Review: Fooling Around with Cinderella

Fooling Around with Cinderella was generously given to me in exchange for an honest review.  While I am not usually a romance fan unless there is an adventure involved, I do like a quick contemporary romance as long as it it light and fun.  This book was exactly what I wanted.

Synopsis from Amazon:
What happens when the glass slippers pinch Cinderella's toes? When Jaine Andersen proposes a new marketing role to the local amusement park, general manager Dylan Callahan charms her into filling Cinderella's glass slippers for the summer. Her reign transforms Jaine's ordinary life into chaos that would bewilder a fairy godmother. Secretly dating her bad boy boss, running wedding errands for her ungrateful sisters, and defending herself from the park's resident villain means Jaine needs lots more than a comfy pair of shoes to restore order in her kingdom. First in the Storybook Valley series, a blend of sweet romance, chick lit, and fairy tale fun.

I loved the main character, Jaine.  She is a girl many of us can connect to at one time or another in our lives, trying to start her career and create a path for her future while hitting a lot of bumps along the way to finding herself.  She was real.  She made mistakes.  She learned from them and moved forward, even when she wasn't sure about her decisions.  I liked her.  Dylan is her so-called Prince Charming but he has a past that isn't very princely.  He is trying to prove to his family that he has changed and can be a responsible adult.  The setting is an amusement park that reminds me a lot of a park in New Jersey and it fits the storyline perfectly.  There are even some characters in the story who very loosely fit into other roles from Cinderella.  The book was fun and I found myself smiling, laughing, and just generally feeling good as I was reading. This is a great, quick romance that isn't overdone or too deep.  I really enjoyed it and will most likely read the other books that will be added to this series in the future.
                                                                                                                                       

Cover Reveal: Cogling by Jordan Mierek

COGLING

A Steampunk Fairy Tale for Young Adults

who love a little Romance in their Adventures

When fifteen-year-old Edna Mather tears an expensive and unfamiliar pocket watch off her little brother's neck, he crumbles into a pile of cogs right before her eyes. Horrified, Edna flees for help, but encounters Ike, a thief who attempts to steal the watch before he realizes what it is: a device to power Coglings—clockwork changelings left in place of stolen children who have been forced to work in factories.

Desperate to rescue her brother, Edna sets off across the kingdom to the hags' swamp, with Ike in tow. There, they learn Coglings are also replacing nobility so the hags can stage a rebellion and rule over humanity. Edna and Ike must stop the revolt, but the populace believes hags are helpful godmothers and healers. No one wants to believe a lowly servant and a thief, especially when Ike has secrets that label them both as traitors. 

Together, Edna and Ike must make the kingdom trust them or stop the hags themselves, even if Ike is forced to embrace his dark heritage and Edna must surrender her family. 

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COGLING has already gained advanced praise from NY Times Bestselling author Maria V. Snyder!

“This is a fun YA Steampunk novel. It's very different than many other Steampunk stories I've read. Basic plot is Edna's brother is kidnapped by hags and replaced with a "cogling" and she's on a mission to find and rescue her brother. The world is a Victorian-era with a strict class system for the humans and for those with magic. The woman with magic are called hags and the men with magic are orges and they're not nice and are planning to change the system. I really enjoyed learning about the world and the characters are well drawn and engaging.”

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Check out COGLING on GoodReads and Curiosity Quills.  

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Meet the author – Jordan Elizabeth Mierek lives in a dream world.  Sometimes she comes out to do her day job, but most of the time she is writing about her favorite people – her characters!  COGLING is her fourth book.  Her previous steampunk series, the Treasure Chronicles, include TREASURE DARKLY and BORN OF TREASURE.  Her debut novel, ESCAPE FROM WITCHWOOD HOLLOW, is a young adult fantasy-horror.  You can find her short stories in numerous anthologies.  Check out her website, JordanElizabethMierek.com, for contests and bonus stories!

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Review: Once Upon a {Stolen} Time

I love re-imagined fairy tales.  I love to see how authors write them, no matter how subdued or exaggerated or strange.  The creativity that goes into any fairy tale re-write often puts me in awe of the author.  The ideas they come up with are amazing. 

 Once Upon a (Stolen) Time was generously given to me in exchange for an honest review. While this story only has slight hints of an old familiar tale, I had a lot of fun looking for the modernized connections.

I connected with Myra right away because she reminded me of me. I have a huge imagination and, as an adult still love to read about castles and ancient civilizations and the stories behind them.  She has this romantic (and a little naive) view of life and love that is very innocent and she has no plans to settle for less.  Edward, who she sees when she looks back in time through the castle mirror, is also a romantic who wants more out of his life than following in the footsteps of his royal but brutal father.  It turns out that Myra not only sees through time but also has a special connection to the castle.  When she realizes that Edward can see her too, from the year 1415, her life begins to change forever.

This book is easy to fall into and once Myra enters Hue Castle for the first time, gets very interesting.  There are some definite modern undertones that could be compared to Beauty and the Beast but I wouldn't go as far as to call the book a retelling.  I would say however, that this story has an intriguing mystery that even at the end has yet to be completely solved.  I was engaged throughout the entire story and the only element I would change is how Myra and Steve were thrown together which just didn't really fit with the quality of the rest of the story.  I was disappointed to be left with a huge cliffhanger at the end but I can certainly say that I will be desperately awaiting the next book to read about what happens next.

Synopsis from Amazon:
All her life, Myra Farrow has been obsessed with medieval castles—and the kings and princes who once inhabited them. Now, wealthy video game designer Steve Bernard wants her to model for a princess character in his new game. Myra can’t resist his offer, especially when she learns that Steve plans to film inside the mysterious Hue Castle—a cursed, barren, colorless place forbidden to visitors for centuries. But unknown to Myra, her soul is bound to Hue Castle by blood and sorcery. When she enters its doors, she awakens dark powers that will reach through time—stealing her past, torturing her present, and rewriting her future. 
1415… 
Edward Hue, the last of the Hue royal bloodline, has never stood in the sunshine or held a living flower. Cursed from birth to live in darkness and bring death to all he touches, he is at the mercy of his cruel, tyrannical father, who will not rest until he shatters Edward’s soul and makes his son into a diabolical copy of himself. Edward’s one hope is the mysterious woman who haunts his dreams—who will either break his curse and bring him out of the darkness, or destroy him utterly. 
For Myra and Edward, past and future collide in a tale of love, obsession, betrayal, and the hope for redemption.

Review: The Sleeper and The Spindle

This book I fell upon completely accidentally while looking for an audio book for my evening walk.  I honestly don't even remember exactly how I ended up finding it but I'm glad I did.  The cover is absolutely gorgeous! Then, when I read the teaser and realized that Gaiman was doing a book mashup of my least favorite princess and my favorite princess,  I just had to see how it turned out.

I have to say that for a 64 page book, I was pretty impressed.  Not that Neil Gaiman doesn't always impress me, but I wasn't sure what he could pull off in such a short book with what I thought would need a lot more depth and detail.  I was wrong.  This story is exactly what it should be, a very unique fairy tale with a bit of an edge, characters who delightfully stray from the norm, and even though not one of them has a name, we as the reader can figure out exactly who they are, which just adds to the fun.

If you are a fan of Neil Gaiman's brand of writing, this will be a great addition to your library.