Time is out of joint. The summer of peace and plenty, ten years long, is drawing to a close, and the harsh, chill winter approaches like an angry beast. Two great leaders—Lord Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon—who held sway over an age of enforced peace are dead…victims of royal treachery. Now, from the ancient citadel of Dragonstone to the forbidding shores of Winterfell, chaos reigns, as pretenders to the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms prepare to stake their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war.

As a prophecy of doom cuts across the sky—a comet the color of blood and flame—six factions struggle for control of a divided land. Eddard’s son Robb has declared himself King in the North. In the south, Joffrey, the heir apparent, rules in name only, victim of the scheming courtiers who teem over King’s Landing. Robert’s two brothers each seek their own dominion, while a disfavored house turns once more to conquest. And a continent away, an exiled queen, the Mother of Dragons, risks everything to lead her precious brood across a hard hot desert to win back the crown that is rightfully hers.

A Clash of Kings transports us into a magnificent, forgotten land of revelry and revenge, wizardry and wartime. It is a tale in which maidens cavort with madmen, brother plots against brother, and the dead rise to walk in the night. Here a princess masquerades as an orphan boy; a knight of the mind prepares a poison for a treacherous sorceress; and wild men descend from the Mountains of the Moon to ravage the countryside.

Against a backdrop of incest and fratricide, alchemy and murder, the price of glory may be measured in blood. And the spoils of victory may just go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel…and the coldest hearts. For when rulers clash, all of the land feels the tremors.

Audacious, inventive, brilliantly imagined, A Clash of Kings is a novel of dazzling beauty and boundless enchantment—a tale of pure excitement you will never forget

Another solid installment to this series, and for me another re-read that I did not review when I first read it. If you love a good series that you know is going to go places and give you adventure, conflict and everything else under the sun you should read the game of thrones series. I am always coflicted when I conflicted when I do reviews on books that are now movies/TV because I know not everyone has read them yet or seen the entire show/movie so spoilers and all.

That said. Solid characters, Solid book and excellent writing. Puts this on my keeper shelves.

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Summers span decades. Winter can last a lifetime. And the struggle for the Iron Throne has begun.

As Warden of the north, Lord Eddard Stark counts it a curse when King Robert bestows on him the office of the Hand. His honour weighs him down at court where a true man does what he will, not what he must … and a dead enemy is a thing of beauty.

The old gods have no power in the south, Stark’s family is split and there is treachery at court. Worse, the vengeance-mad heir of the deposed Dragon King has grown to maturity in exile in the Free Cities. He claims the Iron Throne.

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This was a re-read for me and I still really enjoyed it. The Show has made me want to read again and see what details I missed the first time and there was a couple of new ones. Still a solid read, complex and a lot of lines to keep track of.

Normally I get a little bit worried with books that have so much going on, however this one still manages to hold together well with all those characters. I would highly reccomend this one to those who haven’t read it yet, most certainly if you are a fan of the show.

For the record…still HATE Joffrey.

Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the years before, when she lived and made love with her husband, Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now..

You can see there is just 1 gem rating, just one. Yes sadly this one I wish I would have DNF’d it, but I am trying not to do that this year. So heres the graphic this one gets and it doesn’t even deserve the Doctor. Sad but true. I have nothing nice to say about this one, so I will not say anything at all.

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Harry Dresden’s faced some pretty terrifying foes during his career. Giant scorpions. Oversexed vampires. Psychotic werewolves. All par for the course for Chicago’s only professional wizard.

But in all Harry’s years of supernatural sleuthing, he’s never faced anything like this: the spirit world’s gone completely postal. All over Chicago, ghosts are causing trouble-and not just of the door-slamming, boo-shouting variety. These ghosts are tormented, violent, and deadly.

Someone-or something-is stirring them up to wreak unearthly havoc. But why? And why do so many of the victims have ties to Harry? If Harry doesn’t figure it out soon, he could wind up a ghost himself

Another fantastic installment of the Dresden series. I have to say Harry you get yourself in more trouble than Anita Blake and considering how much trouble Anita gets into that is really saying something.

Harry is again stuck in the middle of the fae and the worst thing is that the courts of Winter and Summer are going to war because something of Summer’s has been stolen. The power that belongs to the Summer Knight. Harry has to handle things, stop the war and in doing so prove himself a wizard as well. Because guess what? The white council is being a pain in the rear end.

Terrible of them. Seriously. I am sick of them and I don’t have to deal with them like Harry does. I love this book, I love the series and can I just say that Toot toot is FUNNY. Can I keep him? I mean really.

