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    Frozen: Heart of Dread
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    Frozen: Heart of Dread
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    Frozen: Heart of Dread
    Audiobook7 hours

    Frozen: Heart of Dread

    Written by Melissa de la Cruz and Michael Johnston

    Narrated by Phoebe Strole and Dan Bittner

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    From New York Times bestselling author Melissa de la Cruz and Michael Johnston comes this remarkable first audiobook in a spellbinding new series about the dawn of a new kind of magic.

    Welcome to New Vegas, a city once covered in bling, now blanketed in ice. Like much of the destroyed planet, the place knows only one temperature-freezing. But some things never change. The diamond in the ice desert is still a 24-hour hedonistic playground and nothing keeps the crowds away from the casino floors, never mind the rumors about sinister sorcery in its shadows.

    At the heart of this city is Natasha Kestal, a young blackjack dealer looking for a way out. Like many, she's heard of a mythical land simply called "the Blue." They say it's a paradise, where the sun still shines and the waters are turquoise. More importantly, it's a place where Nat won't be persecuted, even if her darkest secret comes to light.

    But passage to the Blue is treacherous, if not impossible, and her only shot is to bet on a ragtag crew of mercenaries led by a cocky runner named Ryan Wesson to take her there. Danger and deceit await on every corner, even as Nat and Wes find themselves inexorably drawn to each other. But can true love survive the lies? Fiery hearts collide in this fantastic tale of the evil men do and the awesome power within us all.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateSep 17, 2013
    ISBN9781101601761
    Unavailable
    Frozen: Heart of Dread
    Author

    Melissa de la Cruz

    Melissa de la Cruz is the New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times and Publishers Weekly internationally bestselling author of many critically acclaimed novels, including The Isle of the Lost: A Descendants Novel and the Summer on East End series. Her Blue Bloods series has sold over three million copies. She is also the author of The Never After series, which includes The Thirteenth Fairy, and The Stolen Slippers. Melissa grew up in Manila and now lives in Hollywood, USA.

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    Reviews for Frozen

    3.5/5

    77 ratings17 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      I recently got this book as an ebook arc from NetGalley

      An adventure right from page one, this book was fast paced and engaging from page one. I felt like a kid on their first trip to the aquarium, wide eyed and staring around at every new and exciting detail! From the beautiful and creatively crafted world, to the mysterious twists that urge you to turn the page! I couldn't put this book down! I also really like the way the book is broken into sections and chapters because it was really hard to put this book down and the sections offered a good breaking point for necessities like eating and sleeping.
      The characters are interesting, and incredibly likable, and there was just enough mystery to turn up the excitement for book two.
      The only issue I had was that it was a little difficult to figure out the world at first, but in the end, piecing it together added to the experience and only made it better.

