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Touch of Frost
Touch of Frost
Touch of Frost
Ebook328 pages6 hours

Touch of Frost

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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The new girl at a school for mythical warriors is out to solve her classmate’s murder in the New York Times bestselling author’s YA fantasy series debut.

My name is Gwen Frost, and I go to Mythos Academy—a school of myths, magic and warrior whiz kids, where even the lowliest geek knows how to chop off somebody's head with a sword. Logan Quinn, the hottest Spartan guy in school, also happens to be the deadliest.

But lately, things have been weird, even for Mythos. First, mean girl Jasmine Ashton was murdered in the Library of Antiquities. Then, someone stole the Bowl of Tears, a magical artifact that can be used to bring about the second Chaos War. That kinda puts us on the verge of death, destruction and lots of other bad, bad things. Now I'm determined to find out who killed Jasmine and why – especially since I should have been the one who died.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateJan 28, 2011
ISBN9780758272607
Author

Jennifer Estep

Jennifer Estep is a New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author who prowls the streets of her imagination in search of her next fantasy idea. Jennifer is the author of the Crown of Shards, Elemental Assassin, and other fantasy series. She has written more than 35 books, along with numerous novellas and stories. In her spare time, Jennifer enjoys hanging out with friends and family, doing yoga, and reading fantasy and romance books. She also watches way too much TV and loves all things related to superheroes.

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Rating: 3.807189631372549 out of 5 stars
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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Here is the thing: I really, really enjoy books that take place at magical/mystical/wacky boarding schools. This book is average for that trope, leaning more toward Harry Potter than toward Hex Hall (meaning more fantasy/mystery than urban fantasy). Gwen is likeable and the mystery is entertaining even as the high school stuff is typical.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Reviewed by: Rabid ReadsIn the face of months of separation from Gin Blanco while I hungrily await the next Elemental Assassin installment I decided to give Jennifer Estep’s Young Adult books a whirl. I’m not a huge reader of this genre but every so often I venture out of my comfort zone and Touch of Frost turned out to be an excellent choice. The age of the characters may have changed but Estep’s terrific world-building, unique magics and action driven plot still remain at the forefront of this story which are the main reasons I enjoy her writing so much anyway so the fact that this tale unfolds in high school quickly became a non-issue. Besides, even I enjoy some good mean girl drama just so long as the characters are mature and Gwen Frost is indeed a very grown-up 17 year old.I like that this series features Valkyries, Amazons and Spartans instead of the typical vamps and weres; it made the Mythos Academy universe captivating from the get-go. Instead of looking for the one trait that will set her paranormals apart from the crowd, Estep goes completely off the reservation by incorporating Norse mythology instead. I enjoyed learning about these creatures through Gwen’s eyes because, coming from a “normal” school, she was as skeptical about their impossible natures as I was. It’s hard to avoid information dumps in the first installment of a series but Jennifer cleverly disguises them as lessons in Frost’s classes which I found much more enjoyable than the standard format.At first glance, the plot seems relatively straightforward: a girl is murdered and Gwen’s on a mission to find the killer. However, the story quickly morphs into so much more and also helps set the tone for future installments in this series. I appreciated the fact that amidst all of the drama, the school setting never gets forgotten. Frost may have bigger fish to fry but she still has to write that darned myth-history essay. I find that a lot of the time in Young Adult fiction the author forgets that her characters are still supposed to attend class and do homework. This is a personal pet peeve of mine so I’m glad that Estep didn’t make the same mistake that I’ve encountered countless times before.Gwen Frost is an easy character to like; she’s feisty, intelligent and just an all-around good person. The most popular girl in school gets murdered and none of her classmates even bat an eye. I like that she cares about everyone, even the mean girl. She learns a few very important life lessons in this book which is another pivotal element to a good story in my opinion. I have no use for whiny characters that don’t evolve over the course of a series. I think Gwen definitely has potential and I enjoyed witnessing the first phase of her transformation from “that Gypsy girl” to something more.Gwen is definitely no Elemental Assassin but I loved Estep’s little hat tip to the Pork Pit; I didn’t expect any mention of her Urban Fantasy series in this book so I couldn’t help but crack a little smile at the mention of BBQ. Vic was a lot of fun too and a great example of an element that’s cute in a Young Adult setting but would be absolutely ridiculous in a more grown-up tale. Touch of Frost is proof that a talented author can win you over with a great story no matter the genre.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Originally Reviewed at Witchmag's BoekenplankOoooh, lots of myths, all tangled up in each other and used to create a whole new world? Where gods from all parts of the world play a part in? This had to be my kind of book. And it was. I just love it when well-known stories are put in a brand new jacket. When you delve in the more unknown depths of said myths. When you get to know more about the powers the gods of yore (supposedly) had and the focus is on the less known gods and goddesses. That’s exactly what happens in this book and I thoroughly enjoyed updating my knowledge of the world of gods and goddesses!Add to that the rather mysterious main character, with powers unlike the Academy has ever seen, and my head was working overtime to think of all the things she could be. What makes her special? Is it her father? Her mother? Hmm.. A little too accidental that they are both death… Maybe something more is going on…. It took most of the story before I had this puzzle solved. And I quite liked the result. Only to discover the bigger puzzle it was part of…. A lot of my questions haven’t been answered, yet, and I’m looking forward to what the answers will be ^^Gwen is you average teenage girl, who suddenly discover a whole new world she didn’t know existed. She has her less than stellar moment, but fortunately ALWAYS knows when to call in for back-up instead of going alone. She even tells at least one person what’s bothering her and doesn’t keep all the weird things happening to herself. Smart girl, otherwise it will create an even bigger fuss if you keep silent! Read too many stories to not know that ;). Gwen also has her heart in the right place, who else would go and investigate the murder of the most hated girl in the school? Even thought the ending is a bit different than Gwen imagined, I admired her for caring.The only thing that this book lacked was romance. There’s enough opportunity in the form of cute boys. Especially Logan would be a great candidate, what with him coming to her rescue time and time again ^^ I loved to see a bit more conversations between Gwen and him, some more bonding moments… Although his reticence has me intrigued. There’s apparently something about the Spartans….Conclusion3 HEARTS. It’s the perfect book for any mythology lover out there. Myths and legend are given a whole new look and different worlds are mashed together in this book. Furthermore there’s a very puzzling main character, whose origins are very mysterious and puzzles me even more. This book only missed a bit of romance and it would be truly perfect for me. But I have high hopes for the next book!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Read from February 13 to 15, 2013Read for Fun (Kindle/Paper)/Listened for Review (Brilliance)Overall Rating: 4.00Story Rating: 4.25Character Rating: 3.75Audio Rating: 3.75 (not part of the overall rating)First Thought When Finished: LOVED all the mythology! The characters were growing on me by the end!Story Thoughts: How very clever Ms. Estep! I truly enjoyed my trek into Mythos Academy. I am a sucker for mythology based stories and this series has got potential written all over it. I liked how Jennifer took stories, creatures, and magic that we all know and gave it her own little kick! I was definetly impressed with how quickly I was immersed into Mythos Academy and was stunned that I was left wanting to continue the series (You guys know me and my YA thing). This also has Jennifer Estep's quirky humor and fast-paced writing style that I love from her Elemental Assassin series. Perk: The Pork Pit was mentioned!Character Thoughts: Gwen Frost is the epitome of what most geeky girls with reading problems are in High School. They don't quite fit in but if you could hear their internal dialogue you would be in stitches all day. I love that Gwen does her own thing and I even like the way she ends up making friends. She is growing on me and by the end of book 2 I am certain I will love her. I am enjoying getting to know the rest of the characters too. As always with Jennifer Estep, I think the secondary characters will be very important in books to come. I hope so anyway because they were a delight!Audio Thoughts: Narrated by Tara Sands / Running Time 9 hrs and 46 minsI am going to admit that it took about 3 hours for me to warm up to the narration for Touch of Frost. I don't think Tara Sands did a bad job but sometimes it just takes a while to click. The pacing was great though and after I got Gwen's "voice" the rest fell into place. I will be continuing this series on audio and imagine the audio will get higher ratings from me as I go along.Final Thought: Touch of Frost was a fun ride with very little angst, no triangle, and very fun characters. It makes my very limited YA List!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    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 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
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    In Touch of Frost you hear Gwen say a lot, I have more questions than I do answers. This is how I felt about the beginning of the book. Just within the first chapter I was slightly confused and had questions. You meet our main character Gwen, known a lot through the book as “Gypsy Girl.” You also meet Daphne, mean girl with hot pink sparks coming out of her fingers. Daphne is a valkyrie and I honestly had no idea what that was. This was really my only complaint about the book, but really it was my fault for not being more knowledgeable about Norse Mythology. Not everyone would know the meaning and taking the time to figure it out wasn’t difficult. Later on in the book it does explain about who the valkyrie are. I just wanted to know immediately who they were, I do well with being (im)patient, right? So what is a Valkyrie? “In Norse mythology, a valkyrie is one in a group of female figures who decides which people will fall and die in battle. The valkyries bring their chosen to the afterlife hall of the slain, Valhalla, ruled over by the god Odin.” –Quoted from WikiThe story started off slow, but I enjoyed that pace because you knew something exciting was about to happen. It kept me turning the pages to figure out what would happen next. This book was filled with more mystery than I had expected. When Jasmine is murdered in the library and Gwen is spared, she instantly starts to hunt for what really happened. That’s when the fun begins.I like that Mythos Academy was not your typical witches and wizards academy. The mythology part in this book was remarkable. I learned about some tales in mythology I didn’t even know about. Most books that have references to mythology keep it to the most known tales. This one was stimulating for the mind, getting to learn about Loki, Nike, and the Bowl of Tears. The school is full of Valkyries, Amazons, Vikings, Spartans and many more. Gwen is just a simple gypsy, so it seems to her. She has a gift of touching an item that belongs to someone and seeing and feeling reminisce of who has touched it. Gwen is the outcast at school and seems happy at first to be that way. You can tell she wants more, but being the only gypsy with not the riches and power like the warriors in training doesn’t go in her favor. I feel like this whole book was about Gwen trying to figure out who she was. All she wanted was answers, not just about Jasmine, but also herself as well. And she slowly started to get them throughout the story. Logan was an interesting love interest I must say. He was the typical ladies man, yet Gwen had feelings for him. I like that he was a rough Spartan and enjoyed the witty banter he has with Gwen. He seemed to always be there for her in times of need. I am not sure why he pushed her away when she admitted her feelings, but hopefully the next book will go more in depth with that.The ending was intense and full of action. Things happened that I did not see coming. When Gwen finds out who she truly is and the meaning of why she was at an academy with a bunch of warriors, it was like a sigh of relief for me. I wanted so badly for Gwen to have such incredible purpose and not just be the “gypsy girl” anymore. I am so stoked for the next book and to see what happens next in the Mythos Academy series.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    wow!! this book was so good, the best fantasy book i have read this year, i just couldnt get enough of it, i read it in one sitting. it is very well written and is unique.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I've thoroughly enjoyed all books so far in the elemental assassin series and so combining a great writing style with mythology was always going to be a winner for me! Gwen is a great lead character and other characters become more as their layers are peeled back. I couldn't put the book down until I'd finished it and I'm eagerly looking forward the next one :0)
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Touch of Frost, the first installment on Estep's Mythos Academy series, is a fantasy novel for young adults that concerns the misadventures of Gwen Frost, a teenager struggling to fit in at a magical academy. Supposedly, Gwen has been transferred to Mythos Academy because her grandmother wants her to learn how to better control her magical gift and use it for good. Instead, Gwen spends most of her time at school poking into the love lives of more popular students and bemoaning her lack of friends. Even when Gwen looks into the death of "mean girl" Jasmine, who no one seems to miss, the author doesn't bring Gwen's powers to the forefront or give her more than a bumbling role in bringing the mystery to a conclusion.

