Frigid

The Winter Epic #2

by Giao Chi

Dong Tu may be a normal girl, but her high-profile affair with the Whispered World’s most dangerous man, Obsidian, has created more attention than she needs.

Set in a fantasy world similar to ancient Asia, The Winter Epic series is the story of Luu Dong Tu and the dangerous Eighteen of the Whispered World. It is a riveting adventure in the fantasy martial art world of swordplays, air bending, wind walking, superpower, elemental magic, and martial art combats...

Genres: Fantasy, Romance

314 pages, Paperback

Published March 3, 2021

About the author

Giao Chi (Annie Phan) grew up in Vietnam and Singapore. She graduated from Duke University with an MBA and currently lives in the San Francisco Bay area.

At thirteen years old, she won a professional comic scriptwriting award from the Nhi Dong publishing company. She went on to publish more than three hundred comics printed in magazines such as Nhi Dong, Khan Quang Do, and Muc Tim. Her first novel, Tuyet Den (English version: The Girl Who Kept Winter), began as a blog post that went viral in 2007 and was later expanded into a full-length best-seller. Her novels, comics, and graphic novels have been enjoyed by generations of Vietnamese readers.

Join The Girl Who Kept Winter mailing list to receive book release updates: http://giaochiphan.com/

Reviews

[Pang Happy Holidays & Happy New Year =D · Rating 4 out of 5]

🌸 *Shed my tears* Frigid is the epic sequel of The Girl Who Kept Winter and what??? I'm waiting for my Phong like eternity and not enough him for me *cry*

❄️ Even though I love Phong to piece, but damn Liet Than is so hot!!! He like an onion that slowly peel. Intriqued character. I don't feel for him at first, but how can I fall for him at the end! *sighhh*

🌸 I love both boys. Why every boy love Dong Tu? I still don't understand why! I mean ok I get PD romance in book 1, but I don't get romance LD in book 2. But damn Liet Than can made my heart ached! *ugh*

❄️ Kinda made me think of Twilight lol! in term of love triangle present here. Anyway, it would be super interesting to have more book about Tuyet Hoa Phi Vu though. *hehe* 🤭

[Shu Wei Chin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The plot twist ! 👁️👄👁️

The first half of the book was a casual cruise and then I was in a constant state of wide-eyed about 60% into the book onwards. I really liked this sequel and couldn't put it down all day until it was complete. There is considerable character development in our key people from Book 1, and one particular new character in this sequel just really consumed my mind from the roller-coaster they put me through.

This was a really enjoyable fantasy/romance duology. The plot is very high stakes; exploring purpose, ambition and obsession. It made me question if the ending was going to tear my heart out or not, but in the end this is a really sweet story about love and hope, which sounds cliché but these stories really do keep me afloat.

Link to my review of Book 1 here.

[♥︎quinn *editing reviews & shelves* · Rating 5 out of 5]

i really loved this series.
calming and imaginative,
yet beautiful and tragic.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book after reading "The girl who kept winter", however, I was sad that there wasn't much Obsidian and Dong Tu interaction. This book focused a lot on the 2nd lead, who I thought was indeed interesting towards the end. The author overly wrote about the 2nd lead and how persistently much he loved Dong Tu to the point, that it was so annoying. I felt like there were so many unnecessary characters in this book, took forever to get to the suspense and reveal. I wish the author included the characters that were already introduced in the first book instead of adding new characters that really didn't have an impact like Le Minh. And what happened to Bach Duong and his relationship with Phong? I just wish that we had more interactions with characters introduced in the first book. They pretty much appeared and disappeared. The idea that 4 guys were pining for Dong Tu was so unrealistic. What was the point of Bao Thuong?
I liked the book overall because the reveal was THAT good but the majority of the book was kind of frustrating. I do hope we get a sequel to this book where Phong is able to reconnect with his brother and mother and explore the relationship with Dong Tu

[Rosie Andrade · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was so looking forward to reading this book once I read how the first one ended. I will say that it was kind of slow in the very beginning, but I guess that’s what happens when you are just a common girl. It was the end that made the slowness in the beginning worth it and the plot twist at the end, even I didn’t see the connections so it was worth it. Would recommend if you’ve read the first book!

[Heidy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The plot twist!!!!! I to say I was shocked is an understatement. This incredible, I was on the edge of my seat so much while reading this. I would have loved to read a little more of Luu Dong Tu and Obsidian, like an epilogue, but I still didn’t feel disappointed. The story was beautiful, I loved the writing style and all of the attention to details. This duology is absolutely amazing. This is now my new favorite fantasy series, everyone needs to read it.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

My goodness this was AMAZING! I cannot get over how complex Liet Than as a character was. How my heart kept breaking for him and how many times I could picture his expression when his love wasn’t reciprocated… literal tears appeared every time he knew he had to let Dong Tu go. But I’m happy for Dong Tu and Obsidian and I hope there is a follow up book (possibly) for Liet Than’s love story because he deserves a love that is pure and wonderful as him.

[lilahmie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this story! It kept me entertained since starting it and I couldn’t put it down at all.

After reading this I found the song Winter Flower by Younha and RM to be really fitting into Dongtu love story.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing and characterization in the second book is much improved from the first. There were many new characters introduced, and the ones you grew to like in the first were not very present. Even so, it was a quick, fun read.

[Mai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Obsidian for the win. 🙆‍♀️

all in all, this duology was a nice and beautifully written story.

[Margarita Brache · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing!

