Featuring Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Rose Red, and Rapunzel

Inspiration cover; not the real deal. 

The days are slowly creeping closer to Spindle Dreams's release! I'd like to remind anyone who'd like to participate to sign up for the cover reveal (August 1st) and blog tour (August 2nd-9th). Links are below!

Cover Reveal (sign up closes on July 30th).

Blog Tour (sign up closes on July 31st).

~*~

ALSO, I'm very excited to announce that my very first post just went live on Fairy Tale Central! As part of the month celebrating the fairytale Snow White and Rose Red, I completed a book review on Patricia Wrede's version of the tale. Be sure to pop over there to check it out!

This was a super fun month to jump into Fairy Tale Central. Snow White and Rose Red is a lesser known fairytale, but by no means less exciting or fun. Sometimes, I believe it loses too much of its spotlight to Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, just because of the name similarities. However, it is NOT the same tale.

~*~

And by the by, if you're not already aware of the fact, FIVE new Rapunzel retellings will be hitting Amazon in early August! In fact, the release dates for those coincide (unintentionally) with Spindle Dreams's release. If you'd like more information the Golden Braids tour and release dates, Kendra's heading things up (her main blog is here). Sign up for the tour is now closed, I believe, but there's still time to preorder books and get your hands on these lovely tales!

Aren't fairytales and retellings just the coolest thing? *grins*

God bless!

Exiles: Exclusive Excerpt

Ok, so it may or may not be an exclusive excerpt, but I love alliteration. How can you blame me? 

Keep reading, though. This is not a post you'll want to miss.

My friend Jaye L. Knight just released her newest novel! And it all happened on my birthday -- August 11th! How convenient, wouldn't you think? *winks* Exiles is the fourth book in the Christian fantasy series, Ilyon Chronicles, which is basically one of the best fantasy series EVER. I highly recommend to one and all. Read this series. You will not regret it.

Also: LINK TO GIVEAWAY BELOW!

Cover. *drools* Each time Jaye releases the cover art for the next Ilyon book... wow. They just keep getting better. I can't wait to get my hands on this amazing novel.

About the Book
Exiled after their defeat in Samara, the Resistance struggles to find allies in their quest to restore King Balen to his throne and put an end to the emperor’s tyranny. When the crete people refuse to lend their aid, Balen leads a group to Dorland to reason with them and win their support. However, enemies prove to be everywhere, and they find themselves in a fight to keep Dorland from becoming Daican’s latest conquest.

Back in Landale, the arrival of a new enemy forces Trask and Anne to tread more carefully than ever. Tensions are rising, and the enemy is determined to test Anne’s loyalty and root out the location of Trask and the Resistance once and for all.

Feeling trapped within the walls of Valcré, Prince Daniel must contend with an ever-eroding relationship with his father. As their clashes escalate, the situation becomes potentially life threatening when his loyalty is called into question. His sister seems bent on branding him a traitor and actively seeking to condemn him to the fate of those put to death in their father’s new arena. Daniel is certain his father would never execute his only son and heir, but with other forces at work, it might not be that simple.

One small misstep could prove fatal for all.

Available now on Amazon!

Share in the excitement of the release and enter to win a themed giveaway pack! Prizes include an autographed copy of Exiles, a pewter dragon necklace by treasurecast, and a sword letter opener! (Giveaway is open to US residents only. Cannot be shipped internationally.)

A Rafflecopter Giveaway - Click Here

If you happen to be one of those people who have never heard of the Ilyon Chronicles, well, it's your lucky day! Jaye is holding a sale on the first three books on Kindle! The sale lasts until the 14th (tomorrow) so head over to Amazon and get your copies now! 

Well, there you are, folks! *waves goodbye*

*crickets*

Did I forget something?

Oh, right! You all came here for an excerpt. *grins* Ta-da!

