"To find out what a story's really about,' the Librarian said,

'you don't ask the writer. You ask the reader."


- SNOW & ROSE by Emily Winfield Martin


Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Review: THROUGH THE WOODS by Emily Carroll (YA Graphic Novel)


by Emily Carroll
Release date: July 15th, 2014
Published by: Margaret K. McElderry Books (Simon & Schuster)
Genre: Young Adult Graphic Novel - Fairytale
Format: Hardback, Paperback, eBook
Format read: Paperback I purchased.


SUMMARY

A fantastically dark and timeless graphic debut, for fans of Grimm Tales, The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and the works of Neil Gaiman 

'It came from the woods. Most strange things do.'

Five mysterious, spine-tingling stories follow journeys into (and out of?) the eerie abyss.

These chilling tales spring from the macabre imagination of acclaimed and award-winning comic creator Emily Carroll.

Come take a walk in the woods and see what awaits you there.






MY REVIEW

The most hauntingly beautiful book I have ever seen! The illustrations alone will creep into your brain and burrow in for nightmares to come. The writing and dialogue has a way of whispering right into your ear, giving chills and everlasting goosebumps. I don't think I will ever be able to convey into appropriate words how brilliant this graphic novel is. Emily Carroll has upped my fairytale expectations to a point that I will probably never be able to find another novel that will captivate like this.

First, I must gush over the book's cover and its illustrations; the cover effectively sets the tone to the stories and will draw you in whether or not you want to be. The woods are enchanting and inviting, just look at those dead white trees on the cover - they are raised and textured, and if you look closer, you can see claws branching out to grab at you. You will be captivated by each story; and you will probably skim through the whole book needing to see the stories before you can actually bring yourself to actually read them. That's the beauty of this graphic novel, you don't have to read it in order to feel the eeriness. The words, the dialogue, adds to the horror, suspense and thrill.

There are five short stories. But the one that spoke to me the most and will forever give me chills is the second one called A Lady's Hands are Cold... it reminded me of Edgar Allen Poe's short story, The Tell-Tale Heart.  A girl's father marries her off and is sent to go live in her groom's ornate home. Her handmaids dress her richly and she only sees her husband at dinner. Every night she goes to her room and hears an eerie voice, a woman's voice singing the saddest tune, throughout the house - the walls, the floors. After a few nights she is overcome by the woman's grief and goes to investigate where it is coming from... now, let your imagination run. It will not compare to what unfolds for this girl.

And then the ending, the 'conclusion' of the entire book, is a story on its own too. It is by far my favorite part of the book since it seems to be an obvious nod to Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf. Yes, the entire book does have an influence from this fairytale as well, but here, here is where it all starts and ends, and it is truly brilliant!

All who love graphic novels, fairytales and/or horror chilling stories will truly appreciate everything about Through the Woods - the quality, the details, the storytelling - these stories will linger on your mind for years to come...  a picture book like no other.



ABOUT THE AUTHOR - Emily Carroll

"My name is Emily Carroll, and I was born in June of 1983. I grew up in London (Ontario) but moved to Vancouver for work after graduating Sheridan College's Classical Animation program. 
I have since moved back to Ontario, and now live in Stratford with my wife, Kate Craig. We have a very large cat.

My comics have appeared in several anthologies, such as The Anthology Project V2, Explorer: The Mystery Boxes, kus! #9, Little Heart, Creepy #9 (Dark Horse), Fairy Tale Comics (First Second), The Witching Hour (Vertigo), and others. 
My first book, Through the Woods, a collection of short horror stories, is being published by Margaret K. McElderry Book in July 2014, and be Faber and Faber in the UK. "


Monday, August 11, 2014

A NEW 50/50 BOOK OUTLET SALE!!!


Bumbles and Fairy-Tales has teamed up with Book Outlet
to bring you the latest updates and sales that Book Outlet has to offer!


50% off ALL SUSPENSE Titles!!!

The 50/50 sale is where 50 books are marked down 50% - 
this sale changes every Monday and runs throughout the week! 
Be sure to check the link every Monday for new books at 50% off! items!!!

This sale starts today, August 11th and will end on August 18th at midnight.

