Author Highlights Eight: Gail Carson Levine

The eighth month of Author Highlights is upon us.  Last month we looked at the author Shannon Hale who wrote Princess Academy.  Today we will once again be looking at an author whose books are focused on a younger audience.  The author for Author Highlights Eight is…

Gail Carson Levine

Gail has written over twenty books mostly focused on fairy tales.  I have read about twelve of her books and I greatly enjoyed them.  My favorites are Ella Enchanted, Fairest, The Two Princesses of Bamarre, The Tale of Two Castles, Stolen Magic, and Ever.

 

Ella Enchanted is her most well-known tale.  It retells the age-old tale of Cinderella in a new and unique light.  Ella is accidentally cursed by the fairy Lucinda with the ‘gift’ of obedience.  She must obey what anyone tells her to do.  But with a fiery spirit, she doesn’t crumble under the ‘gift’ or her evil stepmother and stepsisters.  Her intelligence and saucy nature keep her in good stead as she sets out on a quest for freedom and self-discovery as she tries to track down Lucinda to undo the curse, fending off ogres, befriending elves, and falling in love with a prince along the way.

Gail also wrote a series of short chapter books that are a retelling or expanding on fairy tales.  The first story is called The Fairy’s Mistake.  Two very different sisters have two very different encounters with the fairy Ethelinda. Rosella is kind and helpful. Her reward: Jewels and gems tumble out of her mouth whenever she speaks. Myrtle is rude and spiteful. Her punishment: Bugs and vipers slither out of her mouth. The fairy Ethelinda feels she’s meted out justice just right–until she discovers Rosella has been locked up by a greedy prince and Myrtle is having the time of her life!

She also contributed to the Disney’s Fairies series by writing the book that launched it all off, Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg.  The story basically explores Never land’s fairies in more detail.  Fairy Haven is abuzz with news about its latest arrival, Prilla. Prilla is heartbroken that she does not seem to fit in. She desperately needs help from Mother Dove, the most important creature in Neverland, who created and cares for the magical egg that prevents all who live in Neverland from growing old and dying. But tragedy strikes as the island is hit by a hurricane, and the Never egg is destroyed. Mother Dove must pick three fairies to set out on a dangerous quest to repair the egg. She chooses Rani, the best water-talent fairy; Vidia, the most selfish, but fastest fast-flying-talent fairy; and, to everyone’s surprise-Prilla. The three embark on a journey filled with danger, sacrifice, and adventure. The fate of Neverland-and their world as they know it rests on their shoulders.

For more information on Gail Carson Levine visit her website and blog.

 

 

 

 

Advertisement

Author Highlights Seven

Here is the second Author Highlights I promised for the month of June.  Finally, I will be caught up with this post.  It only took a few months but here we are.  This means that we are in the seventh month of me doing this post.  It’s been over half a year which is weird since it seriously seems like yesterday when I started this blog.  I know I say that a lot but it’s true.  Anyways let’s get this post started.  The author of today is…..

Shannon Hale

Shannon Hale has written over thirty books.  Several are individual books while other are part of a series.  She is most known for her Princess Academy Series.

I have read the Princess Academy series, The Goose Girl,  and the Book of a Thousand Days.  I loved each of these stories and I still treasure them despite the fact that the books are for a younger audience.

Miri lives on a mountain where, for generations, her ancestors have quarried stone and lived a simple life. Then word comes that the king’s priests have divined her small village the home of the future princess. In a year’s time, the prince himself will come and choose his bride from among the girls of the village. The king’s ministers set up an academy on the mountain, and every teenage girl must attend and learn how to become a princess.

Miri soon finds herself confronted with a harsh academy mistress, bitter competition among the girls, and her own conflicting desires to be chosen and win the heart of her childhood best friend. But when bandits seek out the academy to kidnap the future princess, Miri must rally the girls together and use a power unique to the mountain dwellers to save herself and her classmates.

Anidora-Kiladra Talianna Isilee, Crown Princess of Kildenree spent the first years of her life listening to her aunt’s incredible stories and learning the language of the birds. Little knowing how valuable her aunt’s strange knowledge would prove to be when she grew older. From the Grimm’s fairy tale of the princess who became a goose girl before she could become a queen, Shannon Hale has woven an incredible, original and magical tale of a girl who must understand her own incredible talents before she can overcome those who wish her harm.

When Dashti, a maid, and Lady Saren, her mistress, are shut in a tower for seven years because of Saren’s refusal to marry a man she despises, the two prepare for a very long and dark imprisonment.

