Announcing Dearest by Alethea Kontis on tour #PrismBookTours

A themed tour with Prism Book Tours.

We're launching the BOOK TOUR for

Dearest

By Alethea Kontis

Dearest is the third book in the Woodcutter Sisters Series and is another magical edition.

Hello, everyone! Princess Alethea Kontis here. I'd like to formally welcome you to a month that's chock full of fantasy and fun --in shining, glittery fairy tale fashion, as only this princess can do! We've got surprises in store for you every day this month: insightful blogger reviews, in-depth interviews (complete with ridiculous Alethea-style answers), original essays, and fairy tale rants...it's enough to make an evil witch's toes curl. And each step of the way there are more chance to win one of three Princess Grand Prize Packs!

Like Sunday Woodcutter says, I cannot promise you a happy ending (or even nice weather, for that matter), but I can promise you a month of magic, merriment, and mayhem. Grab your cloak of invisibility, strap on your seven-league boots, grab your best talking-animal friend and let's start this adventure!

February Tour Schedule

2 - Lilac Reviews
3 - Special post @ Waterworld Mermaids
3 - Coffee Books & Art & The Book Lovers' Lounge
4 - Special post @ USA Today's Happy Ever After
4 - Buried Under Books, Mommabears Book Blog, & Rabid Reads
5 - Interview @ J.T. Ellison
5 - Gidget Girls Reading
6 - Zerina Blossom & Geo Librarian
8 - Welcome to Book City
9 - Kelly P's Blog & Katy's Krazy Books
10 - Mel's Shelves & Jan Edwards
11 - Katie's Clean Book Collection
12 - A Backwards Story & Wishful Endings
13 - Library of a Book Witch & The Quotable
14 - Biggest Literary Crushes post on @ Teen Reads
15 - The Written Adventure
16 - My Life Loves and Passion & Colorimetry
17 - I Am A Reader & The Library of the Seen
18 - Special post on @ Dear Teen Me
18 - Printcess & Living a Goddess Life & Melissa's Eclectic Bookshelf
19 - 100 Pages A Day & mrsjennyreads
20 - Books and Ashes & Addicted Readers
22 - Miss Little Book Addict YA House of Books
23 - SBM Book Obsession
24 - Deal Sharing Aunt
25 - Min Reads and Reviews
26 - Pieces of Whimsy & Wonderous Reviews
27 - The Scribbling Sprite
28 - Grand Finale

Dearest

(Woodcutter Sisters, #3)
by Alethea Kontis
YA Fantasy
Hardcover & ebook, 320 Pages
February 3rd 2015 by HMH Books for Young Readers

“A fabulous fairy-tale mashup that deserves hordes of avid readers. Absolutely delectable.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review of award-winning series debut Enchanted

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?

Amazon - Barnes & Noble - Book Depository - Indie Bound - Powell's

The Other Woodcutter Sisters Books

Enchanted

(Woodcutter Sisters, #1)
by Alethea Kontis
YA Fantasy
Hardcover & ebook, 308 Pages
May 8th 2012 by Harcourt Children's Books

It isn't easy being the rather overlooked and unhappy youngest sibling to sisters named for the other six days of the week. Sunday’s only comfort is writing stories, although what she writes has a terrible tendency to come true.

When Sunday meets an enchanted frog who asks about her stories, the two become friends. Soon that friendship deepens into something magical. One night Sunday kisses her frog goodbye and leaves, not realizing that her love has transformed him back into Rumbold, the crown prince of Arilland—and a man Sunday’s family despises.

The prince returns to his castle, intent on making Sunday fall in love with him as the man he is, not the frog he was. But Sunday is not so easy to woo. How can she feel such a strange, strong attraction for this prince she barely knows? And what twisted secrets lie hidden in his past - and hers?

Amazon - Barnes & Noble - Book Depository - Indie Bound - Powell's

Hero

(Woodcutter Sisters, #2)
by Alethea Kontis
YA Fantasy
Hardcover & ebook, 304 Pages
October 1st 2013 by Harcourt Books

Rough and tumble Saturday Woodcutter thinks she's the only one of her sisters without any magic—until the day she accidentally conjures an ocean in the backyard. With her sword in tow, Saturday sets sail on a pirate ship, only to find herself kidnapped and whisked off to the top of the world.

Is Saturday powerful enough to kill the mountain witch who holds her captive and save the world from sure destruction? And, as she wonders grumpily, "Did romance have to be part of the adventure?"