      I recommend this book to anyone who loves fantasy and dystopian books!
    • 4/5
      Goodreads Synopsis: From New York Times bestselling author Melissa de la Cruz and Michael Johnston comes this remarkable first book in a spellbinding new series about the dawn of a new kind of magic.Welcome to New Vegas, a city once covered in bling, now blanketed in ice. Like much of the destroyed planet, the place knows only one temperature—freezing. But some things never change. The diamond in the ice desert is still a 24-hour hedonistic playground and nothing keeps the crowds away from the casino floors, never mind the rumors about sinister sorcery in its shadows.At the heart of this city is Natasha Kestal, a young blackjack dealer looking for a way out. Like many, she's heard of a mythical land simply called “the Blue.” They say it’s a paradise, where the sun still shines and the waters are turquoise. More importantly, it’s a place where Nat won’t be persecuted, even if her darkest secret comes to light.But passage to the Blue is treacherous, if not impossible, and her only shot is to bet on a ragtag crew of mercenaries led by a cocky runner named Ryan Wesson to take her there. Danger and deceit await on every corner, even as Nat and Wes find themselves inexorably drawn to each other. But can true love survive the lies? Fiery hearts collide in this fantastic tale of the evil men do and the awesome power within us all.My Review: As soon as I saw this book on netgalley I had to request it. I'm not really familiar with Melissa de la Cruz, have only read one of her books before, but had heard good things so I clicked it. Also the cover is pretty cool, it caught my eye. It's definitely not what I expected. I'm not totally sure if it was supposed to be sometime really in the future, but I imagined it to be so, because most of the things I'd never even heard of. Also the names were the same in the places the characters went were familiar, so that helped a little bit with the scenery. The story was exciting and fun to learn about, I didn't feel like I'd missed anything, which I shouldn't, it's a first book! The characters were interesting to learn about, and they were fun. All in all it was an awesome book that really sucked me in, and I'll definitely read more Melissa de la Cruz from now on. Thanks for reading!(Radioactivebookreviews.wordpress.com)
    • 5/5
      Great dystopian novel about characters with special gifts living in a post apocalyptic world. Great read for young readers in grades 7-11.
    • 2/5
      The story Frozen, by Melissa de la Cruz and Michael Johnston, is a tale about a girl with powers who lives in a world unlike our own. In post-apocalyptic New Vegas, Nat fins the one object that might allow her to escape the frozen landscape. The map to help her find the Blue, a promised land untainted by the cold and destruction her world knows. A place that maybe she can live a good life and not spend each day fearful that she will be discovered.For an established YA writer, this book is surprisingly wrought with errors and would make an English major cringe. It was a poorly written novel with a multitude of punctuation, grammar, and spelling errors. Those completely detracted from the book and made it difficult to read the novel fluidly. There was an overuse of commas, "For days upon days she had been left in the room, alone, in total silence, with little food and water, the weight of solitude becoming ever more oppressive, the silence a heaviness that she could not shake, punishment for refusing to do as she was told, punishment for being what she was." I ran out of breath just reading that incredibly long, run on sentence. It also illustrates another example, the banal repetitiveness. Some examples would be, "She walked down the road, the road that was smooth." Or "The fire that raged within her. The fire that destroyed and consumed. The fire that would destroy and consume her..." How many times does one need to write the fire? Many of the sentences are just reworded versions of the one that came before it. Unnecessarily repetitive and it makes the book sound like a novice writer threw it together in a slap-dash manner with no editor to speak of.It also cannot decide what genre it wishes to fall under. The magical elements and new species lend itself to a label of fantasy, like books about faeries or nymphs. Paranormal romance perhaps, for the love story that blossoms over the course of the novel? Or the more recently popular zombie novels, with their diseases and alterations of the human dNA, like Forest of Teeth and Bones? Perhaps its a post-apocalyptic or dystopian style novel, akin to Divergent or the Hunger Games - with its frozen world, scarce resources, and tyrannical governments. Whatever it is, the fact that it cannot decide makes the book quite confusing. It does not flow well as a result of the colliding and conflicting worlds. There also is no world-building, which is incredibly important to me in a book. And character building, or even character personalities? Almost non-existent.I would recommend this book to young teen readers, but not anyone who finds themselves frequently noticing errors in novels (even minor ones)as this will drive you crazy. I almost didn't finish the first chapter because the book was so poorly written, but I wanted to see if it would improve.
    • 4/5
