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Hermione knows . . . her mother is Helen of Troy, the famed beauty of Greek myth. Helen is not only beautiful but also impulsive, and when she falls in love with charming Prince Paris, she runs off with him to Troy, abandoning her distraught daughter. Determined to reclaim their enchanting queen, the Greek army sails for Troy. Hermione stows away in one of the thousand ships in the fleet and witnesses the start of the legendary Trojan War. In the rough Greek encampment outside the walls of Troy, Hermione’s life is far from that of a pampered princess. Meanwhile, her mother basks in luxury in the royal palace inside the city. Hermione desperately wishes for the gods and goddesses to intervene and end the brutal war—and to bring her love. Will she end up with the handsome archer Orestes, or the formidable Pyrrhus, leader of a tribe of fierce warriors? And will she ever forgive her mother for bringing such chaos to her life and the lives of so many others?
After years of writing about the young lives of fascinating women of power, from Cleopatra to Victoria, in BEAUTY’S DAUGHTER I’ve drawn on the myths of ancient Greece to tell the story of what it must have been like to be the daughter of the most beautiful woman in the world.When Helen leaves her husband and daughter and runs off to Troy with handsome Paris, a thousand Greek ships sail for Troy to bring her back..and her daughter, Hermione, goes with them as a stowaway. Hermione’s adventures on the Trojan beaches, her struggle for survival,, and her search for true love of her life drive this story.
Queen Victoria’s personal journals inform this captivating first-person account of one of history’s most prominent female leaders.
Queen Victoria most certainly left a legacy—under her rule as the longest reigning female monarch in history, the British Empire was greatly expanded and significant industrial, cultural, political, scientific, and military changes occurred within the United Kingdom. To be a young woman in a time when few other females held positions of power was to lead in a remarkable age—and because Queen Victoria kept personal journals, this historical novel from award-winning author Carolyn Meyer shares authentic emotional insight along with accurate information, weaving a true story of intrigue and romance.
It is the first century B.C. Cleopatra, the third of the pharaoh’s six children, is the one that her father has chosen to be the next queen of Egypt. But when King Ptolemy is forced into exile, Cleopatra is left alone to fend for herself in a palace rife with intrigue and murder. Smart, courageous, ambitious and sensuously beautiful, she possesses the charm to cause two of history’s most famous leaders to fall in love with her. But as her cruel sisters plot to steal the throne, Cleopatra realizes there is only one person on whom she can rely–herself.
In Cleopatra Confesses, award winning author Carolyn Meyer writes the story of the teenage girl who would become Egypt’s most unforgettable queen, from her early years to her her ultimate destiny.
Mary Stuart was just five years old when she was sent to France to be raised alongside her future husband. But when the frail young king dies, eighteen-year-old Mary is stripped of her title as Queen of France and set adrift in the harsh world, alone. Determined to reign over what is rightfully hers, Mary returns to Scotland. Hopingthat a husband will help her secure the coveted English throne, she marries again, but the love and security she longs for elude her. Instead, the fiery young queen finds herself embroiled in a murder scandal that could cost her the crown. And her attempts to bargain with her formidable “sister queen,” Elizabeth I of England, could cost her her very life.
Hi readers! After much deliberation, I decided to leave Blogger behind and move both this site and our Children’s site, Little Red Reads over to their own URLs and web space. As of today Fire and Ice has a brand new self-hosted WordPress site.
You should be able to see FireandIceReads.com live now! Our MG & Children’s site, LittleRedReads.com is also up and running with a new design coming soon.
Please let me know if you have any trouble viewing, commenting, loading on mobile, etc. Thanks to Ashley at Creative Whim for helping us make the switch.
I will be working on getting things ship shape over the next few weeks with re-formatting posts, but any input is welcome.
Why the switch you ask? Several reasons:
Thanks to all of our loyal and long standing readers at Fire and Ice!
A love so strong, even eternity can't separate them. Evie Starling has lived a relatively uneventful life hanging out with friends, gossiping about boys, and driving her 1966 Mustang.
All of that changes when she moves to Gunnison, Colorado, to start college and meets two mysterious men. For centuries, Alex Night and Emil Stone have yearned for Evie but they each have their own reasons for wanting to be with her. When both men claim to be her soul mate and tell her about an unbelievable past, Evie learns that she s not the person she thought she was. Soon, Evie finds herself in the middle of an age-old battle between the Amaranthine Society the soul protectors, and the Daevos Resistance the soul destroyers. With a past she doesn t understand, and a future rife with danger, Evie has to decide who she can trust. But Alex and Emil aren t the only ones who want Evie, and her soul is about to become the rope in an eternal tug-of-war.
