The Cold Is in Her Bones

Milla has only ever met five people in her life.  Her parents, her older brother Niklas, and the elderly couple who live near them on the farm.  The farm is all she knows, and she spends her days trapped in the house feeling lonely.  She's not even allowed her brother's freedom of working in the fields.

But she knows one thing--demons are real.  She and her family pray for protection night and day and take precautions like spreading salt around the perimeter of the room. Every time Milla says anything odd or speaks her real thoughts, her mother begins to pray.

One day Iris arrives to stay with her grandparents on the farm, and Milla's world is expanded.  She finally meets another person, and it's a girl around her own age.  Iris has spent her life in the village where people are held hostage by a secret she's vowed not to reveal to Milla.  There is a demon who takes girls, overwhelms their minds and turns them against their families.  Everyone lives in fear of which daughter will fall victim next.

When Iris begins to show signs, Milla tries to protect her, but the men take her away anyway.  To the place.  Milla doesn't know anything about it, but she knows Iris is terrified to go there, and that she will lose her only friend if she doesn't do something.

So Milla sets out to rescue her friend, but she is keeping her own secret.  She is showing signs, too.  What if the demon is coming for her, too?

Peternelle van Arsdale's is a mixture of fairy tale and Medusa.  I really wanted to like this book, but it was a bit of a disappointment.  Other than the importance of snakes, there isn't really anything else taken from the myth.  I guess I was also disappointed that the girls were actually possessed.  I won't spoil too much, but it's the most independent girls who are stricken, and I just wanted things to work out some other way.