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Stephen Swartz
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A Beautiful Chill Kindle Edition

by Stephen Swartz (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 4 ratings
See all formats and editions
Life is impossible when every moment of the present is haunted by the past.

Íris is a refugee from an abusive youth in Iceland, further abused on the streets of Toronto - until she sees Art as an escape. With a scholarship, she drifts from depression to nightmare to Wiccan rituals to the next exhibit. There's a lot she must forget to succeed in a life she refuses to take responsibility for.

Eric is settling in at Fairmont College, starting a new life after betrayal and heartbreak. Divorced and hitting forty, he has a lot to prove - to his father, his colleagues, and mostly to himself. The last thing he needs is a distraction - and there's nothing more distracting than Iris.

A Beautiful Chill is a contemporary romance set in the duplicitous world of academic rules and artistic license.
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  1. Print length
    384 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publication date
    January 31, 2014
  5. File size
    1495 KB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

(4 stars)Good emotional and psychological storyBy Author Chantal Bellehumeur This book touches the delicate subject of incest and sexual abuse, but is told in a way that is easy to handle. It shows very well the affect such a background can have on a woman through the character Iris. She has a negative view of men in general. Iris meets a decent man, Eric, who falls in love with her and wants to take good care of her after finding out that she is pregnant, but she sees it all as a lie and acts inappropriately. 

About the Author

Stephen Swartz grew up in Kansas City where he was an avid reader of science-fiction and quickly began emulating his favorite authors. Since then, Swartz studied music in college and, like many writers, worked at a wide range of jobs before heading to Japan for several years of teaching English. After Japan, Swartz earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing, requiring him to study not only the Classics and the English literary canon, but Old Norse literature. A Beautiful Chill was originally his MFA thesis, and was based on the faculty, peers, and campus he encountered during his studies; he maintains it is a work of fiction. Swartz is now a Professor of English and teaches writing at a university in Oklahoma. He can always be found writing his newest novel, usually late at night.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00I6M4R9Y
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Myrddin Publishing Group; 1.7 edition (January 31, 2014)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 31, 2014
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1495 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1939296307
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 4 ratings

About the author

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Stephen Swartz

Stephen Swartz

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Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Stephen Swartz is the author of literary fiction, science fiction, fantasy, romance, and contemporary horror novels. While growing up in Kansas City, he dreamed of traveling the world. His novels feature exotic locations, foreign characters, and smatterings of other languages--strangers in strange lands. You get the idea: life imitating art.

After studying music and even composing a symphony, Stephen planned to be a music teacher before turning to fiction writing. Today Stephen teaches writing at a university in Oklahoma. Stephen Swartz has published poetry, stories, essays, and articles for scholarly journals in the U.S. and Japan.

EXCHANGE (May 2020)

SUNSET (conclusion to the Stefan Szekely Trilogy, Book 3) (February 2019)

SUNRISE (sequel to A DRY PATCH OF SKIN, Book 2 of the Stefan Szekely Trilogy) (April 2018)

EPIC FANTASY *WITH DRAGONS (February 2017)

A GIRL CALLED WOLF (December 2015)

AIKO (June 2015)

A DRY PATCH OF SKIN (October 2014)

A BEAUTIFUL CHILL (February 2014))

THE DREAM LAND Book I "Long Distance Voyager" (The Dream Land Trilogy) (December 2013)

THE DREAM LAND Book II "Dreams of Future's Past" (The Dream Land Trilogy) (2013)

THE DREAM LAND Book III "Diaspora" (The Dream Land Trilogy) (2013)

AFTER ILIUM (2012)

Blog: stephenswartz.blogspot.com

Twitter: @StephenSwartz1

Facebook: Author Stephen Swartz

EXCHANGE (2020) In the wake of a mass shooting that killed his wife and daughter, a high school teacher struggles to put his life back together even with on-going crimes and the foreign exchange student who arrives not knowing what has happened.

SUNSET (2019) is the conclusion of the Stefan Szekely Trilogy, Book 3. Now Emperor of Europa, Stefan must avoid multiple assassination attempts while concocting the perfect escape from his unholy duties.

