Month: August 2020

Tattered Slippers Blog Tour: Mini Interview with Author E.J. Kitchens

Happy August, friends!

Today I get the pleasure of introducing E.J. Kitchens, author of a number of books including a special Twelve Dancing Princesses retelling today, Wrought of Silver and Ravens. In just a little bit, I’ll be sharing my own review of the book right here on the blog, but for today we’ll focus on a mini interview with some fun questions for the author.

But first, about the book:

(Image: the cover for author E.J. Kitchens’ book, Wrought of Silver and Ravens, next to a text description. The cover is blue with gray filigree and three black feathers falling. The text reads: “Releasing August 25th. Wrought of Silver and Ravens. E.J. Kitchens. Ancient Fantasy. Wanderer-turned-guard, Athdar Owain has two secrets to keep and one to solve. Each could cost a life.”)

The rarest magic is the most dangerous.

Athdar Owain is a hunted wanderer, one determined to keep his secrets and the treasure he carries safe at all costs. When he rescues the Kingdom of Giliosthay’s prince from raiders, he’s rewarded by being forced into the king’s elite Silver Guard. While this gives Athdar a temporary home and some protection from those hunting him, it also makes him responsible for the young prince, who still bears curses from the raiders, and seven enchantress princesses with curses as mysterious and dangerous as their brother’s.

Princess Thea of Giliosthay is a Realm Walker. Betrayed by a trusted guard, her rare gift of enchantment is used to curse her brother and trap herself and her six sisters into a nightly dance with dragons in a secret Realm. The Realm’s prince has the ability to take and twist her magic for his own purposes, and Thea fears what those might be. For when one dances with a prince, a kingdom might be at stake.

Athdar alone can save them, but to trust enchanters is to risk exposure. And Athdar isn’t sure where his loyalties lie.

Wrought of Silver and Ravens is a clean adventure-romance retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses set in The Magic Collectors story world.

You can purchase it here or add it to Goodreads here. Also, you can buy this book on other retailers. The author had some issues with the first link, but it should be available here as well.

Chatting with E.J. Kitchens

Welcome Elizabeth! I’m so happy to have you here today to celebrate the release of your newest book! It really sounds fascinating, and ancient fantasy? Awesome!

Let’s just get right into it. The idea of an ancient fantasy is so cool, and my readers know how much I love a good retelling. Can you tell us what exactly, besides the fairy tale itself, inspired the book?

Oh, lots of things! It’s a long book with lots of fun things.

The biggest two influences, however, are places (Ancient Greece and Crete and the deserts of the Middle East) and stories of lady Biblical manuscript hunters (the fictional Where We Belong by Lynn Austin and the true The Sisters of Sinai by Janet Soskice). Wrought of Silver and Ravens is set in my Magic Collectors story world but in the distant past, so I decided to set it in a land similar to ancient Greece, with a gorgeous walled city overlooking the sea.

I later discovered the heroine’s mother is from a desert kingdom, so I managed a trip to an oasis. I once listened to a textual criticism course, and I loved learning about the ancient manuscripts and the monasteries where some of the early copies of the Bible were found—including one monastery in the Sinai desert that, at one time, you could only get into by being pulled up and over the wall in a basket!—and wanted to include a bit of hunting for old manuscripts (magic-related ones, however) in desert monasteries (this will be in the next book though).

Several movies—Five Weeks in a Balloon, King Solomon’s Mines, and The Moon Spinners—helped inspire me and helped me envision some of the lands for this and future books in the series.

That’s really fascinating! It’s really something how so many things can inspire a single piece of work. And I love the desert angle!

Now that we have the inspiration out of the way, what was your favorite part of writing it? Did anything surprise you?

I was surprised by the characters and how the story turned out! I quickly fell in love with the hero and the group of special guards (the Silver Guards) he joins. The ‘bromance’ between the men, especially the father-son relationship that slowly develops between the loner Athdar and the Captain of the Silver Guard, Galen, is a big part of why I love the book.

Originally, I was focused on getting Athdar, a wanderer, to the castle to meet Princess Thea. The story starts when Athdar is found by Galen near the kingdom’s borders after Athdar rescues the prince from raiders. Originally, I had only a few paragraphs between that and Athdar reaching the city. But, fortunately, I decided to delve into that journey a bit, and I’m so glad I did! I got to meet some of the other Silver Guard in that journey in a way I couldn’t have if they were safe at the castle. Those few boring paragraphs I originally had turned into a couple of my favorite chapters, with characters I love showing and having adventure and doing brave, difficult things.

Also, I was surprised that the story ended up being grittier and the characters, as a critique partner described them, “more real” than in my other, more lighthearted books. It’s not dark, but it is grittier, yet with humor as well.

It’s definitely fun when we, as they authors, get to dive into things we hadn’t initially thought to explore. It opens up so many possibilities!

Okay, I have one more question.

If you could bring one thing from our book into the real world, what (or who) would it be and why?

Oooh. Tough one! I would love to meet some of the characters, Galen especially, but putting them in a modern world, and one without magic, that just wouldn’t seem right somehow. Maybe Athdar’s very special breed of lion? The cubs are pretty cute. Thea’s medallion that lets her travel wherever she’s been before would be pretty handy, however.

Ooo, who doesn’t love cute animals? And I have to say… having a medallion like that would certainly cut down on my commute time!

Thank you, Elizabeth, for joining me today, and best of luck on your release!

Readers, if any of this has piqued your interest, you can grab your copy here or add it to Goodreads here! Don’t forget, you can buy this book on other retailers, too. The author had some issues with the first link, but it should be available here as well.

About E.J. Kitchens

E.J. Kitchens loves tales of romance, adventure, and happily-ever-afters and strives to write such tales herself. When she’s not thinking about dashing heroes or how awesome bacteria are—she is a microbiologist after all—she’s taking photos, reading, or talking about classic books and black-and-white movies. She is the author of the historical fantasy series THE MAGIC COLLECTORS and of several fairytale retellings. She is a member of Realm Makers and lives in Alabama.

Find her online at: Website || Blog || Goodreads || Facebook || Newsletter || Amazon

Continue the tour!

Tattered Slippers is a joint release of Twelve Dancing Princess retellings. You can find out more about this release or the other books in the collection here.

You can also participate in the Tattered Slippers Challenge! Just use the Instagram post hashtag below and post your pictures.

Happy Release Day, Carnival of Curses!

Last week I shared some end of summer favorite books, and today I’m sharing my very own summer story! Since we’ve been sorely lacking on fair season this year, I’ve written a dark carnival novella for the next Seasons of Magic installment, Carnival of Curses! It came out yesterday, but I wanted to take this week’s blog post to really spotlight it. I’m so proud of this story, and I think you will enjoy it as well!

Here’s a little more about it:

  1. It’s a frog prince retelling set in contemporary times.
  2. I fell in love with the characters and hope you will, too.
  3. My favorite character is a vampire acrobat named Marisol. She has a pegasus circus pony named Ferdinand, and she was inspired by Avatar’s Ty Lee.

Nell should have known better: kissing frogs will only get you cursed.

High school senior Nell is a pro at hiding what she wants, from her college plans to her feelings. She’s so used to her own lies that she thinks nothing of the one she tells the green boy at the county fair’s kissing booth. But a lie to the green boy is meant to ensnare humans just like her—and trap them in the Fae circus master’s carnival forever.

Alone and forgotten by everyone she knew, Nell has no choice but to find her place in this dangerous, magical new world. But the carnival is more than it seems, and the curse has ensnared many more than just Nell. With time running out before the carnival moves on, can Nell bring them all together to fight back against the dark magic of the Fae?

Or will Nell and her new friends serve the Fae forever?

Carnival of Curses is part of a standalone series of novellas, Seasons of Magic. If you like found family, dark carnivals, and seasonal tales, then you’ll love Selina J. Eckert’s mysterious frog prince retelling. Grab your copy to leap into dangerous performances and fatal secrets today!

You can get a copy on Amazon or other major retailers!

