Book: Your Cold Embrace by Steven Charles
Reviewed by Judy Sullivan
Rating: 3.5/5
Your Cold Embrace turns out to be a story about family: what can go wrong, what seems right and then goes off the rails, teen angst, and parental success and failure. This is a great book for parents of teens and New Adults.
We start the story with the father already dead. The teenage daughter, Melanie, is obviously struggling. The mother has crawled into a bottle instead of grieving. Emotions are running high, teenage rebellion is about to smack the family in the face, and then the father’s ghost appears….
I particularly enjoyed seeing the book from the two perspectives, father and daughter. It felt like a more cohesive story than only one POV. It also really played into the teen rebellion piece, as Dad had information Melanie was missing about her date. Even when things are going sideways on their roadtrip, the dual POV was illuminating.
This was a fast read, getting right into the story and keeping the momentum going the whole way through. The only reason it isn’t a 4-star review for me is I felt the wrap up was a little too quick and easy. I’d have loved to see some more work there, but still a strong story with plenty to keep the reader engaged!