Review: Gathering Frost by Kaitlyn Davis

Gathering Frost (Once Upon A Curse #1)by Kaitlyn Davis Published
February 17th 2015 by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Will his kiss be enough to revive her frozen heart?
Once Upon A Time meets La Femme Nikita in GATHERING FROST, a dystopian romance from bestselling author Kaitlyn Davis that reimagines the classic fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty.
Jade was only a little girl when the earthquake struck. Before her eyes, half of New York City disappeared, replaced by a village that seemed torn out of a storybook. Horses and carriages. Cobblestone streets. A towering castle. And, above all, a queen with the magical ability to strip emotions away.
Ten years later and Jade has forgotten what it is to feel, to care...even to love. Working as a member of the queen's guard, she spends most of her time on the city wall staring at the crumbling skyscrapers of old New York. But everything changes when the queen's runaway son, Prince Asher, returns. Jade is tasked with an unusual mission--to let the Prince capture her, to make him trust her, and then to betray his secrets to the crown. In return, she'll earn her freedom. But life outside the queen's realm is more than Jade bargained for. Under Asher's relentless taunts, her blood begins to boil. Under his piercing gaze, her heart begins to flutter. And the more her icy soul begins to thaw, the more Jade comes to question everything she's ever known--and, more importantly, whose side she's really on.

My Thoughts

I was immediately intrigued when I was approached by Kaitlyn Davis to review her book Gathering Frost. Retellings are simply my cup of tea and the fact that this is a series with each book focusing on a different tale just tickles my fancy. Gathering Frost is loosely based on Sleeping Beauty and it quite an awesome take on it if I do say so myself. I never watched Le Femme Nikita but I think the blurb grossly undersells this book! There was so much good stuff here between the odd mixed time period setting to the multi dimensional characters.

Jade is the only female in the royal guard known as the Blackhearts, these are the guys who hunt down the heroes and Jade does her best to excel in every way. Jade is great character since she is very honest and knows that she doesn't have s heart of gold. The circumstances in which Jade comes into the queen service were quite unusual. The queen is really evil (most are aren't u they?) and has the ability to "freeze" once heart leaving them pretty much void of all emotion. Even though this was Jade's plight, her sense of self never quite left her and she still yearned to be free. Although it did quite upset me when she left her mother. The Queen of Kardenia is also one of those brilliant villains that has just enough humanity in them that you cant help but feel a bit of compassion towards them or their situation rather. I would actually love to see a story telling how she was cursed. Her son, Prince Asher was quite the gallant man, nothing like his mother. I love it when they have a sense of honor rivaling Jaime Frasiers'.

There romance was a slow kindle but was very sweet at the same time. I liked how he was the sole focus for Jade. He is a brave man to go up against his mother in the rebellion they are waging. He truly wants better for his people. The prose were also simple delightful. gathering a frost was told in s very vivid way and the simplest of phrases really carried a great amount of emotion. I appreciate writer who have this ability so very much. They can portray so much with saying so little. There were also plenty of twisty turns. It kept me on my toes for the majority of the book! I cannot wait to read the best book which is based on Beauty and the Beast called Withering Rose!! This will be a crowd pleaser for both the fairy tale lover and dystopian fan as well. This series is definitely a new favorite of mine.

4 Snowflakes