Amanda Hocking's Blog - Posts Tagged "ice-kissed"

I haven't been blogging as much lately, but that's because I've been busy working on some fun/exciting stuff that I will hopefully begin sharing with you next week. But I'll talk more about that when it's ready.

For now, I'm just here to tell you some good news about Ice Kissed .

According to the countdown on my phone, it's only 55 days until Ice Kissed  is out. It's been available for preorder in paperback and hardcover for awhile, but for some reason, ebooks aren't up for preorder until closer to the release date.

Apparently, it is now close enough to the release date, and  Ice Kissed  is now available for preorder for the Kindle and the Nook. (It's not up at iBooks yet, but I'm sure it will be soon). You can preorder it for the Kindle: here and for the Nook: here.

If you'er not familiar with Ice Kissed, here's more info. Ice Kissed is the second book the Kanin Chronicles, with the first book Frostfire  already out. It's a spinoff the Trylle series, and you can check out this blog: here for commonly asked questions on the Kanin Chronicles.



The second book in the new trilogy set in the world of the Trylle will be out May 5, 2015

Bryn Aven refuses to give up on her dream of serving the Kanin  kingdom she loves. It's a dream that brings her to a whole new realm…the glittering palace of the Skojare. 

The Skojare people need protection from the same brutal enemy that's been threatening the Kanin, and Bryn is there to help. Being half Skojare herself, it's also a chance for her to learn more about her lost heritage. Her boss Ridley Dresden is overseeing the mission, but as their undeniable attraction heats up, their relationship is about to reach a whole new level--one neither of them is prepared for. 

As they delve deeper into the Skojare world, they begin to unravel a long-hidden secret. The dark truth about her own beloved Kanin kingdom is about to come to light, and it'll change her place in it forever…and threaten everyone she loves.

As you probably know, I've gotten really into Pinterest, and you can follow me at www.pinterest.com/aehocking if you'd like. With the countdown for Ice Kissed continuing (only 33 more days until it's released into the wild!), I thought it would be fun to create a dream cast for Ice Kissed. 

It's not exactly perfect - Emily Browning's eyes are much lighter than how I'd pictured Ember's, for example - but they're all pretty close to how I envisioned the characters.

The great thing about books, though, is that everyone can picture characters differently, and I would love to see how you guys envision the cast. If you'd like to add your own ideas for the cast of the Kanin Chronicles, follow my Pinterest board, and I'll add you to it, so you can pin your dream cast. Or you can just check out the board to see what other people think.

Follow Amanda Hocking's board Dream Cast for Ice Kissed on Pinterest.

As you may have seen in yesterday's teaser quote, Konstantin Black returns in Ice Kissed. (Spoiler Alert: If you haven't read  Frostfire , be aware of potential spoilers in this post).







Kit Harington as Konstantin Black in my dream cast



At the end of  Frostfire , Konstantin left Bryn Aven reeling - once again. Growing up, Bryn admired Konstantin deeply. He was an elite member of the Kanin guard, champion of the King's summer games, and a hero to the people. (It also didn't hurt that his steel grey eyes, crooked smile, and unruly black curls made him incredibly handsome). Though she hated to admit it even to herself, Bryn had a very serious crush on him.

Bryn's admiration for Konstantin came crashing to a bitter end when he tried to assassinate her father, and his motives for the seemingly unprovoked attack still elude her. Then, after four years on the run, Konstantin makes a dramatic return in the beginning of Frostfire, hunting down changelings that Bryn has sworn to protect.

Throughout Frostfire, Konstantin makes several startling confessions that lead Bryn to believe that everything is not as it seems with him, but it all ended in a brutal confrontation in the Skojare palace - not with Konstantin, but with Kanin's most hated enemy, Viktor Dålig. And all of that only leaves Bryn angrier and more confused than ever.

As Bryn explains in an excerpt from the upcoming  Ice Kissed :

"Viktor Dålig had beaten me, that was true. The sight of him had been like encountering a ghost, and I’d been in shock, so he’d been able to get the best of me. That didn’t mean I hadn’t wanted to stop him, but it had been my fault for letting myself be caught off guard, even for a moment.

But Viktor had wanted to kill me. When he’d smashed my head into the stone, he’d been trying to execute me – I knew that with absolute certainty. But he hadn’t succeeded, and I had a feeling that I had Konstantin Black to thank for being alive.

