Friday 24 January 2014

Review: Frost by Marianna Baer.



Book: Frost

Author: Marianna Baer

Pages: 396

How Long It Took Me to Read: 2 days.

Plot Summary: Leena Thomas’s senior year at boarding school starts with a cruel shock: Frost House, the cozy Victorian dorm where she and her best friends live, has been assigned an unexpected roommate—eccentric Celeste Lazar.

As classes get under way, strange happenings begin to bedevil Frost House: frames falling off walls, doors locking themselves, furniture toppling over. Celeste blames the housemates, convinced they want to scare her into leaving. And although Leena strives to be the peacekeeper, soon the eerie happenings in the dorm, an intense romance between Leena and Celeste’s brother, David, and the reawakening of childhood fears all push Leena to take increasingly desperate measures to feel safe. But does the threat lie with her new roommate, within Leena’s own mind…or in Frost House itself?

General Thoughts and Review: I love boarding school stories. I guess anyone who didn't go to a baording school, finds stories from there endlessly fascinating. Add to that a ghost story/haunting scenario and you bet this is a book I want to read! 

Frost- it's basic premise had me hooked! A Victorian cottage where four best friends will use as a dorm in their senior year and weird things start happening! Perfect!!! I loved the plot and the setting of this story. I also liked the various friendships in this book- Leena and her friends Abby and Vivian seem like a nice bunch of girls. Popular but not mean, not mere cliches but real people. I loved reading about their friendships, their fights and them getting miffed with each other seemed like something girls in high school all go through. 

I also liked that Leena wasn't perfect in any way and seemed for certain bits of the book rather messed up and troubled and I kept wondering if she was mentally unstable. I also really liked Celeste. She was meant to be the outsider who was messing up the cosy friendships in Frost House, but I sorta liked her. She is artsy, whimsical and crazy, I wouldn't want her a roommate but I liked her. 

The romance in the book is OK, frankly, this book didn't need a romance! I hate when a forced romance is shoved down in any book just to add a dimension to the story. Plus, I wasn't a big fan of David. 

This was an enjoyable book with quite a few creepy bits. 95% of the book (and I know 95% because I was reading it on my Kindle) I loved! I was hooked. Gripped and just couldn't wait to get to the bottom of the mystery. I just couldn't put the book down! 

Then the end arrived....and it was a bit of a let down. Basically, and without giving any spoilers away, the end was an open ending sorta thing. Meaning you were given two possible explanations for all spooky things. And you, the reader, are left to choose the explanation you prefer. I don't know about you but this just upsets me. I like books that take a stand...that choose one way or the other and doesn't take the safe route and leave it open. Gah! 

But for most part, I didn't enjoy the book and the writing and the characters. The ending just was disappointing. 

Rating: 3.5/5 

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