      hmmm....Nat needs to get out of Las Vegas fast. Not because she owes some mobster a ton of money but because she lives in a future post-apocalyptic world where the whole world is frozen in ice and sylphs like her are to blame. Future Vegas and the world in general has all these fairytale characters running around everywhere and they are so not welcome. The voice screaming in Nat's head keeps giving her instructions to leave and search for the Blue, their real home. With the help of Ryan Wesson "Wes" a former military vet at the ripe age of 17 (something like that) Shakes and the rest of his company they agree to help her get out and towards a docking port called New Crete for a great sum of currency she promised.At first the story was pretty slow because I kept getting bored but once they started heading towards the boat and out towards the sea I was hooked to the point where I pretty much read it overnight. I really thought I wasn't going to like Nat because of her psycho crazy tendencies but I was wrong. I also fell and swooned hard for Wes...it's just something about Captains man...so I enjoyed the romance so much it hurt. The little mini romance further along was also pretty cute too so...The story was super interesting as well. Between the social injustices and the action bits between the "high" and "low" classes I was hooked. I wish I had paid more attention in the beginning because then I probably would have guessed a lot sooner what the voice in Nat's head really was. But other than the slow start I was very intrigued.
    • 5/5
      I don't think I've read anything quite like this. It isn't quite your usual SciFi, or Fantasy novel. Or Urban Fantasy. All the characters are young, people don't live very long in this new dystopian world, but in this novel we have war veterans who are only 16 years old, and that's a little hard to take in. Whatever, I didn't let that really sink in, I just kept reading...The entire world is frozen, and there's a lot of poverty as well as excess spending in places like New Vegas. Even though there's tech, it's weird, because no one quite knows how to invent new tech, or fix things....or at least not many people do. New Vegas is fenced in - either they're keeping people in, or keeping things out. Just try leaving....Main character - Nat - is working in New Vegas as a dealer. She's trying to stay under the radar, because she is one of the "marked" - a person born with a mark who has special powers. She's been able to work undetected for a while, kind of biding her time until suddenly the opportunity to leave, get out of New Vegas presents itself. The whole time she's been alive, she's been trying to ignore this voice in her mind that keeps trying to tell her to do these things, not always good things. It's not always bad things, more like being guided to survive at any cost. She hires a young ex-soldier, Wes, to act as her guide to a mythical place that actually has blue skies, warmer weather, clean blue water, and is more like the old earth. No one believes this place actually exists, and yet every once in a while people try to find it. They usually come to a bad end. There are people who take advantage of those who try to leave, people who con them, people who turn them in to the government.... And Wes used to work as a soldier. He's been trying to keep a small group of other ex soldiers alive and eating, and it's tough when you don't really want to take some of the shadier jobs on offer.Frozen tells the story of how Nat and Wes end up traveling together and touches on betrayal, friendship, slavery, danger and redemption. There's a very interesting mix of "monsters" - there are beings that seem like zombies, but aren't. There is a weird wasteland that is covered with garbage - garbage that seems to have a life of it's own. There's also the very poisoned ocean, which has toxic waters, filled with barges of towering garbage mounds that seem to have mutated. It's a wonder that people can even exist in this world.I think de la Cruz and Johnston wrote an interesting novel with some very interesting characters, villians and monsters (or other beings). They touch a bit on slavery, slow starvation and some social issues without things seeming like you're reading a lecture or treatise on what's wrong with the world, and at the same time the issues in the book do make you think about waste and the ecology. There's also a lesson to be learned about bigotry and acceptance, with the way the government seemed to steer people into hating the marked by blaming everything bad on the people who were marked. The dialogue was good, the narrative was good enough to keep me reading - engaging. There didn't seem to be any of those long wordy info-dumps that can make me yawn.... Bottom line - I opened the book and read it in a 24 hour period. Lately, that's been rare for me. AND.... Though there was a budding romance with a bit of kissing, there were no over the top make out sessions. All in all, a good book for a teen, young teen, and even for an older lady like me.
    • 4/5
      I really liked this book. Nat's character is intriguing in the sense that she doesn't know who she is, and she's afraid of that, but once she learns of who she is it more than she could have ever imagined. Wes is an interesting character too. He is ex-military, so you would expect him to be hard and tough, but he is more than that. He is also sensitive and caring, which leads to some dramatics in the adventure these two take. The magic and fantasy that this book has is well written. It isn't overpowering, it blends perfectly with the realism of a futuristic dystopia.
    • 3/5
      Ok, where to start...