As in Enchanted, readers will revel in the fragments of fairy tales that embellish this action-packed story of adventure and, yes, romance.

Amazon - Barnes & Noble - Book Depository - Indie Bound - Powell's

Alethea Kontis courtesy of Lumos Studio 2012

New York Times bestselling author Alethea Kontis is a princess, a fairy godmother, and a geek. She’s known for screwing up the alphabet, scolding vampire hunters, and ranting about fairy tales on YouTube.

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.

Website - Goodreads - Facebook - Twitter - YouTube - Tumblr - Instagram - Pinterest

Want to meet Alethea in person? Check out her Road Tour!

February 13, 7pm
Barnes & Noble — Signing with Leanna Renee Hieber(Florida Fabulosity Tour)
West Melbourne, FL
http://store-locator.barnesandnoble.com/event/86063

February 16, 6pm
Barnes & Noble Carrollwood — Signing with Leanna Renee Hieber (Florida Fabulosity Tour)
Tampa, FL

February 17, 7pm
Barnes & Noble — Signing with Leanna Renee Hieber(Florida Fabulosity Tour)
Orlando, FL

February 20, 6pm
Books a Million — Signing with Leanna Renee Hieber(Florida Fabulosity Tour)
Merritt Island, FL

February 21, 1pm
Barnes & Noble — Signing with Leanna Renee Hieber (Florida Fabulosity Tour)
Tallahassee, FL

Tour-Wide Giveaway

3 Woodcutter Sisters Prize Packs (signed copies of Enchanted, Hero, & Dearest - US Only)
Ends March 8th

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Adventure Tour GRAND FINALE for Hero by Alethea Kontis

The Grand Finale

(In case you missed anything!)

On Tour with Prism Book Tours

Hero
by Alethea Kontis

Rough and tumble Saturday Woodcutter thinks she's the only one of her sisters without any magic—until the day she accidentally conjures an ocean in the backyard. With her sword in tow, Saturday sets sail on a pirate ship, only to find herself kidnapped and whisked off to the top of the world. 

Is Saturday powerful enough to kill the mountain witch who holds her captive and save the world from sure destruction? And, as she wonders grumpily, "Did romance have to be part of the adventure?" 

As in Enchanted, readers will revel in the fragments of fairy tales that embellish this action-packed story of adventure and, yes, romance.  Excerpt

   

Alethea Kontis

Website * Goodreads * Facebook * Twitter * YouTube

Sail Away on the 

Fairy Tale Adventure Tour*

*Family Welcome

Sept 22 - LAUNCH

Sept 23 - The Missing Piece - Althethea Kontis 

 I wrote them. And I cried. And I sent them in. And my editor was touched. And then somewhere between then and publication, they fell through the cracks...

 - Video Rant on Debz Bookshelf

Something about Saturday’s story just touched me... and that made my experience reading this book even more powerful. - Debz review

 - Celebration on Deal Sharing Aunt

Sept 24 - Interview with Miss Print 

The plan is for the Woodcutter Sisters Series to encompass 7 books — one about each sister. That’s always been my original plan. The publisher’s plan was for Enchanted to be a solo book...INTERVIEW

Hero is another excellent installment in the Woodcutter Sisters story and a mandatory read for anyone looking for an antidote to the typical princess story.  - REVIEW

Sept 25 - Interview with Carina Olsen  

What was the first fairy tale you remember falling in love with?  I started reading when I was three and was crazy about reading by the age of five. When I was eight, my French grandmother gave me a giant copy of unexpurgated Grimm and Andersen tales. I mark that date as The Beginning of The End...

 - The Grandfather Pirate on Living a Goddess Life

 - Meet the Inspiration Part I on The Wonderings of One Person

I was a normal kind from a REALLY NOT NORMAL family. My biggest feelings of inadequacy came from comparing myself to my parents and siblings and everyone else and just not measuring up...

Sept 26 – Review on Shannon’s Blog

Coming from a large family, I liked the way the author not only made the heroine one of many siblings, but managed to include all her brothers and sisters...  It wasn’t just an interesting biographical fact that Saturday came from a large family; it actually mattered to the story.

Sept 27 – My Amazing Sister on Leeana Me

My little sister, Soteria, always asks me who she is in the Woodcutter stories, but it’s hard to say. She and I were so close growing up–if I am every single one of my characters, then she is always my sister in every scene.

