{A Twist in the Tail} The fairy tales and magic behind Sandhya Menon's St. Rosetta's Academy Series -- and enter to win 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT PINKY!

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Love fairy tales and mythology?
Fans of mermaids, dragons, unicorns, and other mythical creatures?
Enjoy when a beloved classic tale is retold?
A Twist in the Tail Thursdays features all this and more!

If you tell me a book is inspired by a fairy tale or a fairy tale retelling, I get instant grabby hands and need it in my life. I don't like blind buying books because I've bought so many boring books in the past, but every time I see a new retelling I will auto-buy it blind, questions unasked. When I heard that Sandhya Menon was going to publish a series inspired by fairy tales, I started hyperventilating. I had read and enjoyed all of her contemporary genres, but contemporary fantasy with fairy tales? Gimme, gimme, gimme!

The first book, OF CURSES AND KISSES, came out earlier this year, and you can read my review here. The second book, OF PRINCES AND PROMISES, comes out on February 1st, 2021, and I'm already really excited for it.

I really enjoyed the way Menon twisted fairy tales into modern day life. Why can't fantasy exist for real, right here, right now? Obviously, if you are in modern times, it's less believable if people are turning into beasts, frogs, etc. So you break it down and don't take it so literally. In OF CURSES AND KISSES, His Lordship Grey Emerson is huge and cuts a hulking figure that others don't want to mess around with. They're very intimidated by him based on his size. That's one way to work around a "Beast" character when you're retelling Beauty and the Beast.

I also really loved the way the rose and the curse were inserted into the story and became such a integral part of everything. There is a family feud between Grey and our main character, Princess Jaya, and legend of a curse that may or may not be real. We're treated to chapters from the POVs of both main characters, Jaya and Grey, getting into their heads and seeing their suspicions about one another. Both are dealing with their own issues, and due to the scope of the family feud, neither knows the way their own family has been portrayed by the other. The Rao are mad about a stolen ruby, whereas the Emersons believe the ruby is cursed and that there is a prophecy about the family's downfall...a downfall that Grey believes now falls directly upon his shoulders. The ruby comes back into play as well, and it's actually one of my favorite elements of the story. I love when there are small moments from retellings brought into new works and rendered in original fashions. There is a moment before the book begins when Jaya asks her father for a rose when he goes on a trip, and he comes back with a gorgeous necklace that has a rose made of small ruby petals. It adds moments from the fairy tale into the story and the speculation as to whether or not the necklace is part of the curse as rubies begin falling off added the whimsy I love and elevated the novel from being something we'd seen before.

I'm really excited to read OF PRINCES AND PAUPERS next year, a retelling of The Frog Prince. We don't know much about it yet and review copies won't be available just yet for further exploring, but we do have a summary and will soon hopefully have a cover -- Simon and Schuster has just this month begun revealing spring 2021 covers on social media, so my fingers are crossed to see it soon! [I will admit I was hoping it would happen this week to celebrate PINKY, lol.] The summary mentions "a mysterious pot of hair gel, with the power to alter the wearer into whatever his heart desires." When Rahul uses the gel, he becomes "debonair, handsome, and charming," complete with a new position on the high school pecking order. But will he change too much? I can't wait to see how the story plays out and how other aspects of the myth come into play.

I'm also excited to see what other fairy tales might be introduced next into the world of St. Rosetta's  Academy and can't wait to own them all!

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If you are able to, please purchases a copy of 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT PINKY from indie-owned Wellesley Books, who hosted Sandhya Menon's virtual launch party for PINKY earlier this week!

You can order online through Bookshop and Libro.fm -- the store will receive a portion of the proceeds and it will help so much!


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You also have a chance to WIN A COPY of PINKY below -- it's truly the perfect summer read! It takes place during Pinky and Samir's summer vacation. I don't know about you, but personally, I love reading books that take place in "real time." I loved this book so much that I've already read it twice, and now I want you to have a chance to read it as well!