Read our archived review…
There are so many things I love about Eternal Starling…where to start? The cover, the author, the writing. Evie Starling is about to start her freshman year of college in Gunnison, Colorado when she becomes lost hiking in the mountains. As independent and head strong as she is she does not want to admit she needs help getting back to her car when Alex Knight finds her and volunteers to help. But Alex is arrogant and won’t take no for an answer, matching her stubbornness. Thus starts the vortex of attraction and pull between the two of them. Ales is everything she could ever dream of, independently wealthy, graduated early and working as a volunteer for charity. He’s romantic and sparks fly fast , but then Alex puts the breaks on it all claiming Evie is in danger and pretty much disappears from the scene.
Just as Evie is getting used to the idea of their strange break up, she’s siting in the student center one day and an equally gorgeous and mysterious man comes up and kisses her out of the blue. Could life get any weirder? Emil Stone makes no apologies for his forward public move and Evie finds that he’s a welcome diversion from her broken heart. Things get complicated when Alex returns and the of them are are caught in a battle of wills that spans centuries. Evie is just beginning to learn that no one is quite what they seem and her heart is pulled in two directions.
With a protagonist who can stand up for herself and two men that both have ultimate potential, I found myself eating up every second of Eternal Starling. I love that the author Angela Corbett put so much of her self into the book with little details like a 1966 purple Mustang GT and 4 wheeling on sand dunes. Evie has a strong relationship with her parents who are invested in making sure she’s safe and taken care of. Things get particularly interesting when both Emil and Alex unexpectedly turn up at her family camping trip. I’m so glad this is a trilogy!! Can not wait to see what happens and I guarantee I will be reading book two. At this point in the game I can see her reasoning for wanting to be with both Mr. Knight and Mr. Stone. Angela rocked this as her debut novel. I think you’ll enjoy it as much as I did.
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| photo copyright Heather Zahn Gardner |
Now Also Available- Book 2- Eternal Echoes
I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Seventeen-year-old Kestrel is an aristocratic citizen of Valoria, a vast empire that revels in war and enslaves those it conquers. Here, a girl like Kestrel has two choices: join the military or get married. Despite her skills in military strategy, Kestrel’s real passion is music.Which is why she feels compelled to buy Arin, a slave with a talent for singing, at auction. It’s not long before she finds herself falling in love with Arin, and he seems to feel the same for her. But Kestrel quickly learns that the price she paid for Arin is much higher than she ever could have imagined.
Set in a new world, The Winner’s Curse is a story of wicked rumors, dirty secrets, and games where everything is at stake, and the gamble is whether you will keep your head or lose your heart
Review: I got this book from MacMillan as an e- ARC, and when I saw the cover image, must say I swooned. It’s gorgeous! After reading, The Winner’s Curse, I love it even more. It fits the book, not just a pretty girl in a dress, it looks like Kestrel.
Kestrel who is General Trajan’s daughter, a motherless pianist who doesn’t want to bend to the confines of her father’s decision, the girl that does not want her to join the ranks of his army. She trains half heartedly and longs for freedom outside the doldrums rules of society. As she and best friend Jess wander the marketplace in search of distraction they are pushed by the mob like crowd to the bidding arena where a slave is being auctioned off. Without knowing why, Kestrel feels compelled to bid on the young man, Arin, who is defiant and unruly. She pays a much higher price than the norm for slave and falls for “the winner’s curse,” in more ways than one.
There is a pull toward him that is unexplainable. He is more than he appears on the surface, more than a blacksmith pounding out horse shoes. Arin has a will, and hidden underneath is the story of how he became a slave and what he’s endured. Meanwhile, Kestrel begins to make waves with her opponents of bite and sting, a tile game with betting. She angers some and charms others. She turns heads for many reasons and gets the whispers of society to spread.