Run, white rabbit, as fast and far as you can, he’d whispered when I came upon him in the dungeon. Even though he’d been escaping, he’d looked so defeated then – his gray eyes soft and mournful, his entire body sagging, his olive skin going pale beneath the shadow of his beard. Konstantin hadn’t wanted me to get hurt."

As you may have seen in yesterday’s teaser quote, Ridley Dresden seems just as confused about Bryn's feelings for him as she is in Ice Kissed. (Spoiler Alert: If you haven’t read  Frostfire , be aware of potential spoilers in this post).

Diego Boneta as Ridley Dresden in my dream cast

Ridley has long been one of Bryn's closest friends and allies, believing in her when many others in the Kanin Kingdom refuse to. But it's his position as her boss that makes their growing attraction so dangerous. In  Frostfire , Bryn finally admitted to herself how she really feels about Ridley, and after they share a passionate kiss under the aurora borealis, it seems Ridley feels the same way. But both Bryn and Ridley know that if they act on it, it could cost Bryn her chance at becoming a member of the elite guard, the Högdragen.

While Ridley doesn't want to stand in the way of Bryn's dreams, his feelings on the Högdragen are far more complicated. His father was a member of the Hogdragen, and when Ridley was just twelve years old, Viktor Dålig attempted to over the Kanin King and killed Ridley's father in the process. Many people, including Bryn, consider Ridley's father a hero, but as Ridley explained in  Frostfire , an honorable death is a subjective thing.

"Ridley shook his head, and when he spoke again, his voice was much lower and calmer. 'You called his death honorable. He died in the hallway  of the palace – a hall I have walked down a hundred times since that day. He died in a pool of his own blood, trying to protect a random stranger in a crown, because another man wanted that crown for his own daughter.' He turned to me, his eyes hard and his words heavy. 'He died for nothing.'"

With Viktor Dålig returning at the end of  Frostfire with Konstantin Black, Ridley is determined to being justice to the man that murdered his father. In Ice Kissed, Ridley and Bryn will be working close together to discover what exactly Viktor and Konstantin are up to, and despite their best efforts to keep their hearts out of it, they may be forced to face their true feelings for each other once and for all.

An excerpt from  Ice Kissed reveals how things begin to heat up:

Ridley glanced up at the night sky, then back at me. “You be careful this time, alright?”

“I will,” I promised him.

Then, since there really wasn’t anything more to say, I gave him a small wave before turning to walk away. I’d only made it four steps before he stopped me.

“Bryn,” he said, and I looked back over my shoulder at him. “Let me walk you home.”

They were five simple words that sounded almost inconsequential, especially since Ridley had walked me home on several occasions. But somehow tonight they felt like so much more. There was a weight to them that had never been there before.

It was in Ridley’s tone, which held a hint of urgency, his voice low but strong enough to carry. In his eyes that burned so intensely,  I could almost see the hunger hidden in the darkness.

Finally, I answered him, and I didn’t even know what I would say until the word came out of my mouth. “Okay.”

 

I love listening to music when I write, and the full list of songs I listened to while writing Ice Kissed added up to 40 songs. I narrowed it down to the best 15 that fit the feel of the novel. I listened to A LOT of Meg Myers and Lorde while writing this series, but I didn't include more than one song by either of them on the soundtrack to vary it up a bit. You can hear all the songs on the YoutTube Playlist: here

Avila – “Dream On”
Bastille – “Daniel in the Den”
Body Parts – “Desperation”
CHVCHES – “Get Away"
Lana Del Rey – “Once Upon a Dream”
The Limousines – “Last Dance”
Lorde – “Glory and Gore”
Maximo Park – “Reluctant Love”
Meg Myers – “Desire”
The National – “About Today”
Nico Vega – “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)”
Rainbow Arabia – “Without You”
Robyn – “Indestructible (Acoustic)”
Speak – “Too Afraid”
Zero 7 – “Don’t Call it Love”

 

If you haven’t preorderd Ice Kissed yet and you’d like to, here are some ways you can do it:

With Ice Kissed 's release date just over two weeks away, I am very excited to share the teaser trailer with you!

