Frozen by Erin Bowman Review + Giveaway

Frozen by Erin Bowman
(Taken, #2)
Release Date: April 15, 2014
Publisher: HarperTeen; 368 pages
Rating:

The Heists were only the beginning.

Gray Weathersby escaped from the primitive town of Claysoot expecting to find answers, but what he discovered shook him to the core: A ruthless dictator with absolute power. An army of young soldiers blinded by lies. And a growing rebellion determined to fight back.

Now Gray has joined a team of rebels on a harsh, icy journey in search of allies who can help them set things right. But in a world built on lies, Gray must constantly question whether any ally—or enemy—is truly what they seem…

I am giving away one ARC of this book to one lucky US reader. I am putting the giveaway above the review so anyone who might not have read the first book but has been wanting to won't be spoiled by anything. So if you haven't read Taken, don't scroll past this point. This giveaway ends on April 16 at 11:59 PM EST. May the odds be ever in your favor!

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If you have NOT read Taken, please read with caution. There are some spoilers that were unavoidable. Proceed with caution . . .

Cover lust. I am in lust with these covers. Not only are they popping out and grabbing your attention but turn the books to the side and admire the beauty that is the spine. It's not every day that I love a spine but oh how I love these spines. I love color. I love lots of colors together and this is just everything I would want and then some.

But you can't judge a book by it's cover. This is one of those books. I'm sad to say this but it has definitely suffered the second book syndrome or whatever version you want to call it. I'm usually a bigger fan of second books than anything in a trilogy but this is not the case. And I really wanted to love this book because Erin Bowman is an absolutely sweetheart but I couldn't. It also took me nearly a week to read this book when on average, it's two days, at most.

There was no excitement. Nothing that stood out for me, nothing that drew me in and made me want to keep reading. There was no recap, which left me scratching my head trying to remember what was happening which is ironic because I'm usually not a fan of recaps but for some reason, I really could've used one. Even when certain characters died (yes, some died) I didn't remember who they were until Gray made mention of something and then it clicked who they were in the first book. That is not good, especially since this happened nearly at the end.

I do know that there was one twist in the book and I didn't see it coming. I assumed it after a certain point but by this point, you should've had suspicion.

The one good thing this book has going for it - no, scratch that, the two good things this book has going for it is the last quarter of the book and Bree. I know, if you've read my review of Taken, you'd see how much I hated her. I can't say I'm a fan of hers but I've come around to being okay with her. Maybe liking her a little bit. She's growing on me and that's huge, with how much I hated her.

Am I going to read the final book? Absolutely. I've come this far, I want to know what happens so absolutely but is it going to be with the excitement I had going in to this book? Definitely not. It may even be one of those eh, I'll read it when I can type things.

Thank you so much to Alison from HarperCollins for sending me a copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review!