Review for Frost by Marianna Baer

Frost by Marianna Baer
Publisher: Balzer & Bray
Release Date: September 13th 2011
Genre: Young Adult, Thriller
Rating: 4/5 stars
Source: Bought

Goodreads Summary:
"Leena Thomas’s senior year at boarding school begins with a shock: Frost House, her cozy dorm of close friends, has been assigned an unexpected roommate: confrontational, eccentric Celeste Lazar. But while Leena’s anxiety about a threat to her sanctuary proves valid, it becomes less and less clear whether the threat lies with her new roommate, within Leena’s own mind, or within the very nature of Frost House itself. Mysterious happenings in the dorm, an intense triangle between Leena, Celeste, and Celeste’s brother, and the reawakening of childhood fears, all push Leena to take increasingly desperate measures to feel safe. Frost is the story of a haunting. As to whether the demons are supernatural or psychological...well, which answer would let you sleep at night?"

Review
What appealed to me most about Frost is how it’s quoted on the back of the book as being a “twenty-first-century spin on the usual gothic ghost story.” It’s true that a lot of ghost stories are told from a historical time period and so I was looking forward to reading something new and unique with Frost.

Frost begins with a group of friends retuning to boarding school for senior year all psyched to have bagged Frost House as their dorm, a cosy Victorian house secluded from the rest of the school. Leena falls in love with the big old house straight away and has high hopes for senior year and turning the house into a home. But things immediately start to take a turn for the worst when the friends are assigned an unexpected roommate- intense and eccentric Celeste Lazar. Soon enough strange and disturbing things start happening in Frost House. A series of malicious and sick events reveal that something or someone wants Celeste out and Leena to stay forever. But what’s behind these strange events? Is it a haunting? An increasingly disturbed mind? Or something else entirely? Those are the questions that race through the readers mind whilst reading this book.

What I loved most about Frost was how original the haunting itself was. Instead of the usual threats and scares Leena is made to feel strangely safe in Frost House whilst everything else in her life falls apart. The house reminded me of a possessive boyfriend alienating everyone and everything Leena loves until it’s just her and the house left. In some ways I found that even scarier than your typical haunting with Leena lulled into a false sense of security whilst what’s happening in the house destroys her friendships and her sanity. That being said Celeste- Leena’s damaged roommate- witnesses a very different kind of haunting with pictures thrown off walls and mysterious burns and bruises appearing on her body. The two opposite hauntings made for some very scary reading and added to the overall mystery of what was really going on in that house.

The only thing that I didn’t enjoy about the book was the romance. David- Leena’s love interest- is very much a suspect during this book, that along with his strange relationship with his sister Celeste, meant that I just couldn’t trust or like him. However I didn’t pick this book up for an epic romance I picked it up to be scared so that didn’t bother me too much. I also give props to Marianna Baer for indulging us in some sexy times! Marianna doesn’t shy away from some hot and heavy moments something I always respect when it comes to Young Adult books.

Frost is the kind of book that does exactly what it says on the tin. You go into this expecting an intense and creepy thriller and that’s exactly what you get. Frost kept me up late at night racing through its pages trying to get some answers. And it finished in a way that tied everything up but also leaves you to interpret what you think happened in that house too. Overall Marianna Baer has created a fantastic contemporary debut thriller and I’m looking forward to seeing what she comes up with next.