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Cold Kiss (Cold Kiss #1)

by Amy Garvey (Goodreads Author)

3.47 of 5 stars 3.47 · rating details · 2,115 ratings · 535 reviews

Be careful what you wish for. . .

When Wren's boyfriend, Danny, died, Wren decided that what she wanted—what she had to do—was to bring Danny back. And so, in a heartbroken fury, armed with dark incantations and a secret power, she did.

But the Danny who returns isn't the boy Wren fell in love with, and she must hide him away while her life unravels around her. Then Gabriel...more

Kindle Edition, 309 pages

Published September 20th 2011 by HarperTeen

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Oct 23, 2011 Maja rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: cover-lust, creepy-love-triangle, favorites, amazing-writing, incredibly-stupid-choices, made-me-cry, ya, zombies-zombies-everywhere, reviewed-in-2011, own-a-dtb

4.5 stars

We were completely different. Danny was tall, sweet, graceful despite legs that went on forever. I was little, moody, uncoordinated. We didn't like the same music or the same movies. He put onions and mushrooms on his pizza and never wore socks and could sleep through a pipe bomb. I survived on bananas and yogurt and always wore hats and got carsick unless I chewed gum with my headphones on. It didn't matter. I loved him.

As soon as she entered puberty, strange things started happening...more 4.5 stars

We were completely different. Danny was tall, sweet, graceful despite legs that went on forever. I was little, moody, uncoordinated. We didn't like the same music or the same movies. He put onions and mushrooms on his pizza and never wore socks and could sleep through a pipe bomb. I survived on bananas and yogurt and always wore hats and got carsick unless I chewed gum with my headphones on. It didn't matter. I loved him.

As soon as she entered puberty, strange things started happening around Wren: flying objects and exploding light bulbs became a regular occurrence. This wasn't completely unexpected: all the women in Wren's family can do the same, but for some reason, Wren's mother refuses to talk about it or teach her how to control it. So when Wren’s boyfriend Danny dies in a car accident, Wren decides to use her power and bring him back to her. Unfortunately, Danny that rises from the grave isn’t the same easygoing Danny they buried two weeks earlier. The new Danny, angry and confused, is not nearly as harmless as Wren thought he would be. Just keeping him hidden and compliant might prove to be too big a challenge for one seventeen-year-old girl.

I enjoyed the new take on zombies. Garvey wrote: My zombie, such as he is, isn’t George Romero’s, as you probably figured out. He’s closer to the kind of zombie you might create with Haitian vodou magic, a corpse reanimated and then controlled by a sorcerer. While zombies we’re used to reading about are usually scary in a grotesque way, Danny was creepy and deeply disturbing. Every time Wren kissed him or placed her head on his silent chest, I felt the coldness of his body on my own skin and I shuddered involuntarily. He really made my skin crawl. It was easy enough to forget that he was once a warm and loving boy and that none of it was his fault.

I never even realized how thoroughly I’d connected with Wren until I caught myself siding with her even when she was obviously wrong. I don’t think I even noticed the other (living) characters, not in their own merit at least. They meant to me what they meant to Wren, and if she suddenly changed her mind about one of them, I changed my mind together with her.

The funny thing is that Wren isn’t a character I’d normally like, but that’s where Garvey’s strength lies. Create a selfless, heroic character and everyone will be crazy about him/her under any circumstances, but write a girl who is self-indulgent and careless and make me care about her - and you'll have accomplished something not many authors can.

I think that’s what every emotional reader seeks – a character he/she can connect with entirely. But Cold Kiss is also thought-provoking and original, and Amy Garvey’s marvelous writing skills add more magic to this powerful, compelling and haunting story. I will not only read whatever she decides to write next, I’ll probably preorder it as well.

Favorite quote:
Love like that is what they make movies about. It's the thing you're supposed to want, the answer to every question, the song that you're supposed to sing. But love like that can be too big, too. It can be something you shouldn't be trusted to hold when you're the kind of person who drops the eggs and breaks the remote control.
Love doesn’t break easily, I found. But people do.
(less)

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Sep 08, 2011 Wendy Darling rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ebook-egalley, read-2011, pn-zombies, pn-witches, young-adult, 2011-publication

How far would you go to save the person you loved most in the world? And what if he were already...dead?

Wren's boyfriend Danny died in a car accident before she had a chance to say goodbye. In a moment of grief, she brings him back from the dead with a powerful spell. But she soon realizes that the boy brought back is no longer quite the boy she loved.