And since you’re here… how about an excerpt???

~~~

Nell clapped and cheered from her place in the bleachers as a line of high school students leading goats paraded through the arena. Kirsty was near the middle, holding a shining silver collar around the neck of a Nubian goat. It was black with white spots, and its long ears flopped with every step.

The line of students stretched from one end of the arena to the other, coming to a stop as they spread out evenly, and each handler raised their goat to a table for the judges to observe. The three judges, ribbons that identified them pinned to their chests, began evaluating the entrants on clipboards.

Mid-clap, Nell froze, and the applause faded from around her. She turned her left hand over and stared at the back. Was her skin… green?

“Hey, Nell!” Sam flopped down on the bleachers next to her. “What did I miss?”

She quickly covered the green spot with her right hand, heart pounding. “They just started. You only missed the parade.”

Sam nodded and started cheering as the judges approached Kirsty, but Nell couldn’t focus. The green was so similar to the color of the green boy’s skin… could he have had something to do with it? Was whatever he had contagious?

The rest of the competition passed in a blur, and she barely even noticed when Kirsty took second place, even when she stood with Sam and cheered along with him.

They met with Kirsty afterwards, and Nell forced herself to smile at her friend. “Congrats, girl! Though you totally should have taken first.”

“Definitely,” Sam agreed.

“Thanks!” Kirsty beamed at them, holding up her red ribbon. Her smile faded, and she cocked her head at Nell. “Everything okay?”

Nell shoved her hands in her pockets, forcing a stiff, wooden smile. “Yeah, of course! Just happy for you.”

“Hmm.”

Sam leaned closer to her. “Are you sure? You look a little… green. Are you feeling sick?”

A wave of cold washed over her. She looked green? Like, not just her hand?

“I’m fine. Listen, I’m gonna run to the bathroom. Meet you guys by the Ferris wheel?”

She ran off before either of them could answer, imagining their bewildered faces behind her. She rushed past the line of women waiting to get into the fancy, air-conditioned restroom, ignoring the disgruntled grumbles and shouts after her. She slid to a stop in front of a mirror, peering at her reflection.

Green. She was turning green.

It had to be the green boy’s fault. What else could it be? He realized she wasn’t going to help him, whatever it was that was wrong, and he cursed her. It was the only explanation.

She had to get him to remove it.

She whirled from the mirror and shoved past the line again, amid more shouts and angry shoves. But there was no time for them, no time for muttered apologies. There was a week left in the fair, and if she couldn’t get the boy to fix her now, she didn’t have much time to find a solution. How many stories had she heard? Wasn’t it true that most curses needed to be broken by the curse-maker? Or a true love’s kiss. But she wasn’t sure she even had one of those.

She pushed her way through the crowd in the direction of the kissing booth, ignoring the spinning lights and tinny music that only seemed to be mocking her now, telling her she was turning into a carnival freak.

She burst through the last line of laughing faces and stumbled to a stop in front of the kissing booth. The boy had been slumped behind the counter, hand propping up his chin, but he straightened when she appeared, smiling coldly.

“Well, well,” he said. “Back to reconsider?” She slammed her hands on the counter and leaned forward. “What did you do to me?”

~~~

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy Carnival of Curses!

Get your copy: Amazon ~ Other retailers

5 Awesome Books for the End of Summer

Wow, where did summer go???

It seems we’re already halfway through August, and I’m a couple weeks behind in getting you a new blog post. My apologies! I could give you all kinds of excuses… or I could give you five fresh book recommendations?

Since we’re wrapping up the summer, let’s take a look at some good summer and end-of-summer stories. I have a mix of different genres here, so hopefully there’s a little something for everyone.

Without further ado, here are 5 great books to close out your summer!

(As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases made through these links. However, I have chosen these books because I read and enjoyed them by purchasing them myself or borrowing through the local library.)

The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson

This is a great summer contemporary! Meet Andie, a politician’s daughter who suddenly finds her summer wide open. So what should she do? How about start a dog walking business? And maybe meet someone new…

The Way You Make Me Feel by Maurene Goo

Sticking with the contemporary theme for a minute, how about prankster Clara and her rival, Rose? When Clara takes things too far at their senior prom, both of them are sentenced to summer working her dad’s food truck. Together. Or else.

This was a delightful story of unexpected friendships and summer jobs.

One S’more Summer by Beth Merlin

Okay, so I may be light on fantasy this week. But we’re switching from YA to adult here.

Gigi is about to lose her crush to her best friend… and she has to be part of the wedding. So to get herself a little distance and perspective, she decides to sign up as a camp counselor at the place where she always felt she belonged: Camp Chinooka. But there’s more there than just an escape there, and Gigi has to find herself and come to terms with her feelings before her whole life unravels.

Of all the books I’m recommending today, this one gives me the biggest end-of-summer vibes. And I can almost smell campfires!

Laid Back Camp

Okay, completely switching gears here, I have a manga I just started. Laid Back Camp is exactly what it sounds like: all about camping, no drama, no stress. But a cute story and characters you can fall in love with.

Honestly, this is one of the most relaxing things I’ve read in a while. If you find you need a break, this may be the book you’re looking for.

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed

This one is a nonfiction story following Cheryl as she hikes the Pacific Crest Trail alone. She talks about her life, what led her to the trail, the trail itself, and how she found herself again by hiking it. It’s a really fascinating story steeped in nature.

And if you like stories like this, I have a bonus story: A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. Like Wild, this book is all about a hiking trip, but it’s along the Appalachian trail and gives you some history of that trail as well. I really enjoyed this story, and it has a VERY unexpected ending… at least to me!

And Remember…

The second Seasons of Magic: Fireflies & Faeries book comes out on August 20th! (Any links to my own books, like Carnival of Curses below, are not affiliate links)

You can pick up your copy of Carnival of Curses on Amazon or these other retailers. If you want some summer fair fun (since all my local fairs were canceled this year), a vampire acrobat, a pegasus circus pony, and a frog-boy, you’ll adore this contemporary fantasy retelling of the Frog Prince!

I had a ton of fun writing it, so I hope you all enjoy reading it.

Until next time, happy reading! 😀