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Frozen Beauty

Lexa Hillyer (Goodreads Author)

3.38 · Rating details · 390 ratings · 103 reviews

Everyone in Devil’s Lake knows the three golden Malloy sisters—but one of them is keeping a secret that will turn their little world inside out….

No one knows exactly what happened to Kit in the woods that night—all they have are a constellation of facts: icy blue lips and fingers cold to the touch, a lacy bra, an abandoned pick-up truck with keys still in the ignition. Sti ...more

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Hardcover, 368 pages

Published March 17th 2020 by HarperTeen

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· 390 ratings · 103 reviews

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Apr 15, 2020 Chelsea (chelseadolling reads) rated it it was ok

If I'm being honest, this was pretty unremarkable. If I didn't have an ARC, I probably wouldn't have bothered finishing it. Bummer because the cover is STUNNING. ...more

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Mar 11, 2020 JenacideByBibliophile rated it liked it

Shelves: coming-of-age, fiction-ya-teen, outdoors, fiction-ya, mystery-thriller-ya, contemporary, crime-thriller, thriller-ya, winter-reads

Disclaimer: This book was sent to me by the publisher, HarperTeen, via Edelweiss+ for an honest review.

“…it’s your life, your being alive. It was supposed to be yours.

But then, one day, it isn’t.”

description

“Secrets. Secrets.”

The Malloy sisters are well-known in Devil’s Lake for their contrasting personalities and unique beauty. They are thick as thieves and have always shared a close bond with each other, and their neighbor and best friend Boyd. But the three sisters also have secrets. Deep, d ...more

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Jun 21, 2020 Eva B. rated it did not like it

Shelves: disappointing, that-cover-though, obnoxious-mc, 1-star

First off, this book does NOT deserve this cover. I'd get this cover tattooed on my body, but I just want to pretend I didn't read this book.
Lilly was obnoxious, Kit was bland, and Tessa even blander. The blurb calls Tessa a tomboy, but she's really not? She's just boring. Patrick's POV had no purpose, Dar (the only queer character in the book) is written out halfway through and is then irrelevant. Lilly and Mel read like middle schoolers as opposed to sophomores.
The worst part was definitely th ...more

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Feb 19, 2020 Fanna rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2020-releases

May 11, 2020: Frozen Beauty is a silent storm of an emotional loss, secret revelations, a mystery waiting to unfold, and a sisterly bond that is vividly contrasting and yet strong. After the death of an elder sister among three, the family and younger sisters are devastated but the aftermath of a witness testifying and consequential placement of the good neighbour boy behind bars is tough and doesn't bring closure at all. The mystery around what happened, on a dark night in the woods, to a perfe ...more

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Mar 24, 2020 Elizabeth Aguilar rated it liked it

Review: https://jinxedreviews.com/2020/03/24/...

I received an eARC from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

Frozen Beauty follows the Malloy sisters-- Kit, Tessa, and Lilly-- before and after Kit's death in a dual perspective.

Despite not having Kit's perspective, we actually do get to know her quite well. We piece a lot together from what her sisters think about her, dialogue, and Kit's poems. I really loved that Frozen Beauty incorporated poems "written" by Kit. It gave the author a chan Review: https://jinxedreviews.com/2020/03/24/...

I received an eARC from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

Frozen Beauty follows the Malloy sisters-- Kit, Tessa, and Lilly-- before and after Kit's death in a dual perspective.

Despite not having Kit's perspective, we actually do get to know her quite well. We piece a lot together from what her sisters think about her, dialogue, and Kit's poems. I really loved that Frozen Beauty incorporated poems "written" by Kit. It gave the author a chance to showcase more of her lyrical writing, while also further developing Kit as the poet she was said to be. I appreciate that this book made me invested in seeing what happened to her, even if I knew she died.

One unique thing that Frozen Beauty did was having the mystery be the main plot, while also sort of keeping it in the background. This was easily accomplished due to the dual perspective. Tessa is focused on finding her sister's killer. Meanwhile, Lilly' s chapters focus on the general occurrences of the Fall and early Winter, which place a bigger emphasis on love and secrets.

I was drawn to Frozen Beauty because of the promise of secrets and sisterly bonds-- which it definitely delivered. Yet I was surprised by how first love is a huge theme in all three Malloy sister's stories-- although to differing degrees. Yet it is with these threads of first love that we really see secrets being told and these bonds being tested. Due to how tightly-knit the sisters are, their interactions with first love is when we see them being themselves. Not as the molds that others place each of them. While I didn't love all the characters-- mainly Lilly and Kit since they grew on me-- I did understand them, their roles, and motivations.

