Review: Review: Eternally Devoted-3.5 stars, B+
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 04 18, 2013
My Rating: 3.5 stars: Liked it - recommend (B+)Originally posted at That's What I'm Talking AboutNOTE: Eternally Devoted is the fourth and final book of the Frostbite series. This review will inevitably contain spoilers from the first three books, each of which have twists that may be more enjoyable without knowing what will happen. I highly suggest if you haven't picked it up already, start reading this series with the first book, Supernaturally Kissed.I am a huge fan of Tess and Kipp, the star players in Ms. Kennedy's wonderful Frostbite series, and so I write this review for Eternally Devoted, the final book in the series, filled with mixed emotions. On the one hand, I am overjoyed that Kipp and Tess finally have their day in the sun, but at the same time I am sad to say good-bye to this series.Eternally Devoted picks up the story of Tess and gang immediately from moment of the cliff-hangerish ending of the third book, Mystically Bound. Tess and her friends have traveled to White Castle, LA, in attempts to help a magical group known as the Animus discover who killed their Grand Master, Alexander. In exchange, their new leader, Wayde, has agreed teach Tess how to help her ghost-of-a-boyfriend, Kipp, reenter his body and wake again. At the end of the last book and beginning of the current story, Tess has just been told that the man they know as "Wayde Hagen is, in fact, dead." This sends the whole group searching for the man calling himself Wayde in hopes he can answer the dozen questions that have surfaced - like "Did you kill Alexander, Wayde?"By in large, I enjoyed the story, and I was extremely satisfied with the series ending. Once again, Ms. Kennedy added a few key twists to the plot line that added suspense and excitement. One such twist I had figured out in the previous book (but didn't know the reason `why' behind it until it was explained), and another twist was a marvelous surprise that I didn't see coming until literally the page before the reveal. Ms. Kennedy does a superb job leaving little clues for the reader to collect along the way, in hopes of piecing them all together before the clock runs out.Tess and Kipp spent a lot of time apart in this one, but the moments they had together were insanely intense, sometimes sweet and other times sexy. There is just something about this pair that had me hooked since the beginning. I have enjoyed their journey with all the ups and downs they had to get through in order to arrive at their conclusion.Since this is the final book of the series, there is a lot of introspection and explaining of why Tess can communicate with ghosts and in general, what was going on around Tess and Kipp. Although for the most part I thoroughly liked the reasons behind the happenings, I felt at times that there was a lot of "telling" and explaining, rather than action and "showing." There were times that I felt like skipping ahead so I could get back to the primary storyline and more action.I don't want to give away any spoilers, so I'll carefully say that I loved the ending of this book. To witness the conclusion that I've been waiting to see since day one was worth the wait. Not only that, but Tess has really grown into a wonderful woman. I admire that she had to go through so much and loved seeing her learn to stand up for herself. In addition, I completely enjoyed seeing Tess go from a pretty lonely woman to one with an amazing extended family of close friends.In the end, Eternally Devoted is a great treat for fans of the Frostbite series. However, I don't feel it would be enjoyable as a stand alone book, and at the very least, one should read Mystically Bound first. Overall I enjoyed the wrap-up and conclusion of the series. Although I felt that there was a lot of explaining rather than doing, I LOVED how it all turned out.