The Ice Queen / Alice Hoffman / 224 pgs

I feel a bit like I just got off of a roller coaster. This book started out so slow and pessimistic and biting. The main character, who is also the narrarator just sounds like she has the biggest chip on her shoulder. Obviously, she had to deal with a lot of loss, but I've never heard as much bitterness in someone's voice as I did listening to the narrator (who by the way, is actress Nancy Travis).  The story got good as the mystery surrounding Lazarus Jones built, but the answer to the mystery was a bit of a let down. Still the story got good again towards the end when it turned towards the narrator's brother and sister-in-law.  In all, the title of the book is very apt.

The main character is a small town librarian in New Jersey who has lived the existence of an icy woman, one who never feels and is obsessed with death, ever since her mother died on an icy road when she was little. The librarian is invited to move to Florida to be near her brother and his wife, both college professors. There, she is struck by lightning and has to live with the permanent feeling of ice in her chest and the inability to see the color red. She meets a fellow survivor, a man called Lazarus Jones, who was dead but came back minutes later. He is her exact opposite, all fire and heat, and she is fascinated with his ability to cheat death. Will their romance be enough to melt her icy heart?