Cold Kiss (Cold Kiss #1)

Cold Kiss by Amy Garvey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What would happen if you lost the person you loved most in the world and then.... managed to bring him back?

That's what happens in this stunning novel by Amy Garvey.
Wren was - is - in love with Danny. They were everything to each other, breathing each other's air. When Danny dies in a stupid car crash, Wren's world comes to a halt. The only way she knows to give remedy to the sense of loss and desperation she feels is by trying to use her... abilities. Wren has them. Her mom, aunt and sister have them too. They seem to be able to manipulate energy to their will: make things move, flowers bloom out of season, change the color of their hair at will.
In a desperate attempt to bring back what she's lost - but without thinking about the consequences - Wren concocts a spell that manages to raise Danny from the dead. But is really Danny or is it something else?

The type of zombie - there's just one - that Garvey creates in this book is not of your usual garden variety. Danny is more of a reanimated body brought back by a sort of necromancer (namely, Wren) and controlled by her. There are no blood-dripping teeth or deambulation with stiff limbs à la Thriller involved. Danny is sort of lucid, remembers fragments of his past life and is attached to Wren in a morbid way without really understanding why. He is the real and only victim under all aspects in this book and I felt so full of compassion and pity for him, it made me simultaneously mad, repulsed and terribly sorry for the situation.

Wren is a character I'd basically would want to slap, under normal circumnstances. She messes up big time by bringing Danny back and I didn't like the fact that she realized she has to do something about it (read: get rid of him) once Gabriel steps into the equation.
BUT. Garvey found a way to make me empathize with her on such a deep level that I just couldn't hate her. I could feel her desperation, her denial, her incapability to let go of Danny. But how did Garvey manage that?
Well, with her amazing writing skills, of course.
Garvey writes in such an effortless, polished way, there's not a word out of place. Her writing style is just lovely, in my opinion. She conjures up images and emotions with her words that really touched me deeply and made me tear up and feel all the grief and sorrow and helplessness Wren was experiencing. Her writing is what sets this book apart from others, really.

The only element that didn't let me give this book 5 stars is Gabriel. I have a lot of questions about him - which I am sure Garvey will give an answer to in her next book Glass Heart... right?! - but his relationship with Wren and his interest in her didn't feel completely justified. He follows her everywhere, he's almost obsessed, so much so that she has to tell him to back off. I hope I will find a feasible justification in Glass Heart that will also give light to many of the mysteries surrounding him.

Nevertheless, Cold Kiss is an amazing novel I really recommend reading, especially if you like your zombies with a twist.