Last Stop! (Blog Tour)

This blog tour has been ... fun. Enlightening. Exhausting. And now it's over.

The end of the line is Sally Stephenson's blog. Good times, everyone.

Wacky Author Interview

Okay, so some people have a slightly different way of looking at the world. The Sarcasm Goddess is one of these people. It made for a fun, and very wacky, author interview.

Cyn Balog likes The Fairy Tale Trap (Cool!) (Blog Tour)

Sorry this one is late coming to the blog, but Cyn Balog has featured The Fairy Tale Trap on her blog! Sorry, I just think this is way cool.

Take Your Proper English with You (Blog Tour)

I wrote a guest post for C.L. Roth's blog today. In it, I talk about a very personal experience I had when I was a kid. My sister read the post and asked, "Did that really happen?" Sadly, it did.

Everyone knows they’re smart when they’re little. Mommy says it all the time. Then you go to school and you realize you don’t know everything. Still, I knew I was smart. I always understood what the teacher was saying and I was usually the first kid in the class to finish my work. School was fun, and I thought that was a good thing.

Well, it is. But not everybody sees it that way.

In fifth grade, I had a group of girlfriends—neighborhood kids that went to my school. We went to each other’s houses, played outside all the time, went shopping together (as tweens are wont to do) and maybe even had a sleepover or two.

Somehow, out of the blue, I became the odd one out. As an adult, I realize this happens and that girls change a lot around this age. They can be mean and petty, and all-too-often, they turn cruel.


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Author Interview with Emily Casey (Blog Tour)

Whew! Another interview! We're winding down this blog tour (which is probably a good thing because I'm exhausted). Lizzie Beth is hosting today with an interview. She had some thoughtful insight on character growth that impressed me.

Katie's Book Blog! (Blog Tour)

Okay, folks. The last book review of the tour. I've been waiting for this one for a long time. I love Katie's Book Blog. I met her on Twitter and she graciously agreed to be a part of the tour. (Thanks, Katie!)

Book Review by Marni Mann (Blog Tour)

Marni Mann is offering thoughts on The Fairy Tale Trap today. Go here to see the book review.

Breaking Fairy Tales (Blog Tour)

Amy Laurens is a Twitter friend who needs some maternity leave. So today call for a guest post. If you've ever wanted the full story about how I started breaking fairy tales, this is the post.

My main character, Ivy Thorn, was born on my blog. I was suffering from pregnancy brain at the time and didn’t feel like I could write long fiction, so I let Ivy tear apart a few fairy tales.

Of course, Ivy had to put her own spin on things. She’s not the type to sit back and let the fairy tale run its course. The thing I’m most proud of was when (in an early blog draft, not The Fairy Tale Trap) Ivy found herself stuck in the story: Snow White. She suggested that instead of going to all that trouble to kill Snow White, the queen should just use a spell to make Snow White ugly. It just made more sense!

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Anna's thoughts on The Fairy Tale Trap (Blog Tour)

Another book review today! Let's see what Anna thought of The Fairy Tale Trap at Literary Exploration. (I'll be honest, waiting for these doesn't get any easier.)

Tha Fairy Tale Trap - Book Review (Blog Tour)

Today's stop is a book review. Visit Coranne's blog at One Minute Books to see what she thought.

Emmaline's Library (Blog Tour #20)

Emmaline is possibly the sweetest person ever. Even though she's busy with wedding preparations (Cangrats!!) she's hosting a review!

Will you like The Fairy Tale Trap? (Blog Tour #19)

Amanda Rudd is posting her review of The Fairy Tale Trap today. :)

Chocolate Makes Fairy Tales Better (Blog Tour #18)

This seemed like a no-brainer to me...

Death by Chocolate is hosting today's guest post, which I lovingly call:

Why Fairy Tales Need More Chocolate

Most of us grew up with fairy tales, but there’s something missing from most of them. Chocolate.

Of course, if you’re reading this then you probably already know that chocolate makes everything better. If Cinderella had made her stepsisters a chocolate cake every now and then, maybe they would have been nicer to her. If Beauty had asked her father to bring back a piece of chocolate (instead of a rose), he could have easily just plucked a bonbon from the platter of food and avoided the whole death threat thing. And maybe if the evil queen had used poisoned chocolate instead of a poisoned apple, they could have avoided that long scene where the queen tries to convince Snow White to take a bite, because who’s going to say no to free chocolate?

Read more>>



And here's some more information on Suz and the anthology, Death by Chocolate:

Death by Chocolate. The paranormal young adult anthology with a cocoa twist.

Back in Time by Stacey Wallace Benefiel

Nothing in Aurelia Lemon's life is turning out how she'd planned. She's unemployed, unattached, and her family bakery is on the verge of closing. To make matters worse, the guy she dumped in high school is doing well and getting rich off of one of her departed mother's recipes. It would take a miracle to right everything she's done wrong. Or maybe just a phone call and the chance to go Back in Time.

Sweet Witchery by Cheryl J. Carvajal

Catalena is only one of many dreamers in a small medieval town in Romania. When the witch Ramnusia opens her chocolate shoppe, suddenly dreams turn into reality. The chocolates are divine, but their power is greater than their sweetness. Miracles abound, dreams come true, and Ramnusia's magic confections become the talk of the town. But if these chocolates can make dreams come true, will they win for Catalena the deepest dream of her heart?