Sept 30 -- USA Today Happy Ever After interview

My 8-year old daughter loves Alethea Kontis. She's never read one of her YA books, but she knows her as "Princess Alethea" who hangs out with Mommy at book festivals. Alethea lives and breathes fantasy, fairy tales and girl power, and it always pours out of the page. The second book in her Woodcutter series, Hero, is out, and this one has all the trademark spunky heroine and swashbuckling (there are pirates!) fantasy adventure you will find in her books. I was fortunate enough to grab a few moments with Alethea to ask her a few questions...

 

- Review of Enchantment on Colorimetry

What a deliciously fairy tale filling read… with just enough light-hearted fun, deeply dark antagonists, magic straight out of real fairy-tale-dom with real fairy god mothers… and characters that carry their faults around like real people that accidentally fell into the story.

Oct 1 - RELEASE DAY!
 - Alethea at Waterworld Mermaids - "Last Minute Wonder"

I can’t even call it procrastination, because it was more like Self-Imposed Ninja Boot Camp...

 - "My Favorite Bit" guest essay by Alethea - Mary Robinette Kowal

...clothes may be an expression of who you are, but they are not the definition.

 - Review at Library of a Book Witch

I think that this series is really good at setting that fairy tale tone with the writing style, being a hard core lover of fairy tales, it makes the books perfect for me. I also love how she weaves in the different stories and pieces it togther like one of Fridays quilts.

Sunday

- Interview & Review at Tressa's Wishful Endings

Alethea: I have been accused many times of "cramming all the fairy tales into one book like it was some sort of challenge"--and indeed, it sort of started out that way.I just have to ask, what is your favorite fairy tale and fairy tale princess and why?Alethea: Yay! I love answering this question... Interview

Saturday is such a great character! She is struggling with figuring out her place in the world and who exactly she is...  I loved that she isn't dramatic, but rather sarcastic... Review

Oct 2 - Video Rant Geek Girl In Love 

Princess Alethea rants about Petronella 

I found Hero to be a creative and exciting work of fantasy.  The highlight of the book was the exploration of gender roles, and the romance, which was based very much on the idea that people’s differences can complement each other.

  - "The Big Idea" John Scalzi's blog 

Every author wonders if they’ll be able to hack it in a trial by fire. Well, this author knows she’s got what it takes. I wrote that manuscript in three months, and when they didn’t like that, I took the fourth month to rewrite the whole thing. But I did it, against all odds, and what came out was magic.

Ironically, this is exactly what Hero is all about.

  - My Bookshelf on Mel's Shelves

I was intrigued with the summary for this book. I come from a family of 7 daughters (and 2 sons). I line up with daughter number 4, Thursday, who ran off with the Pirate King and sends trunks of gifts back home, haha!  - Review of Enchanted

The Shelf I Can't Live Without

  - Did You See? on Cu's eBook Giveaways

Princess Alethea has had a busy week!

Oct 3 – Hightlighting The Missing Piece on I Am a Reader, Not a Writer 

Last but not least I must thank the members of my very large family... thank you for keeping my feet tied to the ground while I reach for the stars. You are my heart, and I love you all more than these humble words can say. 

 - Review at Books for Kids

I love the way she writes.  Her characters are vibrant and full of life.  Saturday is a fabulous protagonist.  I adore her strength and her stubbornness, her fire and her fight.  I love the way she solves her problems (with her brain) and the way she carries out her plans (with her strength).

Oct 4 - Podcast Anything Goes with Bennet Pomeranz

More Entertainment Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with BennetPomerantz on BlogTalkRadio

 - Review of Hero on Colorimetry

The scene with the lake is burned on my memory forever:  Surrounded by icy walls, with water so clear you can see that the lake is deep, so deep you don’t know how deep, heated from molten lava within the mountain. It’s amazing. I want to go there!!

Oct 5 - Hero LAUNCH PARTY at One More Page Books in Arlington, VA

...where you can get a personalized, signed copy from Alethea!!

 - Meet the Inspiration Part II on Bookmarks

...So you see, I didn’t just have family members growing up. I had legends. I may have been destined for greatness, but only because my family set the bar SO HIGH.

Oct 7 - Character interview with Saturday Woodcutter at I Smell Sheep

Troubadour: I’m here today with Saturday Woodcutter, sixth of the seven Woodcutter daughters, and sister to the Queen of Arilland. Princess Saturday, could you tell me--

Saturday: Call me "princess" again and I punch you in the face. 

