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?
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.
Check out Alethea's Road Tour HERE!
Tour-Wide Giveaway
3 Woodcutter Sisters Prize Packs (signed copies of Enchanted, Hero, & Dearest - US Only)
Ends March 8th
Follow the Tour
1 - Launch
10 - Mel's Shelves & Jan Edwards
12 - A Backwards Story & Wishful Endings
14 - Biggest Literary Crushes post on @ Dear Teen Me
18 - Special post on @ Dear Teen Me
18 - Printcess & Living a Goddess Life & Melissa's Eclectic Bookshelf
19 - 100 Pages A Day & mrsjennyreads
20 - Books and Ashes & Addicted Readers
19 - 100 Pages A Day & mrsjennyreads
20 - Books and Ashes & Addicted Readers
23 - SBM Book Obsession
24 - Deal Sharing Aunt
28 - Grand Finale
Interview with the Author
1. When did you first start writing and when did you finish your
first book?
I first started writing when I was around 8 years old--I wrote poetry, because my favorite authors at the time were Lewis Carroll, Gelett Burgess, and Ogden Nash.
I started my first novel when I was eleven and revised it in high
school. I made it to the penultimate chapter before I stopped,
because I knew it wasn't good enough and I couldn't finish anything
that wasn't perfect.
The first novel I finished was a YA horror called HAVEN, which I did
for NaNoWriMo back in 2005. The original manuscript was only about
36,000 words...but at least I finished.
The novel I wrote after that was an expansion of a short story I had
done for Realms of Fantasy magazine called "Sunday"...which
eventually became Enchanted.
2. How did you choose the genre you write in?
The first book I published was a picture book. The second was a
science fiction and fantasy anthology. The third was an encyclopedia
of a popular paranormal romance series. The fourth was a book of
personal essays about my life.
Nobody ever told me I had to write a certain thing, so I let my
words take me wherever they want to go. My writing knows no genre,
and I'm okay with that.
3. What author or books influenced you the most?
I made a list of the 21 books that have most influenced my writing,
including Voltaire, Lewis Carroll, Jude Deveraux, and David Sedaris.
You can read the list here:
http://aletheakontis.com/2009/06/my-21-most-influential-books/
As for my career, the authors who have taught me and inspired me the
most have been: Orson Scott Card, Andre Norton, Sherrilyn Kenyon,
John Scalzi, and Mary Robinette Kowal.
4. Any writing rituals?
This is pretty much my writing ritual:
Step 1: Sit down with my laptop and a cup of coffee.
Step 2: Write until coffee gets cold.
Step 3: Heat up coffee in microwave.
Repeat.
5. What do you do when you're not writing?
WHATEVER I WANT. Isn't that the awesomest thing about being a
grownup??? I like to dress up and film myself ranting about fairy
tales and then post them on YouTube. I like to go fishing and
shrimping with my dad. I like to watch the rocket launches at Cape
Canaveral. I like to binge watch old episodes of TV shows I love,
like Chuck and Gilmore Girls. I like to paint--I work
mostly in acrylics, with some sort of collage aspect, like Janet Lee
taught me. (I painted "The ream-Haired Girl" that appears
at the top of my website.)
6. Any plans for future books you can share with us?
In
the next six months, I will be publishing Diary
of a Mad Scientist Garden Gnome
(another illustrated collaboration with Janet K. Lee), Trixter
(a Woodcutter novella), and a trilogy of short contemporary romance
novels set in a small beach town in central Florida. I'm very excited
about all of them!
Thank you, Alethea, for gracing us with your presence! And congratulations on the release of your new book!
This book looks AMAZING! Love the cover, and the story sounds amazing. I'm hopping over to my library website right now to put it on hold! ;)
ReplyDeleteAll of the books have beautiful covers, don't they? I hope you enjoy it!
DeleteThey do! ;) People say not to judge books by covers, but I'm guilty! Thanks! I HOPE I WIN!!!
DeleteGOOD LUCK!!! :D
DeleteThe Woodcutter series seems fabulous, and I think I would enjoy them because I love fairytale retellings. I'm so glad to see an author that knows no boundaries when it comes to genre. That's the writer I think I want to be. I want to write in multiple genres, but have all my books tied together by a common thread of mystery.
ReplyDeleteI love fairy tales too. And isn't that cool? I totally wasn't expecting that as an answer, but I love that.
Delete