Bianca Frost's life revolves around her mother's family-run museum. This museum is special because it holds artifacts from fairy tales, such as Snow White's apple and Sleeping Beauty's spinning wheel. More importantly, the museum is a legacy that has always passed to the women of the Frost family. At 17, Bianca feels ready to break away from the inheritance, the tradition and the magical objects of the museum. After all, magic can't be real. Unfortunately, the truth about magic and fairy tales proves itself to Bianca in a most brutal way, sending her on a quest to discover her own powers, rescue her loved ones and enter the story begun by the famous First Frost.

Liz DeJesus writes with timely, vivacious humor. First Frost is full of references to current sensations like Tina Fey and tokidoki, as well as to the Grimm's tales. This flamboyant tone moves the book at a quick rate and makes it easy to digest. On the other hand, this persistently light feel occasionally overrides the influence of the plot. It is difficult to sympathize and connect with characters who don't seem to be taking their own crisis very seriously. The dashes of romance and sprinkling of real feelings add layers, but don't necessarily create fully fleshed-out characters. However, the charm of this book lies in the alluring items, the rambling journey and the colorful atmosphere. Too much psychological depth or focus on the heroine's many obstacles would have turned this into a very different work than the sweet, delicious medley DeJesus's story is.

First Frost is the literary equivalent of frozen yogurt, covered with many tempting toppings. It's not traditional ice cream, and the toppings might leave some tastes less emphasized than you'd expect, but it's a sweet, cool treat for the summer.