Cold Kiss - Amy Garvey
Synopsis: It was a beautiful, warm summer day, the day Danny died.
Suddenly Wren was alone and shattered. In a heartbroken fury, armed with dark incantations and a secret power, Wren decides that what she wants—what she must do—is to bring Danny back.
But the Danny who returns is just a shell of the boy Wren fell in love with. His touch is icy; his skin, smooth and stiff as marble; his chest, cruelly silent when Wren rests her head against it.
Wren must keep Danny a secret, hiding him away, visiting him at night, while her life slowly unravels around her. Then Gabriel DeMarnes transfers to her school, and Wren realizes that somehow, inexplicably, he can sense the powers that lie within her—and that he knows what she has done. And now Gabriel wants to help make things right.
But Wren alone has to undo what she has wrought—even if it means breaking her heart all over again.
Well, I have to say that this book is thoroughly depressing. Hopeful moments are short and hard to come by. However, it's also incredibly gorgeous. There were sentences that I stopped to read over and over because they were so beautiful. It's a story told with the impression that every word was carefully chosen and placed to convey the exact tone and image.
The plot is subtle, but this book isn't great because of it's plot. It's great because of the writing and because of the internal workings of Wren as she is dealing with loss. She is mourning just like any one else would in her situation, except she has his physical being to deal with. She gets to wrap herself up in him where others might cling to a sweatshirt of a lost loved one at night. I've never had to go through losing someone like this and I'd like to think I'll never have to go through anything like this - but if it ever happens, I think I'd find a friend in Wren. I feel like I went through the grieving process with her - just maybe in a more muted way. The tone was definitely impressive. Dealing with death, raising your dead boyfriend, then having to deal with an empty shell of a person, could so easily be overly-dramatic.
Wren grows in so many ways, she gets through so much, through this entire book - she learns to ask for what she needs and she begins to embrace the people who love her, reminding her that she's still alive and she hasn't lost everything. But the most important lesson is that a lack of knowledge can be completely dangerous. Not understanding something is worse than knowing too much sometimes. Most of Wren's problems originate with her powers. She has these mysterious powers within her that she knows nothing about. Her mother has them too, but refuses to talk about them. This in juxtaposition with the sex-talk she does take the time to have with her daughter, and the refusing to talk about the powers - goes to show how important it is to be open, to inform, to educate.
I recommend this book - but I warn you to only read it if you don't mind reading something a little dreary. It took a little control to get through because everything was just so sad. There is hope by the end, but there's still a lot of pain left over.
Cold Kiss - Amy Garvey
Synopsis: It was a beautiful, warm summer day, the day Danny died.
Suddenly Wren was alone and shattered. In a heartbroken fury, armed with dark incantations and a secret power, Wren decides that what she wants—what she must do—is to bring Danny back.
But the Danny who returns is just a shell of the boy Wren fell in love with. His touch is icy; his skin, smooth and stiff as marble; his chest, cruelly silent when Wren rests her head against it.
Wren must keep Danny a secret, hiding him away, visiting him at night, while her life slowly unravels around her. Then Gabriel DeMarnes transfers to her school, and Wren realizes that somehow, inexplicably, he can sense the powers that lie within her—and that he knows what she has done. And now Gabriel wants to help make things right.
But Wren alone has to undo what she has wrought—even if it means breaking her heart all over again.
Well, I have to say that this book is thoroughly depressing. Hopeful moments are short and hard to come by. However, it's also incredibly gorgeous. There were sentences that I stopped to read over and over because they were so beautiful. It's a story told with the impression that every word was carefully chosen and placed to convey the exact tone and image.
The plot is subtle, but this book isn't great because of it's plot. It's great because of the writing and because of the internal workings of Wren as she is dealing with loss. She is mourning just like any one else would in her situation, except she has his physical being to deal with. She gets to wrap herself up in him where others might cling to a sweatshirt of a lost loved one at night. I've never had to go through losing someone like this and I'd like to think I'll never have to go through anything like this - but if it ever happens, I think I'd find a friend in Wren. I feel like I went through the grieving process with her - just maybe in a more muted way. The tone was definitely impressive. Dealing with death, raising your dead boyfriend, then having to deal with an empty shell of a person, could so easily be overly-dramatic.
Wren grows in so many ways, she gets through so much, through this entire book - she learns to ask for what she needs and she begins to embrace the people who love her, reminding her that she's still alive and she hasn't lost everything. But the most important lesson is that a lack of knowledge can be completely dangerous. Not understanding something is worse than knowing too much sometimes. Most of Wren's problems originate with her powers. She has these mysterious powers within her that she knows nothing about. Her mother has them too, but refuses to talk about them. This in juxtaposition with the sex-talk she does take the time to have with her daughter, and the refusing to talk about the powers - goes to show how important it is to be open, to inform, to educate.
I recommend this book - but I warn you to only read it if you don't mind reading something a little dreary. It took a little control to get through because everything was just so sad. There is hope by the end, but there's still a lot of pain left over.
