First Lines Fridays: April 21, 2017

First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

  • Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
  • Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
  • Finally… reveal the book!

First Lines:

I offered my hand to the fire. Sparks leaped from the hearth and settled onto my fingers, heat drawn to heat, and glittered like molten gems against my skin.

Interested? Scroll down for the cover and summary!

Frostblood by Elly Blake
(Frostblood Saga, book 1)

The frost king will burn.

Seventeen-year-old Ruby is a Fireblood who has concealed her powers of heat and flame from the cruel Frostblood ruling class her entire life. But when her mother is killed trying to protect her, and rebel Frostbloods demand her help to overthrow their bloodthirsty king, she agrees to come out of hiding, desperate to have her revenge.

Despite her unpredictable abilities, Ruby trains with the rebels and the infuriating—yet irresistible—Arcus, who seems to think of her as nothing more than a weapon. But before they can take action, Ruby is captured and forced to compete in the king’s tournaments that pit Fireblood prisoners against Frostblood champions. Now she has only one chance to destroy the maniacal ruler who has taken everything from her—and from the icy young man she has come to love.

March 2017 Wrap-Up

Skinned by Robin Wasserman
(Cold Awakening, book 1)
Rating:  ★★★☆☆
Reading Dates:  February 23, 2017 – March 7, 2017
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  Quinn!
Lease Favorite Thing:  Literally everyone else in Lia’s life… (except maybe Auden)

This series was republished with new titles with ‘Skinned’ being retitled as ‘Frozen’.

I know I only gave this a 3 star rating, but that was only because I was so annoyed with how long it took Lia to finally see the truth, not because the book is bad. In fact, I really debated rating it higher because I don’t want anyone to think it’s not worth the read and it totally is.

My Posts About Skinned/Frozen


Frostblood by Elly Blake
(Frostblood Saga, book 1)
Rating:  ★★★★☆
Reading Dates:  March 8, 2017
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  Elemental magic + blood magic = fucking awesome
Least Favorite Thing:  The whole “he’s always so mean, but those 5 times he was nice made me fall in love with him” trope that this book, like so many others, employs… Honestly I’m so sick of that shit.

I sped through this in a day because I had to give it back to the library, and now I have to suffer the wait for the second book!

I also love the irony of the protag being a Fireblood when it’s called ‘Frostblood’.

My Posts About Frostblood

Thursday Quotables: March 9, 2017

This weekly feature is the place to highlight a great quote, line, or passage discovered during your reading each week; whether it’s something funny, startling, gut-wrenching, or just really beautifully written.


For your viewing pleasure, this week’s Quotable quote will be served with a side of kinkyyyy! 😉

“When it comes to you,” he whispered, “I like to be burned.”

Summary:

The frost king will burn.

Seventeen-year-old Ruby is a Fireblood who has concealed her powers of heat and flame from the cruel Frostblood ruling class her entire life. But when her mother is killed trying to protect her, and rebel Frostbloods demand her help to overthrow their bloodthirsty king, she agrees to come out of hiding, desperate to have her revenge.

Despite her unpredictable abilities, Ruby trains with the rebels and the infuriating—yet irresistible—Arcus, who seems to think of her as nothing more than a weapon. But before they can take action, Ruby is captured and forced to compete in the king’s tournaments that pit Fireblood prisoners against Frostblood champions. Now she has only one chance to destroy the maniacal ruler who has taken everything from her—and from the icy young man she has come to love.


Thank you Bookshelf Fantasies for this fun book meme!

Some quotes from Frostblood by Elly Blake

Normally this post would be for all the quotes I liked from a book, but that didn’t strike me as needing their own separate posts. However, since I discovered Frostblood was due back at the library tomorrow and reserved so I wouldn’t be able to get it again for at least a month, I decided to force myself to focus and read through the whole book in one go, which means I didn’t pause to make commentary posts along the way.

Admittedly towards the end of the book I was clinging to it desperately and not really paying attention to whether something was “quotable” or not, but these are all the quotes that I did notice and want to blog about from Frostblood:

So everyone would suffer because of me.
“I’ll kill you for what you’ve done this night,” I managed to whisper.

– page 15 (One)

I am as cold as the prison walls. I feel nothing.

– page 20 (Two)

As the heavy door clanged shut behind us, I trembled with the reality of escape. My lungs filled with the sweet, clean air of outdoors, my eyes dazzled by the almost forgotten sight of stars, like torches in a darkened room.

– page 26 (Two)

Was that what my life was now? An endless series of close shaves until my luck ran out?

-page 79 (Seven)

“Ruthlessness is not power. Tyranny is not strength.”

– page 97 (Eight)

“Perhaps if I gain some weight, you won’t call me a stick anymore.”
“You may hope to one day be a branch.”

– page 102 (Nine)

It was exhilarating, putting him off-balance, to the point where I felt a pang of danger. This was a game to which I could become quite addicted if I wasn’t careful.

– page 133 (Eleven)

We turned a corner and I was reduced to the size of an ant, for the road was lined on both sides by icy statues of enormous men. They were the Frost Giants I had read about in the old myths, symmetrical and perfect, formed of ice and given life by Fors. But there appeared to be no life in these statues. No movement, sound, or breath. My neck prickled as I passed, as if they watched me from somewhere inside the icy prison of their bodies.

– page 204 (Seventeen)

Version:
Hardcover, 376 pages
Published January 10th 2017 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

What Are You Reading Wednesdays: March 8, 2017

What Are You Reading Wednesdays #WAYRW is a weekly feature on It’s A Reading Thing. Everyone is welcome to participate.

Grab the book you are currently reading and answer three questions:

  1. What’s the name of your current read?
  2. Go to page 34 in your book or 34% in your eBook and share a couple of sentences.
  3. Would you like to live in the world that exists within your book? Why or why not?

Just a note before I do the WAYRW prompts: I know my WWW Wednesday post from earlier said I was currently reading the second book in the Cold Awakening Trilogy, but I just happened to check my account at the public library shortly after making that post and discovered that Frostblood is due back tomorrow with a couple people already having it reserved. So, if I want a chance to read it without having to wait at least a month, I have to read it now. I’m about 35% in so far according to Goodreads and if I’m lucky I can get it all done in time for the husband to return it for me tomorrow. Then, back to Crashed and the Mech-heads!


  1. Frostblood by Elly Blake (Frostblood Saga, book 1)
  2. His palsied hand trembled as he tried each key, until one of them opened my ankle cuff with a decisive snick.
  3. I’m a little less than halfway through at this point and I still haven’t decided… I like the fantasy aspect and would enjoy living in a world with that, but it doesn’t seem like a world it’s own inhabitants would choose at this point. Not to mention, knowing myself and my husband as I do, I’d be a Frostblood in love with a Fireblood and I don’t see that going well for the two of us in the current state of upheaval! (Also I’d be forced to kill anyone who tried to turn him in for being a Fireblood, and I’m not sure I’d even feel guilty about it. So best that we stay out of that world for now, huh?)