Frozen (Heart of Dread #1) by Melissa De La Cruz and Michael Johnston
Release Date: September 17, 2014
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
336 Pages
Received: From Netgalley
Format: eARC
Rating:
2.5 Nuts
Description: From New York Times bestselling author Melissa de la Cruz and Michael Johnston comes this remarkable first book in a spellbinding new series about the dawn of a new kind of magic.
Welcome to New Vegas, a city once covered in bling, now blanketed in ice. Like much of the destroyed planet, the place knows only one temperature—freezing. But some things never change. The diamond in the ice desert is still a 24-hour hedonistic playground and nothing keeps the crowds away from the casino floors, never mind the rumors about sinister sorcery in its shadows.
At the heart of this city is Natasha Kestal, a young blackjack dealer looking for a way out. Like many, she’s heard of a mythical land simply called “the Blue.” They say it’s a paradise, where the sun still shines and the waters are turquoise. More importantly, it’s a place where Nat won’t be persecuted, even if her darkest secret comes to light.
But passage to the Blue is treacherous, if not impossible, and her only shot is to bet on a ragtag crew of mercenaries led by a cocky runner named Ryan Wesson to take her there. Danger and deceit await on every corner, even as Nat and Wes find themselves inexorably drawn to each other. But can true love survive the lies? Fiery hearts collide in this fantastic tale of the evil men do and the awesome power within us all.
Review: The premise for this book is excellent, it really is. Often though when that is the case, it heightens your expectations for what the book is going to be. When the book does no live up to all of that then it is very hard to not be disappointed, especially if you know and love the author. I love Melissa de la Cruz’s books so much, her Blue Bloods series is one of the best written vampire series I’ve read. I only wish that this book lived up to that because now I know what she can do with her writing and she has done so much better.
Natasha is an ok character. While I thought that she was interesting, she did not make me love her. I wanted to know what happened to her out of curiosity rather than caring what actually happened to her. As far as our bad boy criminal goes, I thought he was pretty generic and bland. Like Natasha, I don’t care what happens to him but his team is a different story. Those guys endeared themselves to me from the moment they were introduced. Each one has their own personality and I kept reading to see what they would say and do.
I guess the question becomes would I read the next book? My answer has to be unless I get a physical copy sent to me, no. It’s already very difficult for me to get through ebooks but an ebook that has so much wrong with it is just not worth the time and effort. I liked the setting and the side characters but the main characters are just not able to make me care about them, and that’s a problem.
Certainly my impressions are not the end all be all of reviews, there may be people who love this book and this series. As for me, I think this series and I will be parting ways.
What did you think of Frozen? Share your thoughts in the comments.
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I gave it 2 stars. Lol.
It got that last half star because of the team. I've not seen a lot of good reviews for this one.
This was a solid DNF for me after my three chapter rule. I was so disinterested in the characters, I didn 't even look at the end of the story to see what happened.
It is certainly dull. I'm having similar problems with Vampires of Manhattan, though it's worse because those are characters I know and love from Blue Bloods. *sigh*
I haven't had that happen to me, where I have known the characters, but I have had first books in new series by favorite authors leave me unimpressed. That is always an extra disappointment.
Yes! I hate that too!