Book Review: Doctor Thorne (Chronicles of Barsetshire #3)

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I feel a bit like a silly girl admitting this, but when I picked this book off my shelf I totally forgot that it was part of a series. The good news is you can read it as a stand alone and still enjoy the book, or at least I did. Also means I can go back and enjoy the first two books in the series, always a win when you have more time with the characters.

This is a spellbinding book that draws you in and makes you love every part about it. The only reason I didn’t give it a 5 rating is because at times it dragged a little, which can be hard when reading such a long book. Beyond that however and I personally really enjoy it. The characters are rich and full of life. You can picture yourself walking along with them as they go through the motions. Anthony Trollope made a beautiful romance that you just have to dive in and reach for yourself to truly understand it. I personally feel that I would fail at finding the right words beyond what I have said just now to properly sum up my feelings on this book. The bottom line is, I recommend it, you should read it and allow yourself to be enveloped by the book.

My Gemstone Rating:

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Book review: Kiss of Fire (Imdalind #1) by Rebecca Ethington

Joclyn Despain has been marred by a brand on her skin. She doesn’t know why the mark appeared on her neck, but she doesn’t want anyone to see it, including her best friend Ryland, who knows everything else about her. The scar is the reason she hides herself behind baggy clothes, and won’t let the idea of kissing Ryland enter her mind, no matter how much she wants to.
The scar is the reason she is being hunted.

If only she knew that she was.

If only she had known that the cursed stone her estranged father sent for her 16th birthday would trigger a change in her. Now, she is being stalked by a tall blonde man, and is miraculously throwing her high school bully ten feet in the air.

Joclyn attempts to find some answers and the courage to follow her heart. When Ryland finds her scar; only he knows what it means, and who will kill her because of it.

I wanted to like this book, I wanted to be in love with this book. Sadly the feeling I ended up having when it came to Kiss of Fire was just kind of meh. It wasn’t a bad book and all of the right things seemed to be there, a little mystery, some tension, two star crossed kids. Alas, something really just didn’t come together for me.

One nag I had about it was Joclyn hiding her scar so much. A huge deal was made of the scar, and without giving anything of the story away I get that. However, for me it is stretching a little to far to fathom that she managed to completely and successfully hide it for so long by wearing lots of hoodies. Hey, I enjoy hoodies too, but come on.

There was also a lot of Mary sue type situations and in the end, I really can’t take too much Mary sue these days, so maybe that was what really ended up bothering me the most. I may be saying a lot of negative in this review, but overall the book was readable. It was not the best book of the year, but it wasn’t the worst either. As I started with for me it was just a bit meh. That doesn’t mean someone else won’t enjoy it more than I did, because the potential is there. Toss in Ryland who suffered so much at the hands of his own Father and the book does give you some of those emotional punches that you need.

I might even give this series another try and check out the second book of the series. If the second book picks up the pace faster, it might bring me out of the Meh zone.

My Gemstone Rating:

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Teaser Tuesday 12/6/16

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along with Teaser Tuesday! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! Everyone loves Teaser Tuesday.

“Zackary Connor’s office building was made of glass, endless windows giving the impression of being outside. It was exactly how I liked nature–air conditioned and bug free.” ~ Bewitching the Werewolf (Megan Stephens #1)
by Caroline Hanson

Musing Monday 12/5/16

Musing Monday is hosted over at Books and a Beat.

Musing Monday asks you to choose one of the following prompts to answer each week…

I’m currently reading…
Up next I think I’ll read…
I bought the following book(s) in the past week…
I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…
I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…
I can’t wait to get a copy of…
I wish I could read ___, but…

Random question: Do you visit your local library regularly? If so, what’s your earliest memory of visiting a library?

I used to go all the time, alas these days I do not go to the library as often as I used to. I have a lot of early memories at the library in Roseville, MN. My Mom always encouraged us to read so we had a weekly run for as long as I can remember. In the summer we usually made a fast night trip and one big weekend trip. I remember getting stacks and stacks of books and playing Oregon trail on the library computer. I always did a little jig when I could have two time slots on the computer to play. Silly I know, but I remember that. Then I would leave with a whole sack of books and I would read them all.

Pardon the dust

Please pardon the dust around the blog as I work on getting the new theme completely installed. It is a wonderful theme and I am very excited to be taking this next step forward in my book blogging adventure! It is a little scary leaving behind Fire & Ice, but I feel like the same was right.

So welcome, have a look around and mind any dusty areas.

