Todd is dead and is now a ghost staring at his body. He doesn't remember how he died. Georgia is a girl that just wants to know what happened.

This book honestly made me feel nothing. The story was fine. The characters were fine. The atmosphere was fine. The mystery was fine. I didn't really feel compelled to read at any point. I also felt that Georgia hooking up at the end was super weird and out of place.

Overall, this was forgettable to me and just ok.

the suspense! omg. I never wanted it to end. I really enjoyed this story.it was slow in the beginning but picked up about halfway through. I recommend for young adults.

My Goodreads review was succinct because I ended up reading listening to the audiobook ARC along with the physical after the book was published. It reads as follows: What a bizarre little book. It is a mystery without being a mystery and I enjoyed it.

However, I did enjoy how the narrators brought these characters to life.

This is a beautiful book about betrayal, but I'm worried how it's been marketed will hinder it's success. There is a mystery to the story, but this is much more of a character study than a mystery or thriller.

I really enjoyed the dueling perspectives of Georgia and Todd (one living, and one a ghost) as we follow this town trying to figure out what happened to Todd. There were some scenes I think we a little gratuitous at first, but upon deciding that this book was ultimately about betrayal I decided that they made sense to be included.

There is some resolution in this book but it comes quickly at the end, and I don't think all readers will be satisfied with it.

Overall, this book was for me, but I can see how it is not for everyone.

DNF @ 30%. Thank you Netgalley for the arc. I made it 30% into this audiobook and still didn't have any attachment to the characters or the plot. I had previously read from Mariko Tamaki before but as a graphic novel and I think I prefer that format in her storytelling.

Tamaki's characters are real and genuine and broke my heart in a way I was not prepared for. The shifting perspectives and timeline give this an almost cinematic quality that paired well with the haunting tone.

This is a story written by Mariko Tamaki. It starts out with Todd Mayer being found dead, frozen with a pink glove on, in the snow covered park, and his ghost is kinda watching everything that is happening. I was real excited when I won this book, I already have to coming to my Library, with my monthly books club books, it's due do be in the month after next, I really wish the Author would have spent more time talking about Todd, in his ghost form, doing things, or talking to people, to much Information about Georgia,a girl who didn't even know Todd, The Investigation was good, and it's a good story, just not what I was expecting it to be, I thought it would be more Ghostly. Net Galley gave me this book in exchange for my review, It's a well written book, easy to follow, just not really a (ghost) story, for me..

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* different for sure. pretty creepy and weird but not in a bad way, more of a 4.5 and i would reread!

This book was an interesting read. Seeing the situation from the perspectives of the ghost of a boy who was murdered and a girl who didn't know she had any connection to the murder kept the reader connected and gave insight into multiple layers of the story. Trying to solve the mystery will keep YA readers interested. Some parts of the bias against the teacher felt forced and needed more context. I think the story needed more insight into the murder, it almost seemed unbelievable at the end.

Written in dual perspective format, this is the story of a teenage boy who is killed. Todd Mayer is a ghost, hovering around as the investigation into his death unfolds.

Georgia is a girl from his school who, despite never having known Todd, cannot stop thinking about him. When the truth is finally revealed, will Georgia be able to make sense of it all?

The story surrounds two LBGTQ+ characters, both feeling like outcasts with one ending up deceased. Todd unfolds his history as he is thinking about what happened to him both before and at his moment of death. Georgia searches for both the truth of Todd's death and her own feelings about a friend from her school. The biggest problem I have with the plot has to do with Georgia's side plot. I do not think that her relationship has a big part to play in the overall plot and is mainly just a distraction. The dual perspective format does not serve the story well because it tends to take away from the impact of what is happening. The narration of the audio version of the book is good, but Katharine Chin's portrayal of Georgia is more well done than Raymond J. Lee's portrayal of Todd. Lee's tone is a little too bright for a character who is a ghost, in my opinion. Overall, I am hesitant to recommend Cold because of the reasons listed above.

Disclaimer: I was given an Advanced Audio Copy of Cold by NetGalley and the publisher, Macmillan Audio. The decision to review this audiobook was entirely my own.

Cold
by Mariko Tamaki
Narrated by Katharine Chin; Raymond J. Lee

Rating: 3.4 Stars

Gosh, comparing this novel to Lovely Bones, well, was misleading except for the fact that the one POV was from the deceased person. Todd is found dead in a park. It's determined that he was alive after the blunt force trauma that he received and died instead from the cold. Todd is the main POV and he takes the reader on a journey through the time after death, as the town and his peers try to figure out what actually happened. There are flashbacks that bring the story together as well.

Georgia is the second main POV in this novel. Her brother went to school with Todd and she is coming to terms with her own things, while also trying to figure out what exactly happened to Todd and how not everything is as it seems.

The book jumped around a lot and the characters didn't draw me in as much as I had hoped. I don't want to give anything away, but the story touches on bullying and homophobia. The narration was done extremely well and fit the story and the characters perfectly.

Thanks to #NetGalley #MacmillanYoungListeners and the author for this ARC to review!

Todd Mayer is dead, discovered frozen and naked in a snow-covered park. Now, his ghost follows the detectives trying to solve his homicide. Georgia didn’t know Todd, but she can’t stop thinking about his death. Is it because of the things she has in common with him, or has she seen him somewhere before?