I enjoyed every word, every sentence, every paragraph, every chapter. Dying for more. The Ending was kind of unexpected but satisfying

[Patty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed this book as much as I enjoyed the 1st. Loved the ending.

[Julia Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!

[Jessie · Rating 5 out of 5]

what a lovely story.

The winter epic series was One of the sweetest stories I’ve read this year. Looking forward to reading more from Annie Phan

[Jawzlyn Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had extremely high hopes or this book and while I was not entirely disappointed, I cannot say I was pleased. Volume one, wasn’t the best, I felt like most of the book wasn’t even surrounded around the main characters and this volume was the exact same.
We left off volume one with Dong Tu and Obsidian parting ways, so I anticipated their reuniting, this lead me to read the entire first have of the second novel within a few hours. However as soon as they reunited they had little time with each other before they were parted again. Not only that but the end of the book when they were finally able to be with each other, I felt like there was absolutely no emotion. They were together and that was that. It was extremely bittersweet and bland. I wished I got a little more, like where/how they lived, if they got/had plans to get married, or if they had kids.
The main antagonist of this volume was so bipolar I couldn’t even keep up. One minute he was sweet, the next he was evil, the next he was sad, the next he was narcissistic, the next he was pleading, the next he was sorry…I could go on and on. I also hate stories that try to justify the bad guy/try to make readers feel bad for him. I hated him already for being a love rival and in general his character was iffy from the beginning.
I’ve always seen Switch as a lighthearted girl, in search for a face just to feel like she could belong. But in volume two she was so extremely portrayed as evil, and while I understand that she sort of is, it should’ve been mentioned more in volume one. It was sad seeing this character I enjoyed and felt bad for plummeting to the lowest of lows. Also is she okay?? That was never explained.
Lastly, what happened to Anole and the others? I knows it’s been three years, but I was so used to seeing them hover around Obsidian and Dong Tu…it was sad not seeing them.
I’m in between whether or not I would recommend these books to others.

[Hillary · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 rounded up. I quite liked the first book in this series, but unfortunately this one fell rather flat for me. The showing didn't match the telling in a lot of places. The Luu family is said to be an excellent martial arts family with skills, and Luu Dong Tu is supposed to be very skilled. What we see is Dong Tu's group losing a person they're protecting to a kidnapper despite knowing the responsible person is a kidnapper, and not being surprised. It takes two days to find their protectee again, and it's unclear what they were doing for those two days. Dong Tu, despite being warned by a seer about watery accidents, spaces out and slips off a waterfall. This is not a picture of a competent bodyguard. 

Further, everyone and their dog (the dog is literal in this case) is in love with Dong Tu, and they all engage in escalating stupidity to try to one-up each other to catch her attention. Dong Tu, desperately in love with Obsidian, fails to notice her entourage is enamored with her.  

All that said, it did keep my attention and I did finish it, though it may have been an interest of the "what are these idiots going to do next?" variety. It would probably have worked better as a TV drama. 

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is cute and I am kind of sad that this is a duology and I cant find anything that would suggest that there is a continuation for this story. I love love and this kind of love is very sweet and very pure and very new for both of the main characters Obsidian and Dong Tu, and having read the previous book and loving the story and getting sad with that ending I was hoping for more of the slow burn to star crossed lover scenario's that I got before and sadly we got something that kind of made me hit my head with the book and no disrespect to the author Tuyet Hoa Phi Vu drove me nuts and the way he went through trying to get to the Storm Pearl then trying to get Dong Tu to fall in love with him and all the catastrophes afterwords I know I haven't written a book what do I know but having him being the evil-doer outright and have Obsidian go through trials and tribulations to get Dong Tu back before having a duel between Sunlight Pearl and Storm Pearl would be a wonderous thing to see and imagine. Even still with the way the story went the five stars are well deserved and whoever chose the covers for both books I give them a round of applause they are glorious.

[Jean]

Very enjoyable read

I really enjoyed reading both volumes of the Winter Epic story. It is filled with interesting characters in a world that is in a way very familiar to Asian martial arts stories, movies and TV drama series, but also totally unique.
Looking forward to more stories by this writer.

[Haley Lancaster · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a twist! I was not expecting that.. not gonna say anything else. The first book was amazing and left me anxious to read this one which thankfully proceeded to tell the story in the same flow. A wonderful duology!

[Savannah Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was great. But the ending left me wanting so much more. No closure at all!! Will there be a third book?!

[Kab Vaj · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was excited to read book to find out what’s next for Dong Tu and Obsidian. The book started a bit slow with an unexpected plot twist.

[Gaoie Song · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such dreamy guys!. Lucky Dong Tu! This was a good read. Love the ending!

[Rebecca Burke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly 3 stars is being generous. First book was better IMO, the ending of this was pretty meh and abrupt given the build up of the mc's love story.

[Drew Osburn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book felt much smoother than the first one. The first one jumped around so much it tended to be confusing and felt like watching an anime fight sequence. This one had fewer POV characters and I think that really helped the story feel smoother.

[Shelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book as much as The Girl Who Kept Winter. I am extremely glad that I did not read the first one when it came out, because I would have been incredibly disappointed to wait 13 years for this sequel. Giao Chi has created a beautiful world in these stories, and I hope more stories about the Whispered World are to come.

[Paris Nguyen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was soooo much better than book one. I did not know if I would like the love triangle and honestly I didn’t at first. It wasn’t a useless part and it played a key role in the plot. I love the character plot twist and really enjoyed the happy ending.