29 Jan 2016 3 Comments
in Giveaway Tags: australia day book giveaway, giveaway, giveaway winners
With the Australia Day Blog Hop completed it’s time to announce the winner of my giveaway.
Thank you all who entered and came and visited my blog, it was great chatting with you all and I got a great list of Aussie authors I can go out and read now.
I have drawn the winner using random.org and I am very pleased to announce that the winner of Saving Francesca is
The winner has been notified. Congratulations!
29 Jan 2016 Leave a comment
in 5 Stars, Australian Women Writers, Book Bingo, Fantasy, Young Adult Tags: australian women writers challenge, aww, aww 2016, book bingo, fairy tale, fantasy, five stars, melanie cellier, young adult
Published: 2nd January 2016
Publisher: Luminant Publications
Pages: 244
Format: ebook
Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy/Fairy Tale
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ – 5 Stars
One dark and stormy night, lost and alone, Alyssa finds herself knocking on the door of a castle.
After a lifetime spent in the deep forest, Alyssa has no idea what to expect on the other side.
What she finds is two unruly young princesses and one very handsome prince. When Alyssa accepts the job of Princess Companion she knows her life will change. What she doesn’t know is that the royal family is about to be swept up in unexpected danger and intrigue and that she just might be the only thing standing between her kingdom and destruction.
This retelling of the classic fairy tale, The Princess and the Pea, reimagines the risks and rewards that come when one royal family goes searching for a true princess.
Danger and romance await a woodcutter’s daughter in a royal palace.
Note: I was provided with a copy of this book from the author for review.
Fairy tale retellings are some of my favourite books and fairy tales themselves are one of my favourite genres. I love everything about them, their universality, their ability to become any story possible while still being recognised at a level as being a fairy tale, and I love that there are one hundred ways to tell the exact same story and have it come out one hundred different ways.
Cellier’s story is exactly this. It is The Princess and the Pea story we all recognise, but told in a way that it becomes a whole new story on its own. There is still so much of a fairytale in this story: woodcutter’s daughter, godmothers, princes and kingdoms, but Cellier manages to create something more intricate and complex than the original tale. It is sweet, creative, incredibly clever, and even sneaks in another fairy tale reference and shows us what happens at the end of a happily ever after.
The writing feels really honest. Cellier easily could have fallen into the trap of having misunderstandings resulting in the stereotypical drama caused by miscommunication, but she doesn’t. Alyssa is upfront and honest about mistakes and even though it doesn’t always work it, she is never is dishonest or deceptive.
The narration stays with Alyssa for the majority of the book which is a wonderful move as we get to see the palace life and her experience through her eyes and thoughts. You really can’t ask for a better character than Alyssa. She is honest and intelligent, filled with wisdom but also delightfully innocent at the same time. Where readers can see the affection between Max and Alyssa, she always comes to the wrong conclusion. It’s so sweet, and it is a nice change than having her pine for a prince she can’t have.
Alyssa’s role as a Princess Companion brings about all sorts of adventure and danger, and seeing her develop and change, along with all the other characters, is quite rewarding. When the romance emerges it is beautifully told; Cellier doesn’t spring it on us, she weaves it through, misdirection and ignorance throughout. I can’t go on enough about how well this is written.
The original Princess and the Pea fairy tale is not an overly popular retelling compared to Cinderella or Beauty and the Beast, but Cellier has expanded on this incredibly short fairy tale phenomenally, giving depth and fullness to every character and creating a solid and emotionally stable story all within the beginning and end of the traditional fairy tale.
Reading this novel gives you the warm fuzzy feeling that a well-told story produces, and this simple fairy tale has been filled with so much, so many details and complexities, tiny moments that add so much meaning but seem so innocent. It’s fantastic. Cellier truly has written an enchanting, enthralling, and brilliant novel that still feels like you are reading a classic fairy tale.
You can purchase The Princess Companion via the following
28 Jan 2016 1 Comment
in Rambles Tags: angus and robertson, aussie books, australia
With Australia Day behind us and the Aussie Blog Hop over, you may be on the hunt for even more great Aussie reads. Booksellers Angus and Robinson have offered up a selection of books as part of their ‘Australia in Focus’, and provided some great books that are set in Australia’s states and territories. For those looking to read something set in their state, or to read about other states and territories, it’s a great starting place. Angus and Robinson have compiled this selection and it is in no way complete but it’s filled with great Aussie names and titles. They have also compiled a great image that highlights the great Australian classics state by state which you can find here along with a few additional titles or you can click on the image below. And apologies, ACT, you don’t seem to have any, surely not all your books are about politicians…
NEW SOUTH WALES
QUEENSLAND
VICTORIA
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
TASMANIA
NORTHERN TERRITORY
26 Jan 2016 Leave a comment
in Rambles Tags: australia, australia day
Australia Day has arrived! The sun is trying to shine, rain has stayed away, and we can all have a day off, eat lamingtons, and celebrate Australia.
After blog-hopping around so many amazing blogs for the Australia Day Giveaway I’ve become inspired about all things Aussie. Today’s post is going to be about things I love about Australia. Not just the Tim Tams or the weather, but the little things like our laid back approach to things, our animals, and even just the fact that we have a language all of our own that is nearly impossible to understand by anyone else. Of course one must realise this isn’t 1970s anymore and while a few things remain, we don’t all walk around sounding like Alf Stewart, Mick Dundee, or say half the things on those ‘Understanding Aussie Slang’ cheat cards. I know this is a slightly unconventional list of favourite Aussie things than just listing things like Tim Tam Slams or Home and Away, but I think it’s nice to remember we are actually more than just the stereotypes we may seem to be, but on the other hand we are also sometimes exactly like that so it’s hard to win!
