Lots of Fairy Tale Inspired Novels on Sale Today Only

There are several fairy tale related books on sale as Kindle Daily Deals which are probably price matched with other sellers today, too. There haven't been many sales in the last several months, but today makes up for it with a lot of recent releases for at least half off.

 

  Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim which is a Six Swans retelling

 

 

  A Wolf for a Spell by Karah Sutton has Baba Yaga in it

 

Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M. Valente which has Bluebeard as inspiration

 

Malice: A Novel by Heather Walter is inspired by Sleeping Beauty

   

Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber has nods to Tricksters (Jacks) tropes

There's also Holly Black's How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories and well, just check out the entire list at Kindle Daily Deals.
 

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Bargain Ebook: TODAY ONLY: The Gold-Son by Carrie Anne Noble for $.99

The Gold-Son by Carrie Anne Noble is on sale TODAY ONLY for 99 cents on Amazon. This book draws on folklore about leprechauns and fae for inspiration.

Book Description:

All sixteen-year-old Tommin wants is to make beautiful shoes and care for his beloved grandmother, but his insatiable need to steal threatens to destroy everything. Driven by a curse that demands more and more gold, he’s sure to get caught eventually.

When mysterious Lorcan Reilly arrives in town with his “niece,” Eve, Tommin believes the fellow wants to help him. Instead, Lorcan whisks him off to the underground realm of the Leprechauns, where, alongside Eve, he’s forced to prepare to become one of them.

As Lorcan’s plans for his “gold-children” are slowly revealed, Tommin and Eve plan their escape. But with Tommin’s humanity slipping away, the fate-crossed pair has everything to lose unless they can find a way to outsmart a magical curse centuries in the making.

SurLaLune's Small Print:

As an Amazon Associate, the SurLaLune Fairy Tale site earns a percentage from qualifying purchases as a referral incentive which helps support the site. Your cost does not increase by using the links on this site. Read SurLaLune's Privacy Policy here.

New Book: Elf Queens and Holy Friars: Fairy Beliefs and the Medieval Church (The Middle Ages Series) by Richard Firth Green

Elf Queens and Holy Friars: Fairy Beliefs and the Medieval Church (The Middle Ages Series) by Richard Firth Green was released a few months ago. I learned about it shortly after and have been stalking it ever since. Which is funny because it's not my top tier catnip but this topic and time period fascinate me.

Book description:

In Elf Queens and Holy Friars Richard Firth Green investigates an important aspect of medieval culture that has been largely ignored by modern literary scholarship: the omnipresent belief in fairyland.

Taking as his starting point the assumption that the major cultural gulf in the Middle Ages was less between the wealthy and the poor than between the learned and the lay, Green explores the church's systematic demonization of fairies and infernalization of fairyland. He argues that when medieval preachers inveighed against the demons that they portrayed as threatening their flocks, they were in reality often waging war against fairy beliefs. The recognition that medieval demonology, and indeed pastoral theology, were packed with coded references to popular lore opens up a whole new avenue for the investigation of medieval vernacular culture.

Elf Queens and Holy Friars offers a detailed account of the church's attempts to suppress or redirect belief in such things as fairy lovers, changelings, and alternative versions of the afterlife. That the church took these fairy beliefs so seriously suggests that they were ideologically loaded, and this fact makes a huge difference in the way we read medieval romance, the literary genre that treats them most explicitly. The war on fairy beliefs increased in intensity toward the end of the Middle Ages, becoming finally a significant factor in the witch-hunting of the Renaissance.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Chapter 1. Believing in Fairies
Chapter 2. Policing Vernacular Belief
Chapter 3. Incubi Fairies
Chapter 4. Christ the Changeling
Chapter 5. Living in Fairyland
Postscript

Notes
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments

You can read an excerpt on the publisher's site.

New Book Bargain: Roses and Rot by Kat Howard for $1.99

Roses and Rot by Kat Howard is on sale in ebook format for $1.99 for a limited time, down from $7.99.

From my earlier post about the book a few weeks ago:

Roses and Rot by Kat Howard is a new May release. This isn't a fairy tale retelling, but a faerie book. I don't track all of those on the blog, but when one gains my interest and notice, I share it here. This one reminded me a bit of Tam Lin and has an interesting premise but I haven't read it myself yet. It is also getting some considerable hype.

Book description:

Publishers Weekly Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror Novel of Summer 2016

“Captivating, fiercely smart (about sisters, artists), utterly transporting. I read it so consumingly, it was more akin to swallowing it whole. Not to be missed.” —Megan Abbott, Edgar-winning author of The Fever and You Will Know Me

“Kat Howard seems to possess a magic of her own, of making characters come alive and scenery so vivid, you forget it exists only on the page. Roses and Rot is both beautiful and dark, lovely, and haunting." —Anton Bogomazov, Politics and Prose Bookstore

“A contemporary dark fantasy full of dark magic, the hidden traps of fairy tales, and painful humanity. I loved every page.” —Christopher Golden, New York Times bestselling author of Dead Ringers

Imogen and her sister Marin escape their cruel mother to attend a prestigious artists’ retreat, but soon learn that living in a fairy tale requires sacrifices, whether it be art or love in this haunting debut novel from “a remarkable young writer” (Neil Gaiman).

