I've previously reviewed Alethea Kontis' novella BLOOD AND WATER, her debut novel ENCHANTED, interviewed author Alethea Kontis, and interviewed ENCHANTED cover designer Christine Kettner!
Check out Alethea's Flash Fiction piece "Well Behaved Mermaids Rarely Make Fairy Tales!"
Win a SIGNED COPY of both ENCHANTED and HERO at the bottom of this post!
Check out today's GUEST POST, "Families in Fiction," with Alethea!
Win a SIGNED COPY of both ENCHANTED and HERO at the bottom of this post!
Check out today's GUEST POST, "Families in Fiction," with Alethea!
O P E N I N G L I N E:
(pg. 1, US ARC edition)
You may be able to tell from all the aforementioned posts done previously with Alethea Kontis that I love her and her novels. ENCHANTED was such a great, fresh, unique fairy tale retelling. I've read it at least three times now, and I really, really like it. And you know what? HERO blows it out of the water. ENCHANTED who? It's nothing in comparison to HERO. That's saying something! It's also a completely different beast, less fairy tale and more original fantasy. There just...aren't even words. Trust me: it is so good.
 |
| Perhaps my favorite quote in the entire book! |
Saturday is all about action, adventure, excitement. She could care less about flirting with boys or wearing the perfect ballgown. When she winds up with her own tale to tell, she's right in her element. She's also thrown-off guard, because she wasn't expecting to find herself trapped and mistaken for her trouble-making brother. She also never expected to fall in love, least of all with a guy like Peregrine. The romance builds perfectly. There's not a case of insta-love, and it wouldn't have worked if there had been. Saturday just isn't that type of girl. She works together with Peregrine to find a way out of their situation, and they don't always like one another, leading to a relationship that takes them both by surprise.
~*~
C O V E R D E S I G N:
Welllllllll Saturday wouldn't really wear a pretty dress. It wouldn't be at all practical for all she goes through in a day! So it doesn't quite make SENSE. It does, however, match ENCHANTED. There's also a surprise in the curling design around the title (that breathes fire) that's story-related. Love that addition!
And Saturday would totally know how to rock a sword!
And Saturday would totally know how to rock a sword!
~*~
O F F I C I A L I N F O:
Title: HERO
Author: Alethea Kontis
Release Date: Oct. 1, 2013
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Received: For Review (BEA Copy)
Received: For Review (BEA Copy)
SUMMARY:
Rough and tumble Saturday Woodcutter thinks she's the only one of her sisters without any magic—until the day she accidentally conjures an ocean in the backyard. With her sword in tow, Saturday sets sail on a pirate ship, only to find herself kidnapped and whisked off to the top of the world. Is Saturday powerful enough to kill the mountain witch who holds her captive and save the world from sure destruction? And, as she wonders grumpily, "Did romance have to be part of the adventure?" As in Enchanted, readers will revel in the fragments of fairy tales that embellish this action-packed story of adventure and, yes, romance.
My favorite fairy tale writer, Alethea Kontis, pulls off another slam dunk with HERO, the second of her stories about the Woodcutter sisters. HERO is a gender-bending, swash-buckling tale... Saturday is a strong and willful girl with plenty of heart (plus some added snark). Alethea has a knack for reminding readers why many of us love fairy tales to begin with. In this entry we are once again given a delightful story with some obvious (and some not-so-obvious) nods to classic tales... but her overlying story and characters... are wholly unique and distinguishable – not to mention they have so much more personality. - Jenna {does} Books Giveaway of ARC 'til Sept 30!
There is hardly a fairy-tale or gender trope that Kontis doesn’t turn on
its head, and readers don’t need to know about Hercules cleaning out the Augean
Stables to find Saturday’s impossible task of cleaning the witch’s bird’s nest
both hilarious and revolting... readers will await her next with
joyful anticipation. -
Published May 8, 2012
It isn't easy being the rather overlooked and unhappy youngest sibling to sisters named for the other six days of the week. Sunday’s only comfort is writing stories, although what she writes has a terrible tendency to come true.
When Sunday meets an enchanted frog who asks about her stories, the two become friends. Soon that friendship deepens into something magical. One night Sunday kisses her frog goodbye and leaves, not realizing that her love has transformed him back into Rumbold, the crown prince of Arilland—and a man Sunday’s family despises.
The prince returns to his castle, intent on making Sunday fall in love with him as the man he is, not the frog he was. But Sunday is not so easy to woo. How can she feel such a strange, strong attraction for this prince she barely knows? And what twisted secrets lie hidden in his past - and hers?
Alethea Kontis
New York Times bestselling author Alethea Kontis is a princess, a goddess, a force of nature, and a mess. She’s known for screwing up the alphabet, scolding vampire hunters, turning garden gnomes into mad scientists, and making sense out of fairy tales.Alethea is the co-author of Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark-Hunter Companion, and penned the AlphaOops series of picture books. Her short fiction, essays, and poetry have appeared in a myriad of anthologies and magazines. She has done multiple collaborations with Eisner winning artist J.K. Lee, including The Wonderland Alphabet and Diary of a Mad Scientist Garden Gnome. Her debut YA fairy tale novel, Enchanted, won the Gelett Burgess Children’s Book Award in 2012 and was nominated for both the Andre Norton Award and the Audie Award in 2013.
Born in Burlington, Vermont, Alethea now lives in Northern Virginia with her Fairy Godfamily. She makes the best baklava you’ve ever tasted and sleeps with a teddy bear named Charlie.
Sail Away on the
Fairy Tale Adventure Tour*
*Family Welcome
Sept 22 - LAUNCH
- Celebration on Deal Sharing Aunt
Sept 24 - Interview with Miss Print
Sept 25 - Interview with Carina Olsen
- The Grandfather Pirate on Living a Goddess Life
- Meet the Inspiration Part I on The Wonderings of One Person
- The Grandfather Pirate on Living a Goddess Life
- Meet the Inspiration Part I on The Wonderings of One Person
Sept 27 – Families in Lit on Leeana Me
- "My Favorite Bit" guest essay (with Cat Valente) - Mary Robinette Kowal
- "The Big Idea" John Scalzi's blog
- My Bookshelf on Mel's Shelves
- Did You See? on Cu's eBook Giveaways
- My Bookshelf on Mel's Shelves
- Did You See? on Cu's eBook Giveaways
Oct 5 - Hero LAUNCH PARTY at One More Page Books in Arlington, VA
Oct 7 - Character interview with Saturday Woodcutter at I Smell Sheep
Oct 7 - Character interview with Saturday Woodcutter at I Smell Sheep
- Craft "Stealing from the Best" on
Oct 10-15 - GRAND FINALE
Tour-Wide Giveaway
Sept 22 - Oct 17
Fairy Tale Gift Basket (US only): Signed copies of both Enchantment and Hero by Alethea Kontis plus swag!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Comments
Post a Comment
Thanks for taking the time to stop and comment! I appreciate it more than I can say. I try to respond to each one!