Review: Frost by Marianna Baer

Synopsis:
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:
I was hooked from the first page of this book when the main character, Leena is describing Frost House as a 'little old lady'. I really liked the writing style and descriptions used throughout the book. Like the one I just mentioned, some descriptions are quirky, and others did a good job of creeping me out.

So . . . I'm not a huge fan of being scared. But I really love to be healthily freaked out :-) And that is what this book did for me. When the story starts out, Leena's voice in the book is mature and trustworthy. Somewhere along the way she slowly starts to unravel, and I found myself questioning if the problem was within her mind or something else entirely.

At the beginning of the story Leena, out of nowhere, spazzes out and claims the closet in the room she's sharing. 'Mine,' she thinks . . . and that pretty much set the tone of the whole book for me. By the time Leena is going inside the closet to talk to her wooden owl figurine, I just wasn't sure who was crazier. Leena? Her roommate? Her boyfriend(ish type person)? Or are all the strange things happening the product of a possessed house?

Frost is a psychological thriller, with elements of romance and (for me) horror. What is more scary than the thoughts going through someone's mind, especially when you aren't sure if they're completely sane. I had high hopes for this one, and it definitely lived up to them.

Publication Date: September 13, 2011
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Thriller, Romance
Source: Good, old public library.