With a single kiss, a young maid saves her beloved from the Snow Queen’s icy imprisonment. When splinters from an evil troll’s magic mirror get into the heart and eye of Kai, he is tricked into accompanying the Snow Queen to her palace, and only the innocence and kindness of Gerda’s heart can save him. The inspiration for Frozen, Hans Christian’s Andersen’s “The Snow Queen” is one of the most beloved fairy tales in history. HarperPerennialClassics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.

From the bestselling author of The Rules of Magic, a miraculous, enthralling tale of a woman who is struck by lightning, and finds her frozen heart is suddenly burning. Be careful what you wish for. A woman who was touched by tragedy as a child now lives a quiet life, keeping other people at a cool distance. She even believes she wants it that way. Then one day she utters an idle wish and, while standing in her house, is struck by lightning. But instead of ending her life, this cataclysmic event sparks a strange and powerful new beginning. She goes in search of Lazarus Jones, a fellow survivor who was struck dead, then simply got up and walked away. Perhaps this stranger who has seen death face to face can teach her to live without fear. When she finds him, he is her perfect opposite, a burning man whose breath can boil water and whose touch scorches. As an obsessive love affair begins between them, both hide their most dangerous secrets -- what happened in the past that turned one to ice and the other to fire. A magical story of passion, loss, and renewal, The Ice Queen is Alice Hoffman at her electrifying best.

Nele Neuhaus's The Ice Queen is a character- and plot-driven mystery about revenge, power, and long-forgotten and covered up secrets from a time in German history that still affects the present. The body of 92-year-old Jossi Goldberg, Holocaust survivor and American citizen, is found shot to death execution-style in his house near Frankfurt. A five-digit number is scrawled in blood at the murder scene. The autopsy reveals an old and unsuccessfully covered tattoo on the corpse's arm—a blood type marker once used by Hitler's SS. Pia Kirchhoff and Oliver Bodenstein are faced with a riddle. Was the old man not Jewish after all? Who was he, really? Two more, similar murders happen—one of a wheelchair-bound old lady in a nursing home, and one of a man with a cellar filled with Nazi paraphernalia—and slowly the connections between the victims becomes evident: All of them were lifelong friends with Vera von Kaltensee, baroness, well-respected philanthropist, and head of an old, rich family that she rules with an iron fist. Pia and Oliver follow the trail, which leads them all the way back to the end of World War II and the area of Poland that then belonged to East Prussia. No one is who they claim to be, and things only begin to make sense when the two investigators realize what the bloody number stands for, and uncover an old diary and an eyewitness who is finally willing to come forward.

