Rating: 3.8 stars
Synopsis: Hot. Cold. Deadly. Britt Pfeiffer has never been very adventurous, but that's about to change. Wanting to impress her ex-boyfriend, Britt convinces her best friend Korbie, to take a hiking trip with her. But when a freak storm leaves the girls stranded, they seek shelter in a secluded cabin - where they find two handsome rescuers. Or so they think. Britt realises she and Korbie need to get off the mountain fast, and so begins a treacherous journey through the ice and snow. But is gorgeous, mysterious Mason an enemy - or an ally?
Review: I'm not completely sure how I feel about this book, hence the insanely precise rating above. Originally, I was going to give it 4 stars but then I realised there are a few things I didn't really like about the book. You know the kind of things you don't realise irritate you when you're reading but after you've finished the book and think about it, you realise they're there. Don't get me wrong, it was a good book and I did enjoy it - I read it in about a day so the plot really did grab my attention. It was just little things that knocked the rating down for me.
There are quite a few reviews on this book already and most of them say what I'm going to say now. Britt needs to grow a backbone in terms of her relationships. In terms of survival skills, she's got it down. She knows what to do to stay alive in the mountains, but when it comes to relationships she needs to grow up. We get it, you loved Calvin and he broke your heart, but whinging for him every ten seconds isn't going to do anything. It just felt repetitive. Every time I wanted Britt to stand up and help herself, she'd spend five minutes wishing Calvin was there to do it for her. And then with Mason; the constant internal monologue of I can't fall in love with him, he's my captor got really repetitive. I just wanted to shake her and tell her to snap out of it. Apart from this though, I thought in general, Britt's character was quite well developed and she had an inner strength that you could see develop over the course of the book. The initial need to prove herself to Calvin turned into her wanting to prove herself to everyone - including herself and it was nice to see this change.
I hated Korbie. There was no chemistry between her and Britt and it was difficult to understand why they were best friends. When we first join the story, you get the impression that Britt has only asked Korbie along because of Calvin and not because she's her best friend. As you delve into the pairs past you really get the sense that this is a mismatched friendship if I ever saw one. There is no chemistry and, while Britt really seems to care about Korbie's well being in the cabin, trying to protect her (in a way that I personally didn't understand because surely it would have just sealed Korbie's fate if it was true?) Korbie seems to only care about herself. She doesn't seem to give Britt a second thought throughout the book, focusing only on herself and that just turned me off her completely.
I thought the premise of the book was really good and you could tell that Becca Fitzpatrick had really done her research on the area and how you could survive the situations Britt and Mason were thrown into. The book moved along at quite a fast pace and, like I said, I read the book in about a day so I did enjoy it a lot. I think this is mainly to do with Mason. I thought he was a really complex character who had a lot of secrets to his past. I didn't see his connection to Shaun until it was almost revealed and then it was pretty easy to guess but, apart from that, I did really like his character, and the way he put up with Britt was commendable. Like I said, she did have a few 'stupid' moments in the book.
The final 'action scene' was probably the best part because you really saw a mature side to Britt that, until then, you had only caught glimpses of. Other reviewers have said that they had guessed the ending, but it came as a surprise to me and I didn't see it coming. I guess you guys will have to make your own minds up about it. For me though, I thought it was a satisfying conclusion to the time on the mountains. The way that Britt handled everything during those few chapters was really satisfying as a reader because you finally saw her accept everything and accept that she wasn't as helpless as she had previously made herself out to be.
The actual ending itself was also something I really enjoyed. Some people might have found it cheesy but we all need a little cheese in our life and I thought it was a satisfying conclusion, with the romance that you really wanted to see continue after everything on the mountain and a little bit of humour thrown in there. It was a satisfying, relaxed conclusion which I thought the book needed after all the action throughout the book. It was also nice to see that Britt had learned that Korbie wasn't right for her - I half expected her to forgive her for everything, so it was nice to see that that wasn't the case.
All in all, it was a good book and I did enjoy it. The parts that let it down for me, didn't completely hinder my enjoyment of the book at all and I really only focused on them completely once I came to write this review. Considering I hadn't read Becca Fitzpatrick's 'Hush Hush' series, I thought this was a great introduction to her work and I'll probably pick up the 'Hush Hush' series at some point. Give it a go and tell me what you think.
Image from http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21943246-black-ice - no Copyright intended
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