Sunday, August 23, 2015

FIRST FROST-REVIEW/SPOTLIGHT


First Frost
The Frost Series Book # 1
By-Liz DeJesus
Publication Date- June 22nd, 2015
Published By - Indie Gypsy

Fairytales aren’t real…yeah…that’s exactly what Bianca thought. She was wrong.
For generations, the Frost family has run the Museum of Magical and Rare Artifacts, handing down guardianship from mother to daughter, always keeping their secrets to “family only.”
Gathered within museum’s walls is a collection dedicated to the Grimm fairy tales and to the rare items the family has acquired: Cinderella’s glass slipper, Snow White’s poisoned apple, the evil queen’s magic mirror, Sleeping Beauty’s enchanted spinning wheel…
Seventeen-year-old Bianca Frost wants none of it, dreaming instead of a career in art or photography or…well, anything except working in the family’s museum. She knows the items in the glass display cases are fakes because, of course, magic doesn’t really exist.


She’s about to find out how wrong she is.


 



Glass Frost

The Frost Series Book # 2
By- Liz DeJesus
Publication Date- June 22nd, 2015

When joined together, Cinderella's slippers grant the wearer her heart's desire. But whose wish will be granted?

When Cinderella’s glass slipper is stolen, Queen Felicia sends her faithful steward Terrance to the real world to retrieve his love and witch-in-training, Bianca Frost. The power of the glass slipper, when paired with its mate, and in the wrong hands, could ruin the peace of Everafter. Bianca must gather every bit of magic she has learned in the past few weeks to find the slipper and protect her new love. Together, Bianca, Ming, Prince Ferdinand, and Terrance venture deep into the heart of Everafter to seek clues as to who has stolen the slipper and why. Along the way, they uncover what happened to the Seven Dwarves after Snow White married the prince, but also learn the awful risk of tampering with black magic and the high price that must be paid for magic, even when used for good.
Bianca and Terrance’s relationship is put to the test. Through the pain of suffering and loss, Bianca must determine if following her gallant boyfriend into his faraway world is in fact her heart's desire.

  

Shattered Frost
The Frost Series # 3
By- Liz DeJesus
Publication Date- August 15th, 2015

Bianca Frost and her BFF Ming Lee return to Everafter to attend the Winter Ball with their boyfriends, Terrance and Prince Ferdinand. They were looking forward to a short vacation, especially Bianca, who is being bullied at school. She is looking forward to the day when she can finally graduate from high school. But all is not cute hair and fancy shoes as a mysterious count sets his sights on Bianca at the ball. When Count Jonathan Bleu kidnaps Bianca and Ming, the pair must do everything in their power to escape his clutches. In this amazing adventure, Bianca and Ming find themselves traveling down a rabbit hole, where they have to survive the madness of Wonderland in order to make it back home to the men they love.
Bianca and Ming must travel to the Queen of Hearts’ labyrinth, find Bluebeard’s key and save Jack of Hearts before Bianca loses everything she holds dear.


 



MY REVIEW OF BOOK ONE - FIRST FROST

So what a great premise for a book series, don't you think?  I was completely drawn to the idea of this Museum of Magical and Rare Artifacts…what a terrific concept!  That the shiny red apple with one little bite missing, sitting still in a glass box, spotlighted, is the actual real apple that Snow White took a bite out of…this is good stuff.
The story took some time to build in the beginning, going through mundane sort of days.  I mean, we already know what this place is about, so I wanted to get into the story instead of reading about dinner and broken vacuum cleaners.  I did however, enjoy the relationship between the mother and daughter, and the girl's admiration for her mother, that was nice.

However, Bianca (the teenage girl), comes home to find a serious battle going on in her back yard…between two witches!  Magic is being thrown about and explosions, insults, you name it, and in the end, Bianca, doesn't seem too dumbfounded or traumatized by this.  When it's over, she asks the usual questions and is surprised by some of her findings, but for the most part she is very accepting of her new magical abilities...it just wasn't enough of a shock for something that is sprung on her out of nowhere.  She seems to take all the mystery and magic, including the evil parts, with a grain of salt. 

I totally enjoyed the best friend banter! Ming is a hoot!  Very believable character for me..I could actually hear her voice in my brain.   Bianca and Ming's conversations were well written for the most part, sounding like two teenage girls.  They were believable as two modern day teenage best friends.  
However, the one thing that really stood out as a negative for me, was the literal conversations they would have at times.  Such as…they are in the museum basement, searching for something extremely valuable. This article is something that is so desired by the evil witch, that she is willing to kill for it, and Bianca says, (and I'm paraphrasing here), okay, let's go! and Ming says she needs to go get her purse and Bianca asks where is it and Ming says it's upstairs under the front counter and Bianca says, well, that's not a good place to put it, I'll show you where mine goes and you can put yours there from now on….!?   I was like…seriously?  You're right in the middle of this major intrigue, a life and death situation, and you're talking about purses now? Shouldn't you be running out the door? 
It really didn't set well with me…and this happens several times, to the determent of my enjoyment, unfortunately.  It really took me out of the story on those occasions.  That, and for some reason,  the mother started speaking like a teenager in the second half of the book…again, this stood out to me and just didn't work.

The story itself moved along (after the beginning), and gave a good visual and some cleaver girl talk and a nice "other world" adventure.  It's a great premise and if you're into modern twists on fairy tales, I'm sure you'll enjoy this series..or at least this first book..I haven't read the others to know if it continues in a rewarding vein…but I think it's probably worth the look see if fairy tales are your thing.


About the Author-
Liz DeJesus was born on the tiny island of Puerto Rico.  She is a novelist and a poet. She has been writing for as long as she was capable of holding a pen. She is the author of the novel Nina (Blu Phi'er Publishing, October 2007), The Jackets (Arte Publico Press, March 2011) First Frost (Re-realeased through Indie Gypsy Summer 2015), Glass Frost (Re-released through Indie Gypsy Summer 2015), Shattered Frost (Indie Gypsy, Summer 2015) and Morgan (Indie Gypsy, July 2014). Her work has also appeared in Night Gypsy: Journey Into Darkness (Indie Gypsy, October 2012), Twice Upon a Time (Bearded Scribe Press, Winter 2015) and Someone Wicked (Smart Rhino Publications, Winter 2013).
​Liz is currently working on a new novel and a comic book series titled Zombie Ever After (Emerald Star Comics, Fall 2014).

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