A short summary of this story A long time ago, in a land very, very far away, there lived an Ice Queen called Isabella. She was known for being cold and for being able to freeze things with just a touch. Her heart was as cold as the wind that blew through her snowy castle. The house of Isabella was a beautiful building made of ice that sparkled in the sun. But she was lonely there because she didn't have any friends and didn't leave her cold home very often. But on a cold winter day, she heard kids laughing outside her house. She went to see what was going on and saw kids playing in the snow. As the days went by, Isabella watched the kids play and was amazed at how happy they were. She wished on a shooting star one night that her heart would be warm and that she could play with the kids. The next morning, her heart had miraculously changed, and she could feel it beating. With renewed hope, Isabella walked up to the kids, who were shocked to see her. She asked to play with them, and they were happy to have her. It took Isabella a while to learn how to make snow angels, snowmen, and snow games. She felt real happiness for the first time. As the days turned into weeks, Isabella's house of ice melted away, leaving behind a lovely garden. The people in the town saw this change and were amazed. To Isabella's surprise, the kids invited her to their yearly Spring Festival, where she was crowned Queen of Spring. Isabella was moved to tears when the kids at the fair sang a special song about the Ice Queen with the melting heart. The people in the town cheered as they gave her a flower hat after the show. She felt warmer in her heart than she ever had before. The country did very well when Isabella was in charge. Her touch kept plants safe, ensuring plentiful harvests, and her yard came to life with new life. Isabella kept sharing happy times with the kids, which brought the kingdom closer together. As the years went by, Isabella chose to step down as queen because she thought her people had learned the lessons of love and change. She gave her crown to the oldest child as a sign that her influence would live on. The people in the town and the kids hugged her with love and thanks. People all over the world were moved by Isabella's story, which became a legend. It showed that love and kindness could warm even the coldest hearts. When Isabella was young, she was a lonely and cold queen. But now she had friends who loved her for the warmth in her heart. In the end, the story of the Ice Queen's heart melting is a timeless lesson of how love and kindness can change things. It shows that everyone can be forgiven and start over, and that even the coldest hearts can be warmed by the simple but deep magic of friendship and love. Isabella's memory lives on in the minds of her people and as an eternal symbol of hope, showing us that we have the power to change and grow in infinite ways. Story Begins: Isabella used to be a great ice queen. She lived in an area that was very far away. People in the town mumbled in scary tones when they heard her name, and just being around her made everyone shiver. People all over the kingdom knew her not for being kind or generous, but for being cold and having the amazing power to freeze anything with the touch of a finger. People who tried to say her name got chills just thinking about it. It was a tribute to her power and the fact that she ruled by herself that her castle was a beautiful building made of ice. It was very different from the town below, which was bright and lively and shone in the dull winter sunlight. It was a place of beauty and solitude, and the cold silence of her solitude could be heard down the halls. It was both beautiful and lonely there. Just like Isabella's heart was cold, the winds that blew around her white house were also cold. Over the years, a thick layer of ice had formed on top of it, just like the country she ruled, and it had frozen over. In the distant past, it was a heart that could love and care for, and it was full of joy. Of course, that kindness slowly faded as the years went by and her gifts became heavier. She had become obsessed with her own skills, and instead of using them to make people happy and fearful, she used them to make people obey her. Her idea of love, kindness, and compassion were foreign to her at this point. Instead, she was determined to keep her cold control over the country. People in the realm had been afraid of the Ice Queen their whole lives. Their town, which used to be very busy, was being destroyed by the weather. The streets and fields were covered in a thick layer of snow and ice that didn't seem to be melting. As the temperature dropped, crops fell apart, and animals huddled together in shelters to stay warm. Children laughing as they played in the snow had recently become a distant memory, and now the area was filled with a creepy quiet. But deep inside Isabella's house, which was like a cold fortress, something started to move. A picture of what it was like to be warm on the inside as well as the outside was all that was left. It was very cold where Isabella was sitting on her throne when she heard a sweet sound outside the palace walls. She was shocked to hear laughter because it had been a long time since she had heard it. You heard the sound of kids having fun. Isabella became interested in what was going on, so she decided to find out more. As she walked to the front door of the palace and looked outside, her cold breath made beautiful patterns in the air as it moved through it. She was shocked to see a bunch of kids having fun in the snow. At the same time, they threw snowballs at each other, made snow angels, and built snowmen. Isabella stayed far away and watched them. Her heart was still stuck, but it moved in a strange way. She couldn't think of the last time she saw happy faces. As the days turned into weeks, Isabella stayed in her house and watched the kids play. She loved how they could find joy in the smallest things, as well as how contagious their laughing was and how nice they were to be around. So long, her heart had been stuck in ice. All of a sudden, she felt a strange warmth in her chest. In the deepest of her being, she had pushed those feelings down into a tiny mirror. It was a feeling she had almost forgotten. One night, Isabella was watching the kids play outside her house window when something terrible happened. At the same time, a shooting star went through the sky. Closed her eyes and wished for something she hadn't dared to wish for in years: to feel warm inside and be able to play with the kids and be a part of their world. She wanted these things as she closed her eyes and made her wish. Things went really well the next morning. Isabella felt something strange when she woke up. Her heart felt warm and living for the first time in a long time. It had been as cold as a glacier. Her heart felt like it had started to thaw, like the walls that had kept it safe for so long were slowly melting away. She looked like she had started to melt. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. She shook as she stretched out and touched her chest. She had never felt her beating before, but now she could. When Isabella found a new source of hope and felt her heart softening, she chose to leave her palace and go up to the children. The snow under her boots started to melt as soon as she stepped outside into the fresh air. The air around her also got warmer. In the beginning, the kids were scared and horrified when they saw the Ice Queen. But as soon as they saw her real smile, their fear turned into wonder. "Hello, kids," Isabella said, and her voice was no longer cold but friendly. "I'm sorry for being so cold earlier." The kids were still amazed by the Ice Queen and gave her a warm welcome when she asked to play with them. They taught her how to make snow angels, castles, and snowball fights when she asked, "May I join your games?" Isabella was blissfully happy almost all the time. It was the first time in her life that she felt this way. Isadora continued to spend all of her awake time with the kids even as the days turned into weeks. She couldn't recall the last time she felt so alive. It started to melt, and where her frozen house used to be a beautiful garden full of flowers in bloom and green grass. The people who lived in the town couldn't believe what they were seeing as things changed. In the past few years, the Ice Queen had gone from being scary to being a picture of happiness and satisfaction. Even stranger things happened when Isabella's heart started to beat normally during the day. Her freezing abilities, which she used to scare people and get them to obey her, changed into abilities that were kind and helpful. She used her new skills to help the people of the town during the cold winter months by bringing warmth to their homes and hearts. She could instantly melt the ice on frozen rivers with the touch of her palm, letting the fish swim easily again. She could gently make it snow in the places that needed it the most, which made sure that the farms would have plenty of crops. The country did well because she was a kind leader, and the people who used to fear their queen came to love and worship her. Isabella got a strange call one day, just as spring was coming and flowers were starting to bloom. She was invited to the yearly Spring Festival put on by the kids she had become friends with. So, they could celebrate the start of spring and the warmer weather, they wanted her to be the special guest at the party. Because they were so kind, Isabella felt very moved, and she decided to join the party. There was a party like this one she had never been to before, and she was getting so excited as the big day got closer. The people in the town worked hard to get ready for the party. One of their jobs was to put up bright flowers and banners in the town square. The kids put on a one-of-a-kind show for the Ice Queen that they had been working on for a long time. The big day had finally come, and everyone in town had gathered in the square in the middle to wait for the special guest to arrive. When Isabella got to the town square, she was wearing a dress covered in flowers. She was so thankful and loved the people who had helped her get back to a place of warmth and joy. Before they sang anything else, the kids sang a song about an ice queen whose heart was melting. They danced beautifully and happily, and the sound of their voices filled the room with a beautiful song. Isabella watched with tears running down her cheeks. She was happy to have found love and respect in this country that had been cold to her before. The beautiful icehouse Isabella built for herself was made out of nothing but ice. It was a beautiful piece of work that showed how talented she was. In the direct sunlight, its walls shone like smooth crystal, and rainbows covered the ground everywhere they looked. People who lived in the town could see how beautiful it was from miles away; in the winter, it sparkled like a gem. Each tower and spire looked like it was reaching for the sky, with their snowy tops melting into the blue sky above them. The things that people saw were shocking and shocking to say the least.

