Dearest
(Woodcutter Sisters, #3)
by Alethea Kontis
YA Fantasy
Hardcover & ebook, 320 Pages
February 3rd 2015 by HMH Books for Young Readers
by Alethea Kontis
YA Fantasy
Hardcover & ebook, 320 Pages
February 3rd 2015 by HMH Books for Young Readers
Readers met the Woodcutter sisters (named after the days of the week) in Enchanted and Hero. In this delightful third book, Alethea Kontis weaves together some fine-feathered fairy tales to focus on Friday Woodcutter, the kind and loving seamstress. When Friday stumbles upon seven sleeping brothers in her sister Sunday’s palace, she takes one look at Tristan and knows he’s her future. But the brothers are cursed to be swans by day. Can Friday’s unique magic somehow break the spell?
Amazon - Barnes & Noble - Book Depository - Indie Bound - Powell's
Guest Post
What were some of your favorite films as a child?
Guest Post
The Holy "L" Trinity
My little sister and I grew up at the movies.
We say this because our eldest sister--the beautiful one who was a runner-up in the Miss Vermont pageant--dated a guy in high school whose family owned pretty much all the theatres in Burlington. She ended up marrying that guy. They now own their own theatre called the Bijou Cineplex in Morrisville, Vermont.
So when I say Soteria and I grew up at the movies, I MEAN IT.
Soteria and I were privileged even before the advent of VHS, but once we were introduced to that particular gem, we became ravenous. Mom rented us almost every movie in every section. We didn't just watch these films...we MEMORIZED them. We played movie quote trivia with each other all the time. One of our favorite games in the car on long trips was to go through the alphabet, taking turns calling out boys names and girls names...but when you got to A and it was time for the boy names, you couldn't say "Atreyu" because we ALWAYS said "Atreyu." Which inevitably ended in one or the other of us yelling "Atreyu!!!!" in the back stat and then squealing as the one whose turn it wasn't punched or poked or tickled the offender.
(Believe it or not, I had the opportunity to tell this story to Noah Hathaway once, many years later. By the end of it, I was blushing from head to toe. I'm pretty sure he fell in love with me then. But I digress.)
Soteria and I had our favorites: The Neverending Story, of course. Return to Oz. Frog. The Secret of My Success. Spacecamp. Willow. But when it came to fantasy films, we had what we lovingly referred to as "The Holy L Trinity": Legend, Labyrinth, and Ladyhawke. It was rare that we watched one without immediately watching the other two. It didn't matter which order, just as long as they all got seen.
Legend and Labyrinth still have their brilliant moments (The dress scene! The Bog of Eternal Stench!) but I have to say, of all of them, Ladyhawke has really stood the test of time. The dialogue is simply brilliant. Father Imperius and Philippe the Mouse play against each other beautifully. Rutger Hauer is a stoic man on a mission, and Michelle Pfeiffer is so flawlessly magnificent she glows, I swear. The love between Navarre and Isabeau is timeless. The stuff of legends.
Similarly, it is that stuff which inspires writers like me, who grew up to write books about star-crossed lovers bound by fate and cursed by daily transformation. In Dearest, Friday discovers the seven swan brothers at the top of the Sky Tower and knows she is meant to help them break their curse. She is particularly drawn to the one called Tristan, not that she knows why...but then, Friday has a big heart and a terrible habit of falling in love with people at the drop of a hat. (I have this same problem.)
There is a scene in Ladyhawke where Philippe and Isabeau, in human form, are hiding from the evil Bishop's guards in the ruins of a castle. They finally end up at the top of a tower where Isabeau is knocked over the edge. The very small Philippe tries to pull her up, but to no avail. She slips from his fingers...just as the sun peeks over the horizon. Isabeau instantly morphs back into a hawk and takes wing before she hits the ground.
I won't reveal any spoilers from Dearest...but I will say that there is a similar sort of scene that happens, involving the Sky Tower, and it was very much inspired by that scene from Ladyhawke. And in the very first line of Chapter Four, I fell heart-and-soul in love with Tristan Swan. Just like Friday. (SEE, I TOLD YOU.)
Ladyhawke also, in my estimation, surpasses Casablanca in the competition for Best Last Lines.
IMPERIUS: I fully expect to see you at the pearly gates, little thief.
PHILIPPE: I'll be there, father. Even if I have to pick the lock.
What were some of your favorite films as a child?
The Other Woodcutter Sisters Books
Links for Enchanted
 |
| Alethea Kontis courtesy of Lumos Studio 2012 |
Her published works include: The Wonderland Alphabet (with Janet K. Lee), Diary of a Mad Scientist Garden Gnome (with Janet K. Lee), the AlphaOops series (with Bob Kolar), the Woodcutter Sisters fairy tale series, and The Dark-Hunter Companion (with Sherrilyn Kenyon). Her short fiction, essays, and poetry have appeared in a myriad of anthologies and magazines.
Her YA fairy tale novel, Enchanted, won the Gelett Burgess Children’s Book Award in 2012 and the Garden State Teen Book Award i 2015. Enchanted was nominated for the Audie Award in 2013, and was selected for World Book Night in 2014. Both Enchanted and its sequel, Hero, were nominated for the Andre Norton Award.
Born in Burlington, Vermont, Alethea currently lives and writes in Florida, on the Space Coast. She makes the best baklava you’ve ever tasted and sleeps with a teddy bear named Charlie.
Tour-Wide Giveaway
3 Woodcutter Sisters Prize Packs (signed copies of Enchanted, Hero, & Dearest - US Only)
Ends March 8th
Follow the Tour
1 - Launch
2 - Lilac Reviews
3 - Special post @ Waterworld Mermaids
4 - Special post @ USA Today's Happy Ever After
5 - Interview @ J.T. Ellison
10 - Mel's Shelves & Jan Edwards
12 - A Backwards Story & Wishful Endings
14 - Biggest Literary Crushes post on @ Teen Reads
18 - Special post on @ Dear Teen Me
19 - 100 Pages A Day & mrsjennyreads
20 - Books and Ashes & Addicted Readers
23 - SBM Book Obsession
24 - Deal Sharing Aunt
28 - Grand Finale
No comments:
Post a Comment