Frost by Marianna Baer

Frost by Marianna Baer
Release Date – September 13, 2011
Publisher – HarperCollins
Publisher Social Media - Twitter
Pages - 400
My Rating- 7/10
*obtained from Book Expo America for an honest review*

Here is the Goodreads 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?

Leena, Viv and Abby are moving into Frost House; a cute little Victorian style dorm room at their private school. Their friend Kate is not going to be living with them for the semester and the Dean of the school has put Celeste with them for the semester. Right from the moment Celeste moves in Leena starts noticing things happening…

The atmosphere in Frost is definitely on the creepier side. Right from the first time something happens in the house I found myself waiting to see what was going to happen next. The author does a fantastic job of unsettling you.

I liked that the incidents that were happening were easily explained away at first. They had reasonable explanations. I find that in ghost/haunting stories they tend to be too outrageous to scare me, and that wasn’t the case with this novel.

Leena was a character that I liked at some points and not so much at others. I did feel for her as the story progressed but she could be judgemental and mean sometimes. She goes through a lot during the novel, and the author does an amazing job of making you sympathize with her. It’s easy to imagine what you would do in the same situation.

Celeste was unique. Right from the beginning she’s a little eccentric and has very artistic tastes. We learn that she has a history of mental illness in her family.

David is Celeste’s sister. I found their relationship to be a very close, sometimes a little too close. Leena and the others also pick up on this. Other than his relationship with his sister David seems like a nice, normal, safe guy that Leena could have a real relationship.

Viv and Abby seemed like good friends, however I was less inclined to like them when they ditched Leena after something happens. They refuse to even talk to her about it, or listen to her. They are not in the story much so we don’t really get to know them. I just found them mean and not very forgiving considering the circumstances.

The last half of the novel I felt was more interesting. We start to learn a lot of things that change our perceptions of what was causing the issues at the house.

I loved that the ending of the novel left things open to interpretation. We never really find out what happened in Frost House. Was it a ghost? Was it someone making these things happen? Was it due to the house itself? I think this is the strongest part of the novel. It had me re-examining what I had read and trying to figure out which option fit.

Frost left me a little scared and I really did enjoy the aspect of trying to figure out what was causing the incidents that were happening to Leena and Celeste. You may have to sleep with the light on after you read it though…