Le excerpt:

Leetra crossed her arms and surveyed the gathering. She used to enjoy these parties . . . years ago. As a child, she’d raced around with Talas and their other family and friends getting into all sorts of mischief. Something about the nighttime air, bonfire, and music always put them in a rowdy mood. A smile tugged at her lips when she spotted a couple of her siblings dashing past just as she had once done. One of her little sisters let out a squeal, and she laughed.

But it caught in her throat when she spotted Timothy nearby. She narrowed her eyes. Two young crete women stood talking to him. One, a girl even more petite than Leetra, with the largest and most brilliant green eyes she had ever seen, giggled and gazed at Timothy adoringly. He smiled kindly at them but didn’t appear entirely comfortable. Leetra rolled her eyes with a huff and determined to ignore them, setting her attention on the nearby dancers. Five seconds later, her gaze shifted back to the trio.

She wasn’t jealous. No. Those girls just didn’t know half the man Timothy was. But who cared? She didn’t . . . she really didn’t. She stiffened, her blood zinging through her veins. What if he was doing this purposely to make her jealous? Yet, the thought died instantly, along with her ire. Timothy wouldn’t do that. Falcor might have, but Timothy? Never.

The musicians started a new song. One of her favorites, actually, before memories of Falcor had tainted it. She scowled. She’d sworn never to dance to it again . . . but . . .

She grumbled to herself. Fine. She would save Timothy from an uncomfortable situation and that was it. It wouldn’t mean anything. After this, he was on his own. If he didn’t avoid the girls, that was his problem.

About the Author

Jaye L. Knight is an award-winning author, homeschool graduate, and shameless tea addict with a passion for Christian fantasy. Armed with an active imagination and love for adventure, Jaye weaves stories of truth, faith, and courage with the message that even in the deepest darkness, God’s love shines as a light to offer hope. She has been penning stories since the age of eight and resides in the Northwoods of Wisconsin.

You can connect with Jaye on her website, blog, Facebook, Twitter, and Etsy.

Guest Post: Colors of Lady Dragon, Tela Du

I'm super excited to take part of my friend Kendra's blog tour today for her latest book! I read the first in this series (Water Princess, Fire Prince) and loved it, and I cannot wait to get into this second book. From all that I've seen, it promises to be just as amazing as the first.

But all my fangirling aside... I've invited Kendra over to talk some about the colors of Rizkaland and Lady Dragon, Tela Du. I found out a few years ago that I have a form of synesthesia (which is a blending of the senses) where I think in colors. And since that time, I've been fascinated with colors period, especially how they pertain to my favorite things and how other people see different colors. 

So, let's get started!

A bit about the book:

Book Description: 

Two girls with one face
Two girls with twisted fate
One in purple, one in red
One shall speak the other’s death
Who shall win their final war?
Lady Dragon or Tela Du?

Amber, the Lady Dragon, has been promised a fifty-year reign over Rizkaland and nothing can stop her from claiming it. But when you've lived six thousand years, fifty is such a pitiful number. Only one person can keep her from making this reign permanent - the Tela Du, a girl who shall share Amber's face.

The last thing Petra wants is a magical world interrupting her plans for a normal life, let alone an ultimate battle against the Lady Dragon with only one prophesied survivor. She has her childhood best friend, Reuben, at her side, but she's not sure if he's more of a help or a hindrance right now. Though she'd much prefer to just return home and forget about this whole crazy affair, things change when she discovers that the world has surprising connections to her own family - including her sister who disappeared without a trace two years before. Still, Rizkaland can't possibly expect her to risk her very life, can it?

Add to Goodreads

Buy the Book:

Kindle

Paperback

Kendra's Guest Post

A couple years ago, Kiri wrote a post about how she thinks in colors and images, a post which I found very intriguing because I do pretty much the same thing. Not so much the images part, but very much the colors. I associate people with colors, ideas with colors, even days with colors. Sometimes I can't even quite put my finger on what that color is, but it's still a color. 