I was really impressed by many aspects of this novel. From the description, I expected to find a typical YA paranormal romance, but was pleasantly...more How far would you go to save the person you loved most in the world? And what if he were already...dead?

Wren's boyfriend Danny died in a car accident before she had a chance to say goodbye. In a moment of grief, she brings him back from the dead with a powerful spell. But she soon realizes that the boy brought back is no longer quite the boy she loved.

I was really impressed by many aspects of this novel. From the description, I expected to find a typical YA paranormal romance, but was pleasantly surprised to find that the author spends a great deal of time reflecting on love, loss, grief, and responsibility. She skillfully sketches out the close relationship between Danny and Wren, and specifically shows us what an adorable boyfriend and great person he was. So it's all too easy to feel sympathy for Wren's pain and to understand how her bereavement led her to grasp for such a incredible solution without considering the enormity of the consequences.

Wren is a great character, too, full of complexity and conflict and confusion. She has dyed hair and piercings and a mouthy exterior, but she's also close to her sister, trying to understand her mother and the powers she's inherited, and estranged from her two best friends. The first half of this novel was extremely compelling to me as I was drawn in by Wren's struggle to balance the exhausting demands of her terrible secret with the ties she has to her everyday life, and I felt a great deal of sympathy for the guilt and grief that overwhelms her, as well as a great deal of admiration for the way she accepted responsibility for the choices she had made.

The story started to lose its magic for me, however, as Wren began to neglect Danny more and more. While at first, it seemed understandable that she would simply put him to sleep when she needed to leave because of his increasing awareness and dependence upon her, it began to happen far too much for my comfort, particularly after a certain turning point. (The paranormal aspects of the book are also very slight.) While I wasn't enraged by the presence of Gabriel, the new boy who is attentive towards her, as I think it's a natural progression in life, I don't think that it was necessary to have given him the kind of insight that he had. It didn't really add anything to the story, and made his role both much more and much less important than it needed to be. Had the book focused more on Wren and the importance of learning to let go, reading it would have been a much stronger and much more gut-wrenching experience.

Overall, I liked this book but didn't love it as much as I initially thought I would. The interesting premise and the emotional themes that were introduced in the beginning just weren't explored quite as deeply as I'd hoped they'd be--which is a shame, because with a little more development, this slight book had the potential to transcend the genre and to be something really, really great.

This review also appears in The Midnight Garden.(less)

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Mar 21, 2012 Lisa O. rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, paranormal-ya, pass-me-the-kleenex, ya-lit

What would happen if you lost the person you loved most in the world and then.... managed to bring him back?

That's what happens in this stunning novel by Amy Garvey.
Wren was - is - in love with Danny. They were everything to each other, breathing each other's air. When Danny dies in a stupid car crash, Wren's world comes to a halt. The only way she knows to give remedy to the sense of loss and desperation she feels is by trying to use her... abilities. Wren has them. Her mom, aunt and sister ha...more What would happen if you lost the person you loved most in the world and then.... managed to bring him back?

That's what happens in this stunning novel by Amy Garvey.
Wren was - is - in love with Danny. They were everything to each other, breathing each other's air. When Danny dies in a stupid car crash, Wren's world comes to a halt. The only way she knows to give remedy to the sense of loss and desperation she feels is by trying to use her... abilities. Wren has them. Her mom, aunt and sister have them too. They seem to be able to manipulate energy to their will: make things move, flowers bloom out of season, change the color of their hair at will.
In a desperate attempt to bring back what she's lost - but without thinking about the consequences - Wren concocts a spell that manages to raise Danny from the dead. But is really Danny or is it something else?

The type of zombie - there's just one - that Garvey creates in this book is not of your usual garden variety. Danny is more of a reanimated body brought back by a sort of necromancer (namely, Wren) and controlled by her. There are no blood-dripping teeth or deambulation with stiff limbs à la Thriller involved. Danny is sort of lucid, remembers fragments of his past life and is attached to Wren in a morbid way without really understanding why. He is the real and only victim under all aspects in this book and I felt so full of compassion and pity for him, it made me simultaneously mad, repulsed and terribly sorry for the situation.

Wren is a character I'd basically would want to slap, under normal circumnstances. She messes up big time by bringing Danny back and I didn't like the fact that she realized she has to do something about it (read: get rid of him) once Gabriel steps into the equation.
BUT. Garvey found a way to make me empathize with her on such a deep level that I just couldn't hate her. I could feel her desperation, her denial, her incapability to let go of Danny. But how did Garvey manage that?
Well, with her amazing writing skills, of course.
Garvey writes in such an effortless, polished way, there's not a word out of place. Her writing style is just lovely, in my opinion. She conjures up images and emotions with her words that really touched me deeply and made me tear up and feel all the grief and sorrow and helplessness Wren was experiencing. Her writing is what sets this book apart from others, really.

