Review: First Frost by (Mythos Academy #0.5) by Jennifer Estep

Title: First Frost (Mythos Academy  #0.5)
Author: Jennifer Estep
Published by: Kensington Publishing Corporation
Pages: 30
Source: Bought
Format: ebook
Rating: 4.5 stars

Summary from Goodreads: I am Gwen Frost, and I have a Gypsy gift.  It's called psychometry - that's a fancy way of saying that I see images in my head and get flashes of other people's memories off almost everything I touch, even guys.

My gift makes me kind of nosy. Okay, okay, maybe a lot nosy--to the point of obsession sometimes. I want to know everything about everyone around me. But even I don't want to know the secrets my friend Paige is hiding or the terrible loss that will send me to a new school - Mythos Academy, where the teachers aren't preparing us for the SATs, but to battle Reapers of Chaos.  Now I have no friends and no idea how my gift fits in with all these warrior whiz kids.  The only thing I do know is that my life is never, ever going to be the same.

What a way to start a series.  First Frost introduces the Mythos Academy series with a bang.  It was packed full of emotion and instantly set the mood for the series.

Often times many of us want a special gift, but we fail to realize the impact and burden that gift can be.  Gwen learned that the hard way when she picks up a friends hairbrush only to experience her friend's crushing reality.  This not only impacts Gwen's emotional state, but also her life in more ways than she realizes.  Gwen is a strong girl, and yet her life drastically changes because of this one event.  

First Frost introduces us not only to the series, but also to a couple of main characters.  I love that we see bits and pieces of who Gwen is and her interaction with her Grandmother. Besides the characters, First Frost also gives us our first glimpse at Mythos Academy and the mythology behind it.  Instead of vampires and werewolves, we get Amazons, Valkyries and Spartans.  It's nice to see a different side of paranormal/fantasy than the 'typical' found in many other novels.

I think Jennifer L. Armentrout really nailed it with this introduction to the Mythos Academy series.  First Frost is the type of novella you can read before you start the series or after you've already read a couple of books.  It's powerful and insightful; definitely a novella you won't want to miss.