Frost by Marianna Baer

Frost by Marianna Baer
Release Date: September 13, 2011
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 400

Summary: Leena Thomas’s senior year at boarding school starts with a cruel shock: Frost House, the cozy Victorian dorm where she and her best friends chose to live, has been assigned an unexpected roommate—confrontational, eccentric Celeste Lazar.
What Celeste lacks in social grace, however, her brother, David, a recent transfer student, makes up for in good looks and charm. But while he and Leena hit it off immediately, Leena finds herself struggling to balance her growing attraction with her fear of getting hurt.
As classes get under way, strange happenings begin to bedevil Frost House—frames mys-teriously falling off walls, doors locking by themselves, furniture toppling over. Celeste blames the housemates, convinced they want to scare her into leaving. And while Leena tries to play peacekeeper between her best friends and new roommate, soon the mysterious happenings in the dorm, an intense triangle between Leena, Celeste, and David, and the reawakening of childhood fears all push Leena to take increasingly desperate measures to feel safe. But does the threat lie with her new roommate, within Leena’s own mind . . . or in Frost House itself?

My Thoughts: Frost was weiiiiirrrdddd. As I started it, I got the feeling it was going to be a creepy novel that I might think was weird. Boy, was I right! We are introduced to Leena who will be living in the Frost House. Basically, it's just another building on campus at her boarding school.

Leena moves into her new room at Frost House, very excited to be living there. It was her idea that her friends live there. It used to be an all boys dorm, but it was finally allowed to have girls! She's so psyched about it! She gets there and finds out she has a roommate she knows from a class last year. She wasn't supposed to have a roommate this semester. But Celeste broke her leg so Leena is stuck with her. The only bright side: Celeste's super hot brother David, who always seems to be lurking around.

Leena actually starts to enjoy David's company and becomes his friend. He's very very protective of Celeste though, which was a bit odd at times.

As things start to happen at Frost House, Celeste thinks someone is after her. Things happen in their room which can't be explained.

Soon Leena is starting to wonder if Celeste is either right, or just crazy. There are rumors that a girl lived there years ago and the place is haunted.

I can't say much else or I'll give major spoilers away. I was a bit surprised about the ending. Not what I expected at all. I can see some people really liking this, like me, and others really not liking it. It just depends on your taste in paranormal stories.

Frost was a great debut and it held my interest all the way through. It was a bit long though. It could have been 50-75 pages less and it wouldn't have taken much from the story probably.  But I still enjoyed reading it and I really liked Leena's voice.

Overall: Liked it a lot. Leena had a very strong and distinguished voice. David was a great character. I loved all her relationships with her friends and just how close they were. I felt like I belonged with them. Overall, this is a debut you should read.

Cover: It's even kind of creepy. I love the house in the background. Matches the book perfectly!

What I'd Give It: