Launch Week

Last night's facebook party was so much fun! A huge thanks to everyone who came, commented, asked questions, and just generally made us all feel super loved.If you missed the party, you are more than welcome to go by and read through the questions that were asked and answered. You should be able to see it even if you don't have a facebook account: HERE.Also, we authors put some effort into creating a "Which Five Enchanted Roses Heroine are YOU?" quiz, just for fun! You can find it HERE. Have fun!The fun isn't over, however, because this week Anne Elisabeth is hosting each of us Five Enchanted Roses authors over on her blog. Kaycee and Savannah have been interviewed already, and the rest of us will follow tomorrow and later this week. There is also information on how you can get your name entered to win that fabulous prize pack, so please make sure you head on over and check that out.Also, I believe most of us plan to have follow-up posts from the launch party on our blogs in the coming days. (The other authors can be found at: Kaycee, Savannah, Dorian, Hayden). Later this week, I plan to do a post (or series of posts, depending on how long it gets...) on the characters in my story, Stone Curse, and then I'll answer a few of the questions that were asked at the party in more detail.So, this is where I open the floor up to you, dear Reader. If you have a question you would like to know the answer to, either about Stone Curse itself, or the contest, or the experience of taking this story from beginning glimmering to conclusion... please, feel free to ask! I'd love to answer your questions!I finished reading the other stories in the collection on Monday afternoon, and I just wanted to take a minute and give you my very few thoughts on each of these other stories, because they are all just brilliant and I love them.Esprit de la Rose by Kaycee Browning. I already knew that I enjoyed Kaycee's writing, having read Ember Flame and followed her blog... and because we're friends in real-life, too.But even though we had talked about her story and her characters a bit before I read it, I was not prepared for the amazing twists and turns this story was going to take. Swashbuckling, cursed pirates, and ships that sail along the path of their captain's whims... I couldn't help but feel that this was Beauty and the Beast meets Pirates of the Caribbean meets a touch of Peter Pan meets a hint of creepy-Little Mermaid. And the result was a really fun story filled with plenty of action and adventure and a protagonist that swept me off my feet and left me breathless and yet perfectly satisfied. Cecilia and Pepin were truly captivating characters and I loved them both (Sorry, Kaycee, I loved Pepin... couldn't help it!)Wither by Savannah Jezowski. I had tried not to read any spoilers for these stories, so I had no idea what to expect. Wither was truly unexpected. Lilybet and the Beast of the ruined Abbey will make you laugh as they banter back and forth, each doing their very best to reign in their tempers, and only barely succeeding. The story has been called the most spooky of the set, but I didn't really find it to be creepy so much as it was a true adventure. The characters are noble and heroic and the odds they face are staggering... and I was kept on the edge of my seat until the very last page.Rosara and the Jungle King by Dorian Tsukioka. This story was probably the most unexpected of the lot for me. I knew there was a talking jaguar in the story, but I did not expect to be swept off on an adventure into the Amazon that was so well-written that I felt completely immersed in a totally different world without that world detracting from the story. Wimba trees and glasswing butterflies and strangler figs were wholly unfamiliar to me, but they became second nature and I could see them clearly through the words Dorian painted. The story itself is an interesting blend of sweet and brutal, and without giving anything away, there's a lot of "LadyHawke" to it... which I absolutely loved.And finally, The Wulver's Rose by Hayden Wand. It is true that this story strays the least from the original tale, but it fills the gaps that always annoyed me about the original Beauty and the Beast quite beautifully. The characters were all so very real, and I felt that I really got to know each of them quite well. Of all the stories, this was the one I found most difficult to put down. Perhaps it was because I knew the story so well, but didn't know how THESE characters were going to end up, or perhaps it was all the subtle differences I kept noticing from the original... I was completely sucked into the story and just loved it.In summary, there are four fantastic stories in this collection and I truly enjoyed all of them. I will read them again and again, and am excited to share these stories with my own kiddos someday. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I am just so honored and humbled to be among them.Yes, the stories are a bit more shadowy than those of the Five Glass Slippers collection, and I will probably wait on a few of them until my kids are a bit older, but Beauty and the Beast is a naturally darker tale than that of Cinderella, so it does not bother me that these stories are bent that direction... for it is only when the night is darkest that the light can shine brightest, and these stories allow the light to shine quite brilliantly. They are not allegories, they are far more subtle than that. The themes are rich and deep, and the kind that require pondering and thought long after you've closed the cover. But even better than that, they all deal with their own unique theme, and the variety is something I truly appreciated. Beauty and the Beast is a story filled with depth: love, sacrifice, forgiveness, seeing past appearances, betrayal, escape (from various things), friendship, being different, looking different, being accepted for who you are... all just a few of the fabulous themes in this tale as old as time.