Review: A Breath of Frost by Alyxandra Harvey

Image from Goodreads

Title: A Breath of Frost
Series: The Lovegrove Legacy #1
Author: Alyxandra Harvey
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Publication Date: 2 Jan 2014
Source: Reveiw Copy
Rating: 4.5/5

Synopsis from Goodreads

In 1814, three cousins—Gretchen, Emma, and Penelope—discover their family lineage of witchcraft when a binding spell is broken, allowing their individual magical powers to manifest. Now, beyond the manicured gardens and ballrooms of Regency London, an alluring underworld available only to those with power is revealed to the cousins. By claiming their power, the three cousins have accidentally opened the gates to the underworld.

Now ghouls, hellhounds—and most terrifying of all, the spirits of dark witches known as the Greymalkin Sisters—are hunting and killing young debutante witches for their powers. And, somehow, Emma is connected to the murders…because she keeps finding the bodies.

Can the cousins seal the gates before another witch is killed…or even worse, before their new gifts are stripped away?

REVIEW BY JOSEPHINE – YEAR 7

This is a hooking novel set in 1814 London. It tells the story of Emma Day, a young woman who is expected by all around her to go to balls, wear dresses and find a suitor. But her and her two cousins are different; they never did fit in. Gretchen, Penelope and Emma don’t want to get married. Then one day everything is turned upside down when Emma finds a dead girl covered in frost and breaks the only thing she had of her mother’s, a perfume bottle.

I loved reading this book and I would definitely recommend it to others (older readers would be best suited to this book, 12 year olds at the youngest). I am currently waiting for the next two books in the trilogy and cannot wait to get reading them.

My favourite character would probably be Gretchen, Emma’s cousin, because she is totally different to everyone else and determined not to be a perfect example of a lady. In fact she wants to dress up as a boy and fight in the army against Napoleon rather than be a wife. Even though Gretchen is my favourite I think the other characters are imaginatively created and that Alyxandra is a very skilled author.

One thing that wasn’t so good about the book was the start. It plunged straight into action and didn’t tell me any background information but in the end I managed to piece everything together. One thing’s for sure, this book can’t just be read to pass the time while your mind is on other things, it needs your full concentration and attention.

Out of five I think this book deserves four and a half stars but I would definitely read this for yourselves and see what you think about it.

This is an exciting romance story that will leave you hungry for more. The next book Whisper the Dead carries on with the Lovegrove girls’ life with more danger, magic and romance than before as the Order stays in the shadows watching their every move and strange magical occurrences are happening all around them.