The mystery aspect of the story was incredibly executed. Hillyer plainly lays outs all the suspects, motives, and situations, while still managing to keep you guessing. Seeing Tessa look for clues about her sister's death, while also grappling with not having realized her sister kept secrets and her sister's loss, intensified the mystery. You'll desperately want to know, even though it won't change the outcome. The dual perspective amped up the mystery since it allows us to see characters' development, while also providing some key clues (though we don't know it at first).

This is the first book I have read by Lexa Hillyer but I was blown away by her writing. Hillyer's prose is poignant and haunting in its simplicity. Similarly, the secrets are simpler than expected, yet more compelling, because of it. While I really didn't solve the mystery, I was satisfied with it. It made sense. It fit.

Unfortunately, despite all these amazing aspects of Frozen Beauty, I did not love it. There was one thing that just did not work for me that did kind of sour my enjoyment. That is: Tessa seemed to rely on her chimerism too much. I understand why Hillyer included it. Tessa leaned into this aspect of herself to feel connected to Kit. It did explain their relationship. I appreciated that Tessa did stop to question certain things she did and wonder how much was her. I appreciate what Hillyer tried to do with Tessa's chimerism, it didn't work for me. It could have been a really interesting conversation about what makes us, us. It could have been thematically relevant. Instead, it fell flat and repetitive.

There wasn't much that was unique about Tessa-- ironically despite her two different eye colors. I can't even remember how she was characterized other than liking biology. The chimerism robbed her of embracing herself, instead of questioning which part is her and which part is her sister. I wanted Tessa to embrace her own person. I just felt cheated out of character growth with her. The other characters exhibited it, even if it was minor.

The ending further cemented my perspective on Tessa's chimerism since it was used to explain what happened the knight Kit died. While I understand that another revelation would have had to be told versus shown OR shown through Kit's perspective, thereby breaking the organization of the book, the ending that was used felt like a cop out. It added a layer of magical realism or at least something "other" that is not otherwise there.

Frozen Beauty is not your standard mystery thriller. At its core, Frozen beauty is about the bonds between sisters. It is about not believing everything you are told. It is a story about loss, love, and secrets. ...more

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Mar 24, 2020 Jane (It'sJaneLindsey) rated it liked it

Shelves: 2020-releases, 2020-arcs-to-review, 2020-read

I just wanted *more* from every aspect of this book.

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Nov 27, 2020 Isabella rated it it was amazing

Shelves: arcs

Huge thanks to Glasstown Entertainment (@glasstownent) and Lexa Hillyer (@proofoflex) for the ARC!

Since this isn't YA Fantasy, I won't be giving the usual organized reviews that I've started doing recently. In fact, seeing as this is one of my favorite books I've read in the past few months, this review will be quite short:

Read it.

Do yourself a favor, and read FROZEN BEAUTY.

This is an ARC, so while there was the very VERY occasional minor typo or plot inconsistency, pretty much every aspect of t ...more

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Aug 31, 2019 Brenna Clark rated it it was amazing

Thank you so much to Edelweiss for this advanced copy of a thrilling murder mystery! I was hooked from the synopsis itself, having been the daughter to a single mom with two sisters herself, so the mostly female cast of characters felt so familiar to me; like home. I love a story with good twists and turns, and although I don’t see myself as a very good sleuth in the slightest, I still don’t think anyone with more honed observation skills would have predicted the end of this one!

We enter the bro Thank you so much to Edelweiss for this advanced copy of a thrilling murder mystery! I was hooked from the synopsis itself, having been the daughter to a single mom with two sisters herself, so the mostly female cast of characters felt so familiar to me; like home. I love a story with good twists and turns, and although I don’t see myself as a very good sleuth in the slightest, I still don’t think anyone with more honed observation skills would have predicted the end of this one!

We enter the broken lives of the Malloy sisters after one of them, Kit, is found dead. She suffered from hypothermia and a head wound, and was found in the back of her childhood friend’s truck. The narrative goes back and forth from the remaining sisters trying to figure out how to pick up their lives and live again to flashes of the past as we slowly piece together who Kit really was. It’s always scary to think how much you don’t know about a person; especially when you’ve grown up beside them. Everyone has their secrets, and the Malloy family is no stranger to that. The familial bond is tested more than once as Boyd, their friend, is put on trial for the murder and Tessa does everything in her power to prove her innocent, while Lily is figuring out who she is in the wake of Kit’s passing and encountering growing concern about her two best friends who are falling apart before her very eyes.