 -  Craft "Stealing from the Best" on Romance Writers of America & Fantasy Futuristic &Paranormal Chapter

In my teen novels, I retell the classic Grimm and Andersen (and a few others') fairy tales. I don't regurgitate the exact same sequence of events--though as they're public domain, I suppose I could. I prefer, instead, to fill in the blanks I feel the original authors left.

Oct 8 - Families in Fiction at A Backwards Story

In real life, we have families. Some of us have REALLY LARGE AND OBNOXIOUS families. And though we feel alone sometimes in those awkward middle school years, we're never really alone-alone.
Even when we want to be.

 - Review at JL Mbewe

There’s that saying that “it takes a village to raise a child” — well, in the publishing world, books are the author’s children. And it takes a village to raise them, too...

The first thing that jumped off the page at me was the author’s style. It’s playful, fun, and fresh filled with an out-of-this-world yet grounded fairy tale experience. I loved it... Review

Oct 9 - Enchanted Inkspot

AK – Beloved is a parallel novel to Hero, chronicling the adventures of Friday and the rest of the Woodcutter crew back in Arilland, in the tragic aftermath of the appearance of Saturday's "impossible ocean." Apprentice seamstress Friday becomes a leader of the children (because that's Friday's thing), and gets caught up in trying to break a curse involving seven swans, a mute girl, and the need to weave seven shirts out of stinging nettles. 

I've always loved all the bird-tales ("The Goose Girl" is my favorite) and I have to say...I am SO IN LOVE with writing this book. Beloved is such an appropriate title.

 - Deleted Scene at Fragments of Life

It was a sad road that led Peregrine to his mother's bedside... 

All in all, Hero was like a tapestry of fairytales interwoven together: vibrant, fun, humorous, tragic and100% magical. I strongly recommend this to readers who love fairytale retellings and fantasy. - Review

Oct 11 - 13 - Caplave
Oct 11-15 - GRAND FINALE

Contact BurgandyIce(at)live(dot)come if you're interested in sharing this Grand Finale!

Goodreads * Amazon * Barnes & Noble * The Book Depository * Indie Bound * Powell's * Book Tour

Tour-Wide Giveaway
Sept 22 - Oct 17

Fairy Tale Gift Basket (US only): Signed copies of both Enchantment and Hero by Alethea Kontis plus swag!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Review - Hero by Alethea Kontis #PrismBookTours #Giveaway

On Tour with Prism Book Tours

Setting Sail on a Fairy Tale Adventure*
*Family Welcome

Hero
by Alethea Kontis
Hardcover, 304 Pages
To be published October 1st, 2013 by Harcourt Books

Rough and tumble Saturday Woodcutter thinks she's the only one of her sisters without any magic—until the day she accidentally conjures an ocean in the backyard. With her sword in tow, Saturday sets sail on a pirate ship, only to find herself kidnapped and whisked off to the top of the world. 

Is Saturday powerful enough to kill the mountain witch who holds her captive and save the world from sure destruction? And, as she wonders grumpily, "Did romance have to be part of the adventure?" 

As in Enchanted, readers will revel in the fragments of fairy tales that embellish this action-packed story of adventure and, yes, romance.

Goodreads * Amazon * Barnes & Noble * The Book Depository * Indie Bound * Powell's * Book Tour

My Review:

Satisfying. The short version of my review is... this is a very satisfying book about the Woodcutter sister, Saturday.

It stands alone, like Enchantment, with elements hinting at a much larger, complicated world and plot, but Saturday’s adventures are well-captured here. I love that sort of series… where I recognize names and places, but the main character is refreshingly new.

I enjoyed Saturday and Peregrine, but... I did not feel as though I got to wriggle down into their characters as intimately as I wanted to. Saturday’s drive to do something amazing caught me off guard a few times. When something startling would happen to her, she embraced it with an exuberance that left me a little behind. If you’ve read Enchantment, she’s another Jack in the making. There’s something about her character that doesn’t sneeze at trouble. Only death makes her stop and consider a moment. And the moment feels like she’s reaching outside of herself to try to see things from another’s POV who wouldn’t choose death. Yes, I love Saturday forever and ever, but I missed the intimacy of thinking just like Sunday.

Peregrine gets a similar reaction from me for other reasons. Lol. He makes some really remarkably bad decisions and settles for a life that isn’t living with a contentment that’s difficult to embrace. Just like Saturday, though, his character grew on me ‘til I respected him despite myself. The biggest thing they have in common – with each other and with Betwixt, is a deliciously snappy intelligence. The smooth transitions to Peregrine’s POV are enlightening and delightful.

