Dearest
(Woodcutter Sisters, #3)
by Alethea Kontis
YA Fantasy
Hardcover & ebook, 320 Pages
February 3rd 2015 by HMH Books for Young Readers
by Alethea Kontis
YA Fantasy
Hardcover & ebook, 320 Pages
February 3rd 2015 by HMH Books for Young Readers
Readers met the Woodcutter sisters (named after the days of the week) in Enchanted and Hero. In this delightful third book, Alethea Kontis weaves together some fine-feathered fairy tales to focus on Friday Woodcutter, the kind and loving seamstress. When Friday stumbles upon seven sleeping brothers in her sister Sunday’s palace, she takes one look at Tristan and knows he’s her future. But the brothers are cursed to be swans by day. Can Friday’s unique magic somehow break the spell?
Fairy Tale Rant: Swan Lake
Awesome video posts by Alethea, herself, which you can catch up on HERE.
Swan Lake Fairy Tale Rant:
When I began writing Dearest, I knew I wanted to incorporate "The Goose Girl" and "The Wild Swans" and "The Six Swans" and every other fairy tale that involves a gaggle of men who are cursed into birds. But as the story progressed, and Sebastien (the oldest Swan brother) began to have a bigger and more involved backstory, I realized that I could widen my scope of tales to include Tchaikovsky's famous ballet. (After all, Pandora was constantly playing the pivotal scene on my writing playlist.)
My moment of epiphany was far less eloquent, however, and looked more like me sitting up in bed and screaming out loud: "HOLY CRAP, SWAN LAKE!!!!" Needless to say, this made me very happy.
The ballet Swan Lake was composed by Tchaikovsky in 1876, and retells a beloved Russian folk tale in four acts. It stars Odette, a woman who was cursed into a swan by an evil sorcerer but is allowed to take human form at night, beside an enchanted lake. A prince discovers Odette by this lake, and swears his unblemished, undying love for her in order to break the spell. Of course, the evil sorcerer intervenes, and...well...it's Russian. Let's just say it doesn't end well.
I did my best to fix that.
My Review:
My favorite thing about this series is still family. The author has taken her own enchanted view of relatives and friendships that extend outward in never-ending ripples of connections and adventures. Dearest builds upon Enchanted while answering the very important question of "What was everyone else doing during Hero?"
There is no way that spoilers will not happen as this series progresses... and, oh, yes, we're just getting started!! Woohoo! So I'll just jump in and say that a sudden expansion of ocean has a large affect on a kingdom. To find out more about the kingdom, read Enchanted. To find out more about the ocean, read Hero! :-D
In Dearest, I felt like we got to see a little deeper into everything. We get to know Friday better. She is too sweet and kind and giving... but she needs to be to balance something very dark and powerful. As her magic is revealed, we also see more of the world including surrounding kingdoms.
I especially liked seeing Sunday more again in the midst of her Happily Ever After. I loved the way the tower came back into focus... and I love, LOVE the family of swans!!
Friday's romance is rather instant. I love how their own feelings confuse the main characters and how they fight against them. There are many moments I love about these two that would all be spoiler-ish to share. Like when Friday slips and Tristan, um, catches her. *ahem* Or when the brothers fight so the other can be released from the curse and Tristam, um, "wins". *coughing attack* Or... when self-sacrifice wins. Oh, wait... that's the whole story!
5 Stars for my review. 5 stars for Tristan and Friday, all the way. 5 for the fast-moving plot, 5 for the bad guys - yuck!! 5 for the extended connections and 5 for all the fairy tales included. This was my favorite book in the series so far and not just because I rec'd an early review copy that Alethea signed and doodled, although... I 5-star love that, too. Mostly 5 stars because this story makes me want to know and remember ALL the stories, which is crazy and not even possible because they haven't all been written, yet!
The Other Woodcutter Sisters Books
Links for Enchanted
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| Alethea Kontis courtesy of Lumos Studio 2012 |
Her published works include: The Wonderland Alphabet (with Janet K. Lee), Diary of a Mad Scientist Garden Gnome (with Janet K. Lee), the AlphaOops series (with Bob Kolar), the Woodcutter Sisters fairy tale series, and The Dark-Hunter Companion (with Sherrilyn Kenyon). Her short fiction, essays, and poetry have appeared in a myriad of anthologies and magazines.
Her YA fairy tale novel, Enchanted, won the Gelett Burgess Children’s Book Award in 2012 and the Garden State Teen Book Award i 2015. Enchanted was nominated for the Audie Award in 2013, and was selected for World Book Night in 2014. Both Enchanted and its sequel, Hero, were nominated for the Andre Norton Award.
Born in Burlington, Vermont, Alethea currently lives and writes in Florida, on the Space Coast. She makes the best baklava you’ve ever tasted and sleeps with a teddy bear named Charlie.
Check out Alethea's Road Tour HERE!
Tour-Wide Giveaway
3 Woodcutter Sisters Prize Packs (signed copies of Enchanted, Hero, & Dearest - US Only)
Ends March 8th
Follow the Tour
1 - Launch
10 - Mel's Shelves & Jan Edwards
12 - A Backwards Story & Wishful Endings
14 - Biggest Literary Crushes post on @ Teen Reads
18 - Special post on @ Teen Reads
18 - Printcess & Living a Goddess Life & Melissa's Eclectic Bookshelf
19 - 100 Pages A Day & mrsjennyreads
20 - Books and Ashes & Addicted Readers
19 - 100 Pages A Day & mrsjennyreads
20 - Books and Ashes & Addicted Readers
23 - SBM Book Obsession
24 - Deal Sharing Aunt
28 - Grand Finale