The only element that didn't let me give this book 5 stars is Gabriel. I have a lot of questions about him - which I am sure Garvey will give an answer to in her next book Glass Heart... right?! - but his relationship with Wren and his interest in her didn't feel completely justified. He follows her everywhere, he's almost obsessed, so much so that she has to tell him to back off. I hope I will find a feasible justification in Glass Heart that will also give light to many of the mysteries surrounding him.

Nevertheless, Cold Kiss is an amazing novel I really recommend reading, especially if you like your zombies with a twist.
(less)

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Jul 11, 2011 Jo rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: for-review, ya, own

3.5 Stars.

“It wasn’t love right away, because nothing ever is, no matter what the songs say, but it was the start of it. A beginning in one way, and the end in another. I think that might always be true of love.”

Initial Final Page Thoughts.
I was not expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did. I love being proved wrong.

High Points.
An um.. alternative way of dealing with loss. Zombies. It’s a kind of magic. Cute flashbacks. Gorgeous prose. Minimal eye-roll inducing descriptions. An unconvent...more

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Apr 27, 2012 Ariana rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: death-and-dying, magic, emotional

This book touched the very bottom of my heart.

There isn't much action and the story is simple, but there are so many emotions crammed into this little book that even my soul started to ache at some point.
The writer knows how to describe the feeling of losing someone dear to your heart, how you need to hold on to the good memories, how you can not let go even when you know that you need to.

“Love doesn’t break easily, I found. But people do.

This book is also about making mistakes and dealing wit...more

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Aug 13, 2011 Isamlq rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: arc-galley

I've been keeping my expectations of YA PNR low lately. That way I'm not too disappointed if something turns out sucky. I am pleasantly surprised by elements of Cold Kiss, despite bits of it being standard. One, girl loves boy but with an obstacle before them, things got difficult. Two, the same girl meets another boy who is just as delicious as the first, and tada triangle. Cold Kiss is not that simple though. True, the characters weren't fleshed out. True, the story took place right after she'...more

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Sep 15, 2011 Andrea rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-own

Now I have to go sob my eyes out. That hurt. It was really beautiful.

Merged review:

How do you write a review for a book you barely have words for? For a story that has me choked up just considering the emotional depths it plundered? No matter how emphatically I proclaim the beauty of Cold Kiss, I won’t be able to do the book justice.

Cold Kiss is the story of a beautiful life cut short and a love gone tragically too soon. The lengths Wren is willing to go to in order to fill the hole left after...more

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Dec 29, 2011 Elena rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult

The first word I think of when it comes to this book is "stifling." I think it's stifling in the sense that all the weight of emotion is pushed down on you in this book. Amy Garvey really exceeds in letting you feel Wren's pain, it's tangible and it's real. The flashbacks with Danny add to the character, it adds an extra layer of grief that allows the reader to sympathize with Wren. The prose is lovely in this book, you're immediately drawn into the story and the pacing of it.

I really liked Wre...more The first word I think of when it comes to this book is "stifling." I think it's stifling in the sense that all the weight of emotion is pushed down on you in this book. Amy Garvey really exceeds in letting you feel Wren's pain, it's tangible and it's real. The flashbacks with Danny add to the character, it adds an extra layer of grief that allows the reader to sympathize with Wren. The prose is lovely in this book, you're immediately drawn into the story and the pacing of it.

I really liked Wren as a character. At first. She's a really complex character, her grief is palpable and so are all the rest of her emotions. Her relationships with people, such as her friends, are tentative and you can see why she is the way she is. The aspect of Wren I didn't really like was her selfishness but that was understandable too. She's just a teenager, she lost her boyfriend, so her actions made sense in a way. However, sometimes it became overbearing to me because it didn't really seem like she understood the full consequences of her actions.

The "conflict" in the book is kind of like a wire that might snap. I was wondering how'd they would resolve but it seemed too easy when they finally did. I actually thought why she didn't do that sooner but then there wouldn't be much a story, so! I think the love interest of the story was unnecessary, especially to the extent he played a role. His knowledge of Wren was too easy, he was almost like a deus ex machina. Wren kept on asking him why he wanted to help her and he didn't really have answer. Which is the whole point, he was simply there to exist. He could have served as a better character, if he actually had a personality and wasn't there just for Wren.

