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annaptobias's review against another edition
4.0
I really liked this. I'm just as surprised as you are.
I like how the relationship between Ginny and Kai was told in flashback. Like, I get it, she's in love with him otherwise why would she risk life and limb to get him back, but the way the author pieced together the small moments that showed how their love bloomed over the years was very well done.
I like how Ginny is pretty much dead weight at the beginning but grows into a fairly competent person at the end. I like how every new person that she meets challenges her why she's chasing down this guy who told her straight out that he doesn't love her anymore and is now with another girl. I like how she figures all the stuff out on her own, and each new revelation intensifies her motivation to keep on going.
I like the wacky side characters. It's very reminiscent of the original Andersen story, how often the journey gets delayed because of one thing or another, but how even these delays enriched the heroine's development.
The werewolf stuff is just window dressing. You don't really need to pay too much attention to it. It does make me want to actually read the other books in this series though.
I like how the relationship between Ginny and Kai was told in flashback. Like, I get it, she's in love with him otherwise why would she risk life and limb to get him back, but the way the author pieced together the small moments that showed how their love bloomed over the years was very well done.
I like how Ginny is pretty much dead weight at the beginning but grows into a fairly competent person at the end. I like how every new person that she meets challenges her why she's chasing down this guy who told her straight out that he doesn't love her anymore and is now with another girl. I like how she figures all the stuff out on her own, and each new revelation intensifies her motivation to keep on going.
I like the wacky side characters. It's very reminiscent of the original Andersen story, how often the journey gets delayed because of one thing or another, but how even these delays enriched the heroine's development.
The werewolf stuff is just window dressing. You don't really need to pay too much attention to it. It does make me want to actually read the other books in this series though.
zenithharpink's review
2.0
2.5 stars. Ugh. Another snoozer. I think these were some of the first books I added to my Goodreads TBR, and I usually love fairytale retellings, but these really weren't good, and this last book kept the pattern.
On paper, this book, and even the series, seems AMAZING!! Dark, edgy fairytale retellings? Yes, please! In execution, they're exceedingly bland...and somewhat incoherent. While in reality the stories are related to one another (tenuously), they're connected by the backstory featuring werewolves. Everything else, including characters, are only tangentially connected, which I found pretty frustrating. While each book features a different fairytale, they all have a similar frame, and this book featured Hans Christian Andersen's the Snow Queen, a story that for the life of me I can't understand why authors are so drawn to - there are WAY better options! Regardless, Pearce really just wanted to do a retelling of The Snow Queen, but while the retelling was faithful to HCA, it just didn't...fit with the larger series. It felt like a square peg in a round hole, disjointed and awkward.
In addition, these characters were annoying, bland, and uninteresting. Ginny was simply a lucky idiot, Kai was in love with her and played a violin. That about all we learn about them - though it is fairly consistently beaten into the reader throughout the book. Also, there were gypsies that took up a third of the book for reasons unknown (besides page filler), And some REALLY rich friends, who would save the day, whenever.
Mostly I'm just glad to be done with this series, which I never intend to read again, or anything else Ms. Pearce has written. I stuck with the series and wasn't rewarding - now on to bigger and better things!
On paper, this book, and even the series, seems AMAZING!! Dark, edgy fairytale retellings? Yes, please! In execution, they're exceedingly bland...and somewhat incoherent. While in reality the stories are related to one another (tenuously), they're connected by the backstory featuring werewolves. Everything else, including characters, are only tangentially connected, which I found pretty frustrating. While each book features a different fairytale, they all have a similar frame, and this book featured Hans Christian Andersen's the Snow Queen, a story that for the life of me I can't understand why authors are so drawn to - there are WAY better options! Regardless, Pearce really just wanted to do a retelling of The Snow Queen, but while the retelling was faithful to HCA, it just didn't...fit with the larger series. It felt like a square peg in a round hole, disjointed and awkward.