Betwist! I will never think of him like a pet. Period. He’s not. Sometimes he is fuzzy, though. Or has fuzzy parts. Lol. He is sarcastic, intelligent, wise… as resigned as Peregrine and their friendship is real, genuine, deep and forever. What is he? A shape-changing gryphon thing. He can’t be one animal, he has to be a mix of two and some of the transformations are not convenient. I love him. He’s great.

Most of the story takes place in an amazing icy labyrinth, something not even hinted at with the mention of a “world-breaking ocean”. Yes, I love a good story on the high seas and if Ms Kontis ever gives us a story about Thursday, I will be drumming my fingers with excitement to read it. But Saturday doesn’t duplicate any of her family’s stories (amazing how I feel like I know each person in her family so well!) she, um… arrives in the most beautiful, isolated wonderland imaginable. (That's all I'm sayin' about that. Read the book!) 

The scene with the lake is burned on my memory forever:  Surrounded by icy walls, with water so clear you can see that the lake is deep, so deep you don’t know how deep, heated from molten lava within the mountain. It’s amazing. I want to go there!!  I love the armory, too. It’s such a perfect Saturday story.

Quotes I love-LOVE:

“…broken, battered, and half dead, she was the most beautiful thing he’d seen in a very, very long time. So he kissed her. The cold, chapped lips warmed beneath his. “Sword,” she whispered. “It was only a kiss,” mumbled Peregrine… “ – Pg 86

*snort* I still laugh. I love that moment!

“He was comfortable enough with the way things were, leagues above the world of the eternally dying, down where clocks ticked seconds away and counted breaths that, once exhaled, could never again be taken.” – Peregrine Pg 88

Where the... WHA?!  *gasp* Love this combination of words. Like... I'm making my bed here, in these words. You can find me here next century.

Saturday harrumphed. Next to swinging a sharp weapon and scowling, it was one of the things she did best. – pg 100

Betwixt scratched his jaw with a hind leg. “there are six other days of the Woodcutter week. They can’t all be so badly tempered.” – pg 108

“We do not live here. We merely exist. And we would have gone on doing so while the dragon slept, but it is not a life. Lives have suns and seasons. Lives have happiness and sadness and birth and death.” He lifted his wings to make great shadows on the walls. “Time rises up here to die. Down there is where it is lived, felt, and remembered.” – Pg 148

"transmograficationist?" Peregrine drew the long nonsense word out, making up each syllable as he went along. – pg 180

because he had food, she followed him. – Pg 182

The light fought the darkness and quickly won. As each torch was lit, so was its reflection. – pg 183

He would have given her his heart had she not already possessed it. – Peregrine Pg 207

Saturday rested, letting the soul of the forest nourish her from the inside out, bringing her back to herself. – pg 274

One more thing. Back on my review of Eon, I was quite upset that anyone would fuss over a girl dressing like a guy more than a guy dressing like a girl (scroll to the bottom. It's a quiet rant, but got me thinking.) In my mind, through history, there is more opportunity for the girl to want to dress like a guy. I agree with Saturday about beauty being useful to an extent for some people, but nothing like the glorious usefulness of a sword! Ms Kontis has thrown this entire concept into the face (very nicely) of the lit world by creating a situation where a guy needed to dress like a girl for his survival, which he was able to embrace while being true to himself. The scene where he finds Saturday some male attire while his own skirts are swishing is hilarious.

Catch Alethea's opinion of this HERE.

As for me, depending on the need and situation, dressing in opposite gender makes sense is does not feel weird to me at all. Thought-enducing, ironic, endless source of chuckling in this case, yes, but completely logical. I say, "Well done!"

See my review of Enchanted HERE!

Enchanted by Alethea Kontis

Hardcover, 305 pages
Published May 8, 2012

It isn't easy being the rather overlooked and unhappy youngest sibling to sisters named for the other six days of the week. Sunday’s only comfort is writing stories, although what she writes has a terrible tendency to come true.

When Sunday meets an enchanted frog who asks about her stories, the two become friends. Soon that friendship deepens into something magical. One night Sunday kisses her frog goodbye and leaves, not realizing that her love has transformed him back into Rumbold, the crown prince of Arilland—and a man Sunday’s family despises.