I did enjoy the book though, a lot more than I thought I would! I had some problems with it but this book had a lot of potential. If it had honed in on it more, I think it would have gotten a higher rating from me. It's definitely different from your YA paranormal romance, which I really appreciate.

Originally posted at Novel Sounds. (less)

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Aug 17, 2011 Megan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: advanced-reads-for-work

Some words that are thrown around to describe COLD KISS: Paranormal. Zombies. Romance.

Don't let these words fool you. COLD KISS is something new and beautiful and unique in YA lit. I hesitate to even discuss or acknowledge the "paranormal" aspect of this book (the main character, Wren, and her family have powers of the occult at their disposal, and Wren does indeed bring her boyfriend back from the dead) because the focus of this book, and the thing I came away thinking about, was Wren's struggl...more

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Jul 07, 2012 fяσzєη rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: covergasm, i-am-disappoint, unlikable-heroines, witches, coverlove-booksuck, owned-physical-copies, boooooring, everyone-likes-it-but-me, sorry-excuse-for-a-romance, cant-believe-i-finished, cheese, dont-understand-why-its-hyped, hot-mess, insta-love

This book left me looking:

Barely anything happened, the story was pretty much predictable, and on top of all that, Wren, our protagonist, is so unlikable and whiny. If I had a penny everytime she whined, I would be able to buy my own private island. The romance was stupid and the ending was anti-climactic and boring.

I know some people might say that this book is considered to be one of those mellow, down-beat books that don't really have much action, and I'm fine with those kinds of books, but t...more

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Nov 07, 2011 Lalaine ( Ficbookreviews ) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I just finished reading this book just now, and I cried with it. I cried because its so sad, because I know how hard it is to say good bye to someone you love, letting go is the hardest. The story started a little confusing but it was all good after awhile, I really like this book, its something different from what I usually read it was kind of strange and weird but in a good way. Weird because it gives me shivers to think that Wren kissing or touching her boyfriend who's supposed to be six feet...more

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Jun 05, 2012 Hayden Casey rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: blurred-opinion, arc, cute-like-a-baby-kitten, friends-hate-it, mega-awesome-cover, netgalley, own-arc-want-finished, this-series-might-be-okay, to-buy-soon, will-own-it, wish-it-was-a-standalone, ★★★

"It wasn't love right away, because nothing ever is, no matter what the songs say."

This quote is toward the beginning of Cold Kiss, and it drew me in, not necessarily because it was interesting or thought-provoking, but because it was unlike every other YA paranormal book out there.

Cold Kiss was actually different than all the rest of the crap I'd been reading lately, filled to the brim with characters falling in love before their respective books hit page 100. (I think Fallen takes the cake, th...more

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Aug 28, 2012 Tanya rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

UNIQUE. That is word I would choose to describe Amy Garvey’s book Cold Kiss. It’s a story about a girl (Wren) who is in love...so in love that she would do the unthinkable and defy Death it’s duty. After a car accident, she resurrects her boyfriend, and must now deal with the consequences of her actions.

WHAT I LOVED
A Way With Words
Garvey is an expert at prose. She is a master of words. Cold Kiss is beautifully written with it’s rich descriptions, insight into emotional turmoil, and effective in...more UNIQUE. That is word I would choose to describe Amy Garvey’s book Cold Kiss. It’s a story about a girl (Wren) who is in love...so in love that she would do the unthinkable and defy Death it’s duty. After a car accident, she resurrects her boyfriend, and must now deal with the consequences of her actions.

WHAT I LOVED
A Way With Words
Garvey is an expert at prose. She is a master of words. Cold Kiss is beautifully written with it’s rich descriptions, insight into emotional turmoil, and effective in it’s use of flashbacks. Through her magic (no pun intended), Garvey has been able to take a story about a young witch in love with her now zombie boyfriend and transform it into a modern-day gothic romance. There is no icky zombie decay, odor, shambling, nor the eating of brains. What there is though, is deep love, loss, regret, and the need for redemption.

  Flashbacks
I mentioned Garvey’s effective use of flashbacks. A lot of books utilize flashbacks for various reasons. Why I liked them in Cold Kiss is because they helped redeem Wren in my own eyes. It was through her flashbacks that I was better able to see the deep love she and Danny (zombie boyfriend) had, and to understand some of her motivation for doing the things she did. Honestly though, if it weren’t for the flashbacks, I probably wouldn’t have been able to justify Wren’s story.

