Book Review: Crown of Ice

Name: Crown of Ice
Author: Vicki L. Weavil
Number of Pages: 300 in Paperback
Published: September 9th 2014
by Month9Books
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Fairytale, Retelling, Romance

“Thyra Winther’s seventeen, the Snow Queen, and immortal, but if she can’t reassemble a shattered enchanted mirror by her eighteenth birthday she’s doomed to spend eternity as a wraith. Armed with magic granted by a ruthless wizard, Thyra schemes to survive with her mind and body intact. Unencumbered by kindness, she kidnaps local boy Kai Thorsen, whose mathematical skills rival her own. Two logical minds, Thyra calculates, are better than one. With time rapidly melting away she needs all the help she can steal. A cruel lie ensnares Kai in her plan, but three missing mirror shards and Kai’s childhood friend, Gerda, present more formidable obstacles. Thyra’s willing to do anything – venture into uncharted lands, outwit sorcerers, or battle enchanted beasts — to reconstruct the mirror, yet her most dangerous adversary lies within her breast. Touched by the warmth of a wolf pup’s devotion and the fire of a young man’s desire, the thawing of Thyra’s frozen heart could be her ultimate undoing.”

In all honesty, I haven’t read The Snow Queen or watch Disney’s Frozen. I’ve only read reviews of this book before reading it so I could have an idea of what to expect. Plus the movie’s soundtrack went viral. I have my own share of moments when that song lingered on my head for about a week. To my surprise, not only kids sing it. Also those young at heart. 🙂 Anyway, as I’ve mentioned on my Book Beginning post, readers were torn though. Some loved it. Some didn’t. Which I perfectly understand. I can’t just bring myself to actually hate a fairy tale. Being a sucker for fairy tales, I grabbed this, sat in a corner (literally like some looney) and the world around me faded away.

The writing is quite simple. This won’t make your head ache. A kid could actually read this on his own or a Mom during bedtime stories (minus the kissing/killing parts of course). That’s how easy this read is. I was taken back when I was a little kid, reading fairy tales under my sheets with a flashlight so I could see. 🙂

Book Beginning #4: Crown of Ice

Book Beginnings on Fridays is hosted by Rose City Reader, where we share the first sentence (or so) of the books we are reading, along with initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires.

Currently Reading #26

Name: Crown of Ice
Author: Vicki L. Weavil
Number of Pages: 300 in Paperback
Published: September 9th 2014
by Month9Books
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Fairytale, Retelling, Romance

“Thyra Winther’s seventeen, the Snow Queen, and immortal, but if she can’t reassemble a shattered enchanted mirror by her eighteenth birthday she’s doomed to spend eternity as a wraith. Armed with magic granted by a ruthless wizard, Thyra schemes to survive with her mind and body intact. Unencumbered by kindness, she kidnaps local boy Kai Thorsen, whose mathematical skills rival her own. Two logical minds, Thyra calculates, are better than one. With time rapidly melting away she needs all the help she can steal. A cruel lie ensnares Kai in her plan, but three missing mirror shards and Kai’s childhood friend, Gerda, present more formidable obstacles. Thyra’s willing to do anything – venture into uncharted lands, outwit sorcerers, or battle enchanted beasts — to reconstruct the mirror, yet her most dangerous adversary lies within her breast. Touched by the warmth of a wolf pup’s devotion and the fire of a young man’s desire, the thawing of Thyra’s frozen heart could be her ultimate undoing.”

I’ve decided to have Book Beginnings and Currently Reading in a post ’cause it’s more likely the same. There.. I immediately fell in love with this book when I’ve stumbled upon it on Goodreads. I love the gorgeous cover! I’ve even featured this on a Waiting on Wednesday post back in August. For my friend’s benefit, this is a YA fantasy retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen“. If you’re not familiar with that, I’m sure you’re familiar with Disney’s Frozen. It’s pretty much the same fairytale adaptation. I’m a sucker for fairytale so there’s no chance I’m letting this slip.

Here’s the book’s beginning:

“My parents lie somewhere beneath the snow, buried with my mortal life. I spend endless days searching for their remains. Tucking a piece of the mirror inside my fur-lined cloak, I harness one of my milk-white ponies to a sledge. Flying over ice and snow, I hold up the shard to catch the rays of the sun. ”

My Week in a Wrapped #4

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead.