The strongest place where this comes into effect is literature - both the stories I read and the stories I write. After reading one book earlier this year, the best way I could describe it to my sister was, "This is a very yellow story. When it comes to my writing, I can quicker tell you the color of a particular character than what they look like. I can tell you the color of a scene, but not necessarily the description of the setting. Kinda frustrating sometimes.

And that's actually what I'm here to talk about - the colors that I associate with Lady Dragon, Tela Du.

First of all, the story as a whole is gold. A rich gold, with streaks of lemon yellow and brush strokes of red. A lot of this is because a good number of the notebooks I used to write LDTD were yellow or red, and a lot of it is because those are the colors I associate with family and sacrifice.

The book is divided into five parts, and each part also has a distinct color.

Part 1 is dark, black and dark gray, with a few glimpses of a some pastel yellow and green.

Part 2 is brighter, with emerald green, rich golds, and some lavender.

Part 3 is also green, but a darker green. And some darker purple.

Part 4 gets dark again, bringing back some black. There is some rich red and gold in this part too, though.

Part 5 has golds and whites, but then turns dark blue and even black for the climax.

And almost every character has their own character.

The titular characters are obvious - Amber, the Lady Dragon, is red and black, while Petra is puple.

Reuben is green, ranging from emerald green to hunter green. 

Granite is multiple shades of gray.

Ashna is pastel colors - pastel blue, pastel green, and pastel yellow. 

Noraeto is steel blue.

Summer is turquoise and brown.

Tyler is tan.

Alphego is white and gold.

Author Bio:

Kendra E. Ardnek is a homeschool graduate who picked up a pen at an early age and never put it down. The eldest of four, she makes her home in the Piney Woods of East Texas with her parents, younger siblings, giant herd of giraffes, and honor guard of nutcrackers. 

Blog:

knittedbygodsplan.blogspot.com 

Official Website:

kendraeardnek.weebly.com

Oh, and today is the last day of the tour that the first book of the series, Water Princess, Fire Prince, will be free on kindle! 

The Rose and the Balloon... Coming Soon!

Hello, all! 

I am very excited to announce the upcoming publication of my very first novel, The Rose and the Balloon. And I'm certain you're all wondering about all of the details surrounding that, so that's what this post is for. 

The planned release date is August 1st. 

I realize that's soon... and it will be so crazy for me, but I think I'm ready for it. There is still a lot left for me to do in order to get this book out on time, so please be praying for me in this endeavor. I am super excited, but feeling also greatly overwhelmed right now.

Not my pictures (credit: Pinterest), but I thought I'd give you a small sample of what the story looked like. 

Where can you help out? I'm glad you asked. You can help me out in three different ways:

FIRST: Interview
I am looking to do a tour of the blogs August 1st-5th following the release. I will be unable to write a number of guest posts since I am on a time crunch, but I welcome any and all interviews. If you would like to host me for an interview on your blog, please fill out the Google Form below. Please fill out the form before July 20th as I will be finalizing the tour at that time and cannot add more people to it. 

SECOND: Cover Reveal
The cover for The Rose and the Balloon is not quite yet complete, but I hope to have that finalized within the fortnight. And I will let you all know soon when that reveal will be happening. So... I am also looking for bloggers willing to participate in that. If interested, please fill out the Google Form below. Again, the deadline for that is July 20th.




THIRD: Book Review
You know what else promotes books? Reviews, of course. I will be sending out six (6) PDF copies of The Rose and the Balloon to six (6) reviewers to be posted within the month of the book's release date. Please note: I am only sending out six copies, and this is a first come first serve basis. The first six reviewers to email me at liannetaimenlore(at)gmail(dot)com will receive a PDF copy of the book to review on their blog. More reviews than that I highly encourage, and ask that you purchase your own copy to review at your own leisure. 

Again... I will not be able to add people to the blog tour after July 20th, so please make certain you've filled out the information before then. 

Thank you all! In the meantime, head on over to Goodreads and add The Rose and the Balloon to your to-read shelf!

God bless!