A pleasant distraction from real life.

Jade was only a little girl when the earthquake struck. Before her eyes, half of New York City disappeared, replaced by a village that seemed torn out of a storybook. Horses and carriages. Cobblestone streets. A towering castle. And, above all, a queen with the magical ability to strip emotions away.
Ten years later and Jade has forgotten what it is to feel, to care...even to love. Working as a member of the queen's guard, she spends most of her time on the city wall staring at the crumbling skyscrapers of old New York. But everything changes when the queen's runaway son, Prince Asher, returns. Under his relentless taunts, her blood begins to boil. Under his piercing gaze, her heart begins to flutter. And the more her icy soul begins to thaw, the more Jade comes to question everything she's ever known--and, more importantly, whose side she's really on.

Gathering Frost ai presented as a retelling of Sleeping Beauty.
I don't like romance very much (no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to like it) but I must admit I enjoyed it in this book.

The story is very gripping, full of romance, magic and action. The characters, both main and secondary, are well characterised.

I really enjoyed the character of Jade, the protagonist of the story, as she is not the classic damsel in distress who has to be rescued, but she is a very strong character who doesn't let anyone walk all over her.
Asher, on the other hand, is the classic hero we often find in YA: loving, loyal and honest. Impossible not to love him.

The fight scenes are very gripping and detailed, while the ending is very unexpected. It made me wish I had the sequel in hand.

I highly recommend listening to the audiobook. The narrative voice is fabulous, clear and captivating.

Jade grew up in a world devoid of feelings. Ever since the earthquake happened and brought the queen, no one has a will of their own. She is tasked with bringing the queen's runaway son back, but when she gets outside the kingdom, the effects of tge queen's magic wear off and she starts questioning what she really wants and what she will do to get it.

It is a modern twist based on sleeping beauty. If sleeping beauty had giants and people getting shot.

There are some romantic scenes, but nothing inappropriate for the 10+ crowd.

I had a lot of fun reading this book. I like the concept of it, the dystopia elements mixed with fantasy elements were very cool. I am very into fairytale retellings, so this being a 'twisted take on Sleeping Beauty' was right up my alley. The characters were easy to engage with and I liked Jade as the protagonist. I am very interested to see how this what happens in the next book as there wasn't a clear direction at the end of book one. I think I will put the second one on my list of books to look into. This was worth the read for me!

*I received this audiobook through NetGalley in exchange for a review*

This was a decent read! I listened to the audiobook and though the narrator struggled to have a convincing male voice it wasn't too distracting. It was an interesting perspective to have the female character working for the villain of the novel. There was a "forced feminism" and a lot of "telling vs showing" but it had an interesting plot line. I wish more was revealed about the queen herself because that could have been an even better perspective to add. Regina Mills from Once Upon a Time is one of my favorite TV characters for that reason. Overall, it was a nice read for anyone who enjoys a play on fairytales and a fierce female character.

Ehh, this was fine but nothing great. It was short and I read it very quickly (less than a day on audio). The premise was interesting: a world where NYC had an earthquake that caused a magical world to collide with ours and the Queen’s magical power was to make people emotionless. It had dystopian feels, with rebel fighters, but also fantasy elements with magic and curses and such. It just wasn’t executed well. The writing felt very basic and young. The story was boring and predictable. The ending was wrapped up way too neatly and quickly. This is a series but I have very little desire to keep reading and likely won’t.

The beginning of Gathering Frost had me hyped. Davis takes an imaginative spin on the story of Sleeping Beauty that I was immediately engaged in. Unfortunately, the relationships developed extremely fast and the magic system and world building were too amorphous and convenient. Those elements all together create a story that feels lackluster and a bit lazy.

All that to say, all the ideas are there, it is just the execution that could use some work.

Thank you Kaitlyn Davis and Netgalley for my audio advanced review copy. My opinions are my own.

Plot - 3
Writing and Editing - 3
Character Development - 3
Narration - 5
Personal Bias - 3
Final Score -3.4

**please note due to low rating I will not be leaving a public review for this book as I have not paid for it.**

Narrated by Ellie Goss age ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Story by Kaitlyn Davis ⭐⭐ 2.5

Thanks so much for this, but this particular story wasn't for me. To me it felt like it didn't really go anywhere and wasn't gripping enough to keep my interest.

For clarity, this review is specifically for the audiobook.

The story itself was enjoyable of somewhat predictable. It follows the typical Sleeping Beauty plot arch (as the story brands itself a fairytale retailing, I have no qualms with this.) Frankly there were no twists I didn’t see coming, but I found the set up of the two worlds converging, somewhat unique. It was simple, but overall cute.

