Review: A Breathe Of Frost (The Lovegrove Legacy #1) By : Alyxandra Harvey

Title: A Breathe Of Frost (The Lovegrove Legacy #1)
Author: Alyxandra Harvey
Published: January 7th, 2014
Source: E-galley from Netgalley
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Goodreads Summary:

In 1814, three cousins—Gretchen, Emma, and Penelope—discover their family lineage of witchcraft when a binding spell is broken, allowing their individual magical powers to manifest. Now, beyond the manicured gardens and ballrooms of Regency London, an alluring underworld available only to those with power is revealed to the cousins. By claiming their power, the three cousins have accidentally opened the gates to the underworld. 

Now ghouls, hellhounds—and most terrifying of all, the spirits of dark witches known as the Greymalkin Sisters—are hunting and killing young debutante witches for their powers. And, somehow, Emma is connected to the murders…because she keeps finding the bodies. 

Can the cousins seal the gates before another witch is killed…or even worse, before their new gifts are stripped away?

My Thoughts:

I was so curious to read this start to a new series by Harvey, I had heard great things about her book and I was intrigued about the summary, I don't read a lot of books about witches and I have been trying to broaden my horizons since I definitely don't usually enjoy historical fiction but, the history wasn't not as prevalent in this story as the magic and witches was. 

Gretchen, Emily, and Penelope are going through their first seasons stuck in fancy dresses and dancing with each man that asks. None of them enjoy having to go to these balls but, it is their duty to be there. Everything changes in their lives when an old perfume bottle of Gretchen's mothers gets dropped and the magical powers that were hidden and kept away from the girls was released.

Gretchen was our main character and definitely the most curious out of the three cousins. She had no idea all of the secrets and everything that would change for her. I enjoyed how fearless she was, when you think back to history and the things that were allowed during these times she really was different from any of the other girls. Honestly, I feel like that is what a lot of authors try to do with their books that are historical fiction, they make their main character want to be different from the times and it kind of gets a bit old, I am not saying that in history women didn't like the way that they had to live but, it seems like such a stereotype in YA books for this genre. 

I enjoyed the magical aspect of the story because I am a paranormal lover at heart. They weren't you average witches and their was a whole new side of London that the girls never knew excited. Their was a lot of secondary characters, some chapters being told entirely by them. The big problem was I didn't really get the point of these chapters, they weren't essential to the story and as the book went on they went away completely. It was just a bit confusing. 

Overall, Breathe Of Frost had parts that I enjoyed and if it wasn't for the weird sort of chapters which I didn't feel moved the story along enough, I would have enjoyed this story even more. It has mystery, intrigue, and magic. The entire mythology of Gretchen's family was definitely what kept me reading until the end.