{Interview} Jenni James, Author of The Faerie Tale Collection Series

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Check out today's review of the first five Faerie Tale Collection books!

There will be 25 books in the Faerie Tale Collection series!


The Faerie Tale Collection is available on nook and Kindle for $2.99 a tale.  
What a great deal!

~*~

Jenni is the mother of seven rambunctious children (including teenagers!). They currently live in New Mexico and a few years ago we moved back to the States after living nine awesome years in the Azores Islands of Portugal and England! Her kids love the USA! 

When she's not writing up a storm, she enjoys reading, acting, portrait painting, directing plays, cooking, planning eleborate parties and chasing her kids around the house.

Jenni James has written five books in the Faerie Tale Collection series, five in The Jane Austen Diaries, one middle-grade novel entitled PRINCE TENNYSON, and three adult novels in the Eternal Realm Series.

Visit Jenni on her website, blog, Facebook, and Twitter!

An interview with 
author Jenni James

Which fairy tale would you most like to spend 24 hours inside of, and which the least?

Ooh, I think sneaking down into the magical kingdom with The Twelve Dancing Princesses would be amazing! Can you imagine dancing with the princes all night? So much fun! My least favorite would be Snow White… I think. That would be some scary stuff there. Lol!

If you could merge any two fairy tales (introduce the characters, combine the worlds, etc), which would they be and what would result?

Lol! I’ve just done it! And I loved it! In my version of Hansel and Gretel, she’s a hidden princess from the enemy Larkein kingdom and Hansel saves her. They fall in love and eventually marry and have children, nestled in their cozy cottage. Their children are Jack and Jill and are the main two characters from Jack in the Beanstalk. They must go back to Larkein to meet the witch who can help them and face the giant who has Jack’s fiancé and the witch’s baby—Verity. 

Now get this: Verity has a magical gift—she can turn things into gold. So when they defeat the witch and the giant, Jack brings Verity to Hansel and Gretel to raise. They do, and her story will be a book that will come out this summer called: The Princess With the Golden Touch and then Verity’s daughter will be Little Red Riding Hood, with Gretel as the grandmother. All of them will be hidden princesses, with ties to Larkein and living in the same village of cottages. So, so much fun!

You have a fairy godmother who is granting you one perfect day: what does that entail? Perfect day?

Going on an adventure with my seven kids. We’ve done a lot of stuff together, and I think having an opportunity to see something we’ve never seen before would be awesome. Like, Sicily or Egypt or Moscow… You know… something cool!

Your favorite obscure (or less well-known) fairy tale?

King Thrushbeard is the most fascinating to me, and I’m anxious to rewrite that one. There are some definite flaws in it, that I hope to smooth over and show both the king and queen’s growth.

QUICKFIRE FUN STUFF:

This or That?

Seven League Boots or Glass Slippers? 

I’m a glass slippers girl all the way!

Castle or Cottage?

Ooh… Merk. This one is hard. I would say castle of course, just for all the lovely parties and balls I could throw, but while living in England and Portugal we saw lots of castles, and they’re just massive! Not really the most family friendly places to live… cold too! So, I would go with a nice big cottage, with higher ceilings than most cottages have.

Talking Birds or Talking Mice?

Bird definitely.

Hans Christian Andersen or the Brothers Grimm?

Hans Christian Andersen all the way!

Would You Rather...

Ride in a pumpkin carriage (sticky) or climb a hair-rope (tiring) to get where you're going?

Just to say I actually did it. I mean, it’s a MAGIC pumpkin, come on! That would be fun, I don’t care how dirty you get.

Face 3 Billy Goats Gruff or 3 Bears from Goldilocks?

Eeep. Well the three bears seemed nicer. I’ll go with them.

Drink an Alice-ish "Drink Me" potion or eat part of a witch's gingerbread house?

Ooh… My Hansel and Gretel candy house weaved a spell over them and made them forget who they were, etc. I’ll go with Alice’s Drink Me potion. At least I’d always have my wits about me.

Be able to spin straw into gold or have precious gems drop from your lips when you speak?

Straw into gold. Yeesh. It would get annoying always coughing up jewels. ;)

Thank you so much, Jenni!
I love the way the next batch of fairy tales will remain "in the family" and all tie together.
I'm looking forward to them even more now!

  ~*~

O F F I C I A L   I N F O:

(series information)

Title:  BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
Author: Jenni James

Release Date: Out June 4, 2012

Publisher: StoneHouse Ink

Received: Purchased

SUMMARY:

A prince by day and a wolf by night— 

Prince Alexander has been turned into a werewolf and has one year to find someone to love the beast and break the spell, or he will be a wolf forever. He has nearly given up achieving the impossible, knowing no girl would ever fall in love with such a monster. 