Unfortunately, I have to somewhat lower my review of the audiobook specifically. There were some technical difficulties (for example, on occasion you can hear the narrator flipping pages in her script) and while the storytelling wasn’t unpleasant, it was occasionally lackluster. I likely would recommend reading as opposed to listening in this case.

This is a fun book with a unique perspective/twist on the typical heroine, instead of being perfect and "good" in everyway instead she is fighting for the wrong side. I really liked the writing style and the worldbuilding of a dystopian mix between the real world clashing with a magical one - and the consequences of this. I found the romance really sweet and loved seeing Asher guide Jade through life and help her learn to adapt and find her real emotions. There was a nice mix of dark fantasy and cute light-hearted romantic elements. The only part I didn't truly understand was where the sleeping beauty retelling came into it, perhaps I missed it, but I couldn't find the connections to the original story. Saying this I still really enjoyed it and the cliff-hanger was really good, it definitely left me wanting more.

When I read the premise and setup to Gathering Frost, I was ready for a new take on the Sleeping Beauty tale. Despite the interesting world building and decent characters and some gripping twists, I found myself not fully engaged due to some clunky prose, reliance on cliches, and the pacing possibly being too fast.

The idea of a post apocalyptic world mixed with magic is typically a good way to get me to at least start reading. The world gets slowly built over the course of the book, and kept me hooked for the first half or so of the book as we’re learning the lay of the land, as well as the characters. But it felt like around the last third, the world building petered out. The magic also sounded interesting, but it did feel like not enough was explained and felt confusing to follow along. I wish there was more depth than just “world destroyed, fighting rebels because the electricity went out” in the conflict though.

Honestly, I felt more Snow Queen vibes than Sleeping Beauty, with Jade being an emotionless slave to the heartless Queen. Jade herself had a bit of depth, fighting between her cold self and the warmness she feels once she gets to the rebel base. She was rather surface level and comes off as a typical “tough girl”, but I can understand as she was under the Queen’s control for most of her life and trying to figure out who she is, though her thoughts started to feel repetitive by the end with not much development. Asher was interesting too, contrasting her hardness with warmth and some surprising reveals to him as well. The Queen had her own depth, which I was surprised about as the story continued. The other characters mostly felt there, sadly, even Maddie, who I wished had more to her.

The story had its share of twists and turns, surprising me a few times, and when the prose was at its best, it was visceral. However, the prose felt repetitive and clunky in a lot of spots and it wasn’t engaging, oftentimes tuning out. Also, the pacing might have been too fast for its own good, and could have used more development for characters and the world, plus, it might have relied a bit too much on tired cliches and the ending felt underwhelming. The narrator’s voice was alright, but not my favorite to be honest.

Even with the mixed feelings, it was a nice, short listen, and I would be interested in more of the series.

In all fairness, I missed the Sleeping Beauty retelling. (I've never seen/read it, so I'm just not familiar.)

That aside, this book was a miss for me. The narration was too simple and unengaging. Not much change in tone, pacing, or inflection. The story itself had me continually sighing over the blase plot and tropes. There wasn't anything special, interesting, or memorable about it, and even now I'm struggling to think of many positives...

Overall: 1 star

I'll tell my students about: violence,

**Thank you to NetGalley and Kaitlyn Davis for the free ALC.. All opinions expressed are my own.**

"I wish I could say I was the hero of the story. A resister. A rebel. Someone who lived to bring an end to the queen who stole my childhood--my mother, my life, my very world. But I'm not. I'm not the good guy. I'm the one who puts the good guys in their graves."

This was a fun book. I enjoyed this new perspective, where the heroine doesn't start out on track to be a hero, but rather starts out as one of the "bad guys." Jade's character really developed throughout the story as she made this progression. The setting was also quite inventive. Because it was New York City merged with a fantasy land, it had both dystopian and fantasy vibes, which was unique. I also really appreciated how pure the romance was. I'm a big fan of positive relationships in YA :) Finally, I enjoyed the (very subtle) Sleeping Beauty retelling.

I don't have any major complaints. I think the reason it wasn't a five star read for me is that it didn't quite feel finished. Some of the plot points felt a bit rushed, and parts of it didn't quite feel realistic.

Overall, this was a unique twist on YA fantasy. The story ends on a bit of a cliff hanger, so now I am committed to reading the sequel.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

Well, I finished it. And that's about all I have to say to credit the book. I went in not realizing that this was a retelling of Sleeping Beauty, and I didn't realize it was one until the end. And I honestly can't tell who the Sleeping Beauty was supposed to be -- Asher or Jade. I suppose the "kingdom" of post-apocalyptic New York, being under the thrall of the evil queen, was asleep for a decade or two, but really this didn't smack of Sleeping Beauty at all to me.

The setting of New York was bizarre for me, too. In terms of world-building it seemed either lazy or poorly executed. Maybe both. In the same vein, the magic was convenient rather than intentional and well-crafted. Nothing was developed in any sensical way.