The Winner’s Curse was an interesting high fantasy diversion. I wish we knew a bit more about the characters. I wanted more depth–more about what they looked like, what they wore and their inner thoughts. I wasn’t as attached or invested to Kestrel, Ronan and Arin as I would like to have been. The world was fascinating–one country dominating another and taking the inhabitants as slaves. I loved the dynamic of slave and owner, the thought that the slave may even be serving in the household he once owned. Still, there was a hope to understand the custom, the culture, the view, the games and the rules just a titch better. The end notes added a lot, the author knows her stuff. I hope she incorporates even more of what she highlighted about the period & civilizations into the rest of the series.
Here’s the magical part–by the end, I was swept away, fully escaped reality, and was lured into Marie Rutkoski’s story. Something happened that I can’t quite explain. I felt more tied to Kestrel and Arin, the lulls in pace no longer bothered me, and I wanted to dive into book two. So would I recommend The Winner’s Curse... yes! I love it when a book casts its spell on me and I can’t quite explain why. There was something poetic and musical about The Winner’s Curse that drew me in.
Thanks to Macmillan for the sneak peek!
Content (highlight to reveal): threat of sexual assault, moderate-heavy war related violence and death, no sex or swearing, some sensuality from kissing. Older teens 16+
About the Author: Marie Rutkoski is the author of the YA novel The Shadow Society and the children’s fantasy series The Kronos Chronicles, including The Cabinet of
Marie grew up in Bolingbrook, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago), as the oldest of four children. She holds a BA from the University of Iowa and a PhD from Harvard Universit
y. Marie is currently a professor at Brooklyn College, where she teaches Renaissance Drama, children’s literature and fiction writing. She usually lives in New York City with her husband and two sons, but she and her family are living in Paris for the 2012-2013 academic year. Wonders, The Celestial Globe and The Jewel of the Kalderash. Her next project is a YA trilogy that begins with The Winner’s Curse, which is scheduled to be published in March 2014.
Find out more on: author website/ twitter
Pre-Order:
A lush and gorgeously written debut, packed with action, intrigue, and heart-racing romance.
Alexa Hollen is a fighter. Forced to disguise herself as a boy and serve in the king's army, Alex uses her quick wit and fierce sword-fighting skills to earn a spot on the elite prince's guard. But when a powerful sorcerer sneaks into the palace in the dead of night, even Alex, who is virtually unbeatable, can't prevent him from abducting her, her fellow guard and friend Rylan, and Prince Damian, taking them through the treacherous wilds of the jungle and deep into enemy territory.
The longer Alex is held captive with both Rylan and the prince, the more she realizes that she is not the only one who has been keeping dangerous secrets. And suddenly, after her own secret is revealed, Alex finds herself confronted with two men vying for her heart: the safe and steady Rylan, who has always cared for her, and the dark, intriguing Damian. With hidden foes lurking around every corner, is Alex strong enough to save herself and the kingdom she's sworn to protect?
Defy starts out with the death of Alexa’s parents, and her decision to flee with twin brother Marcell, ultimately disguising herself as a male soldier. She is welcomed as one of the King’s Elite guard who lives in the castle protecting royalty.
I made a rocky start with this one as the opening chapter describe in detail the King’s breeding program. Its a horrific description of the mistreatment of young women in Defy’s world. Alexa must visit the complex to escort newly orphaned girls which put a dark, sinister tone in the beginning that I did not like. However, after reading on, there were lots of things I did enjoy:
the relationship between Alexa and her brother– the family loyalty
the sparring of the guard, watching Alexa train
the idea of healing, of sorcery being used for good
the pacing, which kept me flipping pages, and
the two men who are vying for Alexa’s attention
The dynamic between Alexa and her main love is super confusing and uncomfortable for me, until we are sure where things stand. There was also a difficulty for me believing who does and does not know her identity secret.
In the end, this is not your run of the mill happily ever after. The character arc and progression of Alex to Alexa is a very conflicted, emotional one– from warrior to confused and in love, to the ending, which I can’t spoil, but is quite a twist. This is a solid debut by Sarah, one that you can tell she poured her heart into. Because of my personal content preferences it was rocky for me but I think it will appeal to many YA readers.
Thanks so much to Windy Aphyrath, Sarah B. Larson and Scholastic for letting us have a sneak peek into Defy.