As food runs low and the days go from broiling hot to freezing cold, it is all Dashti can do to keep them fed and comfortable. With the arrival outside the tower of Saren’s two suitors–one welcome, the other decidedly less so–the girls are confronted with both hope and great danger, and Dashti must make the desperate choices of a girl whose life is worth more than she knows.

For more information on the author visit her website at http://www.shannonhale.com/.

 

 

Author Highlights Six

Author Highlights is a once a month post that focuses on one author’s books.  This month there will be two Highlights because I missed a month.  See the last Author Highlights Here.  Now, who shall the author be for today?  It is….

Elizabeth May

She is the author of the Falconer Series and Toil and Trouble.  In 2019 she will publish a new book called Seven Devils.

I have only read the Falconer series which was amazing.  I loved it because she allowed for evil to win overwhelmingly until the very end of the series where good pulled through to save the world.

Lady Aileana Kameron leads a double life.  The life of a debutante and a killer.  By day she goes to balls and parties while by night she hunts the faeries that plague the human world seeking revenge for her mother’s death.  When an army of faeries threatens the world Aileana is the only one that can save everyone for she is a Falconer descended from a long line of women who have abilities that make it easier to kill the fae.  But, will she save the world in time or lose everything?

“I’m like him. I’m a monster, too.”                   – The Falconer

“Time won’t fix me. Time allows me to become more skillful at hiding how much I hurt inside. Time makes me a great liar. Because when it comes to grief, we all like to pretend.”                                                          – The Falconer

“I’m not a creature of vengeance any more. I’m not just the girl whose gift is chaos. I’m the girl who endured.”                                   – The Vanishing Throne

“We burn bright, and we burn out. That’s what it means to be human.”                   – The Vanishing Throne

“Most people would be dismayed by an attempted assassination, but Kiaran seems to regard it as either flirtation or flattery – possibly both.”             – The Vanishing Throne

“He loved you so much that when you died, he might as well have died with you.”              – The Fallen Kingdom

Scorn the Witch. Fear the Witch. Burn the Witch                                                                History is filled with stories of women accused of witchcraft, of fearsome girls with arcane knowledge.  Toil and Trouble features sixteen stories of girls embracing their power, reclaiming their destinies and using their magic to create, to curse, to cure, and to kill.

For more information visit Elizabeth May at http://www.elizabethmaywrites.com/.  See my post for more information on The Falconer Here.

Author Highlights Four

Author Highlights is here!!  I only do these posts once a month and yet I have missed last month resulting in my plan to eventually post two in one month. So without further ado let us start Author Highlights Four.  The author is….

Colleen Houck

She is the author of the of the Tiger’s Curse Series andthe Reawakened Series.

I have read the Reawakened series  except for the third  and prequel books and I have not read the Tiger’s Curse series despite the fact that I own the first book in the series.

Rewakened is the tale of a girl who accidentally stumbles upon a resurrected Egyptian Prince whose job is to save the world from Seth and the end of time.  He drags her halfway across the world to Egypt and during that time Lily goes on the adventure of her lifetime.

See my post on Reawakened Here.

“Before I could even form a question, he murmured some words in Egyptian and we were sucked into a whirlwind.”                                    -Reawakened

The last thing Kelsey Hayes thought she’d be doing over the summer was meeting Ren, a mysterious white tiger and cursed Indian prince! When she learns she alone can break the Tiger’s curse, Kelsey’s life is turned upside-down. The unlikely duo journeys halfway around the world to piece together an Indian prophecy, find a way to free the man trapped by a centuries-old spell, and discover the path to their true destiny.

 

“Stop looking at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you’re hunting me. I’m not an antelope.”             -Tiger’s Curse

 

For more information on Colleen Houck and her books visit her website http://colleenhouck.com/.

 

 

 

 

Author Highlights Three

This is the third month of Author Highlights.  I love this post because I get to share some great authors I’ve read that are perhaps not that well known.  While deciding what author to do I also have a chance to see what some of my childhood authors have written recently.  It is exciting and I enjoy sharing these author’s with you.  Without further ado, today’s author is…..

Kate O’Hearn

Kate O’Hearn is a children’s fantasy writer.  She has written the Pegasus series, Shadow of the Dragon’s series, and the Valkyrie series.  I have read the Pegasus series, and the first books in the other two series.  I love her books.  They are wonderfully told stories with the Pegasus and Valkyrie series featuring a stunning combination of modern society with that of Norse mythology.

Emily’s life changes forever when Pegasus, a mythical horse, crashes onto a Manhattan roof.  Suddenly, Emily is thrust into a battle between the Roman gods and the Nirads.  Along with Joel, a mortal, Diana, a goddess, Paelen,a thief, and Pegasus, she must rescue the gods from certain death all while avoiding a governmental agency bent on dissecting Pegasus.  Can she save Olympus before the Eternal Flame burns out?