In a world shrouded by eternal darkness and ruled by supernatural beings, a young woman must confront her deepest prejudices, forge unlikely alliances, and face an ancient, malevolent evil that threatens to consume everything. Madison Eleohnora Marion Perrault Stone, the crown princess and heir to the throne of Mysaulia, is more than just royalty. She's a witch, a Warrior, and a Hunter, trained to despise all things unnatural, including the very creatures that now rule Earth. In a realm where werewolves, vampires, and hybrids reign supreme over the four remaining human kingdoms, Madison's duty as a Hunter is clear: protect her people from the demons of The Great Darkness that threaten to engulf their world. But when a special assignment sends Madison to negotiate a peace treaty with the neighboring kingdom of Naremia, her beliefs and loyalties are put to the test. She's forced into "The Selection," a contest to become the bride of Naremia's enigmatic crown prince, Oscar. Reluctantly accepting the marriage proposal to prevent war, Madison's journey takes an unexpected turn. As she delves deeper into the secrets of Naremia's royal family, she discovers hidden truths about Oscar, his father, and the enigmatic queen, Thérése. Madison's commitment to unite Mysaulia and Naremia into a formidable force against the encroaching darkness grows unwavering. With newfound allies, she's thrust into battles, faces jealousy and treachery, and forges an unbreakable bond with Jessica, one of Oscar's former flames. But her quest for peace and strength is marred by tragedy, as she confronts a demon within The Great Darkness. Set in a world where ancient prophecies, supernatural alliances, and destiny collide, "The Ice Queen" is the first installment in The Queen's Throne series. Join Madison on a journey of transformation, love, and unyielding determination as she seeks to banish the demons back to their realm, rewrite the fate of her world, and take her place on the throne. If you enjoy fantasy adventures filled with magic, romance, and heroism, "The Ice Queen" is a must-read. Immerse yourself in a world where queens rise to power, and where alliances forged in the darkest of times are the key to survival. Don't miss out on this enthralling tale by Elena Van Peborgh, a promising new voice in the world of fantasy.

"Having left his humanitarian posting in Africa to raise his two orphaned nieces in San Francisco, Dr. Gavin Brice has enough on his plate without an inconvenient attraction to his new boss! The frosty Dr. Virginia Potter clearly disapproves of his maverick ways, but with one amazing kiss, the ice begins to thaw"--Page 4 of cover.