All hail the Pizza Lord!

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Syrinx pulled a fast one on Pan to escape his raging lust. The God of Chastity wasn’t about to break her vows and succumb to his temptations. Transported to the twenty-first century, she runs a florist shop—fulfilling her fake, mortal life. Until the breathtaking Parker Thomas hires her to decorate his grand estate for a gala. Five hundred roses? Easy enough. Except Parker makes her feel things she can’t ignore…

As the God of Fertility, Pan is used to maidens flocking in droves to his pastures. So when Syrinx denies him, he’s determined to win the one that got away. He poses as a mortal to get close to her, but he doesn’t count on falling hard for his conquest—hard enough to make a life and stay.

But Syrinx is falling in love with a man that doesn’t exist. Can Pan hide his identity forever, or will the truth tear them apart

I love the myth and legend behind this book and for me you don’t get to read about Pan nearly enough so a Book with him as the love interest yes please! He has met his match in the Goddess of Chasity and is truly shocked when she flees from him. Made me smile a bit at that, cause I am sure he had that feeling of “shes saying no to me?!” that some men get. To me he took the high road though when opting for seduction even if it is under his fake mortal persona.

This book is well written and has a fantastic steady pacing that makes it enjoyable to read. There were no points that I felt were too slow or so fast that they were convoluted. It was just the right touch of everything.  This was the first time for me to read Aubrie Dionne but I can say with this style of writing and enjoyable characters it won’t be the last.

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Two months after dying, seventeen-year-old witch Graylee Perez wakes up in her twin sister Charlene’s body.

Until Gray finds a way back inside her own body, she’s stuck being Charlene every twenty-hour hours. Her sister has left precise instructions on how Gray should dress and behave. Looking like a prep isn’t half as bad as hanging out with Charlene’s snotty friends and gropey boyfriend.

The “normals” of McKinley High might be quick to write her behavior off as post-traumatic stress, but warlock Raj McKenna is the only person who suspects Gray has returned from the dead.

Now Gray has to solve the mystery of her death and resurrection and disentangle herself from Charlene’s body before she disappears for good.

Not much I can say about this one. I wanted to like it the concept was there, the cover was pretty, but the book for me was just not there. The writing is okay, the book is edited that isn’t the issue with this one. I think the issue for me was the characters. I could not connect with them because I didn’t understand why they did what they did. When I can’t connect or feel for a character (love or hate), I have issues with the book.

This one may be a good read for someone else, but for me it was a miss. I didn’t want it to be but can’t win them all.

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Following the tremendous success of her first novel, Innocent Traitor, which recounted the riveting tale of the doomed Lady Jane Grey, acclaimed historian and New York Times bestselling author Alison Weir turns her masterly storytelling skills to the early life of young Elizabeth Tudor, who would grow up to become England’s most intriguing and powerful queen.

Even at age two, Elizabeth is keenly aware that people in the court of her father, King Henry VIII, have stopped referring to her as “Lady Princess” and now call her “the Lady Elizabeth.” Before she is three, she learns of the tragic fate that has befallen her mother, the enigmatic and seductive Anne Boleyn, and that she herself has been declared illegitimate, an injustice that will haunt her.

What comes next is a succession of stepmothers, bringing with them glimpses of love, fleeting security, tempestuous conflict, and tragedy. The death of her father puts the teenage Elizabeth in greater peril, leaving her at the mercy of ambitious and unscrupulous men. Like her mother two decades earlier she is imprisoned in the Tower of London–and fears she will also meet her mother’s grisly end. Power-driven politics, private scandal and public gossip, a disputed succession, and the grievous example of her sister, “Bloody” Queen Mary, all cement Elizabeth’s resolve in matters of statecraft and love, and set the stage for her transformation into the iconic Virgin Queen.

Another story of the Tudor court and another good story. While I did not feel blown over by this one I did enjoy it. The story of Elizabeth I is something that I personally feel you can never really get enough of. She had such a life from her birth and on it is just a great interest. I always get a little laugh because we all know how badly Henry VIII wanted a boy and yet one of the greatest rulers England ever knew was his Heir but a Daughter. So take that guy.

Alison Weir as always does a good job of writing, mixing the history we know with the fiction that we couldn’t possible know what happened one way or another. If you like a good historical fiction this is a good read that will hold your attention. You may not learn any new facts (like me) if you read a lot of Tudor history but you will really enjoy the book.

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