager!

One of my favorite things about this book is the world building. I've always loved mythology and reading about the gods and goddesses and such, and Jennifer Estep puts such a fun twist on it all. She really brings it to life for you, the reader, so much so that I really, really want to go to school there myself! The characters, other than Gwen, start out kind of two dimensional but are quickly fleshed out and come into their own personalities. There is definite character growth through the course of the book, especially with regard to Gwen, but some of the secondary characters really change a lot too. The pacing is excellent and the book is very easy to read. As noted above, I finished it in a day and a half, and with a hyperactive 6 year old at home who wants all of my attention, that's really saying something! I was constantly trying to find things for him to do just so I could pick up the book and read a few more pages! That hasn't happened to me with a book in a while, and I've really missed it! That NEED to read a book, because you've been so drawn into the story that you HAVE to find out what is going to happen next! I already have a copy of book 2 on my shelf waiting for me, and I'm going to start it as soon as I finish typing this - and spending some time with my poor, neglected son of course:)

I give this book a very enthusiastic 5 stars and since I've heard that book 2 is even better than book 1, I can't wait to get reading! I highly recommend this to all fans of YA fantasy, especially mythology related fantasy :D show less

Oh where to begin? Well first if you follow me you know that all the books in this series have been 5 Mac Halo (stars) and favorites for me. Well kiddies, Widow's Web is still a favorite and I still have my Gollum moments (My Precious) but I could only give it 4 stars.

Why? One word, or rather name...OWEN.

Owen you broke my heart in this one. I knew you were too perfect. But I have hopes that you pull you head out of your ass in the future.

But I'll back up a bit and leave Owen where he show more belongs...bitch slapped and tie up somewhere. For now.

I love how Widow's Web starts. Gin has been planning an assassination for weeks on her current targets and you won't believe who they are. I found myself confused and then laughing my ass off.

We get to see the whole case, Finn, Bria, the Deveraux sisters (I knew that I've heard that last name before reading this series and it finally click in my head... The Golden Girls, Blanche Deveraux ok back to the review) Eva, Phillip Kincaid and of course Owen.

This time around the gang is dealing with a deadly water elemental, Salina who just happens to share a past with Owen, Eva and Phillip. And as the book summary states, she appears to be the perfect Southern Belle but really she's one cold heart, crazy bitch and it's seems every but Owen knows it.

Anyway Salina is back in town after being gone for years. And she is making a splash (pun intended) in the underworld of Ashland. See Gin and Owen's families were not the only people that Mab Monroe killed. Salina's father was killed by Mab at party years ago when she was younger and it broke her. While she was away she only got crazier and now she has brought her deadly water magic to town in hopes of getting revenge.

That's where Gin comes in to take the bitch down. But Salina wrecks all kinds of havoc before the Gin finally takes her out. And we will feel the effects of the havoc for few books yet, I'm sure.

Also to sum up Widow's Web - action packed, another crazy bitch dead by Gin's knives, and the once loved Owen is now on my shit list as well as others that have read the book. Fans of the series will no doubt read this one and have strong feelings, especially if they are an Owen fan. show less

{a few spoilers, here and there}

Well, just as much as other readers, I am very mad at Owen’s character. But at the end, I do like how it turned out. Don’t get me wrong, I do ship Owen and Gin. But romance is not my genre, never has been. All that sex and the kisses recently - it’s just been the same again and again, quite boring.

Now that they kinda broke up, background characters can finally spend time with Gin again. Especially Bria, she barely was active in this book. Although I did show more like how Bria and Finn never really were at the same room, and when they were, they didn’t do anything romantic. (Yep, I still don’t ship them.)

I do think that Owen & Gin will be endgame, but I will enjoy the break between them.
Especially because I love book clubs - and Gin, Bria & Roslyn are now part of one. Can’t wait to see more of that in the next book, hopefully.

Other than that, I really liked Salina as a villain. Sure, I’m mad at her, how she tortured Eva and I’m also mad at every other character that didn’t run up and killed Salina in the first chapter she was introduced, simply because I love Eva as a character and no kid deserved to be tortured like that.
Also, wtf is wrong with Owen? All the time he’s described as the big brother who’d kill the whole world to save his little sister, but the moment someone mentions that Salina tortured her when she was a baby, he just wants to talk to her? Seriously? As if talking or even therapy would stop Salina. But then again, I’m also glad how he ticks because that’s what makes him stand out from every other character, in general.
Overall, at the end, I did understand Salina’s motives and can’t really judge her. Annabelle & Eira at least died quickly, whereas Mab made a show with Benedict. You can’t really blame her for that. show less