Just when he is about to abdicate the throne to his cousin, he meets Cecelia Hammerstein-Smythe, while a wolf, and begins to hope for the first time in months. Can he balance both worlds as a human and beast, gaining the love and trust of a girl who has every reason to despise him? 

Cecelia detests the prince. She only knows Alexander as the arrogant monarch—the tyrant who has made her life miserable—though perhaps he's changed right before her eyes. He's not as full of himself as he once was. The prince is gentle now... but then again, so is the beast.

Title:  SLEEPING BEAUTY
Author: Jenni James

Release Date: Out Dec. 1, 2012

Publisher: StoneHouse Ink

Received: Purchased

SUMMARY:

The sleeping girl has no idea she is asleep. 

After Aleyna witnessed the cruel deaths of her family, she was put to sleep by Ezralon the unicorn. He has been keeping her safe, hidden in the forest, until her true prince could come and rescue her. 

While Aleyna is protected in the forest, her spirit walks the halls of her ruined, deserted castle in a dream-like existence, believing everything is still perfect. However, she is halted in this state—almost as if time were frozen—until the prince awakens her. 

Prince Darién of Lybrooke Court loves a challenge as much as the next man, but believes it will be a fool’s errand to rescue a ghost who is already dead! He’s convinced no one could have survived sleeping thirty years, so what is the point of rescuing a girl who is quite content to haunt on her own? 

Of course, if Darién wasn’t so afraid of ghouls, this whole thing could be much easier to fathom...

Title:  RUMPLESTILTSKIN
Author: Jenni James

Release Date: Out Jan. 31, 2013

Publisher: StoneHouse Ink

Received: Borrowed

SUMMARY:

A young prince crippled by a witch— 

When Fredrico watches his cruel family mourn his false death and announce to the kingdom their cursed prince has died, is the day he truly embraces his new life and new name Rumplestiltskin. How could he be known by anything else? —His skin is completely rumpled and stilted now. He hides away from the king and queen and grows up as a crippled servant in the castle. 

Years later, his younger brother, Marcus, becomes king and humors Aubrynn’s father when he boasts that his daughter can turn straw into gold. Intrigued Marcus locks the distraught maiden in a tower and declares to the kingdom that if she can transform the straw, he will marry her, but if she cannot he will kill her father. 

Rumplestiltskin is determined to help Aubrynn save her father and marry the king. Now, if only he can remember to keep his real identity a secret and not fall in love with her himself…

Title:  CINDERELLA
Author: Jenni James

Release Date: Out Feb. 18, 2013

Publisher: StoneHouse Ink

Received: Borrowed

SUMMARY:

A girl with a secret and a prince on a mission 

When Prince Anthony spies Eleanoria Woodston outside her family home dressed as a servant, he knows something is amiss. Pretending to be John, his cousin’s outrider, he decides to take matters into his own hands and figure out why Ella hasn’t been seen at court. And more importantly why the daughter of one of the wealthiest families in the kingdom dresses like a pauper. 

Ella has had her own bout of trials, including losing her beloved father and facing the wrath and jealousy of her stepmother and stepsisters. Becoming a servant doesn’t seem all that bad until the handsome John comes into her life, now he appears to be upsetting everything. Never before has she been so unsettled. Just his presence is making her dream of a life beyond this one. 

When John invites Ella to the ball and she grudgingly accepts, he wonders if he’s truly losing his mind. How would he ever pull off pretending to be John while obviously hosting the ball as Anthony? Especially when the stubborn girl has made it quite obvious she would never attend a ball with a snobbish prince.

Title:  HANSEL AND GRETEL
Author: Jenni James

Release Date: Out March 14, 2013

Publisher: StoneHouse Ink

Received: Borrowed

SUMMARY:

A hidden princess and the boy who saves her life— 

Hansel's father finds a child lost and alone during a violent thunderstorm. After bringing her in from the tempest, he and his son are startled to discover that she is Gretel, a princess of Larkein--the enemy kingdom their own king has just destroyed. Fearful for her life, Hansel pleads with his father to save her. He believes they can make Gretel good by teaching her their ways. His kindhearted father agrees, but with great trepidation. 

Ten years later, Gretel has grown into a lovely young woman who both infuriates and drives Hansel to distraction while he attempts to not lose his heart to her. When the Larkein witch comes back in the guise of a beautiful woman and marries their father, everything is set into a tailspin. Now they must figure out their new stepmother's plans and prevent her from destroying them all before it is too late.

JACK AND THE BEANSTALK, SNOW WHITE, THE FROG PRINCESS, and THE TWELVE DANCING PRINCESSES will be the next two published titles in the series!