      In the beginning of this book I wouldn't have given it two stars. The story was all over the place and I felt like it was only being told to me in clips. It felt like there was parts missing and it became hard to keep track of what was going on. The characters felt very disconnected and the love between Wes and Nat was weird and unbelievable.

      When I got to 70% of the way of having the book finished the storyline finally started getting interesting and held my attention. Don't get me wrong, the story still felt a little rushed and all over the place, but not quite as messy.

      Sylphs; pirates; slavers; marked ones- who have magical powers, a mystical creature, a world in despair-this book had many facets to it and was full of adventure.

      This was an interesting and different concept for a book. It was imaginative and a story unlike any other I have ever read.
      Due to the ending of the story-I do want to see what happens and will go on to read the next one. For that reason I generously gave it three stars.
    • 3/5
      I thoroughly enjoyed the Blue Bloods series so when I saw this book by Melissa de la Cruz I scooped it up and looked forward to it. I knew that I didn't care for books that fall under the dystopian genre but I like to take chances when I see something new written by an author I enjoy. It wasn't bad. But it took me much longer to read than a book this size would normally take. I guess the entire end of the world as we know it is all too real and actually tends to get in my head. When I read something that is real and scares me I tend to take a lot more time processing it and have to cleanse my palate with a fluffy read after I am done.
    • 5/5
      I got a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. To be honest I haven’t enjoyed De La Cruz’s more recent endeavors (I thought the last few Blue Bloods novels were awful and didn’t like her Witches of East End series that much either), so I was reluctant to read this book. Imagine my surprise when I absolutely loved it. The world is incredibly creative and imaginative, the characters likable and engaging, and the story absolutely gripping.Nat is one of the Marked. Despite this she has been able to hide her Marked status and is making a living as a blackjack dealer in New Vegas. Even with all the world under a layer of ice, New Vegas is very much the city of chance and sin it’s always been. But Nat has a voice that won’t leave her alone and this voice is telling her to leave New Vegas in search of the Blue. The Blue is a supposed paradise that many go seeking but few find. When Nat finds Wes and his ragtag group of runners they seem like the perfect people for the job of helping her make the trip...at least that is what Nat hopes.I absolutely loved the idea behind this ice laden future Earth and the magical creatures that inhabit it. This book is equal parts fantasy/adventure/post-apocalyptic/dystopia. The Marked are people who have strange powers, but they are also people who are touched by Fey blood or Fey themselves. I love that for some reason the advent of plummeting temperatures on Earth has somehow awakened the Fey and drew them back to humanity. It makes for some interesting background story and for some interesting and unexpected encounters as far as creative creatures and races go.Nat is an excellent heroine. She has such a mysterious past and is fairly savvy. She is an interesting blend of innocence (because she can’t remember a lot of her past actions) and deadliness (because of her Marked powers). She’s not naive but she wants to trust people. It makes her an fun character to read about.Wes is the main male lead. He is noble to the point I wanted to smack him at times. Still, it makes for an interesting dynamic. He lives in a world that is so cut-throat, yet he is constantly trying to see the best in people. Still, there were a number of times he made very poor decisions as a leader that put the rest of the group in horrible danger. Let’s just say he keeps things interesting.The world here is incredibly creative and we are just starting to learn the complex background behind it. Everything is set up here and small bits of the complex world are discovered but there is so much more here for us to learn about as readers.The plot is well done but this is definitely just the start of a much larger series. You have one small plot point tied up in this book, but there are many more questions than answers. So, just know that this book doesn’t really resolve much at all.I only have one complaint about this book and that is that there are two parts where Nat makes these mental leaps that totally don’t make sense. Normally this wouldn’t be a big deal, but they are realizations that really drive the story line and they pretty much come out of the blue. I felt the authors could have lead up to this a bit better or at least foreshadowed a bit. As the book is written I have no idea why Nat makes the huge conclusions she makes from what she has experienced.Overall a fantastic read. It is a post-apocalyptic book but this book also has a ton of adventure and fantasy in it. I really enjoyed the complex world, the fantastic types of races we meet, and the interesting characters. It is just a really unique read that blends interesting elements in a way I have never read before. Recommended to those who enjoy post-apocalyptic fantasy with a heavy does of traditional fantasy and adventure in it.
    • 3/5
      Frozen was an interesting mix of post apocalyptic future, military/government tyranny and magic. I found the idea of this future Las Vegas to be fascinating. I wish there could have been just a tad bit more time spent there so I’m a bit torn on that respect – but the journey gets even more engaging once the tale takes us outside of Las Vegas.

      This was a story that was reaching for so many elements and because of that some of sort of fell by the wayside. In that way I think it both worked and didn’t work. Ultimately, I believe whether a reader will enjoy Frozen will really depend on how busy they like their reading to be. While I feel rather middle of the road on Frozen I do think it is a book that I would pick up and read again at a later time – AND likely enjoy more the second time around. I’ve read a fair number of debut author titles the past two years and this one had a debut author feel to it. Slightly rough around the edges and in need of a tad bit more polish but still enjoyable. I think this is one that may get better with the next book.

      I liked the main characters Nat and Wes and they had a blossoming relationship that was interesting to see develop. There was however, some undefinable element that left me wanting something more. What that is I can’t explain and can only hope I see it in book 2. I do wonder if this wouldn’t have made a better adult series instead of a young adult one.