Book Outlet U.S. / Book Outlet Canada

Bumbles and Fairy-Tales is not responsible for any products, items, sales, etc. made by Book Outlet. 
We are just offering an easier way to promote a great online bookstore for a small compensation. 


Happy shopping!!!

Giveaway: FIND MY WAY HOME by Michele Summers (A)


by Michele Summers
Release date: July 1st, 2014
Published by: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Genre: Adult Romance
Format: Paperback, eBook


SUMMARY

Everyone knows that money can't buy happiness. The promise of money is even worse. Especially for a small town designer with big dreams. Bertie Anderson is finding out anticipation only buys trouble. When the offer of $150,000 is dropped into her lap for designing one house, she dumps her dreams of leaving town and gets to work. If only she wasn't so distracted by her hubbalicious client. Why would an ex-pro tennis player move to tiny Harmony, NC?

Keith Morgan is wondering the same thing. Sure, he needs a safe place to raise his daughter, away from the party lifestyle of his past. But does it have to be in a crazy, little town where everyone knows his business? What's worse is his aunt has given him an ultimatum: get married in three months or risk losing his little girl. Finding a woman is no problem. Parades of them show up at his house like the paparazzi. The problem is he only has eyes for Bertie, his quirky, curvy, maddening designer. And he couldn't marry her, because this go round he needs to play it safe...and Bertie is anything but safe!



GIVEAWAY


*Bumbles and Fairy-Tales is not to be held responsible for any unclaimed, lost, stolen, damaged, etc. prizes. 


ABOUT THE AUTHOR - Michele Summers

Hey there. Hope you get a chance to stop by my website: www.michelesummers.com or check me out in the bookstores. My new series, Harmony Homecomings will be hitting the bookshelves on July 1, 2014. First one up is Find My Way Home, featuring a very cute and talented interior designer (of course close to my heart!) named Bertie who lives in the small town of Harmony, North Carolina and desperately wants to get out and move to a big city to grow her business. She's only 3 weeks away from her goal when Keith Morgan, ex-professional tennis player makes her an offer she can't refuse by re-doing the old Victorian he just bought for his daughter and himself. 
Check it out for a few good laughs and discover how Keith and Bertie combat their attraction to each other while trying to find their way home. 
Hope you enjoy it!


Excerpt and Giveaway: FIRST & FOREVER (The Crescent Chronicles #4) by Alyssa Rose Ivy (NA)



The Crescent Chronicles #4
by Alyssa Rose Ivy
Release day: August 11th, 2014
Published by: Self-published
Genre: New Adult Paranormal Romance
Format: eBook


SUMMARY

Ever wonder what Levi was thinking in FLIGHT? Find out in the two Levi POV novellas FIRST & FOREVER. This combined edition includes both FIRST (previously released) and FOREVER, a brand new novella.This edition also includes the bonus short story: The Royal Wedding.

FIRST
Levi's got it all. He's a paranormal prince with more money and power than he knows what to do with, but something is missing — a mate. He only has until college graduation to find her. 

Allie's perfect but she wants nothing to do with him. 
When attraction becomes something more, will he take a chance and show her who he really is or will he lose everything?

FOREVER
Levi's almost out of time. Allie's the one, he knows it in every grain of his being, but how can he make her see it? 

Desperate to keep Allie safe and at his side, he takes the biggest risk of his life. 
Reckless or not there is nothing he wouldn't do to keep her with him

EXCERPT

We walked off into the darkness, and I held her hand firmly in my own. I’d never been a big hand holder, but it’s like I needed to have hers in mine. I needed to touch her constantly, and I wanted her to know she was always safe with me—even if I was far from safe to most anyone else.
She tugged on my hand, and I gladly followed her down closer to the water.
She took in another deep breath. “There is nothing like the beach at night.”
“You like it at night, too? I was worried you wouldn’t like it without the sun.” I wondered if I was unique in craving the quiet shadows of the dark beach.
“I like the beach during the day, but I love it at night. There is just something about listening to the waves in the darkness and the soft glow of the stars reflecting off the water.”
“Yeah. It’s nice.” I moved behind her, and she leaned into me. We stood that way for several minutes before I turned her to look at me.
She looked like a dream standing there in the glimmering of the moonlight. I studied her face, looking for a sign that she was something more than the beautiful human that had attracted me from the moment we met. Every part of me knew how significant she was to me, but I wanted more proof. “You’re so beautiful. So unbelievably beautiful…” I trailed off as my lips gave in to what they had wanted to do all day.


