Review: First Frost by Liz DeJesus

Image from lizdejesus.com

 

First Frost by Liz DeJesus

Bianca Frost appears to be a normal seventeen-year-old.  She and her mother live in a house in a nice neighborhood–it’s been just them since her dad disappeared 10 years prior.  She has a best friend named Ming.  She has a job…at a museum, but not just any museum, a museum lovingly referred to as the Fairy Tale Museum.  Why?  This museum is home to the Magic Mirror from Snow White, Rapunzel’s golden hair, the spinning wheel from Sleeping Beauty, and more.  Bianca questions whether these things are real, believing they are likely reproductions, but even if they aren’t real, some of the objects give her the creeps.

Her belief changes when she witnesses a witch battling with her mother outside of her house one night. Their weapons? Magic, of course!

Proven wrong in her assumptions about the objects in the Museum of Magical and Rare Artifacts, Bianca will soon find herself on a quest that will put her face to face with those she had thought were only make believe.

First Frost was such an enjoyable read that I put it down only once after I started reading.  I knew better than to start a book at 1:00AM, but I just had to see what I was going to be getting into the next day, and believe me, that first chapter was enough to get me hooked!

First, I LOVE fairy tales.  The originals, the Disneyfied versions, modern retellings, all of it.  Second, this book involved a museum.  In my non-book blog life, I work in a museum.  No, my museum does not involve fairy tales, it involves food, but I do work with some of the biggest fan girls I’ve ever met, so it’s still a pretty cool place to work.  Anyhow, the Museum of Magical and Rare Artifacts seems like an awesome place to work, only I’d never get the chance to work there.  Family only, which means it’s only Bianca and her Mom who can work there.  I can only imagine how tough that is, I’ve worked at museums with small staffs, and it’s tough when you have to do everything from managing the day to day of selling tickets and manning the gift shop to balancing the budget and planning exhibits, not to mention all that cleaning!  I would totally do it though, but given some of the objects in there, maybe I’d just visit.  I loved how DeJesus described some of the rooms and enjoyed seeing what artifacts she placed where.

I liked Bianca.  I found her to be so real, she could easily be the girl down the road.  She wanted something more than the museum when she didn’t believe in it all, to go to school for art or photography.  Hers was an internal struggle that I identified with, and I think many others will too.  She was smart, and resourceful, and fought through her insecurities as she ventured into the land of Everafter.  First Frost contained elements of a story of self-discovery, and I appreciated that.  Bianca’s relationship with her mother, Rose, was also very real.  To elaborate much on this would start to get into spoiler territory, so I won’t but I will say I enjoyed their interactions.  Bianca’s friend Ming was a great addition to the story, every girl needs a loyal best friend, but what made Ming so great was that she was her own person and didn’t fade into the background in the scenes she was in throughout the book.

Everafter, a place you will meet in the book, is a magical place full of both beauty and danger where anything can happen.  You never know what or who to expect while there.  I look forward to exploring it more in future books.

This week is a Series Week! Friday will see a review of Book 2, Glass Frost! Coming up first, on Wednesday, Liz DeJesus will be taking over my blog to talk fairy tale favorites.  What’s yours?

Liz DeJesus is having a giveaway over on her First Frost Facebook page.  It ends today so be sure to head on over, just click here.