WHAT I DIDN’T LOVE
Moody Blues
I was left depressed. I felt deeply for Danny. I was so sad for him. Rather than be allowed to rest in peace, the poor boy was coerced to come back into a life where he has no one but pre-occupied Wren. He has no contact with his friends or with his family. He is confused and seemingly sad being locked up over some old neighbor’s neglected garage. Not only this, but I felt as though he was more of a burden/inconvenience to Wren than someone she truly loved. I found myself angry at her selfishness and neglect. Her actions left her beloved, once animated and interesting boyfriend an empty shell.  

Moving On
Along with poor Danny’s neglect, I had a difficult time with how Wren was preoccupied with her own life and freedom. The majority of the book was spent with her procrastinating on how to deal and resolve the situation she had created for herself and for Danny. Rather than taking responsibility, she spends her time sulking, making excuses, fighting with her mother, and flirting with another boy. For me, she was a hard “protagonist” to like. In fact, I question who the protagonist of the story should really be...her or Danny??? There was a lack of actual action because of Wren’s sulking, and I found the pacing to be a little slow for me.

If you like unique story lines, elegant story-telling, and gothic romance, I definitely recommend Cold Kiss. I wouldn’t recommend this though for a beach read. You’ll want something lighter and happier. (less)

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Aug 17, 2012 OpenBookSociety.com rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Review brought to you by OBS staff member Annabell

Beware of spoilers

I was intrigued by the blurb for this novel. I was very curious to see how a story about a girl who brings her dead boyfriend back to life would play out. I was not as impressed as I was hoping I would be. Cold Kiss had fairly good potential to be something romantically beautiful but the characters as well as lack of plot dimmed its chances.

The main character Wren lost my compassion and sympathy early on. I have lost people I lo...more Review brought to you by OBS staff member Annabell

Beware of spoilers

I was intrigued by the blurb for this novel. I was very curious to see how a story about a girl who brings her dead boyfriend back to life would play out. I was not as impressed as I was hoping I would be. Cold Kiss had fairly good potential to be something romantically beautiful but the characters as well as lack of plot dimmed its chances.

The main character Wren lost my compassion and sympathy early on. I have lost people I loved and have often wondered what would happen if, maybe, I had the potential to bring them back so I could completely understand where Wren was coming from with her loss of Danny. He was her first love and died so young. But Wren spends most of the novel either complaining about how stupid her idea was of bringing Danny back to life or how horrible of a person she is for doing so. I just wanted to slap her a few times and tell her to stop with the self-pity party and get it together! She also spends a great deal of time complaining about how many secrets her mother holds but Evie never once tells her the truth or asks for her help to give her mother a chance.

Gabriel was a pretty great character compared to Wren. He is cliché hot new guy in town with a hint of bad boy and mysterious but I still liked him. He is strong and caring and open with his feelings but he also had a tendency to be too clingy with Wren.

I also didn’t really believe Wren’s feelings for Gabriel. Wren’s feelings seemed too shallow like she only wanted to be with Gabriel for comfort and needed someone to make her feel better about herself. Gabriel’s feelings did seem more genuine but it wasn’t realistic how easily he believed Wren and how much he dedicated himself to helping her.

I love the idea behind both Wren and Gabriel’s powers. I like Wren’s ability to be able to use her powers to make her stronger or even shut people up but her lack of common sense was frustrating. Gabriel’s ability to feel what someone else feels and even be able to see into their memories through those feelings was awesome! It’s also way to close to comfort but I wouldn’t mind having that power *wink*

What I did like about Cold Kiss was the fact that the story immediately starts with Wren’s big mistake. Readers are instantly thrown into Wren’s turmoil and how much she has to fight to keep both her lies and secrets straight. I also liked the writing. The words flow naturally and the book is an easy read.

As much as I felt for Wren and the heartbreak she had to endure, I could never find a connection with her or her decisions. She often acted like such a brat with her mother and never gave her mother a chance to open up about the magic that runs in their family. She acted so unappreciative and selfish.

For fans of stories filled with witchcraft mixed with a zombie like plot, Cold Kiss may be a book you enjoy.

http://openbooksociety.com/article/am...(less)

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May 24, 2012 Melissa Simmons rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: paranormal, romance, young-adult, favorites

Hello all, this month we decided to tackle Cold Kiss by Amy Garvey for our group review! I came across this book while browsing through Goodreads (I believe Lana was already reading it) and it caught my attention. I went right to Amazon & downloaded it for my kindle. I'm so very glad I did; this book had me hooked from the very first page!

