Review of Touch of Frost and Interview with Jennifer Estep!

Today I have the great honor to have Jennifer Estep stopping by my blog for a brief interview just a day before the first book in her new YA series Mythos Academy,Touch of Frost hits the shelves!Having read Touch of Frost,I can't say anything else but how good this book is!Mythos Academy comes and believe me you'll just want more by the end of the book!

So,let's welcome Jennifer Estep!

-Could you tell us a bit more about your new book Touch of Frost?

JE: Of course. My name is Jennifer Estep, and I write the Mythos Acad emy young adult urban fan tasy series for Kensington. The books focus on Gwen Frost, a 17-year-old Gypsy girl who has the gift of psy chom e try, or the abil ity to know an object’s his tory just by touch ing it. After a seri ous freak-out with her magic, Gwen is shipped off to Mythos Acad emy, a school for the descen dants of ancient war riors like Spar tans, Valkyries, Ama zons, and more.

In Touch of Frost, Gwen is getting used to going to a new school and trying to figure out how she fits in with the other warrior whiz kids, as she calls them. Gwen doesn’t think that she belongs at Mythos Academy, but when a girl is murdered in the Library of Antiquities, Gwen decides to use her psychometry magic to figure out who killed the girl and why. Gwen gets into a lot of trouble along the way, but she also realizes that she’s stronger and more of a warrior than she ever dreamed she could be.

Basically, the book features myths, monsters, magic, and mean girls.

-What inspired you to create such an intricate universe of so many mythological elements?

JE: I’ve always loved mythology, fairy tales, superhero stories – basically any kind of action-packed story where people have amazing powers, go on epic quests, and save the day, kingdom, etc.

As a kid, every time we had a movie day at school, it seemed like we always watched the same movies – The Princess Bride or Clash of the Titans (the old version with Harry Hamlin). I remember watching Clash of the Titans and thinking how cool the movie made mythology seem – and how all these gods, goddesses, heroes, monsters, and more were fighting with and against each other. Over the years, I read lots of mythology stories for fun and for school assignments, things like The Iliad and The Odyssey, and I watched TV shows and movies like Xena: Warrior Princess and 300.

One day, I just thought it would be cool to write my own mythology story with my own characters and put my own spin on some of the myths, monsters, gods, and more. That was the beginning of Touch of Frost and the rest of the Mythos Academy series.

-When should we expect the next book in the Mythos Academy series?

JE: First Frost, a prequel e-story that shows exactly how Gwen ended up at the academy, is available now. Kiss of Frost, the second book in the series, will be out on Nov. 29. Dark Frost, the third book, will be out in 2012. Folks can visit my website at www.jenniferestep.com for excerpts and more information on my books.

-Do you have any plans on writing a new series apart from Elemental Assassins and Mythos Academy?

JE: I would love to write a new urban fantasy series (either adult or YA), and I have a couple of ideas that I’m thinking about. But right now, I’m really busy writing the Mythos Academy and the Elemental Assassin series. I’m hoping that I can find time to tackle at least one of my ideas for a new series this year, but we’ll see what happens. Happy reading, everyone! ;-)

Thank you so much Jennifer for your time here!
And now,on to the review!


Touch of Frost (Mythos Academy,#1) by Jennifer Estep


Publication Date: July 26th 2011
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corporation
Paperback, 350 pages

Buy via Book Depository

My name is Gwen Frost, and I go to Mythos Academy — a school of myths, magic and warrior whiz kids, where even the lowliest geek knows how to chop off somebody's head with a sword and Logan Quinn, the hottest Spartan guy in school, also happens to be the deadliest.


But lately, things have been weird, even for Mythos. First, mean girl Jasmine Ashton was murdered in the Library of Antiquities. Then, someone stole the Bowl of Tears, a magical artifact that can be used to bring about the second Chaos War. You know, death, destruction and lots of other bad, bad things. Freaky stuff like this goes on all the time at Mythos, but I'm determined to find out who killed Jasmine and why—especially since I should have been the one who died. . .

Touch of Frost is the first book in an exciting new YA series by Jennifer Estep that,believe me,you'll get overly excited about it!

Jennifer Estep is well known with her urban fantasy Elemental Assassins series and to whomever has read her books it's known that she's a brilliant writer!Her writing style is focused,straight to the point with a quick pace that makes sure that the reader isn't bored even for a single moment while reading her book.
The universe she created for her story is unique and well structured and unlike anything I've read until now.We all have noticed a recent increase in books based on (mainly Greek) mythology but Touch of Frost manages to stand out.She blends many myths,from around the world to create her universe,not just a single mythological structure and the outcome is mindblowing!Why restrict ourselves in a single myth when we can get all of those and in a perfect package?Estep blends mostly Greek and Norse myths plus some more and in her world Amazons,Spartans,Vikings,Romans,Gypsies,Valkyries, everyone coexists and blends perfectly!Talking about unique world building!

Her characters are well developed,both the main and the secondary ones and with the promise that we'll learn more about everyone in the books to come.The motives that drive the actions of her characters are believable,making it all that easier to relate to them.
Gwen is a sweet girl,full of insecurities,that don't hold her back no matter what.Her sense of rightness is what drives her actions,and she won't go back no matter what.I loved her innate curiosity and wittiness and her sense of humor!

Everything in this story flows perfectly.The certain Harry Potter feeling in this book made me love it even more,what with being in a school full of magic (though definitely of a different kind than in Harry Potter) and strange creatures,and the hero tries to find the solution to strange events.I loved it!As soon as I started reading I couldn't put it down,although after a certain point I tried to refrain myself from reading it in one sitting,cause I was certain that as soon as I finished it I would only be eager for the next one.And that's exactly what happened!But thankfully the next book won't be too long until it gets published,so that counts for something right?

Before I finish this review,I want to express my gratitude to Jennifer Estep for her immediate reply and for letting me read and review her book prior to it's publication date!I was drooling over this book for quite sometime now and one can only imagine my happiness when I could read it sooner!Thank you so much Jennifer.