I liked how, past the tragic end of a girl who had her whole life in front of her, this was also a story about the end of childhood and faerie tales, and the beginning of young adulthood and the dangers and anxiety that follows. Too often we are deceived into thinking that there’s a pattern we must follow. If you haven’t had sex, you’re a prude. If you haven’t tried drugs or alcohol, you’re not cool. If you haven’t lined your while future out in front of you, you’re a slacker. Even now, I appreciate reminders that life isn’t a race, and your life is your own. This shined brightest in Tessa, who felt extremely close to Kit in a way that made her feel like a lesser copy. We also see it in Lily as she combats being the younger sister who feels invisible most of the time.

This book has its fair share of romance, intrigue, heart, and tragedy that I really believe lends the narrative to being for any reader. It’s engaging and I loved the usage of poetry in Kit’s diary entries that showcased the author’s background in writing. It was also mixed media of sorts, which is something I actively seek out in books; having not only the aforementioned diary entries but also text and phone conversations. All in all, it was a beautiful and heartbreaking read that made me want to hold the women in my family a little closer. ...more

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Apr 10, 2020 Jessica | Booked J rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: best-of-2020

Blog | Twitter | Instagram | Tik Tok | You can find my review here.

Secrets, secrets, secrets... Oh, there are so many haunting secrets in our lives. And it is the big source of this novel. If you were curious: Frozen Beauty is one of the most sincere explorations of this fact. It is a true coming of age story, centered around tragedy and its aftermath. It captures girlhood, and sisterhood, beautifully and complexly--just as good literature is meant to.

There was a moment, at the start, where I fe ...more

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Jul 29, 2019 여리고 rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2020-releases, crime, romance, drcs, morbid-relationships, march-2020-releases, need-a-hardcover-of, realistic-fiction, strong-friendship, arcs

Extending my deepest gratitude to Edelweiss and HarperTeen for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I'm starting this today and it looks like this book and I are going to be probably in for the most stirring ride I may have yet to experience.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

4.5 frozen stars! FRTC.

I am still in need of gathering cohesive thoughts on this one. Yes, you saw that right. I am indeed reeling from intense shock, sheer repugnance and ...more

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Apr 24, 2020 Renata rated it it was ok

Sadly the mystery wasn’t actually a thing, the drama send me off many times and I feel there were too many chapters that could have been shorter or explain more things and I didn’t liked how everything was resumed in the last two chapters and may I add they were extremely short compared to others?
I was really excited for this since the cover is so beautiful and the summary made me hope this was going to be an amazing one, but I guess it wasn’t my cup of tea.

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Oct 05, 2020 Elyse (ElyseReadsandSpeaks) rated it did not like it

I was definitely duped by this cover. It's so beautiful and I was hoping for a good mystery that I would just lose myself in. Instead, I didn't care about any of the characters, the mystery and resolution were kind of lame, and I found myself losing interest repeatedly. I was back and forth between 1 and 2 stars. Even as I write this, I'm flipping back and forth between the two. I think I'm just so annoyed that such a gorgeous cover had such a lackluster and boring story that I'm opting for 1 ou ...more

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Mar 20, 2020 Zoë ☆ rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: 2020-reads, 2020-releases, audiobook, 2020-audiobooks

*2.5 stars
Mehhhhh??? This wasn’t really the murder mystery I thought it would be

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Jul 23, 2019 Nia •ShadesOfPaper• rated it it was ok

Shelves: standalone, 2020-releases, arcs, books-read-in-2020, contemporary, young-adult, 2020-arcs, mystery

You can find this review on my blog Shades of Paper.

Ever since I knew about Frozen Beauty I knew I had to pick it up, because I’m always looking for good mystery/thriller stories, and this sounded really great and right up my alley, but unfortunately I just wasn’t the biggest fan of this novel, and it ended up being such an unremarkable book to me.

My main issue was that the plot wasn’t as mysterious as I would have loved. It was more a suspense novel with a little bit of a mystery, but I just wa You can find this review on my blog Shades of Paper.

