I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Frozen Beauty by Lexa Hillyer Published by HarperTeen on 3/17/20
Genres: Contemporary, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 368
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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Everyone in Devil’s Lake knows the three golden Malloy sisters—but one of them is keeping a secret that will turn their little world inside out….
No one knows exactly what happened to Kit in the woods that night—not even her sisters, Tessa and Lilly. All they have are a constellation of facts: icy blue lips and fingers cold to the touch, a lacy bra, an abandoned pick-up truck with keys still in the ignition.
Even though everyone is quick to jump to conclusions, Tessa is certain that her sister’s killer wasn’t Boyd, the boy next door whom they’ve all loved in their own way. Still, there are too many details that don’t add up, too many secrets tucked away in the past.
But no matter how fiercely Tessa searches for answers, at the core of that complicated night is a truth that’s heartbreakingly simple.
Short and Sweet
Everyone in Devil’s Lake knows the Malloy sisters, but no one knows what happened to Kit in the woods the night she died. One thing is for sure Tessa doesn’t believe that it was their neighbor Boyd. The more Tessa searches for answers the more she realizes that everyone is hiding something.
Characters
Kit: Kit is the oldest of the Malloy sisters and she was known as the good girl and the one everyone can count on. Since Kit was dead… we don’t know much about her except for the flashbacks and what everyone has to say about her. Kit was a poet though and some of her poems are at the end of the chapters.
Tessa: Tessa is the middle child and she’s known to be clumsy and she was usually in Kits shadow. I really liked Tess and reading from her point of view, she was determined to find out what happened to her sister and she did a good job of piecing everything together.
Lilly: Lilly is the youngest she’s unpredictable and sometimes selfish. One thing about Lilly was she was tired of being kept in the dark by everyone which only fueled her fire more. She always knew when something was off.
Boyd: Boyd has known the girls since they were all kids and he’s like a brother to them, unfortunately he’s suspect number one in Kit’s death. Boyd seemed really sweet and he placed all of his trust in Tessa.
Patrick: Patrick was new in town but he already had a reputation and it wasn’t good. Most of the kids tried to avoid him. Patrick did have a shady past but he tried to turn things around kind of.
Romance
Tessa and Boyd: Tessa and Boyd have known each other since they were kids but as they’ve grown up they’ve just been friends. But at some point they do share a kiss, and while reading I realized that these two had more of a romantic connection than Boyd had with any of the other sisters.
Lilly and Patrick: Patrick was new and Lilly only talked to him because of her friend Mel. I’m not really sure how these two worked out its very perplexing to even think about it but I feel like he kind of used Lilly so that she wouldn’t be on his case about things that he was doing.
My Thoughts
~ We get before and now timelines and Lilly’s POV is told through the before and sometimes so is Patricks and Tessa’s POV is told through the now. I found myself enjoying Tessa’s POV mainly because I felt that Lilly’s was a little immature.
~ So Boyd is in jail and the one person he decides to call for help is Tessa, and she says yes. She takes her detective work seriously and she honestly did a good job finding evidence and figuring out what everything meant.
~ The more you read the more you find out that everyone was hiding some kind of secret.
~ I did like how different Tessa and Lilly were, they may have only been a year apart but they did have different personalities and interest.
~ There were points in the book were I did think it got slow but towards the end I couldn’t put the book down and I was just trying to figure out what happened to Kit.
~ This story was very well told and in the end I appreciated the before and now timelines and Lilly and Tessa’s POVs.
Overall
I wasn’t expecting this book to be a mystery but I really enjoyed it. I liked how we get different timelines and everything ends up coming full circle. I think that Lilly and Tessa were brought closer together and they did grieve for their sister in different ways but it did help them cope with what happened. This book was beautifully written and I would recommend it!
