Review - Frigid - By: J. Lynn

Title: Frigid
Author: J. Lynn
Publisher: Spencer Hill Contemporary
Release Date: July 15th, 2013
Series: Frigid #1
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Synopsis via Goodreads

For twenty-one-year-old Sydney, being in love with Kyler isn't anything new. They'd been best friends ever since he pushed her down on the playground and she made him eat a mud pie. Somewhere over the years, she fell for him and fell hard. The big problem with that? Kyler puts the 'man' in man-whore. He's never stayed with a girl longer than a few nights, and with it being their last year in college, Syd doesn't want to risk their friendship by declaring her love.

Kyler has always put Syd on a pedestal that was too high for him to reach. To him, she's perfect and she's everything. But the feelings he has for her, he's always hidden away or focused on any other female. After all, Kyler will always be the poor boy from the wrong side of tracks, and Syd will always be the one girl he can never have.

But when they're stranded together at a posh ski resort due to a massive Nor'easter, there's nothing stopping their red-hot feelings for each other from coming to the surface. Can their friendship survive the attraction? Better yet, can they survive at all? Because as the snow falls, someone is stalking them, and this ski trip may be a life-changer in more ways than one.

My rating:

J. Lynn's Frigid was just the pick-me-up I needed after having just put two books at DNF about halfway through each. I've yet to read a story by this woman that I didn't love, and I can't say that about any of my other favorite authors, which is why J. Lynn (otherwise known as Jennifer L. Armentrout) ranks #1 on my "omg-why-can't-I-write-like-you" list of both contemporary & paranormal fiction authors. With Frigid she delivered like she always does. It was a quick and light read, yet still contained the deeply emotional undertones infused with the dry, witty humor that I've come to expect from J.L.

The novel's concept itself was enough to keep me interested. Two best friends both in love with the other but afraid to ruin their friendship. From the start, I sensed I was in for a gritty, relatable story with characters I'd sympathize with and a relationship I'd root for. And by the end, that's what I got. BUT there was a bit of frustration on my end that I had to endure before I could easily accept their HEA.

So, the book is told in dual first-person P.O.V. with the main characters being Sydney "Syd" Bell and Kyler Quinn. (Love that name, btw. Reminds me of Sleeping With Siren's lead singer Kellin Quinn.)

*insert dreamy sigh*

Now, where was I?

Oh, right. So Syd seemed sympathetic enough in the beginning, with her unrequited love for her best friend and all. She'd apparently been in love with him since he pushed her down in the playground when they were little. (My cliche detector bristled a bit at that, but it's J.L. so I looked over it.) As for Kyler. He'd always seemed to be yucking it up (or fucking it up, if you're not into sugar coating things) in a sea of endless women and booze since high school. (Which brings to mind other man-whore males in the genre, but that's a different story. Story in question? Namely: Thoughtless By: S.C. Stephens.)

All right, I'm done being sidetracked. Promise.

So, I have to admit, I was a little confused with their dynamic at first. I thought Syd simply had repressed feelings for her clueless best friend. And I thought the same for Kyler. Emphasis on REPRESSED & CLUELESS. Yet, within the first few chapters, they were both getting grabby. I had to stop myself and think: "Huh? I thought they weren't being open about their mutual lust. So why are they suddenly getting so touchy feely?" It all just seemed a little unfounded. Like, there'd been nothing leading up to it and them BAM! They're playing grab-ass (metaphorically--sort of) while I was still stuck on the part where they were just friends. But as the story progressed and I had the opportunity to really delve into their emotions, my confusion vanished so everything was cool by the end.

Most of their conflict consisted of these two young-and-restlessly-horny hard-heads confronting their love for each other. That's it. Simple, right? Uh, no. Like I said--hard-heads. Syd had to get over the insecurities of her past as well as her present insecurities over all the girls Kyler had "dated". And by "dated" I mean "had done the horizontal tango with". Or, in less corny terms, slept with. Anyway, that was Syd's problem. Kyler's problem was that he needed to 1) keep it in his pants and 2) get over his notion that he wasn't good enough for Syd. But with all the horizontal tangoing going on with countless girls, I could see how he'd get that idea. Just sayin'.

As for the conflict outside of their relationship: when they get snowed into a cabin on a ski trip, they find out some psycho is out trying to sabotage their lives. Now, I don't know if the culprit was supposed to be a mystery or not, but they weren't. I knew exactly who it was the WHOLE TIME. I'm surprised the characters themselves didn't figure it out. I mean COME ON. All they had to do was think "hey, who have we pissed off in the last day or two?" and the answer would've been right there. Yet, for some reason, when the culprit was revealed, Syd was still shocked. I felt like the chick in the movie theater yelling at the screen with this one.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed Frigid. Then again, I'd expect nothing less from J.L. Seriously, I doubt I'll ever live to see the day this woman writes a horrible book. It's just impossible. No pressure or anything, J.L.!!!

Favorite Quotes

Grabbing my suitcase, he grunted. "What did you pack in here? A legion of fat and angry babies?"

***

He got his foot in a groove and propelled himself up to the limb closest to my window. Wrapping his hands around it, he looked at me. His cheeks were rosy from the cold and his eyes glittered in the moonlight. "If I fall and break my neck, will you say something nice at my funeral? Like 'Kyler was usually more graceful?'"