Adventures in Crafting with Words

Previously I reviewed/recommended Peaslee's Ella - a retelling of Cinderella. In a related tale - Will and Ella make a reappearance - Corbin Black finds himself attending the Prince Kenton's ball instead of marrying his fiance, Francine.  Princess Rose finds herself bitter and disappointed that Prince Kenton has decided to marry a commoner. While Francine doesn't get picked by the prince, she does disappoint Corbin by agreeing to meet the prince instead of saying that she was engaged.  In a moment of dispair Corbin packs up all of his tools and leaves his adoptive country for the one of his birth - Princess Rose's country... Once he's arrived he's informed that the Princess - nicknamed The Beast - has decided she'll marry a commoner and that all eligible men are required to give her a gift.  She'll marry the man who offers her the best one... So... this book took me several days to read.  Not because of anything the writer did, but something I

Okay, I might be getting my money's worth with this free Kindle Unlimited trial.  I most likely will continue with the service after the 17th. I really didn't think about the fact I'm doing yet another retold fairy tale, but this book really didn't feel like a retold.  The Ugly Step-Sister Strikes Back is a delightful take at the story from another perspective.  Mattie has a complicated family history.  Her father is a famous artist who has been married 6 times!  The marriage from when she was two years old introduced her to her step-sister (also two) even though the marriage doesn't last very long.   When that former step-mother dies, her father invites Ella to live with them since they don't know who Ella's biological father is. Ella, thankful, does everything she can to show her thanks.  She has a job so she doesn't spend Bill's - Mattie's father - money.  She does charity work.  She even cleans the house even though they have a hou

One of my friends was gifted this awesome 400 writing prompts book for Christmas.  Naturally, I needed it. So his wife told me where I got it and I went to my local branch and looked all over the story for that book of 400 writing prompts.  I'd even settle for the book of 300 writing prompts. But nope.  I had to settle for this one... Whatever.  *shrugs shoulder* 'But,' the little voice in the back of my head challenged me, 'what if you use this book to help you with the plethora of stories you are struggling with?' 'And,' another voice agreed, 'you use them for your writing prompt blog posts... The catch with these prompts:  there is only one page to write and there are a handful of words that must be added into the scene.   For this scene I brought in Winnie from Half-Moon Manor.  I've been pondering her story for a while now, and she volunteered for the prompt.  And now... Magic in Everyday Occurrences Winnie closed he

I may have spent way too much time absorbed into fairy tales and what not.  I love fairy tales.  I love reimagined fairy tales. Okay,  I simply adore reading in general. A while back I purchased a Princess and the pea retelling - The Princess Companion .  This was shortly after the second book in the series was released, but as much as I enjoyed the first book I couldn't bring myself to buy the second. The Princess Fugitive - Book 2 - is a Little Red Riding Hood reimagining and it never was my favorite tale.  However, Cellier's twist made me wish I had picked it up sooner.  However, that hesitation also meant I didn't have as much of a wait between books either... Wait...dear reader you must be thinking,  wasn't your Into the Enchanted Forest partially Little Red Riding Hood?  Yes.  So?  Just because I used the tale doesn't mean I liked the source.  Crazy, I know.  Regardless, I signed up for a free Kindle Unlimited trial last month.  Why?  Because the

It is with great relief to announce the release date, cover, etc for the second book in the Hastings Sisters Series. Relief?  Yes.  Relief.  I begun to fear it would never make it through the Beta Reads.  But it has. The Trouble with Chasing Aileen is currently available for pre-order.  Right now until January 10th (the day after the release date) Aileen will be $0.99.  After that date the book will be $2.99.  (The first book in the series will remain $0.99.) Are you a Kindle Unlimited reader?  The Trouble With Chasing Aileen will be released on January 9th, 2018. What about book three?  Ashlynn's story will continue off where Aileen's story ended.  She does make some appearances in this book, much like Aiden did in Ainsley's book.  However, Ashlynn's story is still in the planning phases.  With any hope, it won't take a year to write.  (The highly teased and still untitled NaNoWriMo2017 project has been handed over to the Beta readers as well.) Read bel