    Estep describes Gwen as "a smart, plucky, slightly snarky heroine," but in fact, the protagonist comes across instead as whiny, self-pitying, and always needing a boy to save her. Gwen describes herself as a "geek," with a 4.0 GPA that she's proud of, yet she doesn't seem to enjoy classes or her job in the school library, so this is a hard idea to swallow. Most of the other characters are even less well fleshed out, and certainly less likeable. Jasmine's best friend and rival, Morgan, is described simply as "slutty," and Gwen's perpetual savior, Logan, seems only interested in two things: fighting his adversaries, and chasing girls. The only character who isn't completely one-dimensional is Daphne, a popular girl who ditches her old friends in favor of Gwen after realizing everything isn't as it seems in her clique.

    By the end of the book, Gwen hasn't gained new skills with her magic, or found any self-confidence that would seem to make her future adventures worth reading about. I doubt that many teenagers would relate to this protagonist or enjoy reading about the cardboard cutout cast of characters at Mythos Academy.

    The one strong point about Touch of Frost is the way that Estep draws on mythology to create the back-story for Mythos Academy and the students' powers, but she devotes too much time to developing this aspect of the story and not enough to the characters themselves. Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, although for a slightly younger audience, spins a much stronger and more enjoyable modern mythological tale.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    This is one of those books with a huge fan club, which I end up being disappointed with. Seriously, I can't understand what all the commotion is about.

    Firstly, the main character being a gypsy sort of bothered me. That's because everyone has this incredibly romantic understanding of gypsies, which is soooo untrue. Maybe it was true in the middle ages or something. But today... let me say that it's as far from the truth as the Earth is from the Sun. Perhaps that's fine because this is a work of fiction and you know, it's written so it would be likeable. But I just couldn't like it.

    Secondly, I love books with lots of dialogue in them and action. Here we have a bunch of back story, narration and blah-blah stuff that I could very easily just skip over and not miss anything interesting or important. That is a huge minus in my eyes, because I like it when a book entices me so much that I get hungry for EACH AND EVERY word on the page. Touch of Frost was not like that. I got very easily distracted from it, and found myself thinking of anything else but the story.

    Thirdly, the main character, Gwen, didn't touch me in any way. I was rather bored and unimpressed with her. She was just another girl, nothing special about her. Until we learned that indeed she was supposed to be very special in the story (but I didn't feel like she was). I can't even remember a single thing about her that made her any different than the regular Mythos population.

    Logan was this spartan boy who had to get me all crazy about him. But all he managed to do was get bored. He was supposed to be the bad boy of the story, kick-butt and you know. The man. But for some reason he didn't make my heart flutter, or my imagination go wild, or anything at all.

    So, I don't think I should continue with this series. It's obvious that it isn't doing it for me.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    I really, really wanted to like this book. It had elements of everything I love--a seemingly kick-ass female protagonist, a little bit of mystery, some romance, and lots of action.

    Or so it appeared at first. Gwen, while not quite TSTL, is still not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree. She tends to wander around, doing whatever comes to mind, seemingly astonished when she runs into unexpected obstacles...like locked doors. At one point, Gwen attempts to explore a murdered classmate's room, only to be surprised when she suddenly remembers that dorms require student IDs, and her student ID is keyed to a different dorm. So...Gwen forgot about something she's forced to do MULTIPLE TIMES every day?

    Another major problem I had with Gwen was the RAMPANT sex shaming. While Gwen is a high schooler and a certain amount of uncomfortableness with sex is in character, every time I found myself liking Gwen, I was blindsided by casual one-liners like so:

    Morgan’s reputation for being a raging slut who’d sleep with almost anyone made her number one with the guys, though. Naturally.

    Because that's all guys want, amirite?

    But even if I had been a raging slut like Morgan McDougall who gave it up just for fun, there was still the little problem of my Gypsy gift.

    God forbid sex be fun.

    Morgan looked gorgeous and totally slutty at the same time.

    Yes, we get it. MORGAN LIKES TO HAVE SEX. SEX IS BAD.

    I didn’t look like a beautiful fairy princess like Daphne had, but at least I didn’t come off as a total slut like Morgan either.

    What is Gwen thinks of Morgan, again? Or sex, for that matter? I keep forgetting.

    Point is: I wanted to like this book, but I just couldn't. Will not be continuing the series.


  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    In an interesting spin on the "magic boarding school trope", Gwen Frost is already attending Mythos Academy when the story begins. There is still plenty of discoveries for her to make, however, if not about her own powers than about the gods and goddesses that Impact the world around her.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Touch of Frost is the first book in a young adult series from urban fantasy author Jennifer Estep. In it we have Gwen Frost, a 17-year-old with a talent for psychometry (or touch magic) who is a new student at Mythos Academy. Mythos is a school for all kinds of warriors from different myths and histories: Spartans, Romans, Amazons, Valkyries, Vikings, Ninjas, Samurai, etc. When fellow student Jasmine Ashton (a Valkyrie and the school’s head “mean girl”) is found murdered in the school library and an ancient artifact goes missing, Gwen decides to investigate and discover why. Along the way she learns more about the students at the school, the myths they are all a part of, and even her own family.

    I enjoyed this first YA book by Estep. I thought the characters were pretty solid and the whole mythology theme showed promise. The first thing that popped to my mind after reading the description of this book was Rick Riordan’s “Percy Jackson” series, only for girls. I want to say right now, though, that this is NOT like that series. This is definitely for older teens and adults. These students drink, smoke, and have sex. “Hook-ups” in the school library are common and Gwen even stumbles upon a couple of students having sex at one point. These are rich kids who have no qualms doing whatever makes them happy.