 

 

Freya is dreading turning fourteen.  Fourteen is when she takes up the full mantle of responsibility that comes with being a Valkyrie – a collector of souls fallen upon the battlefield.  She longs to interact in the human world as a mortal.  To make friends without fear of killing them with one touch.  Her chance comes when a soldier she is reaping asks for a favor that sends Freya to the human world.  On her journey she battles both the ordinary and extraordinary to fulfill her promise.

 

Kira is twelve and strong willed. The daughter of a retired dragon knight, she yearns for adventure and dreams of following in her father’s footsteps astride her own magnificent mount.  But this can never happen. According to the laws of the kingdom, all girls must be married by the age of thirteen. Kira hates it, but being a girl, she has no choice.  Kira’s family is taken away by Lord Duncon who has orders to take them to the palace to serve the King.  Kira and her sisters are thrown in jail.  Their only crime is being unmarried girls.  One day they manage to escape but Kira realizes the battle is just beginning.  With the help of a baby dragon she sets out on a mission to save her family and keep her sister safe.

For more information visit

http://www.kateohearn.com/

 

 

 

 

Author Highlights Two

This is the second Author Highlights which I started recently an will only do once or twice a month. Our first one was about Melanie Dickerson and her Romance books which can be found Here. Now this time we have……Drum roll……..

Anne Blankman

Anne Blankman is the author of Prisoner of Night and Fog, Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke, and Traitor Angels.

I have read all three of her books and adored them. They are wonderful. Each of her characters are lovable and have secrets that I itched to uncover. Anne wonderfully portrayed the world surrounding the characters and by the end of each book I felt that I had a better understanding of the times in which the characters lived.

The Prisoner of Night and Fog and the Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke are a series entailing the life of the beloved fictional character of Gretchen, Adolf Hitler’s niece. She leads a the sheltered life as the pet of a rising politician until one day she meets a Jewish reporter, Daniel who is intent on telling her a story that disagrees with everything she has been taught. As she sets out on a journey to find the truth she begins to feel an attraction for Daniel and question the beliefs and ideals that she has been taught as the Nazi darling.

 

Traitor Angels is the story of Elizabeth Milton, daughter to the notorious poet John Milton. By day Elizabeth transcribes her father’s latest masterpiece, Paradise Lost and by night she trains in sword fighting. When soldiers arrive to arrest her father Elizabeth sets out on a mission to save him. With the help of Antonio Viviani who is a young Italian scientist. Soon the two discover that there is a secret hidden within Paradise Lost’s lines that the king and his supporters are desperate to keep hidden. Can they uncover the truth and save Elizabeth’s father before all is lost?

For more information on Anne Blankman or her books visit http://www.anneblankman.com/

Author Highlights

Hello, I am starting a new post where I highlight an author and talk about their writing style and books. I hope you enjoy.  Without further ado let’s start with an author I have been reading recently.  I cannot seem to stop reading her wonderful tales of adventure, misfortune, and romance.  Announcing……..

Melanie Dickerson

Melanie Dickerson is the author of The Regency Spies of London series and The Hangenheim/Fairy Tale Romance series.

I have read most of Melanie’s books and simply adored them.  Melanie has a unique style that shows in each of her stories.  She creates the perfect balance between characters and reveals just enough to the readers that one is constantly on the edge of their seat.

The Hagenheim Series

“You are brave and strong and good, noble and kind. I love you and I think you’re…”
― The Captive Maiden

“For us mortals, love is greater than justice.”
― The Merchant’s Daughter

The Regency Spies of London

“Her whole world was in the depth of his eyes.”
― A Spy’s Devotion

“I’m proud of my carefree behaviour […] I am boisterous, when I choose to be, and simply because I don’t behave like a wan and fainting female who has not a thought in her head except try to attract an eligible suitor […] I shall not conform to how you or anyone else tells me I should behave. I am answerable only to God.”
― A Viscount’s Proposal

Melanie has also written three medieval books.

“If you die fighting, I want to die fighting with you.”
― The Beautiful Pretender

“The touch of his fingers sent her heart to dancing, and her mind flitted to being held in his arms after he had saved her”
― The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest

In 2018 Melanie is coming out with a new and exciting book which is a part of the Hagenheim series.

Coming June 26th, 2018

I would suggest checking out Melanie Dickerson at her blog

http://melaniewrites.blogspot.com/

and her website.

http://www.melaniedickerson.com/my-books.html