GIVEAWAY

a Rafflecopter giveaway



THE CRESCENT CHRONICLES



ABOUT THE AUTHOR - Alyssa Rose Ivy

Alyssa Rose Ivy is a New Adult and Young Adult author who loves to weave stories with romance and a southern setting. Although raised in the New York area, she fell in love with the South after moving to New Orleans for college. After years as a perpetual student, she turned back to her creative side and decided to write. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and two young children, and she can usually be found with a cup of coffee in her hand.

Goodreads / Website / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest



Friday, August 8, 2014

BOOK OUTLET's Sunny Weekend Deal!!!


Bumbles and Fairy-Tales has teamed up with Book Outlet
to bring you the latest updates and sales that Book Outlet has to offer!


Book Outlet's current SUNNY WEEKEND SALE is... 


25% off a selection of Kid's Activity Books!!!

Over 1,000 titles to choose from (coloring, sticker, doodling, etc.)!
(This sale does EXCLUDE "Scratch & Dent" product.)

This sale starts today, August 8th and will end on Monday, August 11th at noon.

Book Outlet U.S. / Book Outlet Canada

Bumbles and Fairy-Tales is not responsible for any products, items, sales, etc. made by Book Outlet. 
We are just offering an easier way to promote a great online bookstore for a small compensation. 


Happy shopping!!!

Thursday, August 7, 2014

Cover Reveal: BONE DEEP by Kim O'Brien (YA)


by Kim O'Brien
Expected release date: March 2015
Published by: Spencer Hill Press
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary (Mystery)
Format: Paperback, eBook


SUMMARY

When Paige Patterson travels to Arizona to spend the summer with her archaeologist father, she expects answers. Why did her parents divorce? Why did her father choose his career over family? She doesn't expect to be reunited with her best friend Emily Linton, a girl she has always admired and secretly wanted to emulate, or to find herself falling for the project manager’s son, Jalen Yazzi.

But the summer takes a terrible turn when Emily vanishes. As the police struggle for answers, Paige sets out to find the truth.

The search takes Paige from the Cliffside ruins of prehistoric Native Americans to the Navajo Nation to the horrifying possibility that the answer is much closer to home. Emily, it turns out, was not the only one good at hiding things.

Her father has no alibi for the night Emily disappeared. An intern with the motive insists he’s innocent. And Jalen has some secrets of his own.

Old bones might not be the only things buried in the ruins. As Paige digs deeper into Emily’s disappearance, she realizes that uncovering the truth may cost her everything — 
even her life.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR - Kim O'Brien

Kim O’Brien grew up in an old Victorian house in Bronxville, NY. Her mother loved telling her bedtime stories, especially ones about the ghost in their attic. Kim not only believed the house was haunted but also fell in love with books and the art of storytelling. 

At Emory University in Atlanta, Kim earned a B.A. in psychology. She then attained a M.F.A in writing from Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, NY. She worked for many years as a writer, editor, and speechwriter for IBM before becoming a full time fiction writer. She lives in Texas with her husband, daughters, and four-legged friend Daisy. 

Kim is the author of eight inspirational romances and seven non-fiction children’s books. She loves to hear from her readers and can be found at www.kimobrienbooks.com/, Facebook, and Twitter (kimobri).



Review: MORTAL DANGER (Immortal Game #1) by Ann Aguirre (YA)


Immortal Game #1
by Ann Aguirre
Release date: August 5th, 2014
Published by: Feiwel & Friends (Macmillan)
Genre: Young Adult Paranormal Romance
Format: Hardback, eBook
Format read: ARC received from the publisher. 


SUMMARY
Revenge is a dish best served cold.

Edie Kramer has a score to settle with the beautiful people at Blackbriar Academy. Their cruelty drove her to the brink of despair, and four months ago, she couldn't imagine being strong enough to face her senior year. But thanks to a Faustian compact with the enigmatic Kian, she has the power to make the bullies pay. She's not supposed to think about Kian once the deal is done, but devastating pain burns behind his unearthly beauty, and he's impossible to forget.