The first thing is Vegemite. I love vegemite. I know it sounds so stereotypical but I do love it. I once made an awesome vegemite and red wine gravy, it was so delicious. I have also been asked whether I would like some toast with my vegemite because I apparently put too much on. I do draw the line at vegemite chocolate because that’s a big no no.
Another stereotypical answer is the landscape. I love the harbour, I love the outback, but I love the bush more. I love the trees and the different shades of green. It isn’t fluoro green or dark shades of green, it’s like a pale green, bits of brown, bits of yellow. It’s beautiful.
I love that people are scared of our animals despite the fact we haven’t got any bears, lions, tigers, or massive constricting snakes. We have tiny spiders and snakes that stay out of your way 99% of the time unless you are in the middle of nowhere where they all live under the toilet seat.
I love the fact we have an unspoken rule about convincing foreigners to believe things about our country. Not just drop bears (they of course are real and very dangerous), but trying to convince them with a straight face we say certain phrases, or do certain things. Even not just making things up, I love seeing people freak out over actual Aussie animals like the Cassowary or the Numbat. Or see them trying to work out what a servo is, an arvo is, or what a u-ey is and why we’re chucking it. It’s wonderful innocent fun.
I love our summer Christmases, I cannot imagine any other way that sitting in the sun with Christmas music playing (as odd as it is to sing about snow in 35 degree heat). Ham and prawns and pressies, it’s fantastic.
I love our food, and I love that it’s so different than anywhere else. We have lamingtons and fairy bread, Fantails and Ice Vo-vos, Milo and Malteasers. How could we have gone on as a country without having that to spur us on? I also love you can’t talk about most of these things without getting strange looks from other people like you are saying a bunch of gibberish words.
I also love that we have this culture and common understanding practically ingrained in us. We understand when someone says ‘Not happy, Jan’, or ‘Look at moi’. We know the Happy Little Vegemite song practically from birth, as well as the Aeroplane Jelly song and Louie the Fly despite the fact they probably haven’t been on TV in years. We know about the Boxing Day arguments over whether to watch the cricket or the sailing. We can finish the line ‘Have you ever, ever felt like this’, and we had a favourite Play School window. It’s amazing how much shared knowledge and experience we actually have, it’s awesome.
So that’s my list! My strange collections of things I love about being an Aussie and wouldn’t give up for the world. I know everyone has different things they love, are any the same? Totally different? Whatever you love about Australia Day I hope you’re having a fantastic time celebrating wherever you are and however you are choosing to enjoy it. I myself am going to have my second lamington of the day (no doubt not my last) before having a sausage sandwich and supervise the making of ANZAC bikkies. I think that’s as Australian as I will get today luckily.
I hope the sun keeps shining on all your merriments and that in between the barbeque and backyard cricket games you get to read something spectacular, or maybe even pop over to enter a giveaway or two on the blog-hop *wink wink*.
24 Jan 2016 31 Comments
in Giveaway Tags: australia day, australia day book giveaway, blog hop, giveaway
Crack open a stubbie, grab a lammie, and pass around the Tim Tams, Australia Day is approaching once more. The time of year where we all become slightly more Australian than usual, celebrate this amazing country, and fill ourselves up with BBQ’d meats such as lamb, snags, or some other variety.
Along with the usual festivities, I’m also participating for the first time in the Australia Day Book Giveaway Blog Hop hosted by Shellyrae at Book’d Out. This is a wonderful event that helps to celebrate not only Aussie bloggers but Aussie authors as well. I wanted to join last year but lacked the confidence to dive in, this year I’m sticking my toes in and joining in on the fun. I’ve been a watcher for a while on other people’s blogs but one of my goals this year is to participate more on other blogs so this is a great start.
If you would like to visit other participants in the blog hop you can check out the list on Book’d Out. There are a range of giveaways running for a bunch of great prizes and you get a chance to discover or maybe even rediscover some awesome Aussie blogs and bloggers. And you never know, you may win some amazing prizes while you’re there!
On to the giveaway! Because it’s Australia Day it’s only right to give away a book by an Aussie, and an Aussie gal at that. I am offering up a paperback copy of Saving Francesca by the delightful Melina Marchetta. This is open to Australian residents only.
Francesca battles her mother, Mia, constantly over what’s best for her. All Francesca wants is her old friends and her old school, but instead Mia sends her to St. Sebastian’s, an all-boys’ school that has just opened its doors to girls. Now Francesca’s surrounded by hundreds of boys, with only a few other girls for company. All of them weirdos, or worse.
Then one day, Mia is too depressed to get out of bed. One day turns into months, and as her family begins to fall apart, Francesca realises that without her mother’s high spirits, she hardly knows who she is. But she doesn’t yet realise that she’s more like Mia than she thinks. With a little unlikely help from St. Sebastian’s, she just might be able to save her family, her friends, and – especially- herself.
ENTRIES CLOSED
To enter: Comment on this post with your favourite Aussie author or book and why you love them/it so much. It’s that simple!
Entries close at midnight AEDT on Wednesday 27th January and the winners will be announced within 7 days via email and on the blog.
Good luck!
