Cold Kiss by Amy Garvey

Cold Kiss

Author: Amy Garvey

Publisher: Harper Teen

Pages: 336

Rating: 5 Stars! 

It seemed so right. Danny was mine, I was his, and that wasn’t going to work if he was dead. So I would make him not dead, not anymore. I didn’t think any further than what it would feel like to kiss him again, to wrap my arms around him and bury my head against his shoulder.
That was my first mistake. It also turned out to be the biggest.”

When her boyfriend, Danny, is killed in a car accident, Wren can’t imagine living without him. Wild with grief, she uses the untamed powers she’s inherited to bring him back. But the Danny who returns is just a shell of the boy she once loved.

Wren has spent four months keeping Danny hidden, while her life slowly unravels around her. Then Gabriel DeMarnes transfers to her school and somehow, inexplicably, he can sense her secret. Wren finds herself drawn to Gabriel, who is so much more alive than the ghost of the boy she loved. But Wren can’t turn her back on Danny or the choice she made for him—and she realizes she must find a way to make things right, even if it means breaking her own heart.

Amy Garvey’s transcendent teen debut is perfect for fans of Shiver and Beautiful Creatures. Wren’s unforgettable voice and story will stay with readers long after the last page is turned.~Goodreads

This book was a roller coaster of emotions; so hilariously funny one second yet so heartbreakingly sad the next.  Cold Kiss is Wren’s touching story about loss, fixing her own mistakes and letting go.

The little things in this story are what made me connect to Wren the most! As soon as I read the following passage I KNEW I would love her:

“He’s making me nervous, which is making me angry, because he’s just a boy, a stupid new boy who doesn’t know anyone and is probably fascinated by something equally stupid, like my beat-up Chucks or the fading black heart Danny drew in Sharpie on the back of my left hand two days ago.”  ARC Pg 26

I don’t know, maybe because I draw on myself with Sharpie all the time, and get nervous/pissed when boys stare at me, it made her seem relatable and like...well, a teenager. She’s also very funny and sarcastic, and I love me a snarky protag! Wren is also INCREDIBLY STONG! She holds herself together on the outside amazingly well. Although she makes a HUGE mistake in the book, I feel like she’s a protagonist that readers can look up to. She’s extremely loyal and passionate and RESPONSIBLE!  She takes all the blame for what she does and she doesn’t want to drag anyone else down with her problems.

The mistake i'm talking about is Danny, her boyfriend she brings back from the dead. The Danny at the beginning of the story is cute (for being dead), sweet and just wants to spend time with Wren, he needs nothing else.

But as the story goes on Danny changes and that’s when he starts getting creepy. This Danny holds Wren a little too tight, his eyes are a little less friendly, and his skin is a little colder to the touch. This is also when Wren realizes the person she fell in love with is gone, he’s just a shell of who he used to be. It honestly made me scared for Wren to be alone with him.

And then, AND THEN, DANNY does this ONE thing and I was freakin’ the flip out!  My heart was pumping so fast I thought it would explode outta my chest. Talk about a scare.

--> insert paragraph about Gabriel being a helpful friend/love interest who is sweet and kinda funny, yet makes you feel wrong because Danny is still in the picture.

If you don’t find the first 25 chapters upsetting or if they don’t move you in the slightest, chapter 26 will getchya! It’s so poignantly written and the comparison to who Danny was as to who he is now, is without a doubt one of the saddest things i have ever read. This chapter, the last chapter, was heart-breaking and amazing and a bitter-sweet ending to an incredible book.

Cold Kiss isn’t morbid in the slightest, (which I thought it would be) it’s powerful and so much more than a "teenage love story." It's a magical (literally) story that shows the extent people would be willing to go to bring back the person they love. You should should totally add it to your TBR list! 


Favorite Quote that made my heart hurt really bad and had me crying like the over-emotional girl i am: 

“If I love him, the right thing to do is to let him go.  And hope that wherever he goes, he doesn’t remember that I didn’t love him enough to leave him in peace in the first place.”