In one short summer, her entire life changes, and she sweeps through Blackbriar, prepped to take the beautiful people down from the inside. A whisper here, a look there, and suddenly... bad things are happening. It's a heady rush, seeing her tormentors get what they deserve, but things that seem too good to be true usually are, and soon, the pranks and payback turns from delicious to deadly. Edie is alone in a world teeming with secrets and fiends lurking in the shadows. In this murky morass of devil's bargains, she isn't sure who - or what - she can trust. Not even her own mind.


MY REVIEW

This is one of the darkest books I have ever read in a really long time. I rarely tread into dark emotional waters, where there are creepy nightmarish creatures lurking on the edges of each page. Right from the beginning, this book gave me so many reasons to DNF it. But, with each page, my curiosity got the best of me. I have never read any of Ann Aguirre's books before... it may have been a good thing. And I do not mean that in a negative way.

The first half of the book is hard for me to put into words. The first few pages are painful and heartbreaking, but then move onto some very poor decisions. Not that the original decision that this character made was the answer, but the latter wasn't any better. But, it made me question, what would a person do in her shoes? I don't believe I would ever put myself in a situation to have to make a decision like this character does... so, who am I to judge?

Edie is a girl that has given up on the world, her parents, and herself. She is ready to end it all and take her chances on what may be waiting for her on the otherside. It is heartbreaking to watch her take the steps to move on with her plan. She is very thorough and precise with how to end her life, nothing can foil it. Until Kian. Kian stops Edie from ending her life with an offer too hard to refuse, but too good to be true. She decides to hear his offer, and if she refuses, Kian will bring her back to the very moment where she left of, like he never existed, and things would go the way she had planned.

Edie accepts Kian's deal.
Instant beauty. Revenge. The life she's always wanted - her life, but enhanced.
But. It all comes with a hefty price. One that could cost her the lives of loved ones, and her own.

One of the things that is repeatedly discussed throughout most of the story is everyone's looks. Edie is average and wants to be beautiful in order to blend in with the popular crowd and destroy them from within. Parts of me understands her need to be pretty - we all have some physical aspects of ourselves that we are not happy with. And when our own faults have been pointed out to us, repeatedly, it only enhances our insecurities. Edie feels that if she is prettier she'll be more confident. And there is some truth to that. However, it doesn't solve anything. Which as we continue on with her story, it is definitely proven to give her the confidence she was seeking, but that it was a vain choice. One that she and others will pay for...

There are some very graphic scenes. Lives lost in the most horrifying ways. In such ways that the saying "I wouldn't wish that on my own worst enemies" comes true... Edie experiences loss, guilt, regret and more emotions that I cannot fathom putting into words.

The relationship between Edie and Kian wasn't realistic to me. Edie needed Kian in so many ways - it was clear that they were going to fall for each other. The insta-love came off odd, needy and forced. But, I feel that with time their relationship could have grown on me, but without trust, it was difficult for me to understand and follow. It is very clear that Edie struggles to trust Kian. I wish that their relationship would have grown at a rate that would have built her trust in him. But she never fully does... As the story continues, we learn more of the work that Kian does, and it's not good. And Edie seems to take it all in stride and decides to not think about it. Given her situation, I think I may have done the same thing. There is only so much that the human mind can handle until it starts to shut down and go into denial. Edie needs Kian in more ways than we know right now. The weird just keeps getting weirder, and some of the reality needs to be pushed aside in order to deal with the creepy creatures that are lurking around waiting for her to make a mistake. To catch her off guard again...

It's going to be a long time before I can look into anything that gives off a reflection without second guessing myself. 

This story is not one that I would have chosen to read on my own. It is definitely not a book for everyone. If you like a story that will creep into your brain, make your imagination run wild; a story where you are willing to open your mind and not judge too harshly, especially without reading Edie's entire story, then I suggest you pick this one up... and then cover all your mirrors and keep the nightlight on. Trust me. It's a trilogy and I'm sure the spooks and gore are going to get worse.


*An ARC was received from the publisher for an honest review. All thoughts are my own. 



