Cold Kiss by @AmyGarvey

Title: Cold Kiss
Author: Amy Garvey
Rating:  ★★★★
Genre: YA / Supernatural / Romance
Publisher:  Harper Teen
Release Date: September 20, 2011

Review:

If you could bring back a loved one after his untimely death, would you? Would you even consider the consequences before doing so?

Amy Garvey explores the world of death in “Cold Kiss,” a devastating and heartbreaking YA novel. In the vein of existentialism, Amy Garvey truly captures the heart of the “absurd” when Wren discovers she has the magical strength to bring her first love back to life after a fatal car accident. But, like any existentialist, she doesn’t think of the consequences before acting on her impulses.

Wren becomes a microcosm for every teenage girl. Her world revolves around Danny – as any teenage love does – and she’s shattered when he leaves. “Cold Kiss” reaches beyond just those readers who have lost a first love to death. Wren’s emotions reach into the depth of grief until is absorbs her fully. At first, its almost easy to forget that Danny is dead; the two could have broken up and Wren would have maintained the same level of devastation. In this  sense, reader’s are able to project their own experiences (less the zombie part, of course) onto Wren.

Beautifully written and captivating, “Cold Kiss” is for anyone who has ever felt grief and wanted a way to change it. With the darkness of Danny, comes the light of Gabriel, the boy who may makes things just a little bit better for Wren in the end. The dichotomy of life-versus-death, dark-versus-light, and devastation-versus-elation are enough to keep readers engaged until the very last page.

Synopsis:

It was a beautiful, warm summer day, the day that Danny died.

Suddenly Wren was alone and shattered. In a heartbroken fury, armed with dark incantations and a secret power, Wren decides that what she wants – what she must do – is to bring Danny back.

But the Danny who returns is just a shell of the boy Wren fell in love with. His touch is icy; his skin, smooth and stiff as marble; his chest, cruelly silent when Wren rests her head against it.

Wren must keep Danny a secret, hiding him away, visiting him at night, while her life slowly unravels around her. Then Gabriel DeMarnes transfers to her school, and Wren realizes that somehow, inexplicably, he can sense the powers that lie within her – and that he knows what she has done. And now Gabriel wants to help make things right.

But Wren alone has to undo what she has wrought – even if it means breaking her heart all over again.