What would you sacrifice for everything you ever dreamed of?

Imogen has grown up reading fairy tales about mothers who die and make way for cruel stepmothers. As a child, she used to lie in bed wishing that her life would become one of these tragic fairy tales because she couldn’t imagine how a stepmother could be worse than her mother now. As adults, Imogen and her sister Marin are accepted to an elite post-grad arts program—Imogen as a writer and Marin as a dancer. Soon enough, though, they realize that there’s more to the school than meets the eye. Imogen might be living in the fairy tale she’s dreamed about as a child, but it’s one that will pit her against Marin if she decides to escape her past to find her heart’s desire.

New Release: Roses and Rot by Kat Howard

Roses and Rot by Kat Howard is a new May release. This isn't a fairy tale retelling, but a faerie book. I don't track all of those on the blog, but when one gains my interest and notice, I share it here. This one reminded me a bit of Tam Lin and has an interesting premise but I haven't read it myself yet. It is also getting some considerable hype.

Book description:

Publishers Weekly Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror Novel of Summer 2016

“Captivating, fiercely smart (about sisters, artists), utterly transporting. I read it so consumingly, it was more akin to swallowing it whole. Not to be missed.” —Megan Abbott, Edgar-winning author of The Fever and You Will Know Me

“Kat Howard seems to possess a magic of her own, of making characters come alive and scenery so vivid, you forget it exists only on the page. Roses and Rot is both beautiful and dark, lovely, and haunting." —Anton Bogomazov, Politics and Prose Bookstore

“A contemporary dark fantasy full of dark magic, the hidden traps of fairy tales, and painful humanity. I loved every page.” —Christopher Golden, New York Times bestselling author of Dead Ringers

Imogen and her sister Marin escape their cruel mother to attend a prestigious artists’ retreat, but soon learn that living in a fairy tale requires sacrifices, whether it be art or love in this haunting debut novel from “a remarkable young writer” (Neil Gaiman).

What would you sacrifice for everything you ever dreamed of?

Imogen has grown up reading fairy tales about mothers who die and make way for cruel stepmothers. As a child, she used to lie in bed wishing that her life would become one of these tragic fairy tales because she couldn’t imagine how a stepmother could be worse than her mother now. As adults, Imogen and her sister Marin are accepted to an elite post-grad arts program—Imogen as a writer and Marin as a dancer. Soon enough, though, they realize that there’s more to the school than meets the eye. Imogen might be living in the fairy tale she’s dreamed about as a child, but it’s one that will pit her against Marin if she decides to escape her past to find her heart’s desire.

Bargain Ebook: A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas is on sale for $3.64 in ebook format at the moment. It was released earlier this year and this is the first time it has been discounted.

And why should you get it? Because it is a Tam Lin retelling and we collect those. Or I guess I do. So I have it.

Book description:

Perfect for fans of Kristin Cashore and George R.R. Martin, this first book in a sexy and action-packed new series is impossible to put down!

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin--one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she's been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow over the faerie lands is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it . . . or doom Tamlin--and his world--forever.

Bargain Ebook: The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black for $2.99

The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black is on sale in ebook format for $2.99 for a limited time.

Book description:

In the woods is a glass coffin. It rests on the ground, and in it sleeps a boy with horns on his head and ears as pointed as knives....

Hazel and her brother, Ben, live in Fairfold, where humans and the Folk exist side by side. Tourists drive in to see the lush wonders of Faerie and, most wonderful of all, the horned boy. But visitors fail to see the danger.

Since they were children, Hazel and Ben have been telling each other stories about the boy in the glass coffin, that he is a prince and they are valiant knights, pretending their prince would be different from the other faeries, the ones who made cruel bargains, lurked in the shadows of trees, and doomed tourists. But as Hazel grows up, she puts aside those stories. Hazel knows the horned boy will never wake.

Until one day, he does....

As the world turns upside down, Hazel has to become the knight she once pretended to be. But as she's swept up in new love, with shifting loyalties and the fresh sting of betrayal, will it be enough?

The Darkest Part of the Forest, is the bestselling author Holly Black's triumphant return to the opulent, enchanting faerie tales that launched her YA career.

The Gnomist Film with Some Extra Fairy and Gnome Doors

For your weekend viewing pleasure, as I gear up for new upcoming posts:



Great Big Story's description:

Deep in the forest of Overland Park, Kansas little gnomes made a home. But how did they get there? This is the feel-good story of paying-it-forward, one little house at a time. A Great Big collaboration with our friends at CNN Films.

I don't have any trees on my property to add a fairy or gnome door to, but whenever I come across them in searches--like Fairy Door Amazon Search Results--I wish I did. But I was thrilled this summer when a fairy ring appeared beside our house. It prosaically disappeared with the next lawn mowing but it was fun while it lasted. Besides, it's never really wise to keep them around anyway...fairies are not always--or even usually--our friends, you know.

A few of my favorites:

Miniature Fairy Garden Double Door Tree Accent

Giftcraft Miniature Fairy Garden 4" Enchanted Forest Pixie Door

Top Collection Miniature Fairy