In addition, these characters were annoying, bland, and uninteresting. Ginny was simply a lucky idiot, Kai was in love with her and played a violin. That about all we learn about them - though it is fairly consistently beaten into the reader throughout the book. Also, there were gypsies that took up a third of the book for reasons unknown (besides page filler), And some REALLY rich friends, who would save the day, whenever.
Mostly I'm just glad to be done with this series, which I never intend to read again, or anything else Ms. Pearce has written. I stuck with the series and wasn't rewarding - now on to bigger and better things!
wayfaringbibliophile's review
4.0
Rating: 4.5
Once again, Jackson Pearce did it again. Her retelling of fairy tales have always intrigued me and this wasn't the exception. I fell in love with Ginny's character as she turned out to be everything I expected he to be. The book was overall compelling and there were some funny parts which I really enjoyed. You don't necessarily have to read the previous books to understand this one but it does help. All the books in the series are link, even if it is a brief mention.
Once again, Jackson Pearce did it again. Her retelling of fairy tales have always intrigued me and this wasn't the exception. I fell in love with Ginny's character as she turned out to be everything I expected he to be. The book was overall compelling and there were some funny parts which I really enjoyed. You don't necessarily have to read the previous books to understand this one but it does help. All the books in the series are link, even if it is a brief mention.
clmzta83's review
4.0
I really enjoyed this one! Loved this whole series, even though I really read it out of order. Whoops!
savannac's review against another edition
4.0
I began reading this book with no previous opinion on the author or having read any previous books by Pearce. This book is simply great. Pearce knows exactly what he is doing. There is no jumping around apart from the casual memory. Pearce includes a prologue which is extremely helpful throughout the first 100 pages or so. Once well into the story, you will begin to fear for the characters and things will start to click in your brain. I was very hesitant to complete this story because I feel like there was no true end, like the book could have kept going on for several hundred pages more.
I understand this book is part of a 'series' but I have not read the first three and going into this story without previous knowledge was fine, I recommend reading Cold Spell even if you have not read anything else by Jackson Pearce.
I understand this book is part of a 'series' but I have not read the first three and going into this story without previous knowledge was fine, I recommend reading Cold Spell even if you have not read anything else by Jackson Pearce.
a_novel_ty's review against another edition
3.0
A year later...I've finally finished this series. I first read Sisters Red in January of 2014. And now I've come full circle!
This is my least favorite book in the series. Cold Spell is a fairytale retelling of The Snow Queen and wraps up all the craziness that happens in the previous three books. The final picture of this series is pretty cool and I understand and for the most part like the way everything is connected and ties together. The four books together, essentially show the life cycle of the Fenris, which are the werewolves in book one and that was clever. But as a companion novel, I feel like these books should be able to stand on their own and be great books on their own. While Sisters Red and Sweetly does that well, and Fathomless does it WONDERFULLY...Cold Spell fell short.
If I had decided to read this book first, I would be completely lost, annoyed and I would have most likely put the book down...for good. It felt more like Jackson was trying her hardest to tie all of the stories together any ways she could, rather than just giving her rendition of the Snow Queen. Its really quite a disappointment because Fathomless was so good. I felt like with each book, she was getting better and better at telling the story in a cohesive and exciting way. Then to get to this story and feel like I was reading Sisters Red again...only worse.
This book is about two teenagers, Kai and Ginny who are young and in love living in Atlanta Georgia. There's a rare and random snowstorm in their town and Kai goes away with a beautiful woman and Ginny sets out to track them down and bring Kai back. The rest of the book focuses on Ginnys travels, the people she meets along the way and the challenges she faces as she's trying to save the love of her life from who she believes to be an evil snow goddess.
I liked Ginny, I liked her pov and I liked some of the other characters that are in the book. But there were some things about Ginny and this book that annoyed me and were unrealistic just as there were in the previous books.
For one, the characters in these books are just too trusting and naive. Ginny meets two rich people on her travels who have an idea of what she's fighting and what she's fighting for and she just outright trusts them and after three days considers them her family. I'm sorry...but there's no one in the world nice enough to let a random person they just met in a snow storm, stay in their house. And I'm not trusting anyone who would! I know this is a fictional world and there has to be allowances for things that aren't sensible or realistic but things like, not letting a stranger just sleep in your house is basic human nature. Especially if there isn't some kind of invasion or war going on.