Spellbound by Nikki Jefford

Two months after dying, Graylee Perez wakes up in her identical twin sister, Charlene’s body.

As the daughter of a witch, can anyone blame her mother for attempting to bring her back to life? Only now Gray’s stuck sharing her sister’s body 50/50 in 24 hour shifts.

 The race is on for Gray to find a way back into her body before Charlene purges her from existence.

Warlock Raj McKenna is rumored to meddle in the black arts, not to mention he’s after Gray’s invisibility spell and worse – her heart. But Raj might be the only one powerful enough to save Gray from fading away forever.

Bloody Valentine by Lucy Swing

 One by one the girls of Hollow High disappear and when Bailey receives a heart-shaped box filled with chocolates she might be next.

 Sweet Torture by Kira Saito

 Sixteen year old Claudia Bernstein is obsessed with two things: chocolate and Dante Torres. However, being an invisible minion to Upper East Side princess Beatrice Wildenbert isn't helping her get anywhere with her dream guy.

Everything changes over Christmas break when Dante actually starts noticing her.

But are Dante's intentions as pure as they seem? When Claudia finds herself in the middle of a cruel prank, she decides to take revenge. But is revenge enough? Or will she finally realize that her own worst enemy is herself?

The Girl with Three Heads by Suz Korb

 Kate wakes up on the morning of the Death by Chocolate fundraiser event to discover she has two extra heads resting upon each of her shoulders. She is not pleased about this. She's even more displeased when she discovers the head on her right shoulder (which looks like Santa Claus, complete with fluffy white beard) is actually Zeus, lord of lightning, or something like that. The head on her left shoulder? Yeah, it's the head of Hera; goddess-of-looking-like-a-blonde-bombshell and getting on Kate's nerves by shouting in her ear all the time.

Will Kate ever rid herself of these two extra heads? Will she ever get to experience an actual kiss from a boy without extra-head-situation interruptions? Join Kate as she struggles to survive being flung into the Underworld, as well as eventually landing upon Mount Olympus.

Just because she's got two extra craniums doesn't mean either head is an extra set of useful brains.

Be sure to check out the Death by Chocolate blog for info on all the Valentine tour stops! http://dbcanthology.blogspot.com

Can you interview a fictional character? (Blog Tour #17)

Apparently, you can.

My very good friend Robert Marion constructed a fun interview with Ivy herself. Unorthodox? Yes. But why not?

Flushing Chamberpots - an Interview (Blog Tour #16)

I like to talk to Thea when I want to talk about the tv shows I love--Doctor Who and Once Upon a Time are at the top of that list.

So I was really excited to do an interview with her. This one is a little different. We actually did this interview over video chat and she transcribed it. Hopefully, she edited out all the stupid, embarrassing things I said. But Thea did ask me about the unusual chamberpots in The Fairy Tale Trap, which makes this an interview full of win.

Fairy Tales and Chocolate Cake (Blog Tour #15)

Tia Nevitt is a fellow author, who wrote The Sevenfold Spell, a retelling of Sleeping Beauty. She is kindly hosting a guest post on her blog today. My post is on Fairy Tales and Chocolate Cake (and why the magic in fairy tales makes them fun).

Here's a sample:

A beautiful girl is hated by her mother. A prince is cursed with an ugly appearance. A poor boy takes a risk to seek his fortune. A princess waits for true love.

We all love the magic in fairy tales. There’s something about the perfectly white skin and red lips of a princess, the single rose that brings fortune in disguise, and the deal-with-the-devil motif that makes us hungry for more.

But is it the magic that makes fairy tales magical? Look at the first paragraph. Each sentence describes a fairy tale, but couldn’t you tell each of those stories without magic?

Read more>>

Ivy's Heart (Blog Tour #14)

Danyelle is a rock star. When someone cancelled last minute for this tour, she stepped up and filled a spot that was way earlier than we had originally planned. Her blog features guest posts by characters. Ivy is offering today's guest post on Danyelle's Blog. Here's a sample:

       Like most girls my age, I have a special connection with my dad. Unfortunately, he’s in the military, so he spends a lot of time overseas. I worry about him when he’s away because, you know, anything could happen.

That’s when I bring out my favorite photo. It’s a picture of him when he finished his first-ever marathon. He’s kind of a small guy, and he’s really skinny. We used to joke that just the sight of him would give the Kenyans second thoughts. His clothes are dusty, but he’s got this big goofy grin on his face. Whenever I look at that picture, I imagine that, wherever he is, my dad is happy, with the same goofy grin.

[...]

My story starts with me looking for the picture. It’s gone missing. I don’t know it at the time, but the picture was stolen. Someone took it because they knew how much it meant to me. If I had known the picture held so much power, I would have guarded it more closely.

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Book Review for The Fairy Tale Trap (Blog Tour #13)

Alex has been a follower of this blog for a long time. He's been so great and so supportive. He helped me create Ivy's character, even. So I'm thrilled to have him on this tour. He offered a book review on his blog Eclectically Inspired.

The Road to Publication (Blog Tour #12)

Carmen Ferreiro Esteban let me do a guest post on her blog today. Head over there to read about my road to publication.

The Book Nerd takes on The Fairy Tale Trap (Blog Tour #11)

The Book Nerd (Jean) has a beautiful website that features author interviews and book reviews. She asked me about my influencers and surprises I had while writing The Fairy Tale Trap. (I also got to mention my dog, Guybrush and where he got his name.)