Ever since I knew about Frozen Beauty I knew I had to pick it up, because I’m always looking for good mystery/thriller stories, and this sounded really great and right up my alley, but unfortunately I just wasn’t the biggest fan of this novel, and it ended up being such an unremarkable book to me.

My main issue was that the plot wasn’t as mysterious as I would have loved. It was more a suspense novel with a little bit of a mystery, but I just wasn’t engaged with the story at no point of the book, which is sad to say, but that was what happened. The plot dragged a lot throughout the novel, and the pacing was a bit off and sometimes there were a lot of things happening at once (mostly towards the ending) and other times literally nothing was happening (most of the novel).

Also, there was a lot of drama going on that took away that mystery the synopsis promised us, and the interactions between the characters were just so cringy and juvenile that it was pretty hard for the reader not only to empathize with our protagonist but also to understand them. The relationship between the sisters, which I thought was going to be explored throughout the story was barely addressed and we didn’t get to see that sisterhood between them or what was going on.

The ending was pretty predictable to me, and it was a bit anticlimactic. I was expecting to be al least a bit surprised, but once we reached that point I felt so disconnected with the story and the characters that not only I knew who the killer was beforehand, but also I didn’t care when everything was solved.

Overall, I had such high expectations and thought I was going to enjoy Frozen Beauty, but I ended up not liking it as much as I thought, and not only the characters were bland and childish, but there were two perspectives, and one of them didn’t add much to the plot, and I think things could have been solved way before they did.

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. This doesn’t change my opinion whatsoever. All thoughts are my own.

Thank you HarperCollins and HarperTeen for the ARC.

Blog | Twitter | Instagram | BlogLovin’ ...more

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Dec 28, 2019 karli rated it really liked it

Shelves: arcs, 2020-releases, covers

4/5 stars!

Thank you Edelweiss and HarperTeen for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review

Frozen Beauty is a gripping story about sisters, high school, first loves, and commentary on the fear women feel everyday. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire book, I even read it in a day. The dueling timelines really added to the mystery. I think some of the diary writing was cringey, but I understood what the author was trying to do with the characterization. I would definitely recommend this book.

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Mar 17, 2020 Kajree Gautom rated it liked it

GOODNESS I LOVED THIS BOOK SO SO MUCH!!!
RIGHT FROM FIRST PAGE TO THE LAST!!!
IT'S SUPERB!!
imma write a full review soon eep ...more

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Mar 22, 2020 Uma | Books.Bags.Burgers rated it really liked it

Shelves: books-i-own, mystery, arc, contemporary, crime

(A huge thank you to the the author for the physical ARC of the book and thank you to FFBC tours for including me in the blog tour.)

Actual Rating - 4.5

You know how when we read a book and we try to explain our thoughts about it, we think about the plot and how good the twists were and all these technical things? But every now and then you read a book and when you try to explain to someone what you thought of the book, all you can coherently say is that it made you feel. That's how I feel about t ...more

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Mar 28, 2020 Steff Fox rated it liked it

Shelves: creative-tales, 2020, poetry, arcs, feels, predictable, love-triangles, ya, retelling-central, cover-gems

| Reader Fox Blog |

Lexa Hillyer's Frozen Beauty is marketed with references to poetic and lyrical prose. As it tells the tale of two sisters in alternating timelines as the truth of their eldest sister's secrets and eventual death is slowly revealed, I'd say this description is decently accurate. Readers follow the youngest, Lilly, in the past as she navigates through her life and the realization that Kit is keeping something from everyone. Then they follow the middle sister, Tessa, as she ...more

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Mar 30, 2020 Leelynn (Sometimes Leelynn Reads) ❤ rated it it was amazing

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Fantastic Flying Book Club, Edelweiss, and HarperTeen for this free copy. All quotes in this review are taken from the Advanced Reader Copy and may change in final publication.

This premise reminds me of another book that dealt with death between girls, except in this novel, these girls are actually sisters. The other girls were sisters at heart, and it makes me wonder whi ...more

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Dec 20, 2020 Silly Goose rated it it was amazing

Shelves: great-books-for-book-reports, incredible-covers, books-that-made-me-cry-for-a-month, solid-ending, underrated-books, mystery-recs, book-covers-with-amazing-fonts

Frozen Beauty: ★★★★.5

Oh. My. Word.

Oh my word. Wait. What? Hold up. What?