    Our main characters are Gwen, a Gypsy girl who can tell the history of an item or person by touching it; Logan Quinn, a Spartan bad-boy with a reputation for sleeping around who seems to be attracted to Gwen; Daphne Cruz, a Valkyrie “mean girl” with mad computer skills; and Carson Callahan, a band geek with a crush on Daphne. They are an intriguing mix and I’m interested in seeing where the relationship between Gwen and Logan goes (the one between Daphne and Carson is resolved in this book). We also have Gwen’s Grandma Frost, whose psychic ability is seeing the future and is also an incredible baker. Gwen’s mother died a few months before this book starts, but we do learn she was a police detective who was killed in a hit-and-run car accident – although there feels like there is more to this, since it was a closed-casket funeral and Gwen was sent to Mythos shortly afterwards.

    I’ve always enjoyed mythology, so I like coming across books that weave that into the storyline. Estep has decided not to stick to just one mythological pantheon, however; she has Greek, Roman and Viking pantheons mixed and matched throughout (while there is mention of other gods and goddesses, these are the three primaries). Students at the school are training to be warriors in the constant battle between The Pantheon and the Reapers of Chaos. Loki (Norse God of Mischief and Tricks), leader of the Reapers, was defeated in a previous war by Nike (Greek Goddess of Victory) and locked up by the Pantheon (a conglomerate of gods). However, his Reapers are out to free their god and bring chaos to the world, and the Bowl of Tears that disappeared when Jasmine was murdered may be the key.

    I did have some problems with this book. There are points that are a bit repetitive, especially the phrase “Gypsy girl” when describing Gwen (you’ll note I ended up using it above). While it seems like an endearment by Logan, it is also how Gwen and everyone else at the school describes her. And it is said A LOT. An incident at Gwen’s previous school that led to her attending Mythos and how guilty Gwen feels about it because she believes it led to her mother’s death is also brought up several times. Logan’s reputation for sleeping around is mentioned a few too many times, as well, which leads me to another problem I have with the book – I’m not a real fan of how crudely the sexual proclivities of the teens are depicted. I am not against the sex itself, just the author’s style. This is more a matter of personal preference, since I tend to like things a little more romantic than written here. Since the main romances of Gwen/Logan and Daphne/Carson are not treated this way, though, it is not enough to put me off the series.

    Touch of Frost is a good start to a promising series by Jennifer Estep. I liked it enough that I went ahead and bought book 2, Kiss of Frost, which I’ll be reviewing next.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I did enjoy this and think it has potential to get better which is why I want to carry on with the series :)
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I enjoyed reading this book. I'll start with that, because I'm about to lambaste it, so I feel like anyone reading this should know that I still slurped it down in two days and am reasonably interested in what happens in book two.

    So. Percy Jackson meets Harry Potter and has a baby meant for the Twilight crowd. The ideas in this story are not original, but what stories are these days? Gwen Frost is attending an academy of students who are the descendants of mythic characters - Greek, Roman, and Norse heroes, and apparently others that we don't happen to meet in this book. She has some magical powers of her own, what she calls her "Gypsy gift," and that's fine, but she doesn't fit in with any of her peers and doesn't believe in any of the mythic magic taught at the school.

    There's my first point of contention. She is magical herself. She sees sparks flying from the fingernails of all the Valkyrie girls around her, sees how deadly strong the Spartan boys are, and yet completely refuses to believe any of their "magic mumbo-jumbo" is true. I don't get that. It didn't even seem to be a particularly useful plot point.

    Point of contention #2: I'm not at all sure about her claim on the word "Gypsy." I'd have been fine with it if she'd made some sort of connection to the folk legends about the historic Gypsy/Roma people, the same way the book was allowing the myths about ancient Greek folks to become true in the kids at this school, but early in the book, Gwen outright denies any connection to Gypsy/Roma culture. They just call themselves Gypsies because they have a little bit of magic. Meh.

    Points of irritation: The author's narrative is not brilliant. She apparently doesn't understand the grammatically correct way to use "good" (rats, now I can't find any examples, but she did it exactly three times and each time it smacked me in the face) - and I don't know if it's because the author doesn't know the correct use, or if she was trying to make the narrator's voice (it's in first-person) sound somehow more authentically like a teenager. If the latter, it's the only thing she did toward that end.

    Additionally, Gwen as the narrator OBSESSES about certain plot points. She obsesses about the death of her mother, which is obviously important, but it gets to feel like I'm being bludgeoned over the head with it. She obsesses about how she doesn't believe in the magic mumbo-jumbo, which I've already pointed out would have been annoying even if it hadn't been overdone. She obsesses out the hairbrush. There is nothing at all delicate about this prose. It's as if the author is terrified I might miss one of her themes if she doesn't bring them up and explain them to me fully. And repeatedly.

    Ugh, and the purple eyes. She really beats you over the head with that. It's one of those twinky-things that's supposed to make a character really specially - different from everyone else because purple is such a unique color. But by the time the story is done, 50% of the characters mentioned have purple eyes (they're all special, you know) and I'm just grossed out by it. At least poor twinky-Twilight Bella was a normal-looking human being.

    The characters themselves are okay. No great depth. They act like teenagers (well, much drunker and sexed-up-er than any teenagers I ever hung out with... but since the world has clearly gone down-hill since I was a teenager, I'm willing to buy that). They hoard of girls suffers from being 100% stereotyped as mean-girls. A single character is redeemed out of that stereotype, but she started as a mean-girl, and we don't meet a single female character through the entire book who isn't a mean-girl, and who isn't also humongous rich and pampered.

    An explanation for the richness and pampering is given, but I find it rather unsatisfactory. Fortunes are made and lost, especially over the course of the thousands of years from which these fortunes supposedly originate. I can't believe that 100% of the kids at this academy come from families that were able to guard and grow their fortunes, without a single family losing it in the Great Depression, or losing it because of some irresponsible drunk uncle (which is totally how my family lost its fortune ;) ). I'm also not terribly sure what the plot use of this is, except to make Gwen's "differentness" from everyone else at the academy more painfully apparent.

    Yeah, there was a LOT of irritating stuff in this book, but like I said at the start, I still snorfed it down. It was a really brainless read with adventure and murder and that mandatory love interest. I did like how the story was a bit of a murder-mystery, the one thing that really set it apart from other tales of epic evil vs. epic good, though I suspect the rest of the series may not pan out that way.

    You could tell that the author is up on her mythology, so I appreciated that too.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    More like 3.8 stars!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I love this heroine! Gwen Frost is someone I want as a best friend. Gwen is a gypsy, at least that is what she has always called herself because of her “gift”. For that reason she has to attend Mythos Academy, a school for kids that are descended from warriors that served the gods. Don’t let the boarding school idea turn you off, this struck me as more of a college setting, with the ages of the kids ranging from 16-21. This is definitely a Young Adult novel for the older crowd ;) . This also isn’t your typical school with run down buildings and grounds. Everything here is lavish and gorgeous and plush. I mean, Gwen’s dorm room is in a turret (how cool!). Everyone is also gorgeous it seems, from the Valkyries, to Spartans (rawr!), to Amazons…..

    Gwen is barely settling into the academy, making peace with the fact that she has no friends at Mythos, when the gorgeous but bitchy Jasmine is murdered nearly in front of her eyes. Not only was Jasmine murdered, but an ancient artifact was stolen. However, Gwen is left untouched much to her suprise. The school barely flinches at the murder, but Gwen can’t swallow the fact that Jasmine is so quickly forgotten even if she wasn’t the nicest person.