SUNRISE (2018) is the sequel to A DRY PATCH OF SKIN (2014), Book 2 of the Stefan Szekely Trilogy, the story of an innocent man transforming into a vampire against his will. In SUNRISE he realizes his desire to live the vampire playboy life but finds there are serious obstacles.

EPIC FANTASY *WITH DRAGONS (2017) is the brawny tale of a banished dragonslayer's quest through the Valley of Death to find and destroy the dragons' nesting ground, a quest that is not so simple as he imagines.

A GIRL CALLED WOLF (December 2015) is the tale of a poor Inuit orphan girl from Greenland who grows up and saves the world. Inspired by a true life.

AIKO (June 2015) is a mystery/romance set in 1980s Japan, a modern reversed version of 'Madame Butterfly' told from the man's perspective.

A DRY PATCH OF SKIN (October 2014) is the only medically accurate vampire thriller set in Oklahoma City, upstate New York, New Orleans, and Eastern Europe.

A BEAUTIFUL CHILL (February 2014) is a contemporary campus anti-romance where a forbidden relationship is turned inside out - available for Kindle and paperback.

AFTER ILIUM (2012: 2nd edition), a romantic adventure tale of seduction and betrayal set in modern Greece and Turkey with flashbacks to ancient Troy.

THE DREAM LAND Trilogy (2012-2013) is an epic of interdimensional intrigue and world domination by a pair of well-meaning nerds, marbled with twisted humor and steampunk pathos, a patina of psychological thriller, and the quirky conundrum of time and space.

Book I: Long Distance Voyager

Book II: Dreams of Future's Past

Book III: Diaspora

Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
4.8 out of 5
4 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Lia Rees
5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful book
Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2016
This is a haunting and unusual story which will stay with me. I was captivated by the flawed heroine and the non-preachy manner in which her behaviour was handled in the narrative. The language is elevated yet unpretentious, laden with beautiful metaphors. The characters are all very real, and the portrayal of university life is believable with moments of wit. I was also impressed by the evocative exploration of Icelandic myth.

(I did spot some typos, but these were a minor issue.)
One person found this helpful
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Author Chantal Bellehumeur
4.0 out of 5 stars Good emotional and psychological story
Reviewed in the United States on August 12, 2014
I was given a review copy of A Beautiful Chill in exchange for an honest review.

This book touches the delicate subject of incest and sexual abuse, but is told in a way that is easy to handle. It shows very well the affect such a background can have on a woman through the Icelandic character Iris, pronounced Eris, who became a sex addict because of the way men treated her in the past. She was raped on several occasions, abandoned, worked at a strip club doing what she did best, and posed nude for art classes. She is comfortable with her body and exposes herself a lot, yet has a lot of anger which comes out every so often. She has a negative view of men in general and feels that her role is simply to pleasure them.

Iris meets a decent man much older than she is who falls in love with her and wants to take good care of her after finding out that she is pregnant, but she sees it all as a lie and acts inappropriately without thinking about the consequences of her actions. You can’t help but feel bad for this woman who’s innocence was stolen from her, and who wants to change her behavior once she finally realizes that love is real and that she does not have to use her body to get affection and attention… You also feel bad for the man who fell in love with her, Eric. He also happens to be her professor. It didn’t start that way though. Iris just happened to sign up for one of his classes after what she considered to be a fling. That put Eric in an awkward situation.

I personally found the book a bit long. It dragged a bit at times, but I did enjoy reading it and never once felt like I could be doing something better with my time. The characters and situations felt very real and the story itself was well written. There was nothing too graphic when Iris talked about her troubled past or relived it in her head; there was just enough details for the reader to understand what she lived through and how she dealt with it.

I recommend this book to those who like psychological dramas and are not easily offended by sexual contents.
2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Lia Rees
5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 18, 2016
Verified Purchase
This is a haunting and unusual story which will stay with me. I was captivated by the flawed heroine and the non-preachy manner in which her behaviour was handled in the narrative. The language is elevated yet unpretentious, laden with beautiful metaphors. The characters are all very real, and the portrayal of university life is believable with moments of wit. I was also impressed by the evocative exploration of Icelandic myth.
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