Touch of Frost by Jennifer Estep

Goodreads
350 pages, YA Paranormal (Magic)
Mythos Academy #1
My rating: 5 stars

Synopsis

My name is Gwen Frost, and I go to Mythos Academy; a school of myths, magic and warrior whiz kids, where even the lowliest geek knows how to chop off somebody's head with a sword and Logan Quinn, the hottest Spartan guy in school, also happens to be the deadliest. But lately, things have been weird, even for Mythos. First, mean girl Jasmine Ashton was murdered in the Library of Antiquities. Then, someone stole the Bowl of Tears, a magical artifact that can be used to bring about the second Chaos War. You know, death, destruction and lots of other bad, bad things. Freaky stuff like this goes on all the time at Mythos, but I'm determined to find out who killed Jasmine and why; especially since I should have been the one who died...

My 2 cents

I can't imagine what took me so long to start this series!  I knew I was going to love it, and I was right!  It has all the classic YA elements  that I love--boarding school for paranormal creatures, lots of magic, adventure, and some romance thrown in!  I have read so many series with these elements, and they never get old for me!  This one made me think a little of Rachel Hawkin's series, Hex Hall.  

Gwen was awesome!  She was sassy and smart, and of course, an outcast.  I was always rooting for her, and couldn't wait to learn more of her powers.  She was different from any other student.  She didn't know how to fight, could barely hold the weapons, and had no extra super strength.  But Gwen goes to show that brute strength isn't always the best thing.  Her smarts and psychometry  more than make up for it!

The mystery element to the story was really well done.  I couldn't figure it out. Nothing that Gwen was learning was really making any sense, so the ending was a complete surprise for me.  I knew there was more to Gwen's powers than she thougt, but I didn't understand any of it until the end.  What I loved about this paranormal story is it also added history and mythology to the mix.  I love both, so this made for an even greater read!  And now, I'm off to finish the series!