ABOUT THE AUTHOR - Ann Aguirre

Ann Aguirre is a New York Times & USA Today bestselling author with a degree in English Literature; before she began writing full time, she was a clown, a clerk, a voice actress, and a savior of stray kittens, not necessarily in that order.

She grew up in a yellow house across from a cornfield, but now lives in sunny Mexico with her husband, children, and various pets. 
She likes all kinds of books, emo music, action movies and Doctor Who. 

She writes all kind of fiction in multiple genres, both YA and for adults. 


Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Cover Reveal and Excerpt: AGAIN by Lisa Burstein (NA)


by Lisa Burstein 
Expected release date: September 22nd, 2014
Published by: Self-published
Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance
Format: eBook


SUMMARY

How far would you go for a second chance?

Eleven years after flunking out of college, Kate has finally hit rock-bottom. Losing her job and boyfriend in one drunken night, she’s determined to fix her life by going back to the moment when she let partying and sex take over and do things right. At twenty-nine, she heads back to freshman year of college, with a catch.

Pretending she's nineteen with a new roommate and full class schedule is easy. When she meets her shy, sexy and seven-years-younger RA Carter, following her self-imposed sobriety and celibacy rules is proving to be anything but.

A senior enduring years of regret, Carter is more than ready to graduate. He’s anxious to move on from the party his freshman year where he witnessed his frat brothers about to commit a sexual assault. Instead of doing the right thing and stepping in, he looked the other way and left. His guilt has made for a lonely four years.

When he meets the new freshman on his floor, spunky and confident Kate, he wonders if his time as an outcast has finally come to an end.

Kate and Carter’s growing friendship and undeniable attraction make it harder to hide the demons from their respective pasts. But when their secrets are finally revealed, will their chance at starting over together still be there?


EXCERPT from Chapter One

Kate
College-take-two started with me hiding in the dorm lobby men’s bathroom. Unfortunately, I didn’t notice the urinals until after I ran inside.
I stood with my back tight against the wall gasping air like it was Riesling and I was at an all you can drink happy hour.
How the hell did I think I’d ever pull this off? Pretend to be a nineteen-year-old freshman at twenty-nine-years old?
Going back to college might not have been one of my best ideas—but it was the only one that might finally change my life. I wanted to change my life. I needed to. It was just hard to convince myself of that once I was actually on campus with tons of real freshman all around me.
I guess it’s a lot easier to fantasize about living your life over again than to actually go through with it. 
“Are you lost?”
I turned and found a built, blonde-haired hottie washing his hands. He dried them quickly, crossed his arms over his broad chest and leaned against the sink.
 That was the moment I realized I was in the men’s bathroom. The moment my breathing went from gulping Riesling at an all you can drink happy hour to puking it up into the disgusting toilet at the back of the bar when drinks went back to full price.
My knees went wobbly. My mouth was dry; my head seemingly floating on top of my neck. I couldn’t tell if I was suddenly unbalanced because of how handsome he was, or the realization I clearly was lost.
Minus a penis lost.
“Shit,” I reached for the door handle with sweaty palms. At least I was making the kind of a stupid mistake a real freshman would.
My wide, wild eyes probably made me look as confused by my surroundings as any other student arriving, but honestly I was terrified and not because I’d almost caught this guy with his pants down, because this whole idea was insane.
“It’s okay,” he said, walking toward me, waving his large hands to calm me. “This is definitely not the worst thing I’ve seen someone do the first day back.” He smiled showing teeth that reminded me of toothpaste commercials. It brought out the sweetest dimple the size of an M&M on his chin.
Fuck me. I smiled back.
He paused; eyeing me up and down, perhaps noticing the tight body I was showing off in a desperate attempt to appear nineteen.
“What makes you an expert?” I asked hoping to change his focus, Maybe he wasn’t regarding me for the reason I thought; tight body or no, I was not nineteen. I was twenty-nine. Why the hell would anyone believe any different?
He pointed to his red polo shirt.
Turns out he was doing his job.
The area above his right pectoral muscle read Resident Advisor, Hudson University. There was something I couldn’t identify in his sea-glass blue eyes; almost like he was holding back, putting up a good front.
I knew his look well. It was one I’d mastered. When it got too hard to wear my own everything-is-fine-mask I doused it in alcohol and sex and bad choices, but that wasn’t a solution anymore.
And clearly, everything wasn’t fine.
“I need to get out of here,” I grasped for the door latch again, trying to put out the fire blazing in my neck and face.
He reached from behind me and also went for the door. His hand brushed against mine blistering enough to brand my skin.
My pulse popped like the last minute of popcorn in a microwave. I needed to get away from him. I would have usually chastised myself for even glancing in his direction. Not that I had much choice considering I’d been the one who put us in such close and uncomfortable quarters.
Twenty-nine-year-olds didn’t spontaneously combust from a college kid’s accidental touch. But damn, this guy was fine. My RA back in college-take-one was nothing like this. If he had been I might have made it past the first semester.
I might have passed my actual college-take-one classes.
Of course, I also might have spent it studying what was under his khakis.
“Let me help you,” he said, pushing on the latch as I continued to pull. His voice was a deep vibrato, as deep as his blue eyes seemed.
“I can open a door,” I said, pulling as hard as I could. Nothing happened.
Apparently I couldn’t.
He lifted his arms I-surrender-style and stood back stifling a laugh. “It’s a push.”
“I knew that,” I looked down as I finally pushed the door open and we exited the bathroom. Not because I was embarrassed, though who was I kidding?
I kept my eyes away from his. I didn’t want to show him my face. Have him laugh and say, what the hell are you doing here old lady? Or even worse, are you here helping your daughter or son move in?
It was one thing to be told you had a baby-face your entire life. It was another to put it to the test next to actual babies!
That was why I’d run into the bathroom. Too bad my early-onset cataracts had obscured the mammoth M and stick figure dude.
We stood in front of the door, the dorm lobby brimming with students and their parents. I should have just walked away, but I liked the way he was checking me out, his gaze sliding from my just purchased Uggs to my just purchased white winter hat with cat-ears smashed over my recently highlighted blonde hair. I had been doing my best to look student-like.
But I was pretty sure I looked like Hannah Montana.
It had been easy to Photoshop my high school transcript so it seemed like I graduated a year ago. Simple to change my one semester of F’s to A’s, to take the SATs again, to get a fake ID, to dress like any other nineteen-year-old. It took an hour to sublet my rent-controlled New York City apartment.
Being here and acting like a college freshman would clearly be a lot harder. 


