First Frost Blurb:
For
generations, the Frost family has run the Museum of Magical and Rare
Artifacts, handing down guardianship from mother to daughter, always
keeping their secrets to “family only.”
Gathered
within museum’s walls is a collection dedicated to the Grimm fairy
tales and to the rare items the family has acquired: Cinderella’s glass
slipper, Snow White’s poisoned apple, the evil queen’s magic mirror,
Sleeping Beauty’s enchanted spinning wheel…
Seventeen-year-old
Bianca Frost wants none of it, dreaming instead of a career in art or
photography or…well, anything except working in the family’s museum. She
knows the items in the glass display cases are fakes because, of
course, magic doesn't really exist.
She’s about to find out how wrong she is.
Glass Frost Blurb
When joined together, Cinderella's slippers grant the wearer her heart's desire. But whose wish will be granted?
When
Cinderella’s glass slipper is stolen, Queen Felicia sends her faithful
steward Terrance to the real world to retrieve his love and
witch-in-training, Bianca Frost. The power of the glass slipper, when
paired with its mate, and in the wrong hands, could ruin the peace of
Everafter. Bianca must gather every bit of magic she has learned in the
past few weeks to find the slipper and protect her new love. Together,
Bianca, Ming, Prince Ferdinand, and
Terrance venture deep into the heart of Everafter to seek clues as to
who has stolen the slipper and why. Along the way, they uncover what
happened to the Seven Dwarves after Snow White married the prince, but
also learn the awful risk of tampering with black magic and the high
price that must be paid for magic, even when used for good.
Bianca
and Terrance’s relationship is put to the test. Through the pain of
suffering and loss, Bianca must determine if following her gallant
boyfriend into his faraway world is in fact her heart's desire.
The highly anticipated sequel to First Frost. July 19th 2013 through Musa Publishing.
Buy links:
Author Bio
Liz
DeJesus was born on the tiny island of Puerto Rico. She is a novelist
and a poet. She has been writing for as long as she was capable of
holding a pen. She is the author of the novel Nina (Blu Phi'er
Publishing, October 2007), The Jackets (Arte Publico Press, March 31st
2011) First Frost (Musa Publishing, June 22nd 2012) and Glass Frost
(Musa Publishing, COMING SOON).
She is also a member of The Written Remains Writers Guild http://www.writtenremains.org/.
Liz is currently working on a new novel.
GUEST POST
Anyone that knows me knows that I love fairy tales.
Actually I take that back...I'm OBSESSED with fairy tales. One of the first
books that I ever bought with my allowance was titled English Fairy Tales. It was hard cover, with yellow cloth and it
has a picture of a giant holding a tiny ax. I was eleven years old at the time.
I was lonely, nerdy, didn't fit in with anyone at school and the only escape
that I had was in books.
Anyway
it's safe to say that I quickly became obsessed with fairy tales. I devoured
books like Grimm's Fairy Tales, Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales, Alice in
Wonderland, among others that I'll list some other time. :)
I'm
gonna list some of my favorite fairy tales and why:
1. Snow White ~ First story I ever read that
featured a brunette. But I like Snow White because she is complicated; she lost
her mother, and then her father. She was left with a hateful stepmother that
envied her, tried to kill her and she overcame all of these different obstacles:
being poisoned with a comb, strangled with ribbons and then ultimately killed
with a poisoned apple. I think it was Snow White's vanity that killed her
(because the seven dwarves warned her not to let anyone in and she disobeyed). She
had a lot of harsh lessons to learn. This is why she's one of my favorite
princess.
2. Alice in Wonderland ~ This story is just plain
fun. White rabbit, mad hatters, talking caterpillars (that smokes a hookah
thankyouverymuch), a crazy-head-chopping queen of hearts and a very confused
little girl named Alice.
3.
Toads and Diamonds ~ This was one of the first fairy tales I read and was
absolutely fascinated by the story of these two sisters.
This fairy tale is a little obscure
so if you've never heard of it, here's a little info I got from Wikipedia. I
first read about it in Michael Hague's Tales of Charles Perrault.
A bad-tempered old widow had two
daughters, her older daughter was disagreeable and proud but looked and behaved
like her mother, and therefore was her favorite child. She and her eldest
daughter badly mistreated the woman's younger daughter, who was sweet,
courteous, and beautiful, but resembled her late father.
