After her mom died in a car accident six months ago, Gwendolyn Frost found herself at Mythos Academy, a school for the descendants of ancient warriors, such as Spartans and Amazons. What Gwen doesn't get is why she's at the school. Sure, she's a gypsy with the gift of psychometry, the ability to read an object's history by just touching it, but she's nothing special compared to what everyone else can do at her new school. Even the biggest geeks can kick ass, while she can't even get through gym class. A complete social outcast, Gwen's only friend is her grandmother, but even she's keeping secrets, like the reason why Gwen has to attend Mythos Academy.

When Gwen stumbles across the dead body of Jasmine Ashton, the richest and most popular girl in her class, she finds herself knee deep in a mystery. While everyone else seems to agree that the murderer was a Reaper, a follower of the God Loki, Gwen's instincts tell her otherwise. When Gwen starts digging into Jasmine's life, she discovers not everything was perfect with the popular girl. With a little help from a few new friends, tentative though the friendships may be, Gwen plunges further into the mystery. Someone doesn't want Gwen poking around into this murder though, and they'll do anything to stop her from continuing.

I'm a huge fan of Jennifer Estep's Elemental Assassin series and couldn't wait to check out her new YA series, but once I read the premise, I admit, all I could think was that it sounded kind of like the Percy Jackson series, just with different Gods. I'm sure I'm not the only one who will make that comparison but having read the book, if you take a pass on this book based on that belief, you'll be missing out on an amazingly addictive new series. I read TOUCH OF FROST in one day and am desperately jonesing for more.

Ms. Estep has done her research when it comes to the factions of mythology she covers and it shows when she gets into explaining about all the Gods and their history. Then she manages to weave it into a book about angst-ridden high schoolers and makes the entire endeavor believable. From the catty popular girls to the geeks in band, and all the uncertainty that plagues every teen at some point, this is a book everyone can identify with, super powers or not. Who hasn't dreamed about learning that they are, in fact, more than they really thought they were. I loved how Ms. Estep built up the friendship between Gwen and Daphne, and, of course, Gwen and Logan. With many threads hanging loose, not to mention the fate of Gwen and Logan's relationship, the wait for the next book in the series, Kiss of Frost (out in December) seems a long way off. TOUCH OF FROST is an exhilarating start to the Mythos Academy series and I, for one, can't wait to get back to school when the next book comes out.