Review: Unusual fantasy romance
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 25, 2012
I never would have thought that I'd be interested in a romance where the people have some spider-like characteristics. Don't worry, none of the characters have eight legs or anything creepy like that, but some do have the ability to spin silk, some have fangs and produce venom, and there is some cannibalism in one of the clans, although nothing explicit. The people in A Hint of Frost all belong to different clans that have different specializations. The story opens with Lourdes, the eldest daughter of the leader, or maven, of the Araneidae clan, who are peaceable and gentle, and who spin the strongest silk of all of the clans and therefore have grown rich due to demand for their products (especially their freakishly strong armor). Through treaties and intermarriage, they are protected by a warrior clan,  the Theridiidae, however, those warriors have turned on the Araneidae, murdered Lourdes' parents, and attacked their nest. Lourdes turns to another poor but vicious warrior clan, the Mimetidae, and agrees to marry their maven's son and provide them with armor in return for their help in fighting off the Theridiidae and avenging her parents' death.Lourdes was a strong character, but initially she is very sheltered and innocent and makes a few stupid moves. As the story continues, she matures and grows into her role as the new maven of the Araneidae clan. Rhys, the man she weds, has a fearsome reputation, but he is very protective of her right from the start and of course, since this is a romance, they fall in love. I did feel that his attraction to her was too quickly developed, but once the story revealed more of Rhys' background, there was reason given for why he fell for her the way he did. I enjoyed the story very much although I was confused by some of the plot points, including a secondary plotline regarding some kind of plague that didn't seem to have any relevance to the main story. I also wish there had been more detail about the clans and their customs. There was enough world building to get the gist of what was going on, but it wasn't really fleshed out, most likely due to relative brevity of the story. Overall, this is an unusual romance, well worth reading.