The prince returns to his castle, intent on making Sunday fall in love with him as the man he is, not the frog he was. But Sunday is not so easy to woo. How can she feel such a strange, strong attraction for this prince she barely knows? And what twisted secrets lie hidden in his past - and hers?


Alethea Kontis

New York Times bestselling author Alethea Kontis is a princess, a goddess, a force of nature, and a mess. She’s known for screwing up the alphabet, scolding vampire hunters, turning garden gnomes into mad scientists, and making sense out of fairy tales.

Alethea is the co-author of Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark-Hunter Companion, and penned the AlphaOops series of picture books. Her short fiction, essays, and poetry have appeared in a myriad of anthologies and magazines. She has done multiple collaborations with Eisner winning artist J.K. Lee, includingThe Wonderland Alphabet and Diary of a Mad Scientist Garden Gnome. Her debut YA fairy tale novel, Enchanted, won the Gelett Burgess Children’s Book Award in 2012 and was nominated for both the Andre Norton Award and the Audie Award in 2013.

Born in Burlington, Vermont, Alethea now lives in Northern Virginia with her Fairy Godfamily. She makes the best baklava you’ve ever tasted and sleeps with a teddy bear named Charlie.

Website * Goodreads * Facebook * Twitter * YouTube

What has our Princess Alethea been up to?

Alethea visited the Burke Centre Library on Sept 26:

On Sept 27th, Alethea visited (and signed books!) at Baltimore Book Festival:

Robin Covington interviews Alethea on USA Today on Sept 30:

My 8-year old daughter loves Alethea Kontis. She's never read one of her YA books, but she knows her as "Princess Alethea" who hangs out with Mommy at book festivals. Alethea lives and breathes fantasy, fairy tales and girl power, and it always pours out of the page. The second book in her Woodcutter series, Hero, is out, and this one has all the trademark spunky heroine and swashbuckling (there are pirates!) fantasy adventure you will find in her books. I was fortunate enough to grab a few moments with Alethea to ask her a few questions.  See the entire interview!

October 1st, our Princess Alethea shared "My Favorite Bit"

My favorite bit about Hero, my second novel and seventh published book, should be that it happened at all. When Enchanted was accepted and we pitched the rest of the Woodcutter Sisters books, the publisher politely said, “We see Enchanted as a stand-alone novel.” When Enchanted sold out its first print run in the first few weeks of release, the publisher politely said, “Remember how you said you had other books planned? We’d like two more please. The first one is due in three months.” And I actually delivered it on time. That should be the best part.

But in truth, my favorite bits about Hero are still the cross-dressing and mistaken-identity bits... see more at Mary Robinette Kowal's blog

Don't miss The Big Idea over at John Scalzi's blog today!

-or-

The broadcast with Bennet Pomerantz on Oct 4th

Hey!  There's a Launch Party at One More Page Books in Arlington, VA on Oct 5th!!

See more appearances HERE!

And don't forget The Fairy Tale Adventure Tour! 


Tour-Wide Giveaway
Sept 22 - Oct 17

Fairy Tale Gift Bundle: Signed copies of both Enchantment and Hero by Alethea Kontis plus swag!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sail Away on the 

Fairy Tale Adventure Tour*

*Family Welcome

Sept 22 - LAUNCH
Sept 23 - The Missing Piece at Alethea Kontis
 - Review on Debz Bookshelf
 - Celebration on Deal Sharing Aunt
Sept 24 - Interview with Miss Print
Sept 25 - Interview with Carina Books
 - The Grandfather Pirate on Living a Goddess Life
 - Meet the Inspiration on The Wonderings of One Person
Sept 26 - Review on Shannon's Blog
 - Meet the Inspiration continued on Bookmarks
Sept 27 - Meet the Sister on Leeana Me

Sept 30 - USA Today Happy Ever After Interview
 - Review of Enchantment on Colorimetry
Oct 1 - RELEASE DAY!
 - Release Day at Waterworld Mermaids
 - My Favorite Bit (with Cat Valente) at Mary Robinette Kowal
 - Review at Library of a Book Witch
 - Interview & Review at Tressa's Wishful Endings
Oct 2 - Video Rant at http://www.geekgirlinlove.com
 - The Big Idea at John Scalzi's Blog
 - My Bookshelf on Mel's Shelves
 - Did You See? on Cu's eBook Giveaways
Oct 3 - The Missing Piece on I Am a Reader, Not a Writer
 - Review at Books for Kids
Oct 4 - Podcast with Bennet Pomeranz
 - Review of Hero on Colorimetry
Oct 5 - Hero LAUNCH PARTY at One More Page Books in Arlington, VA
Oct 7 - Character interview with Saturday Woodcutter at I Smell Sheep