Content: This is a definitely pick for older teens or adults because of content (highlight the line after parenthesis for content)
rape, violence against young women, moderate war related violence, heavy sensuality
Author Bio: I love writing, reading, and dessert–but the order varies by the day. I write books that have magic and romance and kick-butt girls and a whole lot more. My husband and I live in Utah with our three children. I write during naptime and the hours when most people are sleeping. My husband claims I should have a degree in “the art of multitasking.” On occasion you will find me hiding in a bubble bath with a book and some Swedish Fish. I am represented by Josh Adams of Adams Literary and my YA debut DEFY is coming Spring 14 from Scholastic!
Find Sarah on Goodreads/ author website/ twitter/ facebook
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About the Author: LAUREN OLIVER captivated readers with her first novel, the New York Times bestseller BEFORE I FALL, a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year. She followed that up with DELIRIUM, the first book in her New York Times bestselling trilogy, which continued with PANDEMONIUM. Oliver is also the author of LIESL & PO, a book for middle-grade readers, which received three starred reviews and was described as “a gorgeous story—timeless and magical” by Newbery Medal winner Rebecca Stead. A graduate of the University of Chicago and NYU’s MFA program, Lauren Oliver lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Lately I have been noticing a trend in my reading. Did not finish.
On average, I mark about 10% of the books on my shelf DNF. I remember when I first started blogging WAY back in the day I fretted, stewed and panicked if I received a book for review from a publicist or author and couldn’t finish it. I clearly remember the first time I threw away a book. Yes, that’s right I chucked it. Now believe me, I was raised to think that “one can not have too many books” and I collect them like candy. But there came a time when I wanted nothing to do with it and I didn’t think anyone else should read it either. (Most of the time I put books for trade or donate them, FYI.)
Then there was a time on Goodreads when I used to give books I didn’t finish and hated a one or two star rating. + marked them DNF. I have since resorted to not rating or adding them at all. Why, you ask? One, because I don’t want to rate a book I haven’t read and 2) attacks on me personally. I had an author track down my personal twitter account and start harassing me. I ultimately had to close the account, explained that not every book is suited for every person and tried to be as professional as possible. But if there’s a way to assure I will NEVER buy or recommend your book to another person, be a bully…that will get me to stand firm and not pick up any of your books again. Recently this particular review has racked up comments on my GR feed again. It’s been years, and now the tactic has changed– send readers who have read the book to comment on my review about why I shouldn’t have put it down. Why waste time seeking me out again? It’s one review, one opinion, and I will not be moved.
Be mature and be kind. Carry on and keep calm.
Here’s the deal. I’m an adult. I’ve been blogging for a long time. I have read lots of books and I have lots left to read. If I pick something up and don’t like it… I. move. on. End of Story. No reason to drag out the inevitable when there are so many other things I could be doing and books I want to read.
So why did I DNF your book? There are a lot of reasons. But here are a few…
1) Plot is moving along to slow
2) Can’t connect with the MC, the voice of the book is whiny or repetitive.
3) Unnecessarily crude or sexualized language. Sometimes lately it feels like its thrown in for no reason
4) Too many “F” bombs. It used to be an anomaly to pick up a YA book and see it, now the word is commonplace.
5) Trying too hard to be politically correct.
6) Severe domestic violence, rape or child abuse. I worked for many years as a social worker before I started blogging & for child protective services. I don’t want to read about it.
7) Erotica wrapped up and disguised as YA or NA.
8) Main stream romance disguised as Christian romance. Make it clean. Know your audience.
9) The book makes me feel slimy. You know the feeling, that “I should not be reading this and if someone else picked it up– like my child, I wouldn’t let them read it…”
10) A sequel that no longer holds my interest or I can’t remember the first book well enough to click with the second one.
11) Excessive violence or horror. I have a weak stomach for that.
12) Out of control parents advocating extramarital affairs, inappropriate boundaries etc.
13) Dissing of my religion. I have only read one book all the way through that put down my religion. It was a very well known, popular author and the put down was made in a snide character comment. Never again. Why are religious slurs acceptable?
14) Something pitched to me as one thing that ends up being another entirely.
15) Annoying/ monotone audio voice in audio books. I typically listen to these while driving to and from school so if my young carpool can’t hear it because of content, we don’t listen to it.
16) A book that hasn’t been edited or passed on to beta readers. Please take time to edit, punctuate, and get some reader opinions before passing it on for review.
17) E books with formatting issues. If it takes me too long to figure out how to load it or there is skipped text, strange breaks in the page, it’s distracting.
I have 66 books on my DNF list and they will all stay there. Once I put it down, there’s no turning back.
What causes you to not finish a book?
