5 Thoughts on Cindy Ellen

Hello, everyone! It's DAY TWO of the Midnight Curfews release party, and today we're celebrating Rachel Roden's Cindy Ellen, book 3 in the Wunstaponia series of Old West fairy tale retellings. This is a nonmagical short story retelling, and it's pretty fun. I'll be sharing my thoughts on it here, but first, let's get the rundown of book and author.

About . . .

Cindy Ellen

Wunstaponia #3

Once upon a time, way out west...

Cindy Ellen runs the local store, selling supplies to foresters, ranchers, and prospectors while her stepmother gives her neverending orders and spoils her stepsisters. She can't do anything right, even as she's the only one doing anything. Can one ball change her life forever? Perhaps not, but at least it might give her one night of freedom.

Find it on: Amazon || Goodreads

Rachel Roden

Rachel Roden is a natural storyteller, capable of weaving the most hilarious of fairy tales. She fell in love with the Lone Ranger in her teens, but ended up with a basketball referee instead. A homeschool mom of four, she also teaches with VIP Kids and tutors any other kid who wanders across her path. She might also be the sole human who still uses math after college.

Find her online at: Blog || Goodreads || YouTube || Instagram || Twitter

5 Thoughts on Cindy Ellen

1. Old West fairytales are just fun. This isn't quite the same brand of Old West as Rapunzel's Revenge (a delightful graphic novel retelling of, you guessed it, Rapunzel), but it still has the vibes. And, of course, it's a nice change of pace from the usual fairy tale settings.
2. It's always interesting to see non-magical retellings. I would say Cinderella is probably one of the easier stories to rework without magic, but it's still neat to see how the author changes things to suit a setting that doesn't support fairy godmothers and enchanted pumpkins.
3. I liked the twists on the prince character. It's difficult to say a lot here without spoiling things, but I will say that the prince in this story is almost as much of a mysterious figure to the community as Cinderella is, and there's some elements traditionally associated with her that get switched over to him. It's definitely not a full-on genderbend, but it is rather clever.
4. I do have a little bit of uncertainty around the timeline? This normally wouldn't be worth mentioning — some days, I can hardly keep track of real-world time, let alone story time. But it does affect the age gap between the members of the main couple, which is . . . I'll be honest, it's a bit on the wide side for a story in which one character isn't an immortal elf or something similar. It's not necessarily out of place for the setting, just . . . yeah. Your mileage may vary.
5. All in all, it's a fun take on the classic fairy tale. Is it the best Cinderella I've ever read? No. But it is a pleasant read and a creative twist on the original, and I'd say it's well worth picking up.

Are you excited about Cindy Ellen? How do you feel about non-magical retellings? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

Hey'a, everyone! Spring officially begins in just a few days, which is lovely, and that means that it's time to check out a new crop of book releases! We definitely have some good ones coming out in the next few months, so that's lovely. As usual, I'm posting my full list here, but if you just want the quick top picks list, you can find that over on Light and Shadows.

 

Spring 2022 Reads

1. A Magic Steeped in Poison by Judy I. Lin (March 29). Asian fantasy! Tea magic! A heroine determined to save her sister's life! While there are other reads on this list that I'm more excited about, I'd still call this a good start to the season, wouldn't you?

2. Tall and Dark by Suzannah Rowntree (April 2). We're returning to the world of Miss Sharp, and I don't think I could be more hyped! I didn't think that this was coming out until August . . . and then Rowntree's latest newsletter hit my inbox and I learned that I only have two weeks to wait! In my case, not even that, because she was opening up ARC applications and I barely managed to finish the sentence before hitting reply to ask for a spot on the team. Miss Sharp herself doesn't feature in this new series, but Molly Dark sounds like a fabulous new heroine, and we have Grand Duke Vasily back, which is immensely exciting.

3. Hotel Magnifique by Emily J. Taylor (April 5). So, we've got two Belle Époque historical fantasies releasing within days of each other . . . but this one sounds like it'll have more magical realism vibes. The blurb suggests Night Circus vibes, which certainly sounds intriguing. And maybe we'll get a good sister relationship between Jani and Zosa? (Side note, I love the names here.)

4. Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher (April 26). I'm not sure what to make of this one — it sounds like it'll have some fascinating dark fairytale vibes, with strange tasks and weird magic and the youngest of three sisters out on a magical quest. On the other hand, I'm kind of concerned that it'll turn out like The Blacktongue Thief, which also had promising vibes but ended up just being unpleasant.

5. Crown and Cinder by Kendra E. Ardnek (April 27). It's the first of the Midnight Curfews and the second in Kendra's series of Austen Fairytales! I'm a beta reader for this one, and so I can already tell you that it's good. Pride and Prejudice derails Cinderella, and vice versa, to magnificent effect! We have some characters reappearing from Rose Petals and Snowflakes, if you read that, and we get a pretty fun take on Lizzy/Cinderella and her particular situation. If you want, you can preorder it now on Amazon — I'm sure Kendra would appreciate it.

6. Cindy Ellen by Rachel Roden (April 28). This is the second Midnight Curfew and the third book in the Wunstuponia series of Western non-magical fairytale retellings. While I still need to catch up on the series, I'm sure this new installment will be good. Again, it's up for preorder on Amazon if you're interested.

7. Mask of Scarlet by Sarah Pennington (April 29). We're so close to the next installment of Bastian Dennel, PI, in which Bastian finds himself on the job of finding Cinderella herself! I'm very excited to share this with y'all, especially after getting some very good feedback from my beta readers. We have more of Bastian, more of his sisters, a bit more Dayo, and some new characters who I think you'll enjoy meeting. If you haven't already, make sure you preorder on Amazon (unless you're holding out for the paperback, in which case, fair).

8. The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah (May 17). This sounds like it has Arabian Nights vibes, which is delightful — I don't encounter enough of these kind of stories. And I do very much like the dynamic of sheltered noble/streetwise rogue, whether it's platonic or romantic, and I think we'll be getting that in here too.

9. Murder for the Modern Girl by Kendall Kulper (May 24). This is Jazz Age urban fantasy, which means reading it definitely counts as writing research . . . right? We've got a mindreading heroine who's been dispensing vigilante justice and a genius shapeshifter who sounds like he has a scientific bent, so those sound like very promising main characters. I think this will be a fun read!

What book releases are you excited for this spring? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

 

Mask of Scarlet Cover Reveal

All right, all right! Who's ready for a cover reveal? (It's me. The answer is me. I'm ready. Hopefully y'all are excited too!) Today, we're debuting the cover of Mask of Scarlet, the third book in the Bastian Dennel, PI series. Like the other covers in the series, it was designed by yours truly! But before we get to that . . .

Nah. I'm kidding. Let's get this shiny out for y'all to admire.

 

Bastian Dennel is a detective, not a matchmaker. 

But he’s also not one to turn down easy mazuma. So when one of Innsjøby’s richest young sheiks hires him to find his so-called true love — a girl he’s met only once at a masked party — Bastian is on the case. After his last few high-risk adventures, he’s ready for a job where the hardest part will be collecting his payment. Sure, all he has to go on is a guest list and a description . . . but how hard can it be? 

Of course, easy money always has a catch, and what should’ve been a simple search turns out to be anything but. Everyone seems to have their own opinion on who this mystery girl should be, whether or not it matches reality, and even the Families are getting involved. To make matters worse, Dayo is acting cagey, and Bastian doesn’t know why. 

Bastian’s business is the truth. But what can he do when everyone around him has already decided what they want the truth to be? Find out in this Jazz-Age take on “Cinderella,” book three of the Bastian Dennel, PI mysteries!

Releasing April 29, 2022

Preorder on Amazon || Add to your Goodreads shelf || Check out the rest of the series

Mask of Scarlet is releasing alongside Kendra E. Ardnek's Crown and Cinder and Rachel Roden's Cindy Ellen as part of the Three Midnight Curfews, a group release of Cinderella retellings. This is my first time publishing outside of an Arista Challenge release . . . though, I mean, there's still a lot of overlap, given that Kendra was still the one to put it together. You can learn more about the other books at the links below.

Crown and Cinder (The Austen Fairy Tale Book 2)

Preorder on Amazon || Add to your Goodreads shelf || Austen Fairy Tale Book 1

Cindy Ellen (The Austen Fairy Tale Book 2)

Preorder on Amazon || Add to your Goodreads shelf || Discover the series

 

And, of course, a cover reveal means special promotions! Today through February 11, The Midnight Show and Gilded in Ice are both available in ebook form for $0.99 on Amazon. A lot of y'all have probably picked those up by now, but if not, now's the perfect time to do it!

So, what do you think of the cover? How excited are you about Mask of Scarlet? Please tell me in the comments!

 

 First things first: Gilded in Ice releases in ONE WEEK! Or less if you're reading this after Friday. HUZZAH! Now I just have to finish the final proof (which would've been finished at least a week ago if I'd gotten my blog posts done when I meant to . . . stupid pneumonia) and write the rest of the seventeen blog posts for which I am in some way responsible and which needed to be posted between this morning and end of day next Saturday. (Ok, in all fairness, I'm only actually writing twelve of them. But still.) If you haven't yet, make sure you preorder the ebook and add it on Goodreads!

Of course, my book is far from the only book coming out this month. There's actually quite a list of shiny-looking new releases coming out this month or in the next two months! My original list had fifteen or so, a notable improvement from summer's somewhat sparse pickings. Of course, in the interest of not spending all night on this post, I've cut it down a little bit. So, what's on the list? Let's find out.

(Quick sidenote first, though: today is the last day to vote in this year's Silmaril Awards! So make sure you take the time to support all your favorite characters! Ok, that's all. On with the post!)

Autumn 2021 Reads

1. The Bones of Ruin by Sarah Raughley (September 7). This maaaaay end up being darker than I like . . . but it does sound really cool. Historical fantasy featuring a tightrope dancer (who apparently dual-wields swords?), a tournament, and the potential end of the world? That's hard to resist, y'all. Let's hope it lives up to what it can be.

2. Rose Petals and Snowflakes by Kendra E. Ardnek (September 25). Our first Frosted Rose! Kendra blends Snow White and Rose Red with Sense and Sensibility, which is not a combo I would've come up with, but is pretty cool. No pun intended. The release date for this one just got moved back a few days, which is unfortunate — but as a beta reader, I can say with confidence that, if you're a fan of Austen or fairy tale retellings, the extra few days are worth it. (You'll have to wait until the tour starts on Monday to get my full review, sorry.)

3. Runaway Lyrics by C.O. Bonham (September 21). Another Frosted Rose that I've actually read already, this time via ARC. (Again, though, I'm not giving away my full thoughts until the tour . . . well, technically I already posted a review on Facebook, but y'know.) We've got steampunkery, two sibling pairs, and music magic, so that's very much worth looking forward to.

4. As Long As We Live by Cortney Manning (September 22). This is the Frosted Rose I know the least about, but it's promsied me fae (including a fae prince in love with a human girl), sisterhood, magic, and treachery, so obviously I'm hyped. Also, Cortney wrote one of my favorite stories in the Five Poisoned Apples collection, so I know she's good.

5. Secrets of the Mountain by Wyn Estelle Owens (September 23). Wyn's stories tend to be full of family, magic, and mingled humor and epicness, so it should be no surprise that Secrets of the Mountain is the Frosted Rose I'm most excited about (other than my own). I loved The Dragon's Flower and The Dark King's Curse, and I'm sure that Secrets of the Mountain is going to be just as awesome. (No pressure or anything, Wyn! Not that I know if you still read my blogs . . .)

6. Gilded in Ice by Sarah Pennington (September 24). Oh, look! It's me! By now, I think that everyone's heard about Gilded, but in case anyone hasn't: it's the sequel to last year's The Midnight Show (though you could probably read it without having read The Midnight Show first if you really wanted to), and it features a semi-magical cat, two cases for Bastian to solve, and lots of sibling banter. 

7. The Bear by Rachel Roden (September 25). I'm really not sure how you pull off a non-magical, Western take on Snow White and Rose Red. But apparently it's a mystery! In the sense that it's about a mystery, not the sense that how it was pulled off is a mystery. And I look forward to finding out how it works out.

8. Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber (September 30). I have mixed feelings about Caraval — mixed enough that I never actually got around to reading the other books in the trilogy. (Maybe I will eventually . . . but not today.) But I know a fae story when I see one (even if they don't explicitly call the Prince of Hearts a fae), and we've got an ill-advised bargain and a curiosity shop, and, ok, yeah, I have a pretty good guess where the story will end up, but how it gets there is (hopefully) going to be delightful.

9. Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson (October 5). AT LAST. Margaret Rogerson returns! I'm excited enough about this that I preordered the OwlCrate special edition — and I never preorder books, much less special editions, so that's saying something. Vespertine sounds deliciously creepy and perfect for the Halloween season — and it's a nomance. I mean, Rogerson does a great job of writing romance, but I love it when authors recognize that not every story needs it and choose to focus on other types of relationship. (Also,can we take a minute to appreciate THAT COVER? Because, wow. I wish I could make covers that gorgeous.)

10. Gothel and the Maiden Prince by W.R. Gingell (October 1). It is a testament to how much I love W.R. Gingell's books that I even get excited about the ones that are marketed as being primarily-romance. (Well, this is romance and fairy tale retelling, but most of the marketing for the Villain's Ever After series seems to emphasize the romance bit.) Gingell has been sharing snippets on her Facebook and Discord, and Lucien and Gothel's dynamic reminds me a lot of Eurion and Carys (from Lady of Weeds), but with the added factor of a Rapunzel who might be more perceptive than Gothel would like? Suffice it to say: I am very excited and will probably devour this rapidly after it becomes available. Not quite as rapidly as I did Between Family, but still.

11. The Sorcerer and the Swan Princess by Lucy Tempest (October 8). I don't know if I'll actually end up reading this one or not? On one hand, I have yet to read Lucy Tempest's books, even though I have several of them on Kindle, and, again, it promises to be romance-heavy. On the other hand, I've never seen a Swan Princess retelling before, and I am immensely curious how they manage to redeem the villain. I think it'll be on Kindle Unlimited, though, so if I don't have to spend money (and if initial reviews are good), I might just give it a chance.

12. Curse of the Midnight King by Yakira Goldsberry (November 9). I just realized that 70% of this list is fairy tale retellings. Wow. Anyway, Curse of the Midnight King is a Twelve Dancing Princesses retelling, so it should be no surprise that I'm excited — but I also have high hopes for a deliciously dark and engaging villain, and maybe some Hades and Persephone vibes? It's going to be great. (And I have an ARC, so I get to read it just as soon as the Frosted Roses and the Silmaril Awards are over!

13. Critical Role: Vox Machina — Kith & Kin by Marieke Nijkamp (November 30). Have I watched the first Critical Role campaign yet? No. Am I likely to watch it anytime soon? Also probably not, unless you use Aslan's definition of "soon." (Not because I don't want to, but I'm still stuck in the middle of Campaign 2 because I am just not vibing with Raini.) Have I gotten attached to Vex and Vax anyway by way of fanart, animatics, and the Critical Role: Origins comics? Yes. Am I probably going to try to read Kith & Kin if I can get my hands on it? Absolutely.

What book releases are you excited for this fall? Do you prefer romances or nomances? And have you voted in the Silmaril Awards yet? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

Three Sleeping Beauties Blog Tour: Interview With Rachel Roden

Hey'a, all! Welcome back to another day of the Three Sleeping Beauties Blog Tour! Today, I'm doing another interview, this time with Rachel Roden, author of Rosette Thornbriar. But before we get started on that, a little about Rachel and her book:

About the Book

Once upon a time, way out west...

Back when they were young'uns, Fleur Guardstone proposed to Rosette Thornbriar with a cigar band ring. However, not long after, she disappeared back into the forest and hadn't been heard from since. However, when Fleur hears reports of smoke coming from that woods, he's determined to find out if it is, indeed, his dear Rosette. If he can get past all of the briars.

Find Rosette Thornbriar on: Amazon || Goodreads

 

About the Author

Rachel Roden is a natural story teller, capable of weaving the most hilarious of fairy tales. She fell in love with the Lone Ranger in her teens, but ended up with a basketball referee instead. Together, she and the Ref homeschool their four children in the Piney Woods of East Texas, as well as any other odd kid who ends up in their house. She might also be the sole human who still uses math after college.

You can connect with Rachel on her blog, twitter, and Pinterest.

And now for the interview!

Hi, Rachel! Welcome to the blog! To start off, can you tell us a little about yourself? Who you are, hobbies, favorite books (other than your own), anything else you'd like to share?

Let's see, well, first, I'm the mother to the famous author, Kendra E. Ardnek.  ::wink:: ...  after that, I'm a little dull.  I'm also the mother to 3 others, two of whom are still shorter than I am.   I've got a whole "Meet Us" on my homeschooling blog. Hobbies?  I read in the few spare minutes I have each week.  But I can polish a 300 page book off in under 4.5 hours. I collect sheep.  I teach 4 kids in homeschool and sometimes create my own curriculum from a mash up of other curriculum, books, youtube videos, and such.   Do I even have hobbies anymore? I collect lamb pictures (because there is no more room on my shelves for more stuffies or figurines). And I collect fancy pens and pencils.  I have drawers full of them. Lately, I've been drooling over these ... https://www.facebook.com/gideon.penturner/  ....  amazing!!! But they are in Australia. Anything else interesting? Well, I do have a degree in Math!

Favorite books? I answered this for somebody else, so I'll give you a different answer. Just depends on my mood. Currently, I'm into Historical Fiction. But the book I'm reading on my Kindle is a high action fantasy mystic kind of a ninja on steroids type story, Warriors of the Way or similar - 5 books.  I've always gone for high action movies and books. But I mostly stick to the fantasy and Sci-Fi.  LOVED the Dune Series, and I loved the Norby books, I think by Isaac Asimov and would love to get my hands on them again. A better question, what do I dislike reading? I don't like murder or mystery, horror, crime or law. Surprising for someone who likes action to NOT like suspense I suppose. I try to not read anything morally objectionable, but when you devour books like I do, sometimes you end up in one by accident. I'm also not a fan of books written in the here and now in our world, unless there is some weirdness to it. I read to escape into other worlds mostly. BUT the two authors I love the most, Tolkien and Dickens.

Rosette Thornbriar is also your debut in the writing world. Can you share a little bit about what led to this moment and how you decided that this was the story with which to introduce yourself?

It's not exactly my debut. Kendra published me as Rachel Lamb in one of her other books. When she redoes it, I'll be Rachel Roden instead. I've actually been writing novel's since I was in Jr. High.  Kendra keeps threatening to publish Rosanna. Not that it's bad, but I was just a kid! I've been a story teller as long as I can remember, but it was only recently that I discovered it might be a unique talent.  As the oldest, I was frequently left in charge of 4 to 6 (more if we were babysitting) kids younger than myself, in days when there was not always TV to amuse a child and sometimes it was just too hot outside to actually play. Reading to them was not always effective, so I took to making up huge parts of the story to go with the pictures. When in high school, I started teaching preschoolers, and soon found myself in charge of teaching the lesson. Looking back, I must have been pretty good getting the kids involved with the Cubbie puppet and the lessons, because they always listened.  Teaching school, the principal commented several times that he'd never heard anyone tell a story to explain Algebra. I dabbled with writing when I had time, poetry and novels and short stories.  I even took a class in College!   But eventually life got in the way. And now I've got this 22 year old kid who did so much of what I wanted to do - publish a book! And now she's managed to get me to sit down and write an entire story for her.

In your story, you put a Western twist on a classic fairy tale. Can you tell us about how you came up with this idea?

Would you believe it was a silly fluke of an idea to cheer up Vannan about 2 years ago, while eating supper and cleaning up the kitchen. We do a lot of brainstorming in the kitchen, or on walks. But the ideas would not leave me along .... so I wrote a Cinderella story, and half of a Frog Prince story. I'm actually quite fond of western prairie books, the whole "going west" part of history.

Ok, we've had several big, tough questions, so how about something a little more fun? If you could spend a day with one of your characters in his or her world and time, who would you pick and what would you do?

Shasta maybe? You have no idea how many half done works I've got tucked into corners. But Shasta is the main character in the story.   Kendra published the first chapter a few years ago on her blog. I like her because the world was uniquely me and my imagination. I'm not giving you the title, because Kendra has changed it a few times. I wrote this when she was a baby. Or maybe the Sci-fi I started to write about the same time. That is another one that I might finish someday.

What was the hardest part of writing this story? The best part?

Hardest part is finding time. Best part is losing myself in the process.

On that topic, do you get attacked by writer's block often? If so, how do you deal with it?

Writer's block is not a big problem for me. The teacher I had in college told me that I had so many ideas in my head from the millions of books that I've read, that there is always something rising to the surface to give me an idea. BUT if I'm having trouble working out a scene or idea, my best tactic is to walk or talk or both.

Besides the obvious, what books (or movies or such; we all know that stories and inspiration come in many forms) influenced Rosette Thornbriar?

Influenced it?  I don't know. Vannan in her cowgirl hat bopping around the library is sort of the image of one of my characters. The woods is from a movie I watched as a child, it just floated into view, and I don't know where or when I obtained the picture. Fleur climbing trees is from a picture of a girl climbing the mast of a boat and looking out over the ocean. There is a bit of Little House on the Prairie in there, a dozen or so borrowed ideas from books and stories and history about moving West.  And I borrowed heavily from the Cinderella book that I had written 2 years ago. Oh yes, and there was a Festus in some show I use to watch, and he's the guy I pictured when I wrote about the peddler.

Do you listen to music when you write? Or are you more of a silent writer?

White noise. Sometimes music. But usually it's white noise that I write too, otherwise the tinnitus bothers me. My brain spends too much time listening if I put on music. During the 70's they mostly used classical music when they made the cartoon shows - like Fantasia. And too many of them have moving pictures when I listen to the music now.

Finally, can you share anything about your future writing plans? I happen to know you're the mother of another amazing writer; are you two possibly considering a collaboration at some point?

Well, we collaborate a lot. I've been the source of her "worst ideas" and "best ideas" and many of those are still in notebooks. She wants me to keep churning out my westerns. And it is likely as I get the 7 and 12 year old grown up a bit more, that she'll get me to sit down and write more. I would love to publish a whole stack of kids books. My westerns will make great bedtime stories... I can see every page of the picture book that should go with this! Someday maybe. My plan right now is to teach the younger siblings, and school started on July 31 for this year. We start early so we can have 6 weeks off at Christmas. Besides, who wants to be outside when it's topping 100 nearly every day?

Thank you for hosting the questions for us.   Have a great day!

Thanks for being here, Rachel! I can't wait to read your book!

Don't forget, both giveaways that I mentioned on Thursday are still running! So if you haven't entered the Rafflecopter giveaway, make sure you do that, and keep commenting on the other blog stops for a chance to pre-read The Seven Drawers and Cindy Ellen!  

Thanks for reading!

-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)  

Other Blog Stops Today

Knitted By God’s Plan - Retellings I’d Like To Write Someday

Morgan Elizabeth Huneke - Something About the SSS

Interviews:

Rachel Rossano's Words - Kendra

Dreams and Dragons - Rachel- you are here

Reviews:

Girls Living for God’s Glory - Twisted Dreams

Sutori no Hana - Twisted Dreams