Set in a small town where everyone knows everything about everyone else, Cold Kiss brings us back to our first love and that first time you feel really con...more Hello all, this month we decided to tackle Cold Kiss by Amy Garvey for our group review! I came across this book while browsing through Goodreads (I believe Lana was already reading it) and it caught my attention. I went right to Amazon & downloaded it for my kindle. I'm so very glad I did; this book had me hooked from the very first page!

Set in a small town where everyone knows everything about everyone else, Cold Kiss brings us back to our first love and that first time you feel really connected to a person outside of your family. And it shows what can happen when that gets taken away in a violent and unexpected manner. Especially when you have certain gifts at your disposal as does our main character, Wren. I was riveted by Wren's story from the beginning and literally sat and read this book in one afternoon without moving from my couch. I simply could not put it down.

Garvey has written an emotional masterpiece that will have you on the edge of your seat. Told from Wren's point of view, the story hurtles towards climax, dragging you along for one hell of a ride. Wren's life has become one giant yarn ball of catastrophes and every time she thinks she has one knot undone, another one gets helplessly snared in the tangle. I really love how she doesn't expect anyone else to get her out of the mess she's made.

My very favorite thing about this book was the characters; mainly our heroine. Wren is a dynamo, a miniature spitfire who is determined to fix her own mistakes and learn from them. She isn't a princess waiting to be rescued, but a complexly fierce, stubborn and funny young woman. Then we have Gabriel; can I just say that I LOVE him! He's sweet, caring and funny and exactly what Wren needs, in my opinion. Knowing what a horrible situation Wren is in, he just wants to help her fix it. Or fix it himself; yep, he's that kind of guy. I can't wait to see how his & Wren's relationship develops in the next installment.

Cold Kiss is fast paced and heartbreaking; funny and sad all at the same time. You're on an emotional roller coaster from start to finish. I would highly recommend it to anyone who loves a good paranormal story.(less)

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Feb 04, 2012 Lea rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: annoying-romance, contemporary, epic-fail, depressing-as-hell, made-me-want-to-punch-something, make-it-stop-now, quick-read, supernatural, tstl-characters

[NOTE: I gave this book 1 1/2 stars on my blog...]

Hmmmm... OK, so... I wasn't a huge fan of this book. Cold Kiss tells the story of Wren, a high school girl, who happens to have magic powers that her mom has kept a secret from her all her life-- until her boyfriend Danny dies in a car accident, and Wren finds out that she can use her powers to bring him back to life. The problem is that once she does, Danny isn't the same...

*****

When I first read the premise for this book, I was thinking to my...more

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Sep 28, 2011 All Things Urban Fantasy added it · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed-by-julia

COLD KISS is a mood piece, haunting and clear. It is a sad song, a scrap of poetry, an intimate glimpse of grief and adolescence and redemption. Despite the oh so brief moment in time that we share with Wren, the author fills in all of the real, delicate little details that allow all of these characters to go straight to the heart.

Those details are most haunting as they establish the love between Wren and Danny; how they met, their first kiss, the silly gifts and secret moments. All of these thi...more

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Sep 19, 2011 Skye rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review is also posted on my blog, In The Good Books.

After Wren's boyfriend, Danny, dies in a tragic car accident, she's devastated. Driven by grief, in ignorance of the consequences, she uses the strange powers she inherited to bring him back, but he's only a shell of himself. He's cold and dead and only reflects the old Danny in fleeting moments. He can only think of her and becomes possessive and needs to be hidden from the world. And hiding him seems to work, until Gabriel arrives.

Cold K...more This review is also posted on my blog, In The Good Books.

After Wren's boyfriend, Danny, dies in a tragic car accident, she's devastated. Driven by grief, in ignorance of the consequences, she uses the strange powers she inherited to bring him back, but he's only a shell of himself. He's cold and dead and only reflects the old Danny in fleeting moments. He can only think of her and becomes possessive and needs to be hidden from the world. And hiding him seems to work, until Gabriel arrives.

Cold Kiss was surprisingly raw and emotional. Wren is as devastated by Danny's death as you'd expect, and though she knows bringing him back was a mistake, saying goodbye for a second time seems unbearable. Her grief over the boy that is still technically with her and the conflict between what she needs to do and what she wants to do is heartrendingly real.

Wren had a distinct and unique voice, realistic and well-portrayed emotions, and a very likeable quality to her despite her standoffish cover. The way she developed was realistic, especially considering she needed a trigger -- in the form of Gabriel -- to do so.

