My Rating: 

Publication Date: September 20, 2011

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Release Format: Hardcover , 304pp

ISBN: 006199622

Add It To Your Shelf:  Goodreads

Buy the Book:  Amazon

Synopsis

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, hiding him away, visiting him at night, while her life slowly unravels around her. Then Gabriel DeMarnes transfers to her school, and Wren realizes that somehow, inexplicably, he can sense the powers that lie within her—and that he knows what she has done. And now Gabriel wants to help make things right.

But Wren alone has to undo what she has wrought—even if it means breaking her heart all over again.

My Thoughts

I could really feel the pain for Wren as her story unfolds.  Since Danny’s death, Wren is struggling with her friendships, her relationship with her mother and a secret that she keeps only to herself.  She is so in love with Danny that she can’t bare to let him go, so she finds a way to bring him back.

Wren slowly comes undone as things get more complicated and Danny becomes more aware of what Wren has done to keep him.  Wren must come to terms with the fact that this is not the Danny that she knew in life and has to make the heart wrenching decision whether or not to let him go for good.

While Wren is in the midst of her emotional mess she meets Gabriel, a guy who somehow knows more about her than anyone else.  Gabriel is an interesting character.  I am blown away by his selflessness.  He becomes Wren’s strength in many ways, helping her realize truths and realities when she is too emotionally invested to see things clearly herself.  There is so much more to know about Gabriel and I am hoping that Amy Garvey will give us more of Gabriel in the future.

I wasn’t expecting to be sucked into the life and emotion of the characters the way that I was.  I was expecting something more paranormal based.  Yes, this is about the paranormal, but it is more about discovering what kind of sacrifices are involved when we truly love someone.  Cold Kiss is full of love, sacrifice, internal conflict and self discovery.

I recommend Cold Kiss by Amy Garvey to all YA fans.  The story is right whether you are into the paranormal or not since the romance storyline was such an important part of the story.