Title: Black Ice
Author: Becca Fitzpatrick
Genre: Young Adult, Mystery, Romance, Thriller
Age Group: Young Adult
Rating: 2 stars
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Review copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Sometimes danger is hard to see… until it’s too late.
Britt Pfeiffer has trained to backpack the Teton Range, but she isn’t prepared when her ex-boyfriend, who still haunts her every thought, wants to join her. Before Britt can explore her feelings for Calvin, an unexpected blizzard forces her to seek shelter in a remote cabin, accepting the hospitality of its two very handsome occupants—but these men are fugitives, and they take her hostage.
In exchange for her life, Britt agrees to guide the men off the mountain. As they set off, Britt knows she must stay alive long enough for Calvin to find her. The task is made even more complicated when Britt finds chilling evidence of a series of murders that have taken place there… and in uncovering this, she may become the killer’s next target.
But nothing is as it seems in the mountains, and everyone is keeping secrets, including Mason, one of her kidnappers. His kindness is confusing Britt. Is he an enemy? Or an ally?
BLACK ICE is New York Times bestselling author Becca Fitzpatrick’s riveting romantic thriller set against the treacherous backdrop of the mountains of Wyoming. Falling in love should never be this dangerous…
Black Ice is one of the toughest books I’ve had to review. While I enjoyed the plot, and though parts of it were completely unpredictable and suspenseful, I absolutely loathed the characters, especially our MC, Britt. I kept on reading till the end because I just had to know how it finished, but still I couldn’t feel anything except disgust fo Britt. Although, I’m starting to wonder if maybe that’s how the author intended it. Let me explain.
Britt is everything you don’t expect a YA heroine to be. She’s highly dependent on the men in her life, previously her boyfriend (now ex) Calvin, who happened to be her best friend’s brother. We see flashbacks of their relationships every now and then, and while there’s no actual abuse, Calvin certainly doesn’t treat her very nicely. He cheats on her, he pretends she means nothing to him, and so on. Even though they broke up and it’s been months since she heard from him, all Britt can think about when she talks about her camping trip with her bet friend, is…you guessed it, Calvin. Even though he gives an entirely new meaning to the word ‘jackass’, she’s still infatuated with him and thinks of him as some freaking saint.
Then there’s her BFF, Korbie, who is even dumber than Britt, and even more dependent. Korbie flirts with every boy she sees – not even recognizing if one of them is potentially dangerous. She’s a whiny brat with zero survival skills or survival instinct. But heck, I would’ve been able to look past that if she was a supportive friend who had Britt’s back. Guess what? She’s not. She puts Britt down at every chance she gts, she didn’t even tell her that Calvin cheated on her, and so on. Friend? I think not.
Anyway, the two girls head up to a mountain for a camping trip, which they’re going to spend in a cabin belonging to Korbie’s parents. Calvin will be there too, to keep an eye out for them. But when the girls drive to the cabin, they get hit by an unexpected snow storm and their car breaks down. They stumble to the nearest cabin which is inhabited by two strange young men. They’re hot, so of course the girls immediately call dibs on each one, although by now the “these are bad people with bad intentions” vibe is so high any sane person would’ve run out of there screaming. But of course they have to wait until Shawn, one of these guys, decides to reveal his utter evilness by pointing a gun in their direction before they decide maybe trying to hook up with them wasn’t such a good idea after all.
Let’s jump forward in the story, to the moment where Britt and Mason (the buddy of gun man) are travelling down the mountain, and Britt…falls head over heels for him. Because one semi-abusive relationship wasn’t enough, now she’ll hang out with someone who threatened to kill her as well. Yeah….And then that entire romance/kidnapping/Stockholm Syndrome story is connected to a bunch of unexplained murders taking place on the mountain during the last few years, which was easily the most intriguing part of the book.
All in all…meh. I liked the plot, the whole kidnapping part, the murders, definitely had some suspense. But the characters were so awful I couldn’t enjoy reading about them. I want to smack some sense into Britt, and please for the love of all that is holy, I want her to stand up for herself for once. Make a decision on her own. Anything that shows she’s not entirely dependent on any man that crosses her way.
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