    Gwen’s humanity towards Jasmine’s death gets her attention. Some good, some bad, and some from the smexy, perfectly muscled Spartan Logan Quinn. Oh yes, the supposed manwhore of Mythos Academy that I couldn’t help but love, and neither can Gwen. He was born a warrior and loves to fight; it’s in his blood. While this book in the series isn’t heavy on the romance I think it was just the build up leading to a love affair I hope to see in book 2. There is definitely sexual chemistry between Gwen and Logan and I can’t wait till the sparks start flying *fingers and toes crossed*. Gwen also gets attention from a few other people that she did not expect. One is very scary and the other is intimidating, but amazing. No, I can’t say anything else ;)

    This book is the story of Gwen finding her place at Mythos while trying to figure out who killed Jasmine. The story was such a quick, easy, and fun read that is filled with a brewing romance, humor and mystery. I definitely rec it and can’t wait to jump right into the second book, Kiss of Frost.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    TOUCH OF FROST, by Jennifer Estep, is the first book in the Mythos Academy series. Gwen Frost is a Gypsie in a school full of mythological warriors. She is an outcast and one day stumbles upon a dead body of one of the Mythos students. She launches her own investigation with dangerous consequences. Along the way she makes two friends and learns more about her heritage then she ever bargained for.I really loved this book! Estep created a school full of mythological warriors who were training to protect humans from Chaos. Gwen's mother died previous to this book and she was recruited to attend Mythos. She has no idea why and keeps to herself since she did not grow up believing in the mythology as the rest of the students did. I loved Gwen's 'voice'. She was awkward, snarky, and totally into bad-boy Spartan Logan just as much as I was! I loved following her on the journey to figuring out who killed one of the popular girls. I enjoyed getting to explore Gwen's gift too. Her ability to touch an object and feel emotions from all those who have touched it before was pretty awesome. Although it did limit the amount of touching of other humans, especially Logan. Even though this book was pretty long at 350 pages, it definitely flew by and only touched the tip of the iceberg in the story as a whole. I am very anxious to read the next book! With a cast of characters that are well-developed and interesting and a plot that will keep your eyes glued to the pages, this book is not one to miss!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I really enjoyed this book. I found myself rolling my eyes a bit at the frequency of the use of certain words and phrases (foremost among them: "Gypsy gift" and "Valkyrie princess"), but it was very enjoyable. And I do like the premise, a lot. As a quick rundown for those who haven't read it, the basic premise is that the old gods and goddesses are real, and way back when they created Champions to defend the world for them because they'd all made a truce among themselves which forbade them from interfering directly. The descendants of these Champions are still living today, (some of them are Champions themselves) and their kids are attending Mythos Academy in order to learn how to become warriors for the gods.It's a fun concept. And – even with those few phrases that bugged me – it's enjoyably written.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Good Stuff As usual Jennifer writes a fantastic story that has you hooked from the very first paragraph and doesn't let you go until the very last sentence Tons of Estep's trademark quirky humour laced with fun pop culture references (Bonus points for mentions of Buffy, Xena and Karma Girl) Intriguing storyline with plenty of twists and turns Love Gwen and her Grandmother - Estep always writes kick ass heroines Logan is hot - he's up there with Finn in my bad boy book boyfriends Yummy sounding food - had to make the Pumpkin Cream Cheese Roll she mentions, drooled every-time she mentioned it Great dialogue with tons of witty and snarky comments SPOILER - Love the developing relationship between Gwen and Daphne Dying to read the next book in the series coming out at the end of November Need to get a job at the Library - what a creative and funky sounding library (but the Librarian is a jerk -- how about a hip fun Librarian named maybe either Rayment or Porter who has some kick ass skills & snappy comebacks)The Not So Good Stuff I totally took off points for the character of Nickamedes the Librarian since he is an uptight jerk Librarian (and we know how I feel about negative librarian references LOL) Some repetitive mentions of plot points - Estep is definitely doing less of this, but I do still notice (I think its because I am sensitive to this - I get the point don't knock me over the head with it) This actually might be helpful to more reluctant readers - just a heads upFavorite Quotes/Passages"So far, Professor Metis had been pretty vague about what exactly the chaos was, and I hadn't exactly been paying rapt attention to all the mumbo-jumbo magic stuff. But I was guessing it involved death, destruction and blah, blah, blah. I'd much rather read the comic books that I had stashed in the bottom of my messenger bag. At least they had some basis in reality. Genetic mutations could totally happen.""At least, that's what Nickamedes, the head librarian, claimed. I just thought he liked the free slave labor and bossing me around.""I wouldn't say hate, exactly. You're kind of like fungus, Gwen. After a while, you just start growing on people.""So I'm mold. Wonderful. So why don't you just scrub me off and go sit with your Valkyrie friends like usual?"4.5 Dewey's (Only cuz I'm picky about stereotypical Library characters)I borrowed this from Natasha, since I haven't yet recieved the copy that I pre-ordered (must get off my ass and rectify that)Jennifer's books always make me hungry, usually for something Pumpkin related - so in honor I have made a Pumpkin Cheesecake Roll - hopefully yours tastes as good as Grandma'sGrandma's Pumpkin Cream Cheese Roll (From Grandma's Desserts)Cake3/4 cup flour1/2 tsp. baking powder1/2 tsp. baking soda1/2 tsp. cinnamon1/2 tsp. ground cloves1/4 tsp. salt3 eggs1 cup sugar2/3 cup pumpkinFilling8 oz. cream cheese, softened1 cup powdered sugar6 tbsp butter, softened1 tsp. vanillaPreheat oven to 375. Using a jelly roll pan, line with parchment paper. Get a clean kitchen towel and sprinkle liberally with powdered sugar.Beat eggs and sugar in large mixer until thick. Add flour, soda, powder, cinnamon, cloves and salt. Continue mixing until all ingredients are combined. Pour evenly into pan. It will be very thin.Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, use a toothpick to make sure it is done.Turn cake onto powdered sugar towel. Carefully peel off paper. Roll up cake in towel, starting with the narrow end. Cool on wire rack. For best results, cool for at least 3 hours.Beat cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth.Carefully unroll the cake and remove the towel. Take spoonfuls of the cream cheese mixture and place them on the cake.It makes it easier to spread, and doesn't tear the cake. Spread evenly across the cake, making sure to get to the edge. Roll cake back up the way it was originally rolled. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Place in fridge for at least one hour.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Gwen Frost is a gypsy. What does that mean? It means that she comes from a family with strange magic-like powers. In her case, she can seen the history of items and people just by touching them. It means that her power turned her life upside down and led to the death of her mother. It means that she has been uprooted from everything she know and sent to Mythos Academy, a school for the decendants of ancient mythical beings such as valkyries and Spartans, where magic and destiny are commonplace. But Gwen doesn't fit in. She just wants to go back to her old school and her old way of life.But she needs to come to terms with the fact that her life will never be normal again. It all begins when the most popular girl in school, a Valkyrie named Jasmine, is brutally murdered in the school library. Gwen feels that like she is the only one that seems to wonder what really happened and may have found a use for her power after all, except now it doesn't seem to be working the way it should.I loved Gwen. She was upset and lonely, but there was always a good reason for her emotions and actions. There was no random brooding moments. Throughout the story she begins to feel more like she belongs in some ways, and like she belongs less in others. She finds friends and allies in unusual places and she becomes quite the detective...her mother would be proud.The mystery itself was quite engaging. The hints to solve it were scattered expertly throughout the story and it all linked up very nicely at the end with an ending that was suprising only in the fact that you didn't figure it out sooner. I will definitely be adding the next book to my wishlist.4/5
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I love mythology so when I saw that Jennifer Estep, successful and established adult urban fantasy author, was writing a YA book about kids at a boarding school who are descended from gods, I knew I had to read it. I am so happy to say that Touch of Frost did not disappoint!The story is told in the first person so we really get to know our main character, Gwen Frost. I love her! She is witty and snarky and always trying to be brave and help others. We go along with Gwen as she uses her ability (she can touch an object to see where it has been) to solve the murder of the school’s biggest mean girl. The story is very entertaining and the secondary characters, Logan, Daphne and Gwen’s grandmother, are really well written as well. I wanted to get more of Logan in the book and I can’t wait to find out more about him in the sequels.Another thing thing I really liked about Touch of Frost is that the author includes lesser known Greek mythology (Spartans and Amazons) and other varied mythologies like Norse and Celtic. There are also mentions of Persians, Samurais and Ninjas! I cannot wait to see where Estep takes this series. The plot for Touch of Frost is tightly written and the book is well paced. While Touch of Frost may not be appropriate for younger teens, older/more mature teens and adults, especially those who enjoy urban fantasy, will love this book. I am happy that I won't have to wait very long to find out what happens next. The sequel, Kiss of Frost, comes out on Nov. 29.Content: Sex, profanity, violence, underage drinking and drug use.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I find myself in awe while reading this book. Amazing from the very first word, I adored this book. I could not get enough of it. I loved the characters, the plot and especially the school!One things I adored about this book is the great story line as well as the character development. The story line has a new girl, not popular and always kept to herself. She find herself in a new school, who she barely thinks she is nobody. WRONG! I loved that the author created such a flawed character to become something more.Ms. Estep captured the reading with a character no one sought out. Gwen is fresh and young. Has a lot to learn and is someone everyone can relate too.The characters in this book were great! I loved the new friendships form and the love that is sought after. Gwen finds friends in the most unlikely places. She also becomes someone she never thought she be. I adore that Gwen is real. She is not a faker and has an attitude that make me laugh.Now the love interest. I am a big romance junkie. Ms. Estep wrote a love interest that is sooo good that it is maddening! I am hooked! I loved that Ms. Estep hooked the reader into a love that is developing, but not quite there. She weaved the love interest where you want it to go on, but just not yet. I like that Logan is a tough guy and is holding back. I know that Gwen is going to get him to sing like a canary once she gets him wrap around her little finger. It 's only a matter of time.You must read this book! The characters are fresh and amazing. Plot line is addicting and non-stop action. Plus, you want Logan, cause I know I do. I mean, who doesn't want a hot spartan? Highly addictive and very engrossing, Touch of Frost is a book that I want to read over and over again. *cursing/ sexual activity*