Gabriel motivation for helping Wren out was plausible. He understood what was going on, he knew it was wrong, and he wanted to help fix it. Plus, he kind of liked her. He didn't try to just swoop in and get overprotective of her; he just offered assistance where it was needed. I love these kinds of relationships explored in YA: where the romance is actually beneficial to the development of the main character. Gabriel helped Wren overcome something that she couldn't have on her own, and their connection proved to be stronger than those of YA characters built simply on good looks.

All of this amazing character building was portrayed through an easy, flowing writing style. A quietly sad and slightly hypnotic tone was established quickly and maintained, inducing a strange prickly feeling at the story's climax. I'm interested in more books from Amy Garvey in the future based on her incredible writing skill.

Overall, a compelling and emotional read; heavy on the character development and light on the supernatural. A refreshing read for paranormal and contemporary fans alike.

I give Cold Kiss a 4 out of 5.(less)

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May 27, 2011 D.J. added it · review of another edition

Ms. Garvey’s writing is stunning. She has given Wren a very poetic, funny, and honest voice. Raw, even. The descriptions leave nothing to be desired and have a sort of depth to them, if that makes sense. The dialogue is smooth and fluid, as well. Although Wren is withdrawn from her friends, they are still great members of the cast and help show just how strong friendship can be.

Prior to reading the book, I knew Danny had to be some sort of zombie given the fact that Wren brings him back to life....more

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Nov 22, 2011 Lauren Goff rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was amazing! I really enjoyed it and I read it all in just a few hours.

The story is about a girl who uses a spell to bring her dead boyfriend back to life. Things are fine for a while until he starts getting possessive and remembering the accident that took his life and the ritual that brought him back. Along the way, the girl, Wren, meets and starts to develop feelings for the new boy at school. It's a story of love and loss, of friendships breaking and mending, and it's a story that...more

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Sep 29, 2012 ♥Kelsi♫ rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: was-okay

I liked this book. The romance, the character development, the storyline... it was good. Even though i cried half of the book, i still loved it :0 i'm excited to read the 2nd book :)

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May 13, 2013 Esther Shaindel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Full review on Reader's Dialogue: http://readersdialogue.blogspot.com/2...

Danny and Wren's love is shown mostly through flashbacks and memories, and some of Wren's ruminations. But even though the current situation is far from what their love truly is, I felt like I really got what their relationship was like, and it totally made sense for Wren to want it back, to feel like if she didn't have it she couldn't go on living. It's the kind of love that insinuates itself into every part of your life,...more

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Mar 29, 2013 Lauren rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"We were completely different. Danny was tall, sweet, graceful despite legs that went on forever. I was little, moody, uncoordinated...
It didn't matter. I loved him. I loved him so much that I couldn't see anything else for a while. Danny filled the cracks inside me, blotted out the cold, empty places in the world. It didn't take long before Danny was the only thing that mattered.
Love like that is what they make movies about. It's the thing you're supposed to want, the answer to every questi...more

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Jan 06, 2013 Kate rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Wie weit würdest du gehen, um an deiner Liebe festzuhalten? Was würdest du für deine große Liebe alles auf sich nehmen? Und könntest du los lassen, auch wenn es für immer wäre?

Wren ist mehr als nur am Boden zerstört, als der Anruf kommt. Danny ist tot. Ihre große Liebe Danny. Danny, der seine Pizza mit Zwiebeln und Pilzen belegt, der Eier fallen lässt und die Fernbedienung kaputt macht. Der Danny, mit dem alles möglich gewesen wäre. Ihr Danny.
Aus Verzweiflung macht Wren etwas, was eigentlich unm...more

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Dec 04, 2012 Antoinette rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: o, paranormal, ya

This book is about really letting go of the one you love. Wren lost her first love and she had a hard time dealing with it. So she brought him back to life. At first everything was okay, then gradually he became different. She slowly realized that he wasn't the same Danny she lost. She didn't feel the warmth of his embrace anymore or the passion that would ignite when she saw him. She couldn't take him anywhere or see him in the day time. She had to keep him as a secret. Wren had always had a pr...more

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Nov 16, 2012 Tori rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

*SPOILER FREE REVIEW*

Summary:

"It was a beautiful, warm summer day, the day Danny died.
Suddenly Wren was alone and shattered. In a heartbroken fury, armed with dark incantations and a secret power, Wren decides that what she wants--what she "must" do--is to bring Danny back.
But the Danny who returns is just a shell of the boy Wren fell in love with. His touch is icy; his skin, smooth and stiff as marble; his chest, cruelly silent when Wren rests her head against it.
Wren must keep Danny a secret,...more

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Oct 08, 2012 Vered rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Occasionally I read a book that sinks its teeth into me, rather than the other way around. This week, I read two such books back-to-back: Touchback and Cold Kiss. I actually couldn’t start another book right away, and had to pause for a while after each of these to let the ending and the overall emotional echo really sink in.