ABOUT THE AUTHOR - Lisa Burstein

Lisa Burstein is the author of the Young Adult Novels: Pretty Amy and Dear Cassie, and the New Adult Novels & Novellas: Sneaking Candy, The Next Forever & The Possibility of Us. 
She is also a contributor to the essay collection, Break These Rules: 35 Young Adult Authors On Speaking Up, Standing Out, and Being Yourself. 

She lives in Portland, Oregon with her very patient husband, a neurotic dog and two cats. 

Again is her self-publishing debut.



http://www.wordsmithpublicity.com/

Book Outlet's NEW 50/50 Sale Starts Now!!!


Bumbles and Fairy-Tales has teamed up with Book Outlet
to bring you the latest updates and sales that Book Outlet has to offer!


Book Outlet's current 50/50 is... 



50% off Biography and Autobiography!!!

The 50/50 sale is where 50 books are marked down 50% - 
this sale changes every Monday and runs throughout the week! 
Be sure to check the link every Monday for new books at 50% off! items!!!

This sale starts today, August 5th and will end on August 11th at midnight.

Book Outlet U.S. / Book Outlet Canada

Bumbles and Fairy-Tales is not responsible for any products, items, sales, etc. made by Book Outlet. 
We are just offering an easier way to promote a great online bookstore for a small compensation. 


Happy shopping!!!

Waiting On Wednesday #95: PRINCESS OF THORNS by Stacey Jay (YA)


"Waiting On Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by  Breaking the Spine. 

This is were we get to 'spotlight' books that we are anxiously waiting to be released! The ones that we are dying to get our hands on and read into the wee hours of the night and, quite possibly, to make our shelves look all pretty too :)



What I'm waiting for...


by Stacey Jay
Expected release date: December 9th, 2014
Published by: Delacorte Press (Random House)
Genre: Young Adult Fairytale/Fantasy
Format: Hardcover, eBook


SUMMARY

Game of Thrones meets the Grimm's fairy tales in this twisted, fast-paced romantic fantasy-adventure about Sleeping Beauty's daughter, a warrior princess who must fight to reclaim her throne.