 - Stealing from the Best on Romance Writers of America & Fantasy Futuristic & Paranormal

Oct 8 - A Twist in the Tail at A Backwards Story
 - Review at JL Mbewe
Oct 9 - Enchanted Inkspot
 - Deleted Scene at Fragments of Life
Oct 10-15 GRAND FINALE

Review - Enchanted by Alethea Kontis on the Fairy Tale Adventure Tour #PrismBookTours #Giveaway

On Tour with Prism Book Tours

Setting Sail on a Fairy Tale Adventure*
*Family Welcome

Hero
by Alethea Kontis
Hardcover, 304 Pages
To be published October 1st, 2013 by Harcourt Books

Rough and tumble Saturday Woodcutter thinks she's the only one of her sisters without any magic—until the day she accidentally conjures an ocean in the backyard. With her sword in tow, Saturday sets sail on a pirate ship, only to find herself kidnapped and whisked off to the top of the world. 

Is Saturday powerful enough to kill the mountain witch who holds her captive and save the world from sure destruction? And, as she wonders grumpily, "Did romance have to be part of the adventure?" 

As in Enchanted, readers will revel in the fragments of fairy tales that embellish this action-packed story of adventure and, yes, romance.

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Enchanted by Alethea Kontis

Hardcover, 305 pages
Published May 8, 2012

It isn't easy being the rather overlooked and unhappy youngest sibling to sisters named for the other six days of the week. Sunday’s only comfort is writing stories, although what she writes has a terrible tendency to come true.

When Sunday meets an enchanted frog who asks about her stories, the two become friends. Soon that friendship deepens into something magical. One night Sunday kisses her frog goodbye and leaves, not realizing that her love has transformed him back into Rumbold, the crown prince of Arilland—and a man Sunday’s family despises.

The prince returns to his castle, intent on making Sunday fall in love with him as the man he is, not the frog he was. But Sunday is not so easy to woo. How can she feel such a strange, strong attraction for this prince she barely knows? And what twisted secrets lie hidden in his past - and hers?

My Review:

Oh, sweetness! What a deliciously fairy tale filling read… with just enough light-hearted fun, deeply dark antagonists, magic straight out of real fairy-tale-dom with real fairy god mothers… and characters that carry their faults around like real people that accidentally fell into the story. Add buried gems of really great writing tucked through-out the whole… and it’s all magical. I’m in love with the Woodcutter family and Kontis’ story weaving!

The fairy tales. So many fairy tales are folded into the story in unsuspecting layers. The Princess and the Frog is actually romantic and beautiful, amazingly. The Princess and the Pea is ironically funny and yet, a little big hollow and sudden. The hint of Snow White continues to crack me up, giving just the right evil feel to the appropriate character. The Sleeping Beauty story is intertwined the best, I think, slipped in with a dump-load of foreboding, but not overbearing, either. Then there’s Jack and the Beanstalk, which hides the best secrets as well as reveals one of my favorite characters in the story, brother Trix. There’s more, too… Cinderella appears for a few brief, entertaining connections. The Old Woman’s Shoe, a Pirate Queen, high towers… and fairy godmothers.

The characters. Sunday is wonderfully deep, recognizing her own discontent, being frustrated with herself and so deliciously transparent and connected to her own feelings. She is fun as the main perspective. I really enjoyed the Prince, too. His past adds depth. The one thing that bothered me about him, his weakness, has horrible roots that turned into the most touching moments in the story. (Yes, I had tears. It is the perfect shadow to the perfect story!) Sundays parents – the Woodcutter! Ha! And Seven, her mother. They have so many layers, too, secrets that they hold for their own, very powerful reasons. Sunday’s family is the best. At first, they feel just like a busy family crammed into a situation that didn’t fit them quite right. But as all the relatives share their secrets, this family turns into the most exciting, most destined, most colorful family ever, their bonds growing with each moment of acceptance and forgiveness. One of my favorite lines was Sunday’s thought about her aunt’s “confounded tea”. Lol. She’s frustrated with her aunt, and yet accepts her, too, with all her secrets. Each character in this story – from the older generation to the younger – have their own story to tell, sharing hints of fascinating details.