When Danny dies in a car crash, Wren is heartbroken. Until she finds a way to bring him back. Unfortunately, things don’t go as planned and she learns too late that bringing...more

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Sep 07, 2012 Rachel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Short read but interesting. Our main character, Wren is a 17-yr old untrained witch that loses her boyfriend and 1st love, Danny, to a tragic car accident. In her grief, she resurrects him from the dead out of love. We're given glimpses to Wren and Danny's life prior to the accident thru a series of flashback scenes as Wren re-tells their story to Danny. However, Danny is becoming increasingly more difficult to control the longer he is "here". He is slowly remembering what happened and is not ha...more

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Aug 30, 2012 Nadège Richards rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

From beginning to end. I cried from beginning to end. Not that this story is a complete sob novel (though, for me it obviously was) it just really touched me in many mysterious ways. I loved how this was a coming-of-age novel mixed with the average paranormal/supernatural. The take on zombies, as the author also explains, is very different. There's no eating of brains, but just a very cold, confused and aggressive version of the person it used to be. Anyways, I connected with Wren (MC) and the s...more From beginning to end. I cried from beginning to end. Not that this story is a complete sob novel (though, for me it obviously was) it just really touched me in many mysterious ways. I loved how this was a coming-of-age novel mixed with the average paranormal/supernatural. The take on zombies, as the author also explains, is very different. There's no eating of brains, but just a very cold, confused and aggressive version of the person it used to be. Anyways, I connected with Wren (MC) and the story on many different level, and sometimes I didn't connect at all. Cold Kiss will probably be remembered for the writing the most, I believe. The monologue has a way of bringing tears to a pessimist's eyes. And while it worked so well for this novel, it didn't click for me sometimes, and I'll tell you why. But I literally finished Cold Kiss in a day, as it was very short, and it somewhat left me with some questions. I would have liked to have known more about Wren and Gabriel's abilities and powers and the connection they shared. Why didn't Wren ever question Gabriel about any this?

Monologue, for me, has to be curt--but not too short--and lengthy, but not too long. It must be meaningful. I can't say how many times Wren's monologue has digressed to something totally off topic in the middle of a crisis. It's quite annoying, and yet understanding. She's going through a trauma as great as losing her first and only love, but can't we at least stay on topic? I quite fancied Danny, if I do say so myself, so it broke my heart to find out that he is quite, well, dead the entire book. Though, I do wish Garvy had given more depth to his character. He seemed like the everyday teenager, but I just couldn't fall for him--which is a problem. The way Garvey then takes the climax and seeks a resolution in it bothered me. The ending was too short and abrupt, made it seem so easy-peasy, when it shouldn't have been. The climax, for lack of better words, was disappointing.

I will say, though, even through all the negatives, this is a book worth the read/buy. As a reviewer, I tend to pick stories apart, but if you really just read for the heck of reading and ignore the negatives, Garvy really did do something great with Cold Kiss. (less)

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Aug 28, 2012 Aly rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

2.5 stars
I wanted to love this book. And I there are definitely readers who will enjoy this book. However, when it was all said and done, I was left with a lot of "but why?" In a first book, I expect to at least pull a string that starts to unravel why I should root for a protagonist. For all practical purposes, the big conflict is resolved, cue the romantic swells in music, and fade lights. I was left with a lot of questions, and I'm afraid it's not because of tension built throughout the book,...more

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About Amy Garvey

I've always been a reader. I've also been a movie theater ticket taker, a nanny, a camp counselor, and a romance editor. Now I'm a wife and a mom and a writer who still spends most of my free time reading (when I'm not watching too much TV).

After starting off in romance with books like Hot Date and Pictures of Us, I'm writing in the genre I've always loved most, young adult fiction. (My very firs...more

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Quotes from Cold Kiss

“Love doesn’t break easily, I found. But people do.” — 40 people liked it

“I am the kid who sticks her finger in the light socket. I am the person who doesn't check the expiration date on the milk. I am the idiot who has never looked before she leaped. I am the girl who is falling apart, right now.” — 29 people liked it

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