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I really enjoy mythology, especially twists on the normal stories. When I read the description of Touch of Frost, I was really excited because it seemed like I book I would really enjoy. Although there were some aspects of the novel that I really liked, there were others that I liked, uh... not so much.Gwen is a "gypsy", along with the other women in her family, and because of that, she has a strange magical power. Gwen doesn't really know why she is a gypsy, or what it means, she just has always known that that is what she is. After her mother's death, she is transported to Mythos Academy, a school made up of kids with otherworldly powers - supposedly decedents of the Greek gods, but Gwen isn't so sure she believes all of it. After a student's death, Gwen decides to start looking for answers... Although her search may bring her closer to the truth, inevitably, that means closer to unimaginable dangers. Okay, so I liked the plot. Although it did take about 100 pages for the pace to pick up, I was interested in what was going to happen next. The ending - showdown. It was highly entertaining and I will definitely be on the lookout for the sequel, Kiss of Frost, coming in December. My problem with this novel was that although I cared about the plot, I didn't really care about the characters. Maybe that's not fair to say... I did care about some of the characters, but not the ones that I normally would, or should for that matter. Truthfully, I didn't really care what happened to Gwen. It wasn't that I didn't like her or that she annoyed me, I just didn't connect with her. I don't know why, there just seemed to be something missing in her development. She didn't seem to really change at all. Although she learned more about her self, none of it seemed to really effect her. It was if she always subconsciously knew the strange things she was about to find out (trying not to spoil), so she didn't seem realistically phased by it. I'm hoping I'll like Gwen more in the next book, because I'm really interested to see where the plot goes next.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I am a big fan of Estep's Elemental Assassins series and was excited to see that she was writing a YA series. This is the first book in Estep's new young adult series, Mythos Academy. There are currently three books contracted for this series, but Estep hopes to write 4 or 5. The second book, Kiss of Frost, is due out Dec. 2011. This was a great start to a fun new mythology based series. I loved Gwen as a character and loved how mythology was tied into the story. I recommend checking out the prequel, First Frost, if you want the back-story behind the incident with the girl and her hairbrush which is referenced a number of times in this book.Gwen Frost has just started at Mythos Academy and is having trouble fitting in. She is surrounded by Romans, Amazons, Valkyries, and Spartans...all strong warrior types. Gwen's only power is the ability to get feelings and thoughts from objects people have touched. When a girl is murdered in the campus library where Gwen works, the powers that be at Mythos Academy blame the Reapers of Chaos; but Gwen thinks there is more to it and starts secretly investigating. Her investigation gets her into a lot of trouble and introduces her to a destiny she never knew she had.This book takes a bit to get going; for the majority of the book Gwen only has her touch ability to rely on. Gwen is a great character who is very down to earth, and seems to balance school and family well. Gwen has trouble making friends and is a loner at heart. Gwen's potential love interest, Logan, seems like an interesting character...but you just don't learn much about him or see him much in this book.Most of the book is about Gwen sneaking around trying to figure out what really happened with the girl that was murdered in the library. So this was an urban fantasy with a lot of mystery thrown in. The setting is neat too, Mythos academy is an interesting place. I wish that the powers of the other races there had been expanded on a bit; all of the other races are faster and stronger. There is some mention of other elemental and healing abilities, but it is never talked about in depth and as a reader we never really learn how this relates to the specific races.I loved some of the stuff that happened towards the end of the book and am really looking forward to seeing what Gwen does in her new place, with her added power. Not to mention the training session planned between Gwen and Logan...I am sure those will be very very interesting. The book ends well, with the main mystery resolved and a lot of things dangling for the next book.Overall this was a solid YA urban fantasy. I enjoyed the characters and the setting; loved how mythology is tied into this story. It is kind of like a young adult mythological Harry Potter. I am hoping that the characters' powers will be expanded on in future books and I am also hoping we will get to know Logan better. I will definitely be picking up the next book in this series, Kiss of Frost, when it releases. Fans of young adult urban fantasy should check out this book, as should fans of mythology based urban fantasy.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Um hell to the freakin yes!Touch of Frost is definitely one of my favorite YA urban fantasy books out there.Gwen is a very dynamic character. She’s an outcast,she feels like she isn’t as strong as her classmates(who are literally Spartans, Amazons, Vikings, Valkyries etc) and NOW...lets just say I’ll be expecting great things from her. Once she brushes off her swordsmen skills, of course. Gwen had it in her the hold time, she’s a hero for sure.As for her friends...I didn’t trust Daphna at first. But the once snotty, follower, Valkyrie grew on me. She shown true friendship for sticking by Gwen's side. So I feel like Daphna has truly redeemed herself. She ditched those backstabbing wannabes and finally when for the guy of her guys, the adorable “band geek” Carson .and LOGAN...totally HOT and gosh, he can be annoying in a sexy bad boy way. Jennifer knows how to keep the tension going and they haven’t even kissed yet! lol *fingers crossed* for things to pick up between Logan and Gwen.I really enjoyed the plot and the world building,I don’t know if I’m over thinking this but I’m still looking for the bigger picture in all this. Champions vs. Reapers. What if The mythical(and evil) god Loki gets loose...would everything end in world destruction...? Hopefully I’ll learn more in the next book.Touch of Frost is dangerous and exciting. This one of those books you can’t put down.I can’t wait to read more about Gwen, learn more about Mythos, and see some serious reaper ass kicking in Kiss of Frost!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I read the summary for this book and immediately knew it was a book I needed to get my hands on. Mythology is one of my great loves, especially Greek mythology, so I was especially excited to get my hands on a book focusing on a school where the students are all descendants of ancient myths. The story is told from Gwen Frost’s point of view; she is a new student at Mythos Academy and often feels like the odd girl out because she is the only Gypsy attending the school. All the other students have warrior backgrounds such as, Valkyries Amazons, Vikings or any other ancient myth you can probably think up and Gwen feels like her abilities just don’t match up to her classmates. Gwen has the ability to read objects and tell what the person they belong to was feeling or thinking while touching it as well as a mini history of the object. She also gets readings off people when she touches them and can see their thoughts or events that have happened in their life. It is a cool ability to possess, but it often leaves her alone since people tend to not like others knowing all their secrets.At the heart of this book is an ancient battle that everyone at Mythos Academy has been training to fight for. The war is between the gods and goddesses of the Pantheon (the good guys) and Loki, god of mischief, and his Reapers of Chaos (the bad guys). Loki wants to rule over everyone including: gods, goddess and mortals. The Pantheons goal is to not let that happen. The students at Mythos are caught in this battle and trained to fight against Loki, should he rise up again. Therefore students come to school armed not only with pens and paper, but with swords and daggers as well. Gwen gets involved when a student in her class is murdered and she is the one who discovered the body. She is determined to find out who did it, because she is convinced that foul play is involved. There is a little romance peppered into the novel, but it not the focus of the story. Gwen has a crush on this boy, Logan Quinn, who happens to be a decedent of the Spartans. He has a reputation at school of being a ladies man, so she tries to keep her distance from him. However, they keep running into each other inadvertently throughout the novel and their interactions are ones I quickly came to forward to because of their amusing banter. Gwen’s inner monologue about Logan also kept me entertained; her initial description of how tough Spartans were had me laughing out loud:“One of the things that Spartans were known for was their ability to pick up any weapon – or any thing- and automatically know how to use and even kill someone with it. Seriously. Logan Quinn was the kind of guy who could stab me in the eye with a freaking Twizzler.”Tell me that image does not make you chuckle and cringe all at the same time? This brings me to my next point, Gwen’s way of speaking. I was a little worried at the beginning that the dialogue was going to be too juvenile, but that fear quickly dissolved as I continued reading and I fell easily in step with Gwen. She had me laughing at multiple times during the book at her inner thoughts. She is a bit of a loner, so she does not interact with her classmates as much, but definitely has her own opinions about them. She was quite comical in a nerdy type of a way which really spoke to me. Being a nerd myself, I enjoyed all her comic book references and her love of super heroes. I can easily relate to this passion and it just made me love Gwen more. Overall, Touch of Frost is a fantastic first novel in a new young adult fantasy series. It has just a little bit of everything, engrossing new mythology, intriguing mystery, and a touch of romance that all blend together to make an irresistibly new series. I am looking forward to December when the next book Kiss of Frost is released.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Summary: After her mother is killed by a drunk driver, Gwen is sent to Mythos Academy, a boarding school for teens who have powers bestowed upon them by gods and goddesses. Gwen doesn’t have any amazing talents like her peers—she only has psychometry, the ability to touch things and see visions relating to whoever touched them last. But when the most popular girl in school is killed right in front of her eyes, Gwen finds herself tangled up in a murder mystery. My thoughts: Touch of Frost is a light read that incorporates mythology in an interesting way. Boarding schools for magical teens are no stranger to YA, but Mythos Academy has a fresh feel to it because it focuses so heavily on mythology. The incorporation of said mythology is by far the most fascinating aspect of Touch of Frost. The mystery in Touch of Frost is not difficult to predict, unfortunately, which made for an antsy last 150 pages. You know—that feeling where you know the answer to the puzzle, but you have to wait for the characters to figure it out on their own. It doesn’t help that Jennifer Estep teases the reader, having Gwen say things like, “I know there’s something wrong with this situation, but I just can’t put my finger on it!” Hair-pulling ensues. Gwen is a likable character, but she seems too hung up on the fact that people don’t notice her. It’s obvious to the reader why this is (she has no confidence), but Gwen never really grows out of being uncomfortable in her own skin, and she comes off as a bit whiny. Still, Gwen is selfless and has a genuine care for everyone around her—traits that make her character a bit more interesting. The other characters around Gwen aren’t too interesting (the love interest, Logan, is a typical bad-boy with a soft side) with the exception of Daphne, a popular girl who has a crush on a band geek. Her evolution (or should I say devolution?) into a nice girl is heartwarming, and she offers Gwen something key—friendship. Touch of Frost is a good read for those looking for a healthy dose of fun. It has boarding school drama, mean girls, and teenagers with crazy awesome powers. The story is at times predictable, but those who enjoy lighter murder mysteries will enjoy it nonetheless.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This review refers to the e-arc I received I am a big fan of Jennifer Estep's Elemental Assassin books, so when I heard that she was starting a new series (Mythos Academy), but this time for YA, I almost passed on it, but I'm glad now I didn't. The concept of the series is pretty good. The book uses simple language which allowed me to focus on the story and drew me in. I'm now anxiously waiting for the next book in the series. The story centers on a teenage girl named Gwen. She has the give of psychometry, which means she gets psychic impressions from the things she touches. Gwen and her family are Gypsies, and after the death of her mom, Gwen is enrolled in the Mythos Academy, a school for teenagers with special gifts. The halls are filled with Amazons, Spartans, and other teen warriors. Gwen though feels out-of-place, she's a Gypsy, she's no warrior and she certainly doesn't come from the same type of background the other kids do. Gwen doesn't have things easy, she doesn't fit in, and doesn't understand why she's there, and when she asks why she doesn't get a straight answer from anyone including her beloved grandmother. Things seem to go from "bad" to even worse when she discovers the body of the seemingly most popular girl in school, dead in the library. Afterwards though she is even more shocked to see that no one seems to be sad for the dead girl, the other kids seem more interested in whos going ot be prom queen now that she's dead than in who killed her and why. So, Gwen decides to play Nancy Drew and see what she can find out using her powers. The results are somewhat astonishing, but Estep does set the book up nicely for the ones to follow. I really enjoyed this book, way more than I thought I would at first and therefore I would recommend it and I'd also give it 4 1/2 stars.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Review courtesy of All Things Urban FantasyMyths and mystery and mean girls all converge in Jennifer Estep’s magical TOUCH OF FROST, the first book in her new paranormal YA series, Mythos Academy. It reads like Veronica Mars meets The Percy Jackson series, which of course means I loved it.Protagonist Gwen Frost, a ‘gypsy’ who possess touch magic, is exactly the kind of character I love to discover in YA. She’s believable as a teenager in high school but has a maturity about her that makes her relatable to readers of all ages. She transfers to Mythos Academy and gets lost among a sea of privileged ‘warrior whiz kids’—the descendants of Greek and Norse mythology heroes. But Gwen doesn’t let her outsider status get to her. She hires out her touch magic talent to track down missing objects and make a buck in the process, she even ends up with a few unlikely friends. I was a little leery at the first chapter which introduced a few cliché fashion obsessed mean girls, but almost immediately, Estep began to twist the characters and add layers of interest that made them anything but cliché. I can’t tell you how much I appreciated this. Several mysteries are also thrown in, and while Gwen doesn’t solve all of them in TOUCH OF FROST, it’s obvious that they won’t be forgotten in the books to come.The mix of modern day with mythology has been done before, but not like this. TOUCH OF FROST gives us an extremely likeable and levelheaded female protagonist, the ultimate bad boy romantic lead, and an epic battle between good and evil. It’s fantastic fun from start to finish and I’m counting down the days until the next Mythos Academy book, KISS OF FROST, is released on November 29, 2011.Sexual Content:Kissing. References to sex. References to molestation. A scene of mild sensuality. Prevalent crude sexual dialog. A character overhears a girl giving a guy oral sex.

