Review – Gathering Frost (Once Upon a Curse, Book 1) by Kaitlyn Davis (2/5 stars)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fairy Tales Retold/Fantasy
Length: 338 pages
Publisher: Quirk Books
Release Date: February 17, 2015
ASIN : B00S05C1EK
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Once Upon a Curse series
Source: Borrowed through Kindle Unlimited
Rating: 2/5 stars
“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. Under his 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.”
Series Info/Source: This is the first book in the Once Upon a Curse series. I borrowed this book through Kindle Unlimited.
Story (3/5): This was a very simple and boring fairy tale retelling of Sleeping Beauty. The general idea behind this post apocalyptic world (where fantasy regions take over major cities and curse them) is intriguing but wasn’t really filled out very well. The story also lacked anything to push it forward or make it intriguing, the whole thing came off as really contrived to me.
Characters (3/5): The characters were very one-dimensional. Jade is very plain and a bit slow and her insta-love with Prince Asher was eye-roll inducing. All the characters just really lacked any sort of complexity and were boring to read about. The romance between the two lacked any real depth or heat and was very lackluster.
Setting (2/5): The idea of fantasy regions appearing and taking over major cities was interesting but just wasn’t filled out all that well. We’re just supposed to accept that this happened without any background or explanation. The whole setting felt very fake and forced.
Writing Style (2/5): This was written at a very simple and low reading level. Very little description here and no complexity to the story at all. I was confused about the age demographic for this because it seems like it’s at a middle grade reading level but the subject matter is more at a young adult level. I was not impressed.
My Summary (2/5): Overall I found this disappointing and don’t plan on continuing the series. It felt like this was written on a whim and with very little effort, things were just not well thought out or well built up. This was very boring, very predictable, and there was very little I liked here.