A review by imlaurenshelton
Cold by Mariko Tamaki

dark mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Unfortunately, a quick comparison can be made to The Lovely Bones and as much as I tried not to, I feel that comparison became apart of my reading process for Cold by Mariko Tamaki and may have influenced my perspective of the book. The book is pretty fast-paced and short, and yet I felt that filler in the book was not very enjoyable. I normally enjoy suspense/thriller novels, especially YA but this was a more character-driven story than plot-driven and that may be where the disconnect lies. I’m not a fan of the constant cursing or of stories that include teenage sex, regardless of what teenagers are doing in real life. This story has that and more, including: cursing, sex, death, murder, pedophelia (accusations), homophobia (accusations, LGBT+ themes, and violence. I think this book may be a great story for some readers, I’m just not one of them - but I did make sure to finish the book to see if it would change my perspective (it didn’t). I think I may have liked the story better if there had been more context and backstory to some of the filler scenes; the bones of this story are great, I just wish there was more meat. I especially wish there had been more depth to Georgia and Mark’s relationship as siblings, which may have changed the importance of the last few chapters. 
I received an Audio ARC of Cold by Mariko Tamaki from Macmillan Audio through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.