Followed by Frost by Charlie N. Holmberg

Genre: Young Adult, Fairytale,

Pages: 256

Published September 22nd 2015 by 47North

Synopsis:

Seventeen-year-old Smitha’s wealth, status, and beauty make her the envy of her town—until she rejects a strange man’s marriage proposal and disastrous consequences follow. Smitha becomes cursed, and frost begins to encompass everything she touches. Banished to the hills, hunted by villagers, and chilled to the very core of her soul, she finds companionship with Death, who longs to coax her into his isolated world. But Smitha’s desire for life proves stronger than despair, and a newfound purpose gives her hope. Will regrets over the past and an unexpected desire for a man she cannot touch be enough to warm Smitha’s heart, or will Death forever still it?

My Thoughts

I found Charlie N. Holmberg whilst I was a Kindle Unlimited fan and I read her Paper Magician series, fell in love with the strange and new ideas, so when I saw the premise of this book I leaped at the chance to read it.

Smitha isn’t a kind girl, she is selfish and upon shunning a marriage proposal rather cruelly is cursed by a witch. When she is cursed it is to be as cold as her heart and thus she is driven home because wherever she stays for too long is soon covered in snow, many fall ill from the cold and she is consumed with the feeling of death and loneliness…

Except, eventually she finds herself in the company of Death otherwise known as Sadriel and that is truly where Smitha’s journey begins, with no hope of redemption…

Holmberg is fantastic at dangling some favorite characters here and there and then pulling them out just when you want to cling to them, sometimes it can be frustrating, others it just serves as a tease it is meant to be. In this case, I wasn’t sure where she was going with things, but each character had a depth of their own and developed as the story went on. Smitha changed drastically as the story went on and as more characters were introduced it allowed us to see a different side to her.

As the story progresses throughout years [a total of four,] it feels much like a lengthy diary entry, which could be dull to some but for me, it wasn’t. There was beautiful imagery, landscapes, and cultures, too.

I enjoyed it. 3.5 savvy crowns.