Because I freaking love Ally Carter's books. Gimme more Embassy Row, please!! My soul shattered when it ended. Also I really like the color scheme but shhhh I'm not a shallow reader.

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Usually, Ally Carter does a really good job at keeping her books cuss free. There was no bad language as far as I noticed; however, there were some instances when the main characters took the Lord's name in vain. The one thing that knocked this down half a star for me was a part where the main characters are lost in the woods and find a log cabin and it's so small they sleep with each other—which I could understand if it was survival driven—but I feel as if the instant was driven more by the romantic part of the story and not so much the survival part. That made me a little uncomfortable since they're teenagers and they aren't married. For gore, there was some blood, but nothing horrendous. I don't know, I actually have a medium tolerance for gore, so my opinion might be different from others. XD #raisedonLotR




I liked how Maddie was so wrongfully stuck on being angry towards Logan. I feel like that really drove her character, and as the tension built up, it gave her arc at the end a satisfying conclusion. Logan was okay too—he wasn't my favorite character, but he was pretty funny and I liked to see the two interact. I can't say that I even had a favorite character in this book. I had a hard time connecting with them. They were all pretty even in depth, but I was the most intrigued by Stefan and I wish his side of the story had been completed. The only thing that bugged me was how MEAN Maddie could be, but she felt remorse afterwards and honestly I think she was supposed to make me scream at her for how blind she's being, but oh well. Logan was just...a boy. I'll leave it at that. XD In short, I wasn't particularly attached to anyone.




I loved loved LOVED the opening scenes. Carter always does a superb job at drawing in the reader and that is why I love her books so much. This time, it was a little different because it depicts Logan and Maddie as younger versions of themselves and AWW THE FEELS they were adorable. The plot was actually pretty simple compared to what she's done in the past, but for a standalone, it was gripping and intense enough to help me fly through it in less than two days. It was kind of like Rogue One in between the Star Wars saga. The suspense had me on edge—not just the plot suspense, but also all the tension caused by those internal struggles going on. Also, the bridge scene was perfect. MMMmmmm I loved every part of that scene. Absolutely delicious. XD




Like I said, Carter's style is gripping and intense, perfect for constructing adventurous thrillers like this, while still adding the touches of romance to slow things down a bit and give the reader a break to breathe. Her writing isn't difficult to understand, and so that makes it really easy to slip into the action going on. Can we talk about her descriptions for a moment? UGH I love them so much. I've read the Embassy Row novels and Heist Society #1, and I'm almost done with Gallagher Girls and every. single. time she has blown me away with her descriptions! It's just so easy to imagine what she's describing, in both setting and action. Sometimes I have a hard time imagining what characters' actions look like, but I have never had that problem (that stands out horribly) with her books. This time she constructed a wintry wonderland of snow and ice and trees. I could almost feel how cold it was (probably because I was most likely freezing my tail off somewhere while reading it, but oh well) and I could smell the pine and hear the crunch of ice underfoot. mmmMMMmmm. Good stuff, people.


I don't usually have any issues with the romances in her books, but I just wasn't feeling it here. It felt a bit forced, probably because the story was so fast-paced. The background info helped ease it a little bit, but I still feel like it could have come off slower and still been cute. Ice doesn't melt all at once, right? It thaws. (AHAHAHAHAHA it's okay you can kill me for my sucky jokes.) Anyway, yeah, I wasn't digging it and when it moves so fast like that, I usually tend to just roll my eyes and skim so I can get it over with. Also content advisory as mentioned above, and ugh—too many comments about his lips and her lips and just yadayadayadaya can we please NOT? Teenagers are NOT this dramatic. At least I'm not, which is probably why I have low patience levels for this type of stuff.




All in all, it was a good book. It could have been better, but I was still treated to Ally Carter's genius in thriller and that satisfied me. It wasn't as good as I had hoped, but I mean, y'all know how I rave about Embassy Row so nothing will ever beat that. (Except maybe Heist Society but I have yet to finish the series. The verdict is not yet settled! But oooooooh what do you think about a book battle?? Comment if you think that would be interesting!)

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4 stars (actually, 3.8 when I did the math but IT'S ALLY CARTER, Y'ALL. I'll round it off for her.)