Book preview

Touch of Frost - Jennifer Estep

reading!

Chapter 1

I know your secret.

Daphne Cruz leaned closer to the mirror over the sink and put another coat of pale pink gloss onto her lips, pointedly ignoring me the way all the pretty, popular girls did.

The way everyone did at Mythos Academy.

I know your secret, I repeated in a louder voice.

I pushed away from the statue of a sea nymph that I’d been leaning against, strolled over to the door that led out of the girls’ bathroom, and locked it. I might not care who knew Daphne’s dirty little secret, but I was willing to bet that she would before we were through. That’s why I’d made sure that all of the white marble stalls were empty and waited for the rest of Daphne’s friends to leave their spots on the cushioned settee in the corner before I’d approached her.

Once Daphne was satisfied that her lips were glossed to a high sheen, she dropped the tube into the depths of her oversize pink Dooney & Bourke purse. Next, she drew out a hairbrush and went to work on her smooth, golden locks. Still ignoring me.

I crossed my arms over my chest, leaned against the door, and waited. The intricate raised figures of warriors and monsters carved into the heavy wooden door pressed against my back, but I ignored the odd lumps and bumps. The two hundred bucks I was getting for this job meant that I could afford to be patient.

After another two minutes, when her hair had been brushed a dozen times and she realized that I wasn’t actually, you know, leaving, Daphne finally deigned to turn and look at me. Her black eyes flicked over my jeans, graphic T-shirt, and purple zip-up hoodie, and she let out a little snort of disgust, obviously offended that I wasn’t wearing the latest designer threads like she was. That I didn’t have the matchy-match look down pat that she and her friends had going on.

Apparently, today’s theme had been argyle, because the pattern was on everything that Daphne wore, from her pink cashmere sweater to her black pleated skirt to the printed black and pink tights that showed off her legs. The contrast of light and dark colors made her perfect, amber skin look that much more luminous. So did the shiny lip gloss.

You know my secret? Daphne repeated, a sneer creeping into her voice. And what secret would that be?

So the Valkyrie wanted to be snotty. Not a problem.

I smiled. "I know you took the charm bracelet. The one that Carson Callahan was going to give to Leta Gaston as a will-you-go-to-the-homecoming-dance-withme present. You snatched it off the desk in his dorm room yesterday when he was helping you with your English lit paper."

For the first time, doubt flickered in Daphne’s eyes, and disbelief filled her pretty face before she was able to hide it. Now, she was looking at me—really looking at me—trying to figure out who I was and what I wanted. After a moment, her eyes narrowed.

You’re that Oracle girl, Daphne muttered. The one who sees things.

That Oracle girl. That’s what everyone at Mythos Academy called me. Mainly because I was the only Oracle trapped here in this school for magical warrior freaks. The middle-class girl whose strange ability had landed her here among the rich, popular, and undeniably powerful. Like Daphne Cruz, a spoiled, pampered wannabe princess who also happened to be a Valkyrie.

What’s your name? Daphne asked. Gail? Gretchen?

Wow. I was impressed that she even knew it started with a G.

Gwen, I told her. Gwen Frost.

Well, Gwen Frost, Daphne said, turning her attention back to her purse. I have no idea what you’re talking about.

Her voice and face were both just as smooth as the gilded silver mirror in front of her. I might have even believed her, if her hands hadn’t clenched the tiniest bit as she put her hairbrush back into her purse. If I hadn’t known just how good girls like her could lie.

Just how good everyone could lie.

I reached into my gray messenger bag and drew out a clear plastic bag. A small silver charm shaped like a rose glinted inside. I might as well have shown her a bag full of pot from the way Daphne visibly recoiled.

Where—where did you get that? she whispered.