Enter below!

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O F F I C I A L   I N F O:

Title:  OF CURSES AND KISSES

Author: Sandhya Menon

Release Date: February 18, 2020

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

 

SUMMARY:

From the New York Times bestselling author of WHEN DIMPLE MET RISHI comes the first novel in a brand-new series set at an elite international boarding school, that’s a contemporary spin on Beauty and the Beast.

Will the princess save the beast?

For Princess Jaya Rao, nothing is more important than family. When the loathsome Emerson clan steps up their centuries-old feud to target Jaya’s little sister, nothing will keep Jaya from exacting her revenge. Then Jaya finds out she’ll be attending the same elite boarding school as Grey Emerson, and it feels like the opportunity of a lifetime. She knows what she must do: Make Grey fall in love with her and break his heart. But much to Jaya’s annoyance, Grey’s brooding demeanor and lupine blue eyes have drawn her in. There’s simply no way she and her sworn enemy could find their fairy-tale ending…right?

His Lordship Grey Emerson is a misanthrope. Thanks to an ancient curse by a Rao matriarch, Grey knows he’s doomed once he turns eighteen. Sequestered away in the mountains at St. Rosetta’s International Academy, he’s lived an isolated existence—until Jaya Rao bursts into his life, but he can't shake the feeling that she’s hiding something. Something that might just have to do with the rose-shaped ruby pendant around her neck…

As the stars conspire to keep them apart, Jaya and Grey grapple with questions of love, loyalty, and whether it’s possible to write your own happy ending. 

O F F I C I A L   I N F O:

Title:  OF PRINCES AND PROMISES

Author: Sandhya Menon

Release Date: February 1, 2021

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

 

SUMMARY:

Caterina LaValle is determined to show she’s still the queen of St. Rosetta’s Academy. Sure, her crown may be slightly askew after her ex-boyfriend, Alaric, cheated on her, but she’s a LaValle. She’ll find a way to march right back in there, her hands clutching the strings to the whole puppet show. This time, she’s going to be untouchable.

Rahul Chopra knows that moment he shared with Caterina LaValle at the winter formal meant something. Surely she feels it, too. He’s a little uncertain how someone like him (socially inept to a point way past “adorkable”) could fit into her world, but he’s loved Caterina for years. He knows they’ll find a way.

When Caterina finds out Alaric is taking a supermodel to the upcoming gala, she knows she cannot arrive without the perfect date. But the thought of taking another superficial St. R’s boy exhausts her. The solution? Sweet-but-clueless Rahul Chopra and a mysterious pot of hair gel, with the power to alter the wearer into whatever his heart desires.

When Rahul tries it, he transforms instantly into RC—debonair, handsome, and charming. But transformation comes with a price: As Rahul enjoys his new social standing, the line between his two personas begins to blur. Will he give up everything, including Caterina, to remain RC? Or will this unlikely pair find their way back to each other? 

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****Giveaway*****

You could win...

-  A copy of 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT PINKY by Sandhya Menon!

This giveaway is INTERNATIONAL
wherever Book Depository ships!

You must be at least 13 years old to enter or have a parent's permission!

Winner will be emailed and must respond within 48 hours, or a new winner will be chosen.

Enter now!

...Stop by tomorrow for another chance to win, and check out yesterday's MAKE UP BREAK UP Waiting on Wedneday post and review of THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT SWEETIE for another chance to win!

You may have also missed these posts:

*Street team interview with Sandhya Menon
*A Twist in the Tail Thursday featuring  the mythology in PINKY

 *Learn more about Mismatched-- an upcoming Netflix film centered around our beloved couple Dimple and Rishi!

*{Review} AS KISMET WOULD HAVE IT -- and read it now for FREE!

*{Review} LOVE AT FIRST FIGHT -- and read it now for FREE!

*{Review} WHEN DIMPLE MET RISHI

{Top Ten Tuesday} Ten Things I LOVE About Sandhya Menon

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