Kai and Ginny were best friends for most of their lives, but now they are more than friends, in love, and have every intention of running away together. One night, however, Kai goes off with a stranger named Mora. Ginny discovers that Mora is the Snow Queen through the help of Kai’s grandmother who had an encounter with her when she was a teenager. Ginny decides to do whatever it takes to go after Kai and get him back, but she soon realizes that even in the United States there is a world of monsters and villains that she never expected. With the help of new friends Ella, Luke, and Flannery, future queen of Kentucky, Ginny chases down Kai, fights the snow queen, and learns about the mysterious wolf creatures that follow her in her quest.

While it had so much potential with intriguing ideas and worked to retell a fairy tale that is not as commonly known, Cold Spell didn’t live up to the possibilities. The characters weren’t particularly well rounded. Ginny has no identity outside of her boyfriend, and Kai is not developed much more than that either. Other characters are more interesting than they are. In the book Ginny is supposed to be discovering herself and that she is capable on her own, but it is not convincing. Some of the things could have been more interesting, but were not developed enough to show the readers why they should care. It is in a series, but it also works as a stand alone book. The plot should have been exciting with the chasing the Snow Queen, but it was mostly just dull. While the take on the Snow Queen could have been interesting, overall the story and characters are too underdeveloped and uninteresting. ( )

It's been a long time since I've read the others, so I'm sure I'm missing a lot of the connections between the stories. ( )

I enjoyed the previous books in the Fairytale Retellings series so I had to pick this one up. Unfortunately I'm not familiar with the story this novel is based on, The Snow Queen, but I plan on looking up the story soon. That aside, I enjoyed Cold Spell and the characters Jackson created, especially Flannery. Even though each book of the series has a different story with different characters, there's always something cohesive between them all which is nice. I look forward to her next installment ( )

A retelling of The Snow Queen. When her boyfriend disappears with a mysterious girl, seventeen-year-old Ginny leaves her hometown of Atlanta and fights wolves, escapes thieves, and braves the cold to rescue him ( )

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales.

Quick & Dirty: A unique retelling of The Snow Queen with cute romance, and a interesting mythology. The pacing was a little slow, but overall it was a quick read.

Opening Sentence: There were plenty of reasons to love winter.

The Review:

Ginny met Kai when she was seven years old. She moved into the apartment complex his grandmother owned. She asked him to play one day and they have been best friends ever since. Somewhere along the road their friendship turned into something deeper, filled with love and understanding. Ginny doesn’t have much of a home life; her parents ignore her, so she has turned to Kai for comfort. He is her home, and she doesn’t know what she would ever do without him. She has planned her whole future around him and she wants nothing more than to be with him forever.

Kai’s eccentric grandmother passes away and he is left devastated. She was his only family and while he is struck with grief, a beautiful girl named Mora enters into the picture offering comfort and understanding. Ginny doesn’t trust Mora, something about her is so cold and dark, but Kai seems to be entranced with her. Then suddenly Kai disappears without a trace and Ginny is left alone and heartbroken. She refuses to believe that he would leave her willingly, so she takes off after him. She is thrown into a world she never knew existed, filled with monsters and darkness. She has always believed that love could conquer all, but now she’s not so sure.

Ginny is a sweet protagonist. She is young and inexperienced, but also strong and loyal. As a character she really grows throughout the book with everything she experiences. Growing up she always relied on others to provide her happiness, but as she goes on this adventure she realizes that she has to rely on herself for her own happiness. She is a very determined young woman and didn’t give up even when things seemed impossible. She was a likeable character and easy to connect with. I also felt that she was a little bit forgettable and lacked any really unique characteristics.

Kai is a sweet boy, but I had a hard time connecting with him. Being the love interest, I really wanted to swoon over him, but I didn’t find anything that made me really care about him. He’s cute, respectful and an amazing violin player, but he had no personality. He was a slightly dull character that just didn’t quite cut it for me. The romance between Kai and Ginny is adorable, but nothing really unique or different.

Overall, this was a really quick read. I obviously didn’t love the main characters, but there were some secondary characters that I adored. There are some previous ties to other books in the series, and I enjoyed hearing about old faces. I liked the mythology and the interesting take Pearce took on the original story. There were parts that dragged, but for the most part, it was a pretty quick read. While this book was far from perfect, it was still an enjoyable read for me. If you like retellings or are a fan of Pearce’s other books, I would recommend giving this one a try.

Notable Scene:

“You know I’m in love with you, right, Ginny?” He’s looking at my knuckles, running his thumb across them. His eyes flicker to mine. It’s the first time he’s said it aloud, or at least, aloud and meant it like this. “I’ve always been in love with you.”

“I know,” I whisper, and he smiles, leans forward, and kisses me. I lift out of my chair and move to him; he pulls me down into his lap and wraps his arms around me. My fingertips curl at the nape of his neck, and when we break away he finds my eyes and is silent for a long time. He exhales, reaches up, and tucks my hair behind my ears, letting his palm linger by my cheek.

I smile and say, “I’ll always—

FTC Advisory: Little, Brown provided me with a copy of Cold Spell. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. ( )