Carson hadn’t finished putting all the charms on Leta’s bracelet when he showed it to you during your tutoring session yesterday afternoon, I said. I found this one way, way back behind his desk in his dorm room. It fell down there when you grabbed the bracelet and stuffed it into your purse.

Daphne let out a laugh, still keeping up the act. And why would I do something like that?

Because you’re crazy about Carson. You don’t want him to ask out Leta. You want him for yourself.

Daphne slumped over, her hands dropping to one of the sinks that lined the wall below the mirror. Her fingers curled around the silver faucets, which were shaped like Hydra heads, before sliding down to the basin. Her French-manicured nails scraped across the white marble, and pale pink sparks of magic shot out of her fingertips. Daphne might only be seventeen like me, but Valkyries were incredibly strong. I knew that if she wanted to, Daphne Cruz could rip that sink out of the wall easier than the Hulk could.

Maybe I should have been scared of the Valkyrie, of the weird princess pink sparks, and especially of her strength and what she could do to me with it. But I wasn’t. I’d already lost one of the people I cared about most. Everything else dulled in comparison to that.

How do you know all that? Daphne asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

I shrugged. Because, as you put it, I see things. And as soon as I found this charm, I knew that you were the one who took the bracelet.

I didn’t tell Daphne anything else about my Oracle gift, about my ability to know an object’s history just by touching it, and she didn’t ask.

Instead, the Valkyrie kept staring at me with her black eyes. After about thirty seconds of silence, she came to some sort of decision. Daphne straightened, reached into her bag once more, and drew out her wallet. It matched her designer purse.

All right, she said. How much will it take for you to give me that charm and forget about this whole thing? A hundred dollars? Two?

This time, my hands were the ones that clenched into fists. She was trying to buy me off. I’d expected nothing less, but the gesture still made me angry. Like everyone else at Mythos Academy, Daphne Cruz could afford the very best of everything. A few hundred dollars was nothing to her. She’d spent that much on her freaking purse.

But a few hundred dollars wasn’t nothing to me. It was clothes and comic books and a cell phone and a dozen other things that girls like Daphne never had to worry about.

Carson’s already paid me, I said.

So? she said. I’ll pay you more. However much you want.

Sorry. Once I give my word to somebody, I keep it. And I told Carson that I would find the charm bracelet for him.

Daphne tilted her head to the side like I was some strange creature that she’d never seen before, some mythological monster masquerading as a teenage girl. Maybe it was stupid of me, not taking her up on the cash that she was so willing to give me. But my mom wouldn’t have taken Daphne’s money, not if she’d already made a promise to someone else. My mom, Grace, had been an Oracle, just like me. With a gift, just like me.

For a moment, my heart ached with guilt and longing. My mom was gone, and I missed her so much. I shook my head, more to push the pain aside than anything else.

Look, just give me the bracelet. That’s all I want. That’s all Carson wants.

Daphne’s lips tightened. He—he knows? That I took the bracelet? And why?

"Not yet. But he’s going to if you don’t give it to me. Right now."

I opened the top of the plastic bag and held it out to her. Daphne stared at the rose charm glinting inside. She bit her pink lip, smearing her gloss on her teeth, and looked away.

Fine, she muttered. I don’t know why I even took it in the first place.

I did because I’d flashed on Daphne when I’d touched the charm. As soon as my fingers had brushed the silver rose, an image of the blond Valkyrie had popped into my head. I’d seen Daphne sitting at Carson’s desk, staring at the bracelet, her fingers tightening around the metal links like she wanted to rip them in two.

And I’d felt the other girl’s emotions, too, the way that I always did whenever I touched an object or even another person. I’d felt Daphne’s hot, pulsing jealousy that Carson was thinking about asking out Leta. The warm, soft, fizzy crush that Daphne had on Carson herself, despite the fact that he was a total band geek and she was part of the popular crowd. Her cold, aching despair that she didn’t like someone the rest of her snobby friends would approve of.

But I didn’t tell Daphne any of that. The less people knew about my gift and the things I saw and felt, the better.

Daphne yanked the bracelet out of her bag. Carson Callahan might be a band geek, but he had money, too, which was why the bracelet was a heavy, expensive thing loaded down with a dozen charms that jingled together. Daphne’s nails scraped against one of the charms, a small heart, and more pink sparks of magic fluttered like fireflies in the air.

I held out the bag again, and Daphne dropped the bracelet inside. I closed the top and tied off the plastic, careful not to touch the jewelry itself. I didn’t want another slide show into Daphne Cruz’s psyche. The first one had almost made me feel sorry for her.

But any sympathy I might have had for Daphne vanished when the Valkyrie gave me the cold, haughty stare that so many mean girls before her had perfected.

You tell anyone about this, Gwen Frost, and I’ll strangle you with that ugly purple hoodie you’re wearing. Understand me?

Sure, I said in a pleasant tone. But you might want to pull yourself together before you go to your next class, Daphne. Your lip gloss is smeared.

The Valkyrie’s eyes narrowed, but I ignored her venomous dirty look, unlocked the bathroom door, and left.

Chapter 2

I stepped out of the bathroom and into the hallway. Somewhere deeper in the building, a bell chimed, warning me that I had five minutes to get to my next class, so I fell in with the flow of students walking toward the west wing of the English-history building.

From the outside, Mythos Academy looked like an elite Ivy League prep school, even though it was located in Cypress Mountain, just outside of Asheville, up in the high country of western North Carolina. Everything about the academy whispered of money, power, and snobbery, from the ivy-covered stone buildings to the perfectly manicured grassy quads to the dining hall that was more like a five-star restaurant than a school cafeteria. Yeah, from the outside, the academy looked exactly like the kind of place rich people would send their spoiled trust fund babies to in preparation for them going on to Yale, Harvard, Duke, or some other acceptably expensive college.

Inside, though, it was a different story.

At first glance, everything looked normal, if a bit stuffy and totally old-fashioned. You know, suits of polished armor lining the halls, each one clutching a sharp, pointed weapon. Stone carvings and expensive oil paintings of mythological battles covering the walls. White marble statues of gods and goddesses standing in the corners, their faces turned toward each other and hands held up over their mouths, as if they were gossiping about everyone who passed by their perches.

And then, there were the students. Ages sixteen to twenty-one, first-year students all the way up to sixthyears, all shapes, sizes, and ethnicities, with books and bags in one hand and their cell phones in the other, texting, talking, and walking all at the same time. Each one wearing the most expensive clothes their parents could afford, including Prada, Gucci, and, of course, Jimmy Choos.

But if you looked past the designer duds and flashy electronics, you’d notice other things. Strange things. Like the fact that so many of the students carried weapons. Swords, bows, and staffs mostly, all stuffed into what looked like fancy leather tennis bags. Color-coordinated to match the day’s outfit, of course.

The weapons were just accessories at Mythos. Status symbols of who you were, what you could do, and how much money your parents had. Just like the colorful sparks and flashes of magic that crackled in the air like static electricity. Even the lowliest geek here knew how to chop off somebody’s head with a sword or could turn your insides to mush just by muttering a spell or two.

It was like going to school in an episode of Xena: Warrior Princess.

That’s what all the kids at Mythos Academy were—warriors. Real, live mythological warriors. Or at least the great-great-whatever descendants of them. The girls were Amazons and Valkyries, for the most part, while the boys tended to be Romans or Vikings. But there were other warrior types mixed in as well—Spartans, Trojans, Celts, Samurais, Ninjas, and everything in between, from every ancient culture, myth, or fairy tale that you’d ever heard of and lots that you hadn’t. Each one with their own special abilities and magic, and the egos to match.

As a general rule, though, everyone was rich, beautiful, and dangerous.

Everyone except for me.

Nobody looked at me and nobody spoke to me as I trudged toward my sixth-period myth-history class. I was just that Oracle girl, and not rich, powerful, popular, pretty, or important enough to register on anyone’s social radar. It was late October now, almost two months into the fall term, and I had yet to make a friend. I didn’t even have a casual someone I could sit with at lunch in the dining hall. But my friendless state didn’t bother me.

Not much had, since my mom’s death six months ago.

I slid into my seat in Professor Metis’s myth-history class just before the bell chimed again, indicating that everyone should be where they were supposed to be by now.

Carson Callahan turned around in his seat, which was in front of mine. Did you find it yet? he whispered.

Carson was a tall guy, six feet even with a bony, lanky frame. He always reminded me of a triangle, because he was all sharp angles, from his ankles to his knees to his elbows. Even his nose was straight and pointed. His hair and skin were a dusky brown, and the square frames of his black glasses made his eyes look like malted milk balls set into his face.

