When I was nearly three-quarters of the way through Iced I was fairly certain I would never read another of Moning's books ever again. This book got my skin crawling and my stomach weak and just pissed me off far too often. Like all the reviewers who don't quite love this book, I'd have to say my main complaint is the vile old men chasing after the 14-year-old jailbait that is Dani O'Malley. And no matter what she's capable of doing, or what world she lives in, or that she's getting some curves, Dani is still very much a girl. I wouldn't even say she's close to being a woman, because she's such a kid it's ridiculous. Dani might have hips and breasts but she's not ready for any sort of adult relationship. This girl has never even had a boyfriend, and the last two guys she's had a crush on were Barrons and Vlaine.
So, yeah, she's not ready for the sort of adult attention she's getting from two grown men, nor do I imagine she will be for at least 4-5 years. The fact that it's happening within the pages of this book creeps me the hell out.
That said, I'm starting to get the feeling one of the adult men giving her way too much attention starts to become more of a mentor or possibly even a father-figure in Dani's mind, which set me at ease quite a bit. I totally don't mind that sort of relationship between the two of them so long as it doesn't develop into a sexual relationship down the road, because EW! I'm never going to be into the whole adult male grooming his future lover thing. Too gross for words.
I have so much to say here but I'll have to finish it up later (and I fully intend to do so because I have so much to say about this book).