There was a part in the book that kind of felt out of place and random but it actually ended up being my favorite part of the book. Well the characters introduced in that part ended up being the most enjoyable part of the book. That is one thing that Jackson really does well. She makes really great and unique characters. Characters that are easy to like and easy to root for. They aren't characters that I'm likely to remember a year from now but they were good enough in the moment to push me forward with reading the book to see what was going to happen to them.
All in all, I'm glad I finally finished this series. It was a good series even though it could have been wrapped up a little better.
This is my least favorite book in the series. Cold Spell is a fairytale retelling of The Snow Queen and wraps up all the craziness that happens in the previous three books. The final picture of this series is pretty cool and I understand and for the most part like the way everything is connected and ties together. The four books together, essentially show the life cycle of the Fenris, which are the werewolves in book one and that was clever. But as a companion novel, I feel like these books should be able to stand on their own and be great books on their own. While Sisters Red and Sweetly does that well, and Fathomless does it WONDERFULLY...Cold Spell fell short.
If I had decided to read this book first, I would be completely lost, annoyed and I would have most likely put the book down...for good. It felt more like Jackson was trying her hardest to tie all of the stories together any ways she could, rather than just giving her rendition of the Snow Queen. Its really quite a disappointment because Fathomless was so good. I felt like with each book, she was getting better and better at telling the story in a cohesive and exciting way. Then to get to this story and feel like I was reading Sisters Red again...only worse.
This book is about two teenagers, Kai and Ginny who are young and in love living in Atlanta Georgia. There's a rare and random snowstorm in their town and Kai goes away with a beautiful woman and Ginny sets out to track them down and bring Kai back. The rest of the book focuses on Ginnys travels, the people she meets along the way and the challenges she faces as she's trying to save the love of her life from who she believes to be an evil snow goddess.
I liked Ginny, I liked her pov and I liked some of the other characters that are in the book. But there were some things about Ginny and this book that annoyed me and were unrealistic just as there were in the previous books.
For one, the characters in these books are just too trusting and naive. Ginny meets two rich people on her travels who have an idea of what she's fighting and what she's fighting for and she just outright trusts them and after three days considers them her family. I'm sorry...but there's no one in the world nice enough to let a random person they just met in a snow storm, stay in their house. And I'm not trusting anyone who would! I know this is a fictional world and there has to be allowances for things that aren't sensible or realistic but things like, not letting a stranger just sleep in your house is basic human nature. Especially if there isn't some kind of invasion or war going on.
There was a part in the book that kind of felt out of place and random but it actually ended up being my favorite part of the book. Well the characters introduced in that part ended up being the most enjoyable part of the book. That is one thing that Jackson really does well. She makes really great and unique characters. Characters that are easy to like and easy to root for. They aren't characters that I'm likely to remember a year from now but they were good enough in the moment to push me forward with reading the book to see what was going to happen to them.
All in all, I'm glad I finally finished this series. It was a good series even though it could have been wrapped up a little better.
the_lilrunaway's review against another edition
4.0
As a stand-alone book, I enjoyed it just as much if not more than the other books in the series.
If it does turn out to be the last in the series then it wasn't very satisfying. We need another book for those who have been reading them as a series to wrap it all up properly.
If it does turn out to be the last in the series then it wasn't very satisfying. We need another book for those who have been reading them as a series to wrap it all up properly.
writingwwolves's review against another edition
4.0
http://pinup-paperrockstars.tumblr.com/post/124141042399/coldspell
kerrithebookbelle's review against another edition
5.0
5 STARS ON EVERY FRONT MY FAVORITE AUTHOR DOES IT AGAIN!!! CHARACTERS, PLOT, WRITING, ITS ALL PERFECT I LOVE JACKSON'S BOOKS SO DAMN MUCH YALL