      For those who are really loving YA post apocalyptic fiction and would like it with a dose of magical elements thrown in this would be a title to consider.
    • 4/5
      Some things are considered classic: 1969 Mustangs, little black dresses, and chocolate-dipped frozen bananas sold at county fairs. This chick finds it hard to mess with that formula, but De La Cruz and Johnston’s foray into the exploding dystopian market sure comes close to meeting that mark of fabulous. I swear from the start of this read I was c-o-l-d, as in frozen to my seat so I could find out what happened next in the story. The female protagonist, Nat, has secrets from the outset even from the reader. She has an inner voice speaking to her, directing her towards her destiny; however, it’s unclear if that fate is for good or evil. Ryan Wesson, or “Wes”, is her counterpart, the typical version of hot: as hell, under the collar, and as a pistol. Together, these two characters instantly combust, especially once the action moves to the boat Wes captains—The Albatross. (Yes! The authors incorporate wonderful, beautiful, and spot-on references to the classics of old.) Even though I enjoyed the description and plot at the beginning of the story set in New Vegas, the tale picked up tremendously once the renegades hit the open seas.The flavor I savored the most, however, was when I bit into the rich layers De La Cruz and Johnston cooked up for a new twist on the dystopian franchise by adding a wonderful swirl of magic and fantasy by revealing Nat’s calling as a dragon rider. The only time things became stilted was when the authors tried to stuff too much explanation and background into the chocolaty shell of the banana, causing it to fall off the stick every now and again. But make no mistake; I’m buying a ticket to next year’s fair for my opportunity to taste the sequel.
    • 5/5
      Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales.Quick & Dirty: Wonderful post apocalyptic story with engaging characters, intense action, intriguing plot, and filled with an adorable romance. I enjoyed every minute of this book and would highly recommend it to YA fans.Opening Sentence: They were coming for her.The Review:The world has turned to ice or at least most of the ground. The ocean is full of trash and pollution. Almost all plants, animals, and any living species have ceased to exist as it once was. The planet only has one temperature and that is freezing. Now humans have flocked to some of the only surviving cities and it is survival of the fittest. Everyone now has grey eyes and brown hair, if you have any other eye color you are one of the marked. The marked are born with special powers that range from telepathic to being able to fly. It is said that they are descendants from sylph, a magical people that everyone fears. Anyone that is marked is considered dangerous and needs to be contained by the government. The world is slowly dying and the only hope is the strange rumors of the Blue. Legend says that there is still a land with blue skies and the warm sun, but no one really knows where it is. Supposedly, there is a doorway in the middle of the ocean, but the journey is full of unspeakable dangers.Natasha Kestal , more commonly known as Nat is a blackjack dealer in New Vegas. She escaped from the institution for the marked and has disguised herself to look like a normal human. She has been biding her time waiting for the right moment to leave New Vegas and try to get to the mysterious land she has heard about. She is lucky enough to stumble across a map that is suppose to lead her to “the blue” and now all she needs is someone to take her there.Ryan Wesson is ex-army and now he is a runner. Runners are illegal crews that take people wherever they want to go for a price. It’s not the most honest work, but they have to get food somehow. Wes may do some shady things, but he is also known to be very honorable. This is what leads Nat to pick Wes as her runner to get her out of New Vegas. They have a very dangerous journey ahead of them full of deceit, betrayal, and surprisingly love.The story alters between Nat and Wes’s POV. First you get to meet Nat and I absolutely adored her. She is a very strong character with a good voice and a spunky personality. She always has a comeback and is full of witty charm. She is brave and smart. She was orphaned at a young age and raised in the army to do unthinkable things. Then she was locked up in a prison for the marked. She was able to escape, but finding the Blue is her only chance at happiness. Captain Ryan Wesson is a pain, but Nat can’t help but be drawn to him. She knows that it will only end in heartbreak, but she can’t seem to stay away. Everything about her character was fun and easy to connect with. I can’t wait to read more of her story.I instantly fell in love with Wes. He is gorgeous, charming, cocky, sweet, honorable, loyal, and just an amazing character. He also has a very sad past that has lead him down a road that he’s not totally proud of. He lives a rough life and has secrets that he doesn’t care to share with anyone else. Nat piques an interest in him that he hasn’t felt in a very long time. Relationships have never worked out well for Wes and he knows that it would be no different with Nat. Their relationship is full of lots of tension, witty banter, and some really sweet moments. I loved watching their romance develop through the pages, it was done perfectly. I am really looking forward to getting to know more about