One day while drawing water from the
well, the younger daughter was asked for a drink by an old woman. The girl
politely consented and after giving it, she found that the woman was a fairy,
who had taken the guise of a crone to test the character of mortals. As the
girl was so kind and compassionate toward her, the fairy blessed her with
having either a jewel, a diamond or a pretty flower fall from her mouth
whenever she spoke.
Upon arriving home and explaining
why she took so long to her mother, the widow was delighted at the sight of
diamonds, pearls and roses falling from the girl's lips, and desired that her favored
eldest daughter, Fanny, should have the gift as well. Fanny protested, but the
widow forcibly sent her to the well with instruction to act kindly toward an
old beggar woman. Fanny set off but the fairy appeared as a fine princess, and
requested that the girl draw her a drink from the well. The elder daughter
spoke rudely to the fairy and insulted her. The fairy decreed that, as
punishment for her despicable attitude, either a toad or a snake would fall
from Fanny's mouth whenever she spoke.
When Fanny arrived home, she told
her story to her mother and disgusting toads and vipers fell from her mouth
with each word. The widow, in a fury, drove her younger daughter out of the
house. In the woods, she met a king's son, who fell in love with her and
married her. In time, even the widow was sickened by her older daughter, and
drove her out, and she died alone and miserable in the woods
I'm using these characters in the
sequel to First Frost. Safe to say...I'm having tons of fun.
4. The Three Heads of the Well ~ I like this story
because the main character sets out to seek her fortune.
This
is another slightly obscure fairy tale:
In
the days before King Arthur, a king held his court in Colchester. He had a
beautiful daughter by his beautiful wife, but when his wife died, he married a
hideous widow with a daughter of her own, for her riches, and his new wife set
him against his daughter. His daughter begged leave to go and seek her fortune,
and he permitted it, and his wife gave her brown bread, hard cheese, and a
bottle of beer.
She goes on her way and sees an old
man sitting on a stone. When he asks what she has, she tells him and offers him
some. After they eat, he tells her how to get through a hedge, and that she
will find three golden heads in a well there, and should do whatever they tell
her.
The heads ask her to comb them and
wash them, and after she does so, one says she shall be beautiful, the next
that she will have a sweet voice, and the third that she shall be fortunate and
queen to the greatest prince that reigns.
She goes on, and a king sees her and
falls in love with her. They marry and go back to visit her father. Her
stepmother is enraged that her stepdaughter and not her daughter gained all
this, and sent her daughter on the same journey. The daughter was rude to the old
man, and slighted the three heads, and they curse her with leprosy, a harsh
voice, and marriage to a cobbler.
She goes on. A cobbler offers to
cure her leprosy and voice if she will marry him, and she agrees.
Her mother, finding she had married
a cobbler, hangs herself, and the king gives his stepdaughter's husband a
hundred pounds to quit the court and live elsewhere.
5. Beauty and the Beast ~ I love this fairy tale
because the moral of the story is to search for inner beauty. And of course my
favorite is the Disney version...seriously...I would totally marry the Beast
just for the library. I remember the first time I saw the movie and my jaw
dropped when I saw the library scene. I wanted to live there. :)
6. Snow White and Rose Red ~ Sometimes they change
Snow White’s name to Rose White so it’s hard to tell which one it really is. I
like this story because the two sisters get into mischief with the dwarf. Some
of my favorite stories have bears in them. LOL. I wonder what that says about
me? Hmmm...I wonder.
7. Cinderella ~ Classic fairy tale. It has
everything, wicked stepmother, wicked stepsisters, glass slippers, fairy godmothers,
a ball, and a prince. What's not to love?
Hint, hint, Cinderella's glass slipper will
be a major item of interest in Glass Frost (the soon to be released sequel to
First Frost). :)
Anyway,
those are just some of my favorites, I had to stop myself from adding more
because otherwise this would’ve been a ridiculously long blog post. I guess
some people would find my fascination with fairy tales strange. But I like to
think that we all need a little magic and whimsy in our lives. This is why
books are crucial to our existence. It's a safe way to escape. And you’re
probably wondering why so many writers use fairy tales in their writing. My
response? WHY NOT! All of these stories are just an endless fountain of
inspiration.
I
can only hope that you all enjoy my book First Frost, all I have ever wanted
to do was have a bit of fun and entertain people with my work.
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