Escaping... One Book @ a Time: *Review* Cold Spell by Jackson Pearce

Release Date: November 5, 2013
Published By: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Length: 323 pages
Review Copy: ARC from HBG Canada

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Kai and Ginny grew up together–best friends since they could toddle around their building’s rooftop rose garden. Now they’re seventeen, and their relationship has developed into something sweeter, complete with stolen kisses and plans to someday run away together.

But one night, Kai disappears with a mysterious stranger named Mora–a beautiful girl with a dark past and a heart of ice. Refusing to be cast aside, Ginny goes after them and is thrust into a world she never imagined, one filled with monsters and thieves and the idea that love is not enough.

If Ginny and Kai survive the journey, will she still be the girl he loved–and moreover, will she still be the girl who loved him?

Jackson Pearce, author of the acclaimed SISTERS RED and FATHOMLESS, has returned with a unique vision of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen,” one about power and redemption, failure and hope, and the true meaning of strength.

Now I do not know much on the story that this is twisted from, "The Snow Queen." However, what I do know is that I loved what Pearce did with it. It was interesting, sweet and had some unique concepts on some mythologies that I would have never considered. Maybe this is a part of the original myth from the original Snow Queen, but regardless I loved the new take. This was also not a glamoured up and romanticized retelling, though the nitty gritty of it started with love. This was more a show of someone that would do what it takes to get someone they love back, and just how much that adventure/journey can change a person.

The thing with the story line in this one is that you hit the ground running. You do get a prologue that gives you a taste of what is to come but also a glimpse of why certain events happen. There are times that things seem to go a little off track and slow down but it was never slow enough that I lost interest, it was more of a time to gather the facts. This book never has something happen with no reason, there is no need to put meaningless moments because there is far to much at stake to just mess about. The people that are introduced and the developments were staged wonderfully and had purpose, giving the book a complete feel as you read. I enjoyed that I never once got the feeling of being lost in the plot, or overwhelmed with information that I would have to instantly retain to understand later. Though it was not a quick and smooth ride, the ups and downs of this one blended well to create a balanced book that kept my attention while maintaining different pacing.

Ginny is difficult to explain for me because while I didn't really connect with her, I liked her. To start I worried because she seemed so reliant on Kai and I feared the worst of her. However, him being taken from her forced her to take steps she would have never even considered prior to that. With the one little (well major) defining moment in her life being the removal of the one person she thought she would have forever, her entire life changed and so did the character I thought would drive me through a wall. Ginny became a strong and likeable individual that realized the journey was on had changed her and she was capable of more than she could have ever imagined. It ended up being her loyalty and determination that really defined her and made her someone that I routed for. It may be the love that she had for Kai that started her journey but it is the other characteristics that carried her through.

Normally I would go on about the romance here but I think that from the little description and what I had to say about Ginny kind of gives a general idea, and there are more things to be mentioned. This is not saying that I didn't find the romance well written because I did, there was a good developed romance between the two that was sweet and strong in its own way but this book held so much more. Mora aka Snow Queen for example was a surprise. Every now and again we got a bit of the story from her point of view and it was undeniably wicked. Some may think otherwise but to me she may have been changed into what she is because of life events, but she has also made the worst of her circumstances and taken advantage of things she shouldn't have. Some events that she went through were sad but I mostly found myself thinking she was selfish and needed to be shown that she didn't have the right to whatever she wanted. Mora was the type of villain that I really felt nothing towards and wished she could just get what was coming to her.

There are also many people that help Ginny that I loved like Lucas and Elle, but my favourite was by far Flannery. I think the best way to describe Flannery and the travellers would be as Gypsy's but Flannery was ambitious and stubborn as heck. She was to be married simply because her mother believed the people that she would control would not listen because she was a girl and therefore needed someone by her side. Needless to say she wanted nothing to do with this and well defies everyone at every turn. This includes but is not limited to help Ginny in some unconventional ways. She was without a doubt a strong girl and if there were ever a way to write a spin off that was based on her, I would without hesitation pick it up.

Cold Spell was honestly a great read. Where many books would lose me the second the pacing slowed down, this one held my attention easily. This was more than a simple fairytale moulded into something else, it was a tale of growing up and realizing your own potential. It shows that sometimes it takes loosing everything to gain more and find out just how strong you really are. Pearce is a phenomenal author and I will continue to look for her takes on classic tales as they are wonderfully enchanting. Pick this one up if you want something with a refreshing romance, no triangle and amazing character development,

I don't turn on the lights as the sun begins to set. I want to be asleep, because surely, surely when I wake up Kai will be the Kai I love again. And we will be together, the way we're supposed to be, and I won't be so confused and lost.

Something in my chest plummets.
I was afraid she'd kill him, afraid she'd hurt him, afraid she'd abandon him.
It never occurred to me she'd keep him.

I barely sleep, plagued by a fight for my heart. Staying with Lucas and Ella, being happy, being warm, being home. Or going after Kai, the boy who broke my heart. The boy who walked away into the cold. The boy who not only may never want me again, but might get me killed.
The boy who I love.

"I had an elk once," Flannery says forlornly. "But he trampled me and ran away."
"I'm sorry?" I say, trying to keep the shock from registering in my voice. She's crazy. Not just strange, not just eccentric, but actually crazy.