Wes and his story in the next book.This was a really fun read for me. Once I picked it up, I had a hard time putting it down. There was great action and a very intriguing plot line. The setting was post apocalyptic but it had a magical touch to it as well. I loved the cast of characters in this book. There were a lot of secondary characters that I didn’t mention that played a very important part to the story as well, and I am looking forward to seeing more of them in the sequel. The writing was very captivating and the book flowed perfectly. There really wasn’t anything that I didn’t love about this book. The ending left you satisfied but still wanting a lot more. This was a very good read for me and I would highly recommend it to anyone that is a fan of YA books.Notable Scene:Nat didn’t know what to make of Ryan Wesson–whether she wanted to slap him or kiss him. Slap him, definitely. He looked so smug, standing at her doorway, with his hair slicked back and his collar turned up, a gun belt strapped low on his hips, his beat-up vest shrugged off his shoulders like some kind of snow cowboy, grinning as if he’d won the fireball lottery.She’d just left the casino that evening, only a few hours after closing the deal with Shakes, and while she had impressed upon him her need to leave immediately, she was still surprised at how quickly Wes had appeared.“Hey there, remember me?” His voice was low and pleasantly hoarse, sexy, she thought, just like all the rest of him. Nat shoved the thought out of her mind. He’s a runner and a con man, she reminded herself. A liar.“How could I forget?” she asked.“Ryan Wesson,” he said, offering a hand.“Like the gun or the cooking oil?”His grin broadened. “What about you, Nat? Like the insect or the princess?”FTC Advisory: Putnam Juvenile/Penguin provided me with a copy of Frozen. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
    • 4/5
      *I received this uncorrected galley from Penguin First to Read*4 StarsOn the now frozen planet one city, New Vegas, manages to keep the allure of what it once was. The casinos keep people coming in packs. A blackjack dealer, Natasha Kestal, isn’t like those who come to her table: she wants to get out of town. There’s a land of myth, a paradise for people like her, which she just happens to have a map to. It’s too dangerous to travel to the Blue on her own so she hires a mercenary crew led by Ryan Wesson to help get her there safely. Everyone in the group has their secrets and agenda making every moment on the journey tense. Nat finds herself getting closer to Wes at the same time that she comes to terms with the power inside that she has been fighting all along. Can their love survive the choices she has to make?The complaint I have feels so miniscule now so my rating may get changed when I think about it a little more. It started out slow for me. Obviously it wasn’t agonizingly slow. Once it did pick up (If I had to guess I would say page 50 or so) I didn’t want to stop reading. These characters are amazing. They are flawed and a bit on the dysfunctional side just the way I like them. I was completely invested in them; even some of the minor characters. The imagery was also superb so much so that I felt that I was right there with them. Action was abundant but not overdone to the point that it was tiring. I did not want this book to end.Needless to say, I really enjoyed this novel. I wish it would have had a better first impression but I impatiently await the next installment and fully recommend this one.
    • 4/5
      I would like to thank Orchard Books and NetGalley for granting me a copy of this e-book to read in exchange for an honest review. Though I received this e-book for free that in no way impacts my review.Goodreads Blurb:"From New York Times bestselling author Melissa de la Cruz and Michael Johnston comes this remarkable first book in a spellbinding new series about the dawn of a new kind of magic.Welcome to New Vegas, a city once covered in bling, now blanketed in ice. Like much of the destroyed planet, the place knows only one temperature—freezing. But some things never change. The diamond in the ice desert is still a 24-hour hedonistic playground and nothing keeps the crowds away from the casino floors, never mind the rumors about sinister sorcery in its shadows.At the heart of this city is Natasha Kestal, a young blackjack dealer looking for a way out. Like many, she's heard of a mythical land simply called “the Blue.” They say it’s a paradise, where the sun still shines and the waters are turquoise. More importantly, it’s a place where Nat won’t be persecuted, even if her darkest secret comes to light.But passage to the Blue is treacherous, if not impossible, and her only shot is to bet on a ragtag crew of mercenaries led by a cocky runner named Ryan Wesson to take her there. Danger and deceit await on every corner, even as Nat and Wes find themselves inexorably drawn to each other. But can true love survive the lies? Fiery hearts collide in this fantastic tale of the evil men do and the awesome power within us all."A heady mixture of action, fantasy, and a realistic dystopian future, all combined with the sweet thrill of emotional confusion, this story seems to have something for everyone. Nat is one of those people who is far more than she appears to be on the surface; yet even she doesn't know who, or what, she truly is. In a land of martial control, freezing temperatures, and the complete loss of new technological advances, there are essentially two types