Shower of Books Giveaway Hop: The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman

Welcome back to another edition of the Giveaway Hop! Up this month, we have a particular favorite of mine that I'd recommend for any other library lover: a brand-spanking-new paperback copy of The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman!

Elizabeth has a new job at an unusual library: a lending library of objects, not books. In a secret room in the basement lies the Grimm Collection. That's where the librarians lock away powerful items straight out of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales: seven-league boots, a table that produces a feast at the blink of an eye, Snow White's stepmother's sinister mirror that talks in riddles.

When the magical objects start to disappear, Elizabeth embarks on a dangerous quest to catch the thief before she can be accused of the crime - or captured by the thief.

Polly Shulman has created a contemporary fantasy with a fascinating setting and premise, starring an ordinary girl whose after-school job is far from ordinary...and leads to a world of excitement, romance and magical intrigue.

Magic. Mystery. And a library that you'll want to live in. What more can a bookworm ask for? And just think, gentle readers, this copy could be yours! Just fill out the Rafflecopter and make a wish upon a star, and be sure to tune in again soon to find out the results!

*fades to Rafflecopter form with a blast of musak and canned applause*

"Waiting On" Wednesday: Tiger Lily & Kill Me Softly

Tiger Lily
Jodi Lynn Anderson
July 3, 2012

15 year old Tiger Lily, proud and fierce, wild and misunderstood, doesn't believe in love stories or happy endings. Then she meets the teenage Peter Pan in the forbidden woods of Neverland, and immediately falls under his spell. 

Peter is unlike anyone she's ever known. Impetuous and brave, big-hearted but hard to reach, he both scares and enthralls her. As the leader of the Lost Boys, the most fearsome of Neverland's inhabitants, Peter is an unthinkable match for Tiger Lily. Soon, she is risking everything - her family, her future - to be with the haunted, hunted, courageous boy who loves her. 

When - as a punishment for her rebellious ways - she is faced with marriage to a terrible man in her own tribe, she must choose between the life she's always known and running away to an uncertain future with Peter. With enemies threatening to tear them apart, the lovers seem doomed. But it's the arrival of Wendy Darling, an English girl who's everything Tiger Lily is not, that leads Tiger Lily to discover that the most dangerous enemies can live inside even the most loyal and loving heart.

From the New York Times bestselling author of PEACHES comes a magical and bewitching story of the romance between a fearless heroine and the boy who wouldn't grow up.

So my good friend Dani of Refracted Light Reviews brought this title to my attention after I wrote a piece based off Tiger Lily and Peter for a Figment theme. The idea of Tiger Lily being a better match for Peter Pan has always appealed to me. Not to completely blindside Wendy from the picture, but...Yeah, I root for the Native American princess this time.

After all...how can a British girl sing with all the voices of the mountain and paint with all the colors of the wind? (Heh. Sorry. Couldn't resist.)


The only downfall for this novel to me - which has me eagerly anticipating and dreading it - is that I'm not sure that Tiger Lily will get a happy ending. *gasps* What if the author still has her shoved aside for Wendy in the end? Gah. Well, the only way to find out is to just go ahead and take the plunge, I guess.

Or lurk on GoodReads until someone braver reviews it.

Kill Me Softly
Sarah Cross
April 10, 2012

True love’s kiss just may prove deadly....

Mirabelle’s past is shrouded in secrecy, from her parents’ tragic deaths to her guardians’ half-truths about why she can’t return to her birthplace, Beau Rivage. Desperate to see the town, Mira runs away a week before her sixteenth birthday—and discovers a world she never could have imagined.

In Beau Rivage, nothing is what it seems—the strangely pale girl with a morbid interest in apples, the obnoxious playboy who’s a beast to everyone he meets, and the chivalrous guy who has a thing for damsels in distress. Here, fairy tales come to life, curses are awakened, and ancient stories are played out again and again.

But fairy tales aren’t pretty things, and they don’t always end in happily ever after. Mira has a role to play, a fairy-tale destiny to embrace or resist. As she struggles to take control of her fate, Mira is drawn into the lives of two brothers with fairy-tale curses of their own ... brothers who share a dark secret. And she’ll find that love, just like fairy tales, can have sharp edges and hidden thorns.

By now, you probably know of my weakness for fairy-tale retellings since fifth grade. The Sisters Grimm, Ella Enchanted (Prince Char + Ella 4Ever!), endless replays of any new Disney princess movie that comes out (assuming that they don't ruin it and totally make it in a prince-bolstering, wet-blanket-heroine tournament)...I think you get the idea.

The author curates a fairy tale blog on Tumblr that I compulsively check for inspiration and new ideas. With such unique images and depictions, I have faith that she'll carry this off wonderfully.

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine. For more information on participating, please check out the host blog.

"Waiting On" Wednesday: Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass, #1)

Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass, #1)
Sarah J. Maas
August 7, 2012

After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

Her opponents are men—thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the kings council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she’ll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom.

Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she’s bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it’s the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

I'm sorry that I missed this story's stint on Fictionpress, because now I'm going to have to wait all the way until August to read it! Gah. How will I survive? But seeing as the author assures all her past readers on her website that the edited version is even better, perhaps that's a good thing.

So initially, this story was meant to be a retelling of Cinderella - only Cinderella is at the ball to kill Prince Charming. Now, it is billed as a high-fantasy adventure with slight ties to the fairytale. Either way, it sounds   A M A Z I N G.

Also, I love it when the prince has some competition for the girl's affections. I mean, who always wants the royalty to win?

Unfortunately, seeing as we are nowhere near this book's release date, there is no cover.  Ah, well. Soon enough.

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine. For more information on participating, please check out the host blog.

"Waiting On" Wednesday: Cinder

Cinder
Marissa Meyer
January 3, 2012

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future. 

Okay, one of my (very ill-kept) book blogger secrets: my weakness is fairy-tale renditions. Ever since I devoured Ella Enchanted as a chubby-cheeked, happily-ever-after believing fifth-grader, I have always kept my eye out for a unique, no-holds-barred, turn it all topsy-turvy retelling that would grab my heart in the way a princess feels when she knows she's reached her happy ending.

(Yes. I'm very sappy about it, too.)

I don't want to jinx my enjoyment beforehand, because God knows how many times I've gone and let off my big mouth with a pre-mature "I know I'm going to love that book", and then sat in front of a blinking, empty post trying to figure out how to delicately write a review because I didn't like it at ALL. But seriously, Cinder looks like it's going to live up to the hype. I mean, cyborgs? Intergalactic struggles?

This sounds like it's going to be the most exciting sci-fi odyssey I've read since Disney planted aliens in the middle of Stevenson's Treasure Island and made it a planet.


"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine. For more information on how to participate, please check out the hosting blog here.