Book Review: Frost by Marianna Baer

Title: Frost

Author: Marianna Baer

400 pages, Published by Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins

Marianna’s Info: Website | Twitter

Buy The Book: Amazon

Summary: Leena Thomas’s senior year at boarding school starts with a cruel shock: Frost House, the cozy Victorian dorm where she and her best friends chose to live, has been assigned an unexpected roommate—confrontational, eccentric Celeste Lazar.

What Celeste lacks in social grace, however, her brother, David, a recent transfer student, makes up for in good looks and charm. But while he and Leena hit it off immediately, Leena finds herself struggling to balance her growing attraction with her fear of getting hurt.

As classes get under way, strange happenings begin to bedevil Frost House—frames mys-teriously falling off walls, doors locking by themselves, furniture toppling over. Celeste blames the housemates, convinced they want to scare her into leaving. And while Leena tries to play peacekeeper between her best friends and new roommate, soon the mysterious happenings in the dorm, an intense triangle between Leena, Celeste, and David, and the reawakening of childhood fears all push Leena to take increasingly desperate measures to feel safe. But does the threat lie with her new roommate, within Leena’s own mind . . . or in Frost House itself? (Summary provided by the publisher.)

My Thoughts:

This review contains spoilers. Read at your own risk.

Boarding school has always fascinated me. When I was younger, I would watch The Facts of Life (I loved Blair) and daydream about having boarding school adventures of my own. So when I heard Frost by Marianna Baer takes place at a boarding school, I immediately knew that I would read it.

There were so many things about this book that I loved! For starters, I thought the plot (see summary above) was very original. From the cover and summary, I worried that this would be a typical haunted house story. Thankfully, that was not the case. Frost was more of a psychological thriller. Throughout the book I was wondering if the house was haunted (as Celeste believed) or not  (Leena thinks Celeste is having a psychotic break). Marianna Baer does a very good job of gradually upping the “creep factor” throughout the book with excellent pacing.

Another highlight of the book was Cubby. Who is Cubby? Why Cubby is a wooden owl that twists open to reveal a compartment. Leena has had Cubby since she was a little girl and talks to Cubby when she is upset. She answers back for Cubby in the voice of an “English school marm.” To Leena’s credit she realizes this is a little weird and hides when she talks to Cubby. Soon, Cubby’s responses become involuntary and paranoia inducing. Leena begins to wonder is it is merely her own intuition speaking through Cubby or is eerie Frost House causing it to happen? Also, Leena keeps her drugs in Cubby.

Yes, Leena has a little bit of a drug problem. But don’t worry. She’s got it under control (not really). The drug issue is handled realistically throughout the book. Baer does an excellent job depicting through Leena that attitude drug abusers trying to “self-medicate” often have.

Leena is definitely a flawed heroine. She doesn’t make perfect choices. She doesn’t always behave responsibly. Yet, she is still extremely likeable. I especially like the fact that she was resistant to having a boyfriend. I enjoyed getting to see the boy chase the girl for once! (I kept picturing Chace Crawford playing David in the hypothetical movie version of Frost playing through my head throughout. Ricky Gervais will play Cubby.) If you are looking for a thriller with a creepy edge, Frost is definitely the book to read!

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