The past week was all work, work and a lot of work. Nothing really new except for a new game I downloaded on my phone that’s been eating most of my spare time, other than reading of course. And guess what? I have also created an account on Net Galley. Yes. After years of reading I finally created my account. Loser I know. LOL! I need advice from you guys on how publishers could accept my requests since I’ve sent tons, but none of them was accepted. I don’t know. I was so upset when I’ve received emails confirming that none of them was approved. Perhaps I could edit my profile and say stuff. Sigh. I don’t have any idea on how to make it work so maybe you guys can give me tips and whatnot. I also want to know if there are books that’s already available for download so I could check them out. I’m really hoping you guys can help me out with this. Please. PRETTY PLEASE! 😀

Last Week On The Blog

• My Week in a Wrapped #3
• Update + Giveaway: Ensnared by A.G. Howard
• Teaser Tuesday #14: The Blood of Olympus
• Waiting on Wednesday #20: The Last Changeling (Faerie Revolutions #1)
• Book Review: The Blood Of Olympus (Heroes of Olympus #5)
• Book Beginning #2: Winterspell

Waiting on Wednesday #13

Today’s feature is something out of the ordinary. I’ve never read anything like it so I’m betting it would be pretty interesting. A lot of book lovers await the launch of this book and I’m joining in. This book sounds wonderful! I’m so excited to get my hands on this!

Into The Fire (Birth of the Phoenix #1)

Seventeen-year-old Cara Tillman’s life is a perfectly normal one until Logan Schmidt moves to Ashlan Falls. Cara is inexplicably drawn to him, but she’s not exactly complaining. Logan’s like no boy she’s ever met, and he brings out a side of Cara that she isn’t used to. As the two get closer, everything is nearly perfect, and Cara looks forward to the future.

But Cara isn’t a normal girl. She’s a member of a small group of people descended from the mythical phoenix bird, and her time is running out. Rebirth is nearing, which means she’ll forget her life up to this point—she’ll forget Logan and everything they mean to one another.. But that may be the least of Cara’s problems.

A phoenix hunter is on the loose, and he’s determined to put an end to the lives of people like Cara and her family, once and for all.

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Expected publication would be on the 9th of September 2014 by Month9Books. Exactly 13 days from now. Can’t wait to have my copy. The book cover is so gorgeous, but the summary really caught my attention. Something different from all the angels and demons, witches, aliens, etc. books I’ve read. A phoenix. That sounds unique. I’ve read some pretty good reviews from readers who luckily received their ARCs from publishers too so I’m really excited.

Waiting on Wednesday #11

I’ve skipped a post for Waiting on Wednesday last week and I hate it so I’m posting a special feature today. After talking about WinterSpell, which is inspired by the Nutcracker, I have another masterpiece that everybody is talking about. This one truly looks amazing. I’m really excited about this and yes, this is another retelling. Guess what?

Thyra Winther’s seventeen, the Snow Queen, and immortal, but if she can’t reassemble a shattered enchanted mirror by her eighteenth birthday she’s doomed to spend eternity as a wraith. Armed with magic granted by a ruthless wizard, Thyra schemes to survive with her mind and body intact. Unencumbered by kindness, she kidnaps local boy Kai Thorsen, whose mathematical skills rival her own. Two logical minds, Thyra calculates, are better than one. With time rapidly melting away she needs all the help she can steal. A cruel lie ensnares Kai in her plan, but three missing mirror shards and Kai’s childhood friend, Gerda, present more formidable obstacles. Thyra’s willing to do anything – venture into uncharted lands, outwit sorcerers, or battle enchanted beasts — to reconstruct the mirror, yet her most dangerous adversary lies within her breast. Touched by the warmth of a wolf pup’s devotion and the fire of a young man’s desire, the thawing of Thyra’s frozen heart could be her ultimate undoing.

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Expected publication would be on the 9th of September 2014 by Month9Books. This is a YA fantasy, retelling Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen“. To be honest, I have no idea what that fairy tale is about. I’m such a loser, but I got excited just after reading the summary of this book. Perhaps I could squeeze reading the fairy tale on a later date. And, the cover. Oh my God. So gorgeous.

Waiting on Wednesday #6

This week’s WOW features one of Jennifer Armentrout‘s masterpiece. I’ve already read the prequel (Bitter Sweet Love: The Dark Elements Prequel) and book one (White Hot Kiss (The Dark Elements #1)) of this series and as I’ve wrapped up my review for the first book; The series has a lot of potential to be exceptional. Oooh. That rhymes.

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Every touch has its price

Layla Shaw is trying to pick up the pieces of her shattered life—no easy task for a seventeen-year-old who’s pretty sure things can’t get worse. Her impossibly gorgeous best friend, Zayne, is forever off-limits thanks to the mysterious powers of her soul-stealing kiss. The Warden clan that has always protected her is suddenly keeping dangerous secrets. And she can barely think about Roth, the wickedly hot demon prince who understood her in ways no one else could.

But sometimes rock bottom is only the beginning. Because suddenly Layla’s powers begin to evolve, and she’s offered a tantalizing taste of what has always been forbidden. Then, when she least expects it, Roth returns, bringing news that could change her world forever. She’s finally getting what she always wanted, but with hell literally breaking loose and the body count adding up, the price may be higher than Layla is willing to pay…

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I recall having issues with the first book though I like it so I truly want to read this for the redemption of my faith for Jennifer’s books. Don’t get me wrong. I love her. We have this complicated love and hate relationship really. You might want to check my reviews for the prequel and the first book so you could have an idea why.