Everyone in Devil’s Lake knows the three golden Malloy sisters—but one of them is keeping a secret that will turn their little world inside out….No one knows exactly what happened to Kit in the woods that night—not even her sisters, Tessa and Lilly. All they have are a constellation of facts: icy blue lips and fingers cold to the touch, a lacy bra, an abandoned pick-up truck with keys still in … truck with keys still in the ignition.
Even though everyone is quick to jump to conclusions, Tessa is certain that her sister’s killer wasn’t Boyd, the boy next door whom they’ve all loved in their own way. Still, there are too many details that don’t add up, too many secrets tucked away in the past.
But no matter how fiercely Tessa searches for answers, at the core of that complicated night is a truth that’s heartbreakingly simple.
more
After reading ‘All Your Twisted Secrets’ by Diana Urban, I saw this book into the recommendation section, and I liked its cover. I looked over the description and decided I want to read it. Not going to lie, but I’m glad I did!
The entire story takes place in Devil’s Lake, where the Malloy sisters (Kit, Tessa and Lily) are well-known for their contrasting personalities as well as their majestic beauty. The three of them are very close until one of them dies (Kit) under unknown circumstances. They all used to have secrets, but when this tragedy occurs, their dark and deep mysteries are getting unravelled. When Lily sees Boyd (their neighbour with whom they are quite close to) kissing and arguing with Kit right before she got murdered, it becomes clear for the cops he was the one to do it, but are they right? Tessa perceives Boyd as being innocent, and that is why she agrees to help the boy in discovering the criminal, but the secrets she is about to find are both unsettling and more twisted than she could ever imagine.
The main action takes place between Lily and Tessa after the death of their sister, the story being flipped back and forth between the time Kit was alive, and after she died. In this way, we can see how different both of them are; Tessa is clumsy, and she is known for tripping in her own feet. She is a genetic mash-up between her and her sister. She always feels like she’s living under her sister’s shadow. Tessa is the same age as her friend Boyd. On the other hand, Lily is quite the complete opposite; she is a typical fifteen-year-old, with an undying love for new clothes and quite a temper. Her grades aren’t fantastic, and she feels an immortal pressure given by her older sister because she was a goodie-two-shoes.
The actual story is about Kit and how she died, who killed her and why.
The action is well written. The timeline of the story is followed harmoniously, without letting room for misunderstandings. Even though the story was being told from a third-person perspective (excluding the parts from Lily’s dairy), I felt like every character was well developed. We knew something about everyone, things that later on solved the riddle. When every piece of the puzzle was put together by Tessa, everything finally made sense. I can tell you right away that the ending was a pleasant surprise, and it did the exact thing that the end of a mystery novel must do; turn your universe upside down.
I didn’t expect to see what I saw when I started reading. Not long after I picked up the novel, I realized that Lexa Hillyer was a skilled writer. The description (especially the ones of the views) gave me chills: ‘but now the skeletal trees surrounding the lake pricked at the sky, a giant crown of thorns.’. After reading her biography, I saw that she used to be a poetry writer, and that makes plenty of sense now! The author litters the book with poetry paragraphs which takes the book to a whole another level. It just makes it better. It has everything: romance(the romance parts are everything, even though there are not many), mystery, thriller, a bit of poetry and even some (or plenty of) drama! It seems like the perfect kind of book, except that sometimes the purpose of the book (finding the murderer of Kit) is covered by fog. Sometimes you can’t stop reading, and sometimes you die because of the boredness it gives you. If you get past that, the book becomes just a delightful activity. The thing I enjoyed the most while reading the story were the extracts of Lily’s diary. It gave the book a playful tone, as well as a sad one. The way Lily felt about herself: not being as good as her sister, Kit, or feeling like all of her friends became a beautiful memory, created a gloomy atmosphere, while the cheerful way of describing the past events, mixed with a few, but innocent grammar errors created the humorous atmosphere.
Last but not least, one more reason to read this book, the sisterhood. Even though I said that Tessa and Lily are much different, the relationship between them is enchanting. They love each other, and somehow the death of Kit made them closer. I know it was a tragedy but was it for nothing?
Overall, it was deep and sad, yet happy and humorous all in one go. It made me experience thoughts and see things in a different light. It gave me a new perspective, and I am glad I picked it up. Without a doubt, I recommend it for further reading!
My Thoughts:
I was drawn to this story by the attractive book cover, and knew I needed to read it after I read the synopsis. I enjoy stories that have sibling relationships, and thought it would be neat to read about sisters, with one of them having a big secret, turning up dead, and one of the remaining sisters investigating, to try to find out what happened.
Ms. Hillyer writes beautiful prose that are poetic and lyrical. Her words effortlessly painted this story in my mind. Frozen Beauty takes place in the small town of Devil’s Lake, and is the story of the Malloy sisters.
We learn about the eldest, senior in high school, Kit, who is the “perfect” sister. She gets excellent grades, and volunteers her time. Middle sister, Tessa, often gets overlooked, and doesn’t have many friends. The youngest sister, Lilly, a sophomore in high school, is a bit immature, likes being the center of attention, and often times feels left out, because the two oldest sisters are closer. Right smack dab in the middle of the sisters is their friendship with next door neighbor Boyd, who is a junior in high school alongside, Tessa, and they are best friends. Each of the sisters have feelings for Boyd, but keep their feelings about him a secret from one another. As for Boyd’s feelings, he gives mixed signals to the sisters.
One night, when Lilly is spending the night at her best friend Mel’s house, she wakes up to find her missing. When she goes to look for Mel, she is shocked to see Kit and Boyd together in his truck arguing, and then kissing. The next day Kit turns up dead, and Boyd is locked up. Boyd claims his innocence, but based on what Lilly saw, and the fact that Kit’s DNA is all over his truck, the police believe they have a solid case against Boyd. Tessa believes in Boyd’s innocence, and is determined to prove that he isn’t the one that killed her sister…
Frozen Beauty is told in chapters alternating between what happened before Kit’s death, and what happened after her death. We get a prologue by Boyd, as well as the majority of the story narrated by Tessa and Lilly. The story casts a suspicious light over a few characters, and has the wheels in the reader’s mind turning to try to piece together the puzzle of who murdered Kit.
I enjoyed the author’s writing style, and learning about the Malloy Sisters. The plot unraveled rather slowly. This was a mystery that I was excited to solve, and along the way various serious topics were addressed. We learn a lot about Lilly’s best friends Mel, the pushy leader of the group, and Dar, who has an eating disorder and struggling with coming to terms with her sexuality. We learn about Patrick Donavan, Lilly’s eventual love interest, who is the resident bad boy. We get little poems sprinkled throughout the story written by Kit, and one thing quickly becomes clear; she was keeping a lot of secrets from her sisters.
This story deals with the grief of losing a loved one; as Tessa, Lilly, and their mother struggle to move forward with their lives. If you are looking for a murder mystery with seamlessly beautiful writing, interesting characters, and a quick, effortless read, check out Frozen Beauty.