I worked with Zumbro Designs to create the trailer, and I wanted something simple and sleek that invoked the world of the Kanin and the Skojare - and the cold isolation that Bryn is working against. The trailer offers a glimpse into Bryn's world, and what she's up against in Ice Kissed. 

To watch the trailer, go here:  Ice Kissed Teaser Trailer

If you haven’t preorderd Ice Kissed yet and you’d like to, here are some ways you can do it:

The first introduction I gave to Bryn Aven back in December 2014 before Frostfire came out was a teaser quote from her, when she said, "Remember my name, because I'm going to be the one who kills you." Throughout  Frostfire , Bryn managed to avoid getting too much blood on her hands, but as you'll see in  Ice Kissed , things are about to take a much darker turn for her...

If you haven’t preorderd Ice Kissed yet and you’d like to, here are some ways you can do it:

As you may have seen in yesterday’s teaser quote, Bryn Aven is battling her demons in Ice Kissed. (Spoiler Alert: If you haven’t read  Frostfire , be aware of potential spoilers in this post).


I pictured Bryn as a cross between Elizabeth Olsen and Pink.  

One thing that as both fun for me and a challenge to write about with Bryn is how physical she is. Growing up, her life was so defined by the external - her Skojare appearance in the Kanin kingdom led to a lot of a brutal bullying by her peers - that she decided to fight back. She couldn't changed how she looked or blend in with the crowd, but she could become strong, so strong that no one would dare mess with her.

Even as an adult, Bryn still handles things best externally. She doesn't want to look within and see the damage and pain growing up in Doldastam has caused her or how the walls she put around herself are actually hurting her. On the flip side, one of the most exciting things about writing Bryn is that she's never afraid and never backs down. While she may be stubborn to a fault, she makes up for it by kicking ass.

Bryn tends to lack insight. She's highly reactive and quick to anger, because that's the only way she really knows how to solve her problems, and that makes interpersonal relationships, like with Ridley, Tilda, and her parents, sometimes so difficult for her to navigate. Fortunately, Bryn is beginning to learn that she must balance her anger with logic, her head with her heart.

In Ice Kissed , Bryn's going to find herself pushed farther than ever before and grateful for all her years spent training to be a Högdragen.

“Training kicked in, and I didn’t have to think – my body just sprang into motion. I ran at the man, knocking him to the ground and grabbing his wrist. I slammed it into the floor, forcing him to drop the sword.

He tried to crawl toward it, and the satin of his uniform made it easier for him to slip out from underneath me. But I knelt on his back, pressing my knees into his kidneys as I pinned him in place.

With one swift move, he tilted to the side and thrust his elbow up, hitting me squarely in the chin. It was just enough to throw me off balance, and he scrambled out from under me. He grabbed the sword, but I was already on my feet when he jumped up and pointed it at me.”

If you haven’t preorderd Ice Kissed yet and you’d like to, here are some ways you can do it:

iBookstore – for ebook 
Barnes & Noble – for paperback, ebook, hardcover, & audio
Amazon – for paperback, ebook, hardcover, & audio
Target – for paperback 
Indiebound – for paperback, hardcover, & audio 
Booktopia (Australia) – for paperback 
Waterstones (UK) – for paperback

I created an inspiration on Pinterest for Ice Kissed. Not only does it include images that inspired the book, it also has never-before-shared quotes and excerpts from  Ice Kissed . It even hints a bit at what is it come in the finale of the Kanin Chronicles,  Crystal Kingdom . If you're counting down the days until  Ice Kissed comes out (12 days!), then this might be the perfect thing to whet your appetite.

Follow Amanda Hocking's board Ice Kissed on Pinterest.

I love using Pinterest for inspiration boards like this. It's an excellent way to organize ideas and immerse myself in the atmosphere I want a novel to have. I'm using it for the books I'm working on now, and not only is it useful, it's so much fun.

If you haven’t preorderd Ice Kissed yet and you’d like to, here are some ways you can do it:

With one week until Ice Kissed hits the shelves, this will be the final the teaser quote, so I thought I'd end it with a kiss.

If you missed any of the teaser quotes and want to catch up, you can check out the Gallery . If you're dying for Ice Kissed, you should read the exclusive excerpt: here . And don't forget to enter the to giveaways under the Giveaways & Contests button.

If you haven’t preorderd Ice Kissed yet and you’d like to, here are some ways you can do it: