Happily Ever After Giveaway Hop

The Happily Ever After Giveaway Hop is hosted by I Am a Reader, Not a Writer and Murphy's Library.  The giveaways on this hop will all feature fairy tales and books with happy endings.  I've decided to feature one of the first books I ever reviewed on this blog because a) I loved it and b) it also happens to be a retelling of one of my daughter's favorite bedtime stories.  (Seriously, the kid makes me read it almost every night, and she pretty much knows the words to the story by heart...and she's only four!)

Here's what's up for grabs on my stop:

Title:  Entwined
Author:  Heather Dixon
Series:  n/a
Publisher:  Greenwillow Books
Publication Date:  March 29, 2011

Azalea is trapped. Just when she should feel that everything is before her . . . beautiful gowns, dashing suitors, balls filled with dancing . . . it's taken away. All of it.

The Keeper understands. He's trapped, too, held for centuries within the walls of the palace. And so he extends an invitation.

Every night, Azalea and her eleven sisters may step through the enchanted passage in their room to dance in his silver forest.

But there is a cost.

The keeper likes to "keep" things.

Azalea may not realize how tangled she is in his web until it is too late.

Rules:

• This giveaway is international.  As long as The Book Depository ships to your location, you are good to go.  (You can double-check that here.) 
• One entry per household.
• All entries will be verified.  Any entry found to be falsified will result in disqualification of all entries for that participant.
• Winner will be notified via email.  Winner will then have 48 hours to respond before another winner will be selected.  And, people, check your SPAM folders...I've had to reach out more than once to some winners because they "didn't get the first email."  I don't want to, but I'm going to have to start just picking new winners.  :C
• I am not responsible for lost packages.

And now on to the fun stuff!  You only have to follow my blog to enter, but all other entries/follows are appreciated!  :D

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now that you've entered here, be sure to check out the other 100+ giveaway stops on this blog hop:

 

 

Good luck & happy reading!

 

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Labels: entwined, fairy tales, favorites, giveaway hops, giveaways, harper-collins, heather dixon, retellings

Review: Entwined by Heather Dixon

Title:  Entwined
Author:  Heather Dixon
Series:  n/a
Publisher:  Greenwillow Books
Publication Date:  March 29, 2011
Links:  Amazon | Goodreads
Rating: 

From Goodreads:

Azalea is trapped. Just when she should feel that everything is before her . . . beautiful gowns, dashing suitors, balls filled with dancing . . . it's taken away. All of it.

The Keeper understands. He's trapped, too, held for centuries within the walls of the palace. And so he extends an invitation.

Every night, Azalea and her eleven sisters may step through the enchanted passage in their room to dance in his silver forest.

But there is a cost.

The Keeper likes to keep things.

Azalea may not realize how tangled she is in his web until it is too late.

Review:


Sometimes, I'm glad I missed out on a lot of the fairy tales when I was younger. (Don't get me wrong, what I missed in fairy tales, my dad made up with sci-fi.) But this book was a complete surprise for me because of it. I mean, yes, it's pretty obvious who the bad guy is, and that he's definitely up to no good even though his appearance seems genial, but not knowing the story already really helped suck me in.

Of course, the writing helped, too. The author's prose just flowed so smoothly throughout the novel, endearing the twelve dancing sisters to my heart as if they were my own. The way they spoke to each other and teased each other reminded me so much of my own sisters. It was so genuine, which led me to believe that the author had grown up in a large family. (According to the inside flap in the back, she did.)

The beautiful cover is enchanting in itself, but the story takes on a life of its own. It takes place in the time of kings and queens and marvelous balls with fancy dancing, when it was acceptable to believe in magic but not for a young lady to remain in a gentleman's company unescorted. It's set in a magical palace with beautiful, overgrown gardens and secret passageways.

Entwined is a story of magic and secrets and breathtaking romance, and above all, dancing. Oh, how I sometimes wish I'd lived in a time of such magnificent dancing! If you enjoy the allure of a well-told fairy tale, this is one book that is not to be missed.
 

 
Next up for review: 

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Labels: book trailers, entwined, reviews

Book Trailers: Forever Entwined with Passion

I love book trailers.  Some give you insight into what's going to happen in a book, and some just look really pretty.  Either way, I can't get enough of them.

Maggie Stiefvater created her very own trailer for Forever (you can get a signed copy here), the final book in her "The Wolfs of Mercy Falls" series.  She takes creative to a whole other level.  Behold:



The trailer for Entwined by Heather Dixon is just beautiful and intriguing.  It's seriously making me reconsider the placement of this book in my TBR pile!



Although we have to wait a little over a month for the release of Lauren Kate's Passion, the trailer was released today.  I'm still not sure what to think about Luce and Daniel's relationship, but I can't wait to read more, especially to see how things develop now that Miles is in the picture!



So many great books to look forward to!  I need a separate calendar just to keep track of them all!

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Labels: book trailers, entwined, fallen, wolves of mercy falls