Jade was supposed to be an unfeeling fighter-type, but that was only a result of the magical enchantment. Released from the queen's magic, in the Rebel camp, Jade was emotionally feeble. The queen was the most interesting character, but unfortunately, she was a minor character despite being the only one pushing the plot along.

This is one series that I do not think I could finish.

Huh I thought this was a retelling of Snow White, to be honest, with the roles reversed. The story starts with an evil Queen taking over New York. Jade is captured and her mind is erased, as are many other people. There are rebels, including a faction that includes the evil Queen’s son, Asher. Plenty of fascinating twists and turns, a fun and imaginative take in an interesting world. I didn’t think that the overall premise was defined enough to fully draw me in but I do think that future stories may build on my interest for this story. Looking forward to continuing the journey. I had the opportunity to listen to the audiobook which was well done but I would have liked a dual perspective. Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the listen.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get into this. The premise was interesting, but I couldn’t connect to the story, it was very confusing at times. Thank you to the publisher for the opportunity to read and review via NetGalley.

Gathering Frost by Kaitlyn Davis is a fun twisted retelling of sleeping beauty that also has strong Romeo and Juliet vibes. Jade is an intriguing main character but I really love Prince Asher. He's so kind and patient with Jade and the rebels. You really get to see his heart throughout the story and I was totally invested the minute I met him! The Frost Queen is the perfect antagonist with her cool demeanor and threatening aura. This was a fun, quick read and you're sure to like it if fairytales have always seemed a little too happily ever after.

I found the beginning of the book interesting but quickly lost interest. The fantasy and curse was ok but reminded me of the TV series Once upon a time.

*I received a free copy of this audiobook from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

This book underwhelmed me, and I ended up listening to it at 1.5x speed. Part of it could have been the narrator, but I'll talk about that later.

The story was kind of a twist on Sleeping Beauty and the Snow Queen, set in New York ten years after a magical realm broke through and kind of overran our world. Jade (19ish) tried to come across as a tough villain (you've read the book description), but she was rather bland, in my opinion. I didn't find her evil or heroic; mostly I viewed her as someone who was impressed by herself. Asher was semi likable, but he still annoyed me by some of the secrets he kept. At the very end, I actually found him rather childish and cowardly.

For how much the story relied on magic and curses, I didn't feel like it explored it very much. In fact, I can't even remember if the reason for the curse was even explained. The focus was more on Jade and Asher falling in love, with the rest of the plot popping in here and there. I don't tend to complain about insta-love, but it felt more awkward in this story than it usually does. I still can't figure out what exactly Jade and Asher saw in each other besides "shiny new toy." And so quickly, too.

I have a few other books by this author on my to-read list, and I'll give her another try. I'm not sure I care enough about this series, however, to hunt down the sequels.

Note: I don't recall anything bad. Maybe some mild swearing, if anything.

Audiobook Review:

As I mentioned before, I got to about 25% of this book at normal speed and then listened to the rest at 1.5x, which I usually don't do. I found this narrator to be a bit much. She drew out her vowels quite a bit and pronounced certain words in a way that drove me crazy. For example, “familiar” became “fermiliar.” There was another one that was quite bad, but I can’t remember it right now. She sounded haughty, almost pouty, and fake-happy at times, almost like some people do when they know they're being watched. I don't know if that makes any sense. She wasn't awful--I've listened to much, much worse. But she wasn't my favorite. I suppose she was a good voice for Jade, though, since I kind of have the same feelings about her character.

Narrator: Ellie Gossage

This is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty but it just didn’t hit right. It feels like it’s trying to hard to be like every other dystopian YA novel.

5🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
📖Book 33/100
💫Genre: YA Fantasy/Romance
🎧ARC🎧
Narrated by:
Ellie Gossage
✨✨✨✨✨
Wowzzzza🪄✨
👸🦸‍♀️🤴🐉🖤🗽
This gave me both Shatter Me & The Selection vibes, yet it was a fairytale retelling of Sleeping Beauty/ Snow Queen with a few twists. I’m a huge fan of this genre! This was a very clean romance with the theme of learning how to love and personal growth ❤️ I loved the characters…YES, even the Queen. Jade a badass, stubborn, and brave warrior. Asher was just adorable as well and that ending 🤯 Anyways, the story goes like this….There’s a Magical Kingdom in the city of New York but then an Earthquake changes it all. The heartless Queen takes hold of NY and it’s people. Jade becomes one of her best warriors and is sent on a mission. I absolutely loved this one even if it was for Teens/YA and highly recommended it. The narration was perfect 🤩
✨✨✨✨✨
💫Thank you @netgalley for this fantastic read in exchange for an honest review.