The story switches between Todd and Georgia as narrators. Despite being an unsolved murder, this book isn’t scary, not a thriller or horror book. It wasn’t a bad story; I just never felt truly engaged with it. I would say this book is probably aimed more at the younger end of the YA spectrum, with a caveat for the death and homophobia trigger warnings.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC of this book.

The narration of the audiobook is done very well with two readers for the dueling narration. Both readers did an excellent job differentiating the voices of the characters they were reading. It was easy to determine who was talking. The book flowed quickly and I was 3/4 of the way through before I even realized it.

Cold by Mariko Tamaki is the story of Todd a ghost who leaves his house to catch a movie and never returned and Georgia, a local girl who is fascinated by his murder and is determined to figure out what happened after realizing he went to school with her brother. The two dueling narrators share many of the same characteristics. They are queer, introverted, bullied, and do anything to just get through school.

Based on the description I thought this was going to be more of a fast-paced thriller but it was more of a slow unfurling of Todd's life and what happened the night he died. Overall, I liked the plot but I did find the ending predictable.

The best aspect of this book for me was the examination of prejudgment about considering queers as perverts and seeing them as automatic suspects. In a book that is easily digestible and similar to many others, this makes it stand out and leaves the reader with something to think about long after the book is over.

3.5/5

a quick read where interpersonal relationships could give away clues to the murder of a lonely teenage boy.

while it was a relatively enjoyable story, i think the fact that it is so quick can be detrimental to the character development. it felt like i didn't really know the detectives until the very end, and at the same time, at least one felt very stereotypical cop to me. (which there are jokes about) i found it all very interesting but lacking just a little something more from the story and characters. just a little

Good ghost story. Interesting characters and storyline. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook

Body in the Park

A different type book, but interesting in its own way. It is a story of a student found dead in the park and the investigation into his murder.

It is so much more than just the story of the death of a student at an exclusive boys academy. It is a story of young people coming to terms with life. With a world that is not always perfect. It addresses bullying and homophobia.

It is also a story of friends and siblings and school, secrets kept and betrayals. Of finding out who can be trusted and who cannot.

It is told from Georgia, a girl that desperately wants to find the truth of Todd's murder and if and how her brother and his friend were involved. She finds something in her brother's room and keeps it a secret. She does not know who to trust and then when she confides in her friend she finds out she is not really her friend.

It is also told from Todd's ghost. The ghost looks down and narrates how he feels on his last day and what took place. What he did that would ultimately cause his demise. He listens as the detectives try to solve his case.

I think the story could have been a good one, but for the continual dropping of the F bomb word and especially by teenage girls. I don't think that language was necessary and it did not add to the story. The gum chewing girl was extremely irritating, especially when they shared the same gum...yuck!

I did like that a teacher tried to help Todd, but not that he betrayed that teacher.

The narrators did a good job of narrating it even with the language as it was.

This was supposed to be a YA book but because of some of the content and the language, I do not think I would recommend it to a young person.

Thanks to Mariko Tamaki the author, Katherine Chinn and Raymond Lee for narrating , MacMillan Audio for publishing and NetGalley for making it available to me.

Cold is the story of Todd, a boy who turns up dead and Georgia, a girl who feels inexplicably connected to him even though she never knew him. Told from Todd's and Georgia's POVs, this book is a real stream-of-consciousness type of story. To be honest this is my least favorite kind of storytelling. I just can't stand it because I have no idea what's going on most of the time.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ALC. Katharine Chin & Raymond J. Lee were great narrators and really embodied the characters. Unfortunately, this book was not for me.

Unfortunately, a quick comparison can be made to The Lovely Bones and as much as I tried not to, I feel that comparison became apart of my reading process for Cold by Mariko Tamaki and may have influenced my perspective of the book. The book is pretty fast-paced and short, and yet I felt that filler in the book was not very enjoyable. I normally enjoy suspense/thriller novels, especially YA but this was a more character-driven story than plot-driven and that may be where the disconnect lies. I’m not a fan of the constant cursing or of stories that include teenage sex, regardless of what teenagers are doing in real life. This story has that and more, including: cursing, sex, death, murder, pedophelia (accusations), homophobia (accusations, LGBT+ themes, and violence. I think this book may be a great story for some readers, I’m just not one of them - but I did make sure to finish the book to see if it would change my perspective (it didn’t). I think I may have liked the story better if there had been more context and backstory to some of the filler scenes; the bones of this story are great, I just wish there was more meat. I especially wish there had been more depth to Georgia and Mark’s relationship as siblings, which may have changed the importance of the last few chapters.
I received an Audio ARC of Cold by Mariko Tamaki from Macmillan Audio through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I requested this one because it might be an upcoming title I would like to review on my Youtube Channel. However, after reading the first several chapters I have determined that this book does not suit my tastes. So I decided to DNF this one.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for an ALC of this book.

A boy who froze to death. A girl determined to sleuth out what happened. The person that connects them both.

This was a murder mystery with strong themes of homophobia. I enjoyed the story and trying to figure out what exactly had happened, but I absolutely hated the main characters. They were annoying and extremely judgmental, constantly making comments about other people in their own heads, which I hate in books. This is one thing if the character then grows and changes, but that didn't happen in this one at all.

Also....really just no character in this is likeable. Maybe that is on purpose? But I didn't enjoy that about it at all. And the ending was very sad. So...this is not a happy book.

Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Homophobia, and Child death
Moderate: Bullying
Minor: Pedophilia