Teaser Tuesday 11/29/16

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along with Teaser Tuesday! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! Everyone loves Teaser Tuesday.

” It was near the end of Stefan Rossetti’s fourteenth year that his father, the commander of The Viking long ship Sja and its fleet of seven ships, at least agreed to take him aboard. Standing on the beautiful Scandinavian shore, his smile was wide and he was certain no happier laddie ever was or ever would be again. ” 1% The Viking by Marti Talbott

Musing Monday 11/28/16

Musing Monday is hosted over at Books and a Beat.

Musing Monday asks you to choose one of the following prompts to answer each week…

I’m currently reading…
Up next I think I’ll read…
I bought the following book(s) in the past week…
I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…
I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…
I can’t wait to get a copy of…
I wish I could read ___, but…

Random question: If you were a character, which author would you trust with your life (to write your story)?

This is a tough one, honestly I can’t narrow it down to just one. I think I would say either Lauren Willig, J.R Ward, or Stephanie Laurens. Either way I will end up with a nice hunk who has a firm loyalty to his lady. In a Lauren Willig I could also have fun being my own spy type lady. While J.R Ward, well her world is a good deal more dangerous then my other two choices, but come on The Black Dagger Brotherhood, they are worth the danger.

Changes are coming in 2017

Sometimes you have to shake things up. I have been thinking about shaking the book blog up for the last year or so, I never took the plunge last year, but 2017 is going to be the year for change. It is hard to think that I have run this blog since the end of 2008. I started out over at blogspot with a free blog and was happy with it. Over the years, however, I have changed to my own domain and different theme’s and of course migrated to WordPress. The one thing that has always nagged at me since I got my domain name is that I was never able to get the exact name of the blog. Icewarmth.com has always been a play on the actual title of the blog, Fire & Ice. I thought if I waited long enough I would eventually get something close, alas, that just never seems to have materialized.

Now, as I sit here looking back over the year I think about all the things that have happened in 2016. All the changes that have happened in the world and in my life. The conclusion? It is time for a change up in the blog line up. The content itself will remain the same and I may be taking on the job of hosting some meme’s that I have been posting on this blog almost since the beginning, the current host is making changes in her blog life too. However, the domain name, the blog name and the theme will be changed. I will still keep icewarmth.com for the next year and just have it redirect so everyone can get used to the change, but the change is coming. The new book blog will be called….

The Purple Booker

A little silly, I know, but it suits me as many who know me will know. A fun play on Hooker yes (because I crochet, what were you thinking?) and a little play with one of my favorite book series by Lauren Willig. I am nervous and excited at the same time about the change. I hope that my lovely readers will be happy with the changes when they happen as well. I still have a lot of things to get in order before the change, but just couldn’t wait to make the announcement.

Book Review: Savage Season (Hap and Leonard #1) by Joe R. Lansdale

A rip-roaring, high-octane, Texas-sized thriller, featuring two friends, one vixen, a crew of washed-up radicals, loads of money, and bloody mayhem.Hap Collins and Leonard Pine are best friends, yet they couldn’t be more different. Hap is an east Texas white-boy with a weakness for Texas women. Leonard is a gay, black Vietnam vet. Together, they steer up more commotion than a fire storm. But that’s just the way they like it. So when an ex-flame of Hap’s returns promising a huge score. Hap lets Leonard in on the scam, and that’s when things get interesting. Chockfull of action and laughs, Savage Season is the masterpiece of dark suspense that introduced Hap and Leonard to the thriller scene. It hasn’t been the same since.

I became interested in Hap & Leonoard when James Purefoy signed on for the new TV series. I admit this is not usually a book I would have picked up on my own, without something to prompt me. With that said I am so glad that I did pick it up because this is a fantastic book! It is very fast paced and the things that Hap and Leonard get into, oh you can’t help but think of it as a comedy of errors sometimes. They may be best friends but they bicker like an old married couple and they really are polar opposites. I am looking forward to going forward with the series both book and TV. The book really is fantastic and gave me a lot of laughs. It filled in more details for me after watching the series, and I can appreciate that. Hap, oh all I can do with some of the things he does is shake my head his name seems to suit.

My Gemstone Rating:

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Teaser Tuesday 11/22/16

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along with Teaser Tuesday! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! Everyone loves Teaser Tuesday.

“You know, a woman is considered helpless without a man. At least, that’s what people say. Well, I was able to take care of myself and live the way I wanted. Why should I give all that up just to be with a man?” She shook her head again. “No, it’s not for me.”
― Ellin Carsta, The Secret Healer

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