This book, how do I explain it? Every element is so well thought-out, well-planned, well-written...
I kept thinking, well obviously he did it, no wait it's her, oh actually I think it's him and then BAM.
Last seventeen pages and the whole world COMES CRASHING DOWN.

This book is as pretty and tragic as the cover makes it look, which might be a first? The cover actually suiting the book??

Anyways, this is a story that is gonna ...more

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Apr 08, 2020 Gayatri Saikia | per_fictionist rated it liked it

Shelves: audio-book, 2020-releases, thrillers, ya-thrillers

frozen beauty was goooooood!!!
i like it a lot but did i love it? well that depends! it's one of those books where the mystery and the emotional angle moves forward side by side and if you are into that you are gonna love it, i am sure. buuuuuut since i expected more twists and revelations i was a bit underwhelmed,i guess.

also, uhmmm unrealistic plot a bit?? idk might just be my opinion tho!

but hillyer's writing was amazing and i am definitely going to pick up her next books ...more

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May 06, 2020 Margrethe rated it liked it

Shelves: contemporary, audio

I liked this. It has a mystery that I was quite intrigued by. But it didn't blow me away or anything. However, I liked the way this book was built up by the multiple POVs and alternating timelines. It does include some heavy themes, that I wished it would have spent more time on.

This scored 6.43 on CAWPILE. That makes it one middle three-star mark. ...more

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Aug 10, 2019 Kat rated it really liked it

Shelves: excellent, young-adult, 2019-published

Thank you to Edelweiss and HarperCollins for the E-arc copy of Frozen Beauty.
#MustRead2019
#FrozenBeauty

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Feb 06, 2020 Lauren ✨ (TheBookishTwins) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary, mystery, edelweiss, highly-anticipated-2020

Disclaimer: I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Thank you kindly to HarperTeen for my review copy.

I absolutely adore books about sisters, including tragic ones. This one is definitely a tragic one. In Devil’s Lake, everyone knows the Malloy sisters: Kit, the studious one, who is perfect and good; Tessa, the one with a special connection to Kit; and Lilly, the baby of the family whose tired of living in the shadow of her sisters. When Kit is found in the wo ...more

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Mar 25, 2020 Clara ✨ rated it really liked it

Shelves: mistério

[...] arguing and getting angry and resenting each other like sisters do . . . because you don’t choose to love your family. You’re stuck with them. And sisters are the hardest—they are mirrors of you [...]

This book has a combination of several things I love, so let me list them for you:

💨 Real and flawed characters - they are jealous, annoying at times, make several mistakes and, at the same, they are caring with each other.

💨 Cold atmospheric setting - I felt cold in my bones with the descriptio ...more

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May 07, 2020 Ellie rated it it was ok

Shelves: ya

This had a great beginning with a great murder mystery. You get a lot of different perspectives which made it very intriguing, sadly though the ending was disappointing af

I didn’t like how the mystery was solved and it was not satisfying at all

That beautiful cover deserves a better story 🤷🏻‍♀️

* A disappointing 2.5 stars*

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May 10, 2020 Susan Forsgren rated it did not like it

Nothing new here. Just the retelling of other stories.

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Mar 26, 2020 Katie rated it it was ok

Shelves: format-ebook, how-library, books-read-in-2020, books-read-in-2020-new

Ehhh, I was rather bored. Ultimately, there just wasn't enough here. ...more

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May 10, 2020 Divya Bhatt (evelynhugosbitch) rated it did not like it

SO BAD!

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Feb 13, 2020 Trang rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: teen, giveaways, mystery, arc

This is an honest, unedited review by Trang Hoang in exchange for an ARC of Frozen Beauty.
Thank you, Harper Collins!

I have VERY mixed emotions on this book. There were moments where my brain would
be like "IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL!"

And then moments where I was like
--just bored.

So, in the character of all interesting reviews, I’m providing a listed one.

Here are the GOODS
1. Writing Style/Prose- 4/5 Hillyer said that she was a poet before a novelist and that’s
apparent in the text. In the unique glimpses in ...more

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About Lexa Hillyer

Lexa Hillyer

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Hello! I'm the author of the YA fantasy duology Spindle Fire & Winter Glass, YA speculative contemporary Proof of Forever, and the upcoming YA contemporary Frozen Beauty. I also wrote the poetry collection Acquainted with the Cold, which won the 2012 Foreword Book of the Year Award. I'm one of the founders, and President of Publishing, at creative development company Glasstown Entertainment. I liv ...more