The story. I loved the story. Even knowing all the fairy tales that were pulled into the story, I had no idea where it would go. When I tried to guess, I was wrong, which… made me love the story even more!

The writing. Delicious! I highlighted quotes all over my Nook specifically to capture the way the words are combined to create something new and refreshing:

Pg 39 – “Rivulets of blood wept from scratches in his skin and cracks in his desiccated lips.”

Blood is a theme that comes up again and again, related with power.

Pg 58 – “No pale glow of moonlight fell from the heavens to light false paths in the darkness.”This is a poetic picture of how the story feels. It could go any way and that path might not be the one it appeared to be, afterall.

Pg 86 – “He could not change the man he had been, but these hands would make him the man he could be.”

 Every character has this choice in front of them. Many characters choose wisely.

Pg 89 – “Rumbold found himself in his father’s shadow and smirked at the irony.” 

 Ha!

Pg 92 – “One small laugh from one small girl would never change the course of the universe and was therefore not worth the effort.”

The weight of the seriousness… the sorrow of loss… I love this small expression of what it feels like to face the loss of hope and the idea of failing.

Pg 148 – “His voice carried on the cool night air down to the water, the Wood, and the next kingdom.”

 Power. Too far.  Too cold.

Pg 170 – “The whispered voices around her were an anonymous cloak of soft noise that settled around her shoulders, echoing the manic thoughts in her mind.”

A cloak of whispers?

Pg 184 – “He lost himself a moment there, and did not miss his aching soul.”

*sigh*  Just keep writing, please Ms Kontis. These words were meant to be all together in this order, they just didn’t know it before!

Alethea Kontis

New York Times bestselling author Alethea Kontis is a princess, a goddess, a force of nature, and a mess. She’s known for screwing up the alphabet, scolding vampire hunters, turning garden gnomes into mad scientists, and making sense out of fairy tales.

Alethea is the co-author of Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark-Hunter Companion, and penned the AlphaOops series of picture books. Her short fiction, essays, and poetry have appeared in a myriad of anthologies and magazines. She has done multiple collaborations with Eisner winning artist J.K. Lee, includingThe Wonderland Alphabet and Diary of a Mad Scientist Garden Gnome. Her debut YA fairy tale novel, Enchanted, won the Gelett Burgess Children’s Book Award in 2012 and was nominated for both the Andre Norton Award and the Audie Award in 2013.

Born in Burlington, Vermont, Alethea now lives in Northern Virginia with her Fairy Godfamily. She makes the best baklava you’ve ever tasted and sleeps with a teddy bear named Charlie.

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Sept 22 - Oct 17

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Fairy Tale Adventure Tour*

*Family Welcome

Sept 22 - LAUNCH
Sept 23 - The Missing Piece at Alethea Kontis
 - Review on Debz Bookshelf
 - Celebration on Deal Sharing Aunt
Sept 24 - Interview with Miss Print
Sept 25 - Interview with Carina Books
 - The Grandfather Pirate on Living a Goddess Life
 - Meet the Inspiration on The Wonderings of One Person
Sept 26 - Review on Shannon's Blog
 - Meet the Inspiration continued on Bookmarks
Sept 27 - Meet the Sister on Leeana Me

Sept 30 - USA Today Happy Ever After Interview
 - Review of Enchantment on Colorimetry
Oct 1 - RELEASE DAY!
 - Release Day at Waterworld Mermaids
 - My Favorite Bit (with Cat Valente) at Mary Robinette Kowal
 - Review at Library of a Book Witch
 - Interview & Review at Tressa's Wishful Endings
Oct 2 - Video Rant at http://www.geekgirlinlove.com
 - The Big Idea at John Scalzi's Blog
 - My Bookshelf on Mel's Shelves
 - Did You See? on Cu's eBook Giveaways
Oct 3 - The Missing Piece on I Am a Reader, Not a Writer
 - Review at Books for Kids
Oct 4 - Podcast with Bennet Pomeranz
 - Review of Hero on Colorimetry
Oct 5 - Hero LAUNCH PARTY at One More Page Books in Arlington, VA
Oct 7 - Character interview with Saturday Woodcutter at I Smell Sheep

 - Stealing from the Best on Romance Writers of America & Fantasy Futuristic & Paranormal

Oct 8 - A Twist in the Tail at A Backwards Story
 - Review at JL Mbewe
Oct 9 - Enchanted Inkspot
 - Deleted Scene at Fragments of Life
Oct 10-15 GRAND FINALE