I could see why Daphne liked him, though. Carson was sweet and cute, in that shy, quiet way that geeks so often are. But Carson Callahan wasn’t just any kind of geek—he was a hard-core band geek and the drum major of the Mythos Academy Marching Band, even though he was only seventeen and a second-year student like me. Carson was a Celt and supposedly had some sort of magical talent for music, like a warrior bard or something. I didn’t know what exactly. For the most part, I tried not to notice such things. I tried not to notice a lot of things at Mythos—especially the fact of how very much I didn’t belong here.

I handed Carson the bagged bracelet, careful not to let my fingers touch his so I wouldn’t flash on the band geek. Because in addition to feeling Daphne’s emotions, I’d also gotten a glimpse of Carson’s when I’d fished the rose charm out from behind his desk yesterday. I didn’t just see the person who had touched something last—I could flash on everyone who’d ever handled an object. Ever.

Which meant that I knew who Carson really wanted to give the silver bracelet to and that it wasn’t Leta Gaston like he claimed.

As promised, I said. Now, it’s your turn.

Thanks, Gwen.

He put a hundred-dollar bill, the back end of my finder’s fee, onto my desk. I took the money and slid it into my jeans pocket.

As a general rule, I ignored all the other Mythos students, and they ignored me—at least until they needed something found. It was the same gig that I’d done back at my old public high school to earn extra cash. For the right price, I found things that were lost, stolen, or otherwise unavailable. Keys, wallets, cell phones, pets, abandoned bras, and crumpled boxers.

I’d overheard an Amazon in my calculus class complaining that she’d lost her cell phone, so I’d offered to find it for her, for a small fee. She’d thought I was nuts—until I fished the phone out of the back of her closet. Turned out that she’d left it in another purse. After that, word had spread around campus about what I did. Business wasn’t exactly booming yet, but it was picking up.

Since my magic let me touch an object and immediately know, see, and feel its history, it wasn’t too hard for me to find or figure things out. Sure, if something was lost, I couldn’t actually, you know, touch it—otherwise, the item wouldn’t be missing in the first place. But people left vibes everywhere—about all sorts of things. What they had for lunch, what movie they wanted to see tonight, what they really thought of their so-called best friends.

Usually, all I had to do was skim my fingers across a guy’s desk or rummage through a girl’s purse to get a pretty good idea about where he’d last left his wallet or where she’d put down her cell phone. And if I didn’t immediately see the exact location of the missing item, then I kept touching stuff until I did—or got an image of who might have swiped it. Like Daphne Cruz snatching the charm bracelet off Carson’s desk. Sometimes, I felt like Nancy Drew or maybe Gretel, following a trail of psychic bread crumbs until I found what I was looking for.

There was even a name for what I could do—psychometry. A fancy, froufrou way of saying that I saw pictures in my head and got flashes of other people’s feelings—whether I wanted to see them or not.

Still, part of me enjoyed knowing other people’s secrets, seeing all the things big and small that they so desperately tried to hide from everyone, including themselves sometimes. It made me feel smart and strong and powerful—and determined not to do totally stupid things, like let a guy take pictures of me in my underwear.

Tracking down lost cell phones might not be the most glamorous job in the world, but it was way better than slinging greasy fries at Mickey D’s. And it certainly paid much more here at Mythos than it had at my old public high school. Back there, I would have been lucky to get twenty bucks for a lost bracelet, instead of the cool two hundred that Carson had given me. The bonus cash flow was the only thing I liked about the stupid academy.

Where was it? Carson asked. The bracelet?

For a moment, I thought about ratting out Daphne and telling Carson about her massive crush on him. But since the Valkyrie hadn’t been overtly mean to me in the bathroom, just vaguely threatening, I decided to save that bit of information for a time when I might really need it. Since I didn’t have money, strength, or great magical power like the other kids at the academy, information was the only real leverage that I had, and I saw no reason not to stock up.

Oh, I found it behind your desk in your dorm room. The rose charm anyway. It had been wedged deep down between the desk and the wall.

Carson frowned. But I looked there. I know I did. I looked everywhere for it.

I guess you just didn’t look hard enough, I said in a vague tone, and pulled my myth-history book out of my bag.

Carson opened his mouth to ask me something else when Professor Metis rapped on her podium with the old-fashioned slender silver scepter that she also used as a pointer. Metis was of Greek descent, like so many of the profs and kids at Mythos were. She was a short woman with a thick, stocky body, bronze skin, and black hair that was always pulled back into a high, tight bun. She wore a green pantsuit, and silver glasses covered her face.

She looked all stern and serious, but Metis was one of the better professors at Mythos. She at least tried to make her myth-history class interesting by sometimes letting us play games and do puzzles and stuff, rather than just memorizing boring facts.

Open your books to page one thirty-nine, Professor Metis said, her soft green gaze flicking from student to student. Today, we’re going to talk some more about the Pantheon as its warriors battled to defeat Loki and his Reapers of Chaos.

But today wasn’t going to be a fun day. I rolled my eyes and did as she asked.

In addition to going to school with all the mythological warrior kids, I also had to learn about their whole stupid history. And, of course, there was a group of good magic guys who had banded together and called themselves the Pantheon whose sole purpose was to fight a group of bad magic guys called Reapers who wanted to, well, bring about the Chaos.

So far, Professor Metis had been pretty vague about what exactly the Chaos was, and I hadn’t exactly been paying rapt attention to all the mumbo-jumbo magic stuff. But I was guessing it involved death, destruction, and blah, blah, blah. I’d much rather read the comic books that I had stashed in the bottom of my messenger bag. At least they had some basis in reality. Genetic mutations could totally happen.

But gods and goddesses duking it out? Using warrior whiz kids to fight some ancient battle today in modern times? With mythological monsters thrown in just for fun? I wasn’t sure I believed all that. But everyone here at Mythos did. To them, myths weren’t just stories—they were history, facts even, and they were all very, very real.

While Professor Metis droned on once again about how absolutely evil the Reapers were, I stared out the window, looking at my reflection in the glass. Wavy brown hair, a smattering of freckles on my winter white skin, and eyes that were a curious shade of purple, made more so by the hoodie I was wearing.

Violet eyes are smiling eyes, my mom had always said in a teasing voice. Her eyes had been the same color as mine, although I’d always thought they’d made her look beautiful and me just like a freak.

A dull ache flooded my heart. Not for the first time, I wished that I could rewind time and go back to the way things had been before I’d come to Mythos Academy.

Six months ago, I’d been a normal teenager. Well, as normal as a girl with a strange ability could ever be. But the Oracle gift ran in the Frost family. My grandma, Geraldine, could see the future. My mom, Grace, had been able to tell whether or not people were lying just by listening to their words. And I had the ability to know, see, and feel things just by touching a person or an object. But our gifts had always been just that—gifts, small things that we could do—and I hadn’t thought too much about them, where they had come from, or if other people had magic like ours.

Until the day that I picked up Paige Forrest’s hairbrush after gym class.

We’d been in the locker room changing after playing basketball, which I hated because I totally sucked at it. Seriously, sucked out loud at it. Like, sucked so bad that I’d managed to hit myself in the head with the ball when I was trying to shoot a free throw.

After class, I’d been hot and sweaty and had wanted to pull my hair back into a ponytail. Paige’s brush had been lying on the bench between us. Paige wasn’t one of my close friends, but we were in the same semipopular circle of smart girls. Sometimes, we hung out when our group got together, so I’d asked her if I could use her hairbrush.

Paige had stared at me a second, a strange emotion flashing in her eyes. Sure.

I picked it up, never dreaming that I’d feel anything. Despite my psychometry, I usually didn’t get much of a vibe off common, everyday objects like pens, computers, dishes, or phones. Things in public places that lots of people used or that had a simple, specific function. I only got the biggies, the deep, vivid, high-def flashes, when I touched objects that people had some personal connection to, like a favorite photograph or a cherished piece of jewelry.

But as soon as my hand had closed around the hairbrush, I’d seen an image of Paige sitting on her bed with an older man. He’d brushed her long black hair exactly one hundred times, just like everyone claims you’re supposed to. Then, when he was finished with her hair, the man had unfastened Paige’s robe, made her lie back on the bed, and started touching her before he took off his pants.

I’d started screaming then, and I didn’t stop.

After about five minutes, I passed out. My friend Bethany had told me that I’d kept right on screaming, even when the paramedics came to take me to the hospital. Everyone thought I was having an epileptic seizure or something.

I think Paige knew, though. About my magic and what I could do. Two weeks before, she’d asked me to find her missing phone. I’d walked around Paige’s room, touched her desk, her nightstand, her purse, and her bookcases, and eventually seen an image of her little sister swiping the phone so she could snoop through Paige’s text messages. Sometimes, I wondered if Paige had put her hairbrush there on the bench just for me to pick up. Just so someone would know, just so someone would feel exactly what she was going through.

I’d

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