Though she looks like a mere mortal, Princess Aurora is a fairy blessed with enhanced strength, bravery, and mercy yet cursed to destroy the free will of any male who kisses her. Disguised as a boy, she enlists the help of the handsome but also cursed Prince Niklaas to fight legions of evil and free her brother from the ogre queen who stole Aurora's throne ten years ago.

Will Aurora triumph over evil and reach her brother before it's too late? 
Can Aurora and Niklaas break the curses that will otherwise forever keep them from finding their one true love?





Why I'm waiting for PRINCESS OF THORNS...

Let me say these two things first... 
1) I am not a Game of Thrones fan, sorry! I have never read the books nor have I watched it and I kind of don't really know what it's about, lol! 
2) And I am definitely NOT a fan of this bookcover! Why do they always insist on putting a girl on all of these fantasy covers? SO much potential with this story, could have gone really creative on so many fairytale levels and this is what they do.... sigh... 

BUT!!! As a fairytale-lover, I am SO in love with the premise of the story! Especially since the main character is Sleeping Beauty's daughter and her kisses are cursed! Disney has always made "the kiss" the thing that saves them all, (especially for Sleeping Beauty - the prince's kiss is what wakes her up), how funny to go against that concept! 

And, I'm such a huge fan of Juliet Immortal! I just received Of Beast and Beauty and cannot wait to dive into this one too! I'm happy to see this author take on more fairytale-ish stories...

I cannot wait to get my hands on this! Ugly cover and all, lol!


SO, what are you waiting for this week???

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Book Blast and GIVEAWAY: GATES OF THREAD AND STONE by Lori M. Lee (YA)



by Lori M. Lee
Expected release date: August 5th, 2014
Published by: Skyscape
Genre: Young Adult
Format: Hardback, Paperback, eBook, Audiobook 


SUMMARY

In the Labyrinth, we had a saying: 
keep silent, keep still, keep safe.

In a city of walls and secrets, where only one man is supposed to possess magic, seventeen-year-old Kai struggles to keep hidden her own secret—she can manipulate the threads of time. When Kai was eight, she was found by Reev on the riverbank, and her “brother” has taken care of her ever since. Kai doesn’t know where her ability comes from—or where she came from. All that matters is that she and Reev stay together, and maybe one day move out of the freight container they call home, away from the metal walls of the Labyrinth. Kai’s only friend is Avan, the shopkeeper’s son with the scandalous reputation that both frightens and intrigues her.

Then Reev disappears. When keeping silent and safe means losing him forever, Kai vows to do whatever it takes to find him. She will leave the only home she’s ever known and risk getting caught up in a revolution centuries in the making. But to save Reev, Kai must unravel the threads of her past and face shocking truths about her brother, her friendship with Avan, and her unique power.


BUY LINKS

Amazon / Barnes and Noble / The Book Depository / IndieBound


PRAISE FOR Gates of Thread and Stone

“Lori M. Lee excels in building a world of intrigue, oppression, and magic amidst a Labyrinth setting as twisted and winding as the secrets hidden inside her characters’ hearts. Fans of strong heroines who don’t need a boy to hold their hands, action-packed fighting scenes, and whispers of steampunk and mythology, will find themselves wishing they, too, could manipulate the threads of time, if only to stay inside the story a little longer.” ~ 
A.G. Howard, the SPLINTERED series


“Inventive, romantic, and gripping. I was hooked from the first page!”
~ Amy Tintera, REBOOT and REBEL




GIVEAWAY

Prize: ONE winner will receive a $25.00 Amazon gift certificate and a swag pack!

*Bumbles and Fairy-Tales is not to be held responsible for prize being lost, damaged, unsent, etc. 


ABOUT THE AUTHOR - Lori M. Lee

Lori is the author of young adult fantasy Gates of Thread and Stone, coming August 5, 2014 from Skyscape. 

She has a borderline obsessive fascination with unicorns, is fond of talking in capslock, and loves to write about magic, manipulation, and family. 

She lives in Wisconsin with her husband, kids, and a friendly pitbull.

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