of people - those that are prey and those that are predators. Yet somehow in this dystopian world lives a third type of person, known as 'the marked.' These people all have two things that make them stand out from the rest - they have a physical mark of some sort, and they don't have the traditional brown eyes.Nat is one of the marked. After escaping a terrible childhood Nat has been listening to her inner voice, a voice that helped her make her escape relatively unscathed. But she's afraid of her inner voice, because it doesn't sound at all like her. So whose voice is she hearing?Her desperation to find the mythical land known as 'the Blue,' a land like theirs used to be - where the yellow sun shines, and plants and animals grow everywhere, where grass grows on the ground (all things she's only ever heard of, or read about in the ancient books) - all this has Nat taking the largest risk of her life. She is going to become a jumper, a pilgrim. And for that she needs to hire a runner and pray that she gets an honest one.This is basically where Wes, Shakes, and team enter in force. Every member of Wes' team is a unique character, and all well crafted, demonstrating their quirks, as well as their personality flaws and strengths. While Wes and Shakes are the dominant figures amongst the crew of runners, all of the other crew members are three-dimensional. As with the action, the characters show who they are, making me feel as if I was right there with them instead of sitting somewhere reading about them - a true testament to the abilities of both authors.In the beginning the relationship between Nat and Wes is rocky at best. Yet they both feel drawn toward each other for an unknown reason. A feeling they both do their best to resist, though for different reasons. Watching their relationship unfold is like finding a flower growing in the middle of a concrete parking lot, beautiful, stubborn, and inexplicable. Pay attention to their relationship, for something happens during the climb to the story's peak that could be very important for the future development of this story overall. It certainly surprised me, and I've been wondering about it ever since.As the characters' personalities became more familiar to me, the pacing of the action also increases. The development of the story is well tied together, with characters and arc of the story dependent upon one another. True to form for an action-packed story, the peak is reached at the end, leaving us with a cliffhanger ending. Though violent, nevertheless the ending left me primed and ready for the next book in the series!
    • 3/5
      I wasn't really sure what to think of this book going in, but I ended up enjoying it. There is a lot of information to get through in the first couple of chapters, but hang in there, it gets better. It was easy going from Nat and Wes’s POV. I enjoyed both of their voices. Although it's clear that they both like each other neither really lets much happen so there isn't much romance to FROZEN.I was not crazy about the ending as I wanted them to stick together, but I now get to look forward to their reunion hopefully.* This book was provided free of charge from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
    • 4/5
      Goodreads Synopsis: From New York Times bestselling author Melissa de la Cruz and Michael Johnston comes this remarkable first book in a spellbinding new series about the dawn of a new kind of magic.Welcome to New Vegas, a city once covered in bling, now blanketed in ice. Like much of the destroyed planet, the place knows only one temperature—freezing. But some things never change. The diamond in the ice desert is still a 24-hour hedonistic playground and nothing keeps the crowds away from the casino floors, never mind the rumors about sinister sorcery in its shadows.At the heart of this city is Natasha Kestal, a young blackjack dealer looking for a way out. Like many, she's heard of a mythical land simply called “the Blue.” They say it’s a paradise, where the sun still shines and the waters are turquoise. More importantly, it’s a place where Nat won’t be persecuted, even if her darkest secret comes to light.But passage to the Blue is treacherous, if not impossible, and her only shot is to bet on a ragtag crew of mercenaries led by a cocky runner named Ryan Wesson to take her there. Danger and deceit await on every corner, even as Nat and Wes find themselves inexorably drawn to each other. But can true love survive the lies? Fiery hearts collide in this fantastic tale of the evil men do and the awesome power within us all.My Review: As soon as I saw this book on netgalley I had to request it. I'm not really familiar with Melissa de la Cruz, have only read one of her books before, but had heard good things so I clicked it. Also the cover is pretty cool, it caught my eye. It's definitely not what I expected. I'm not totally sure if it was supposed to be sometime really in the future, but I imagined it to be so, because most of the things I'd never even heard of. Also the names were the same in the places the characters went were familiar, so that helped a little bit with the scenery. The story was exciting and fun to learn about, I didn't feel like I'd missed anything, which I shouldn't, it's a first book! The characters were interesting to learn about, and they were fun. All in all it was an awesome book that really sucked me in, and I'll definitely read more Melissa de la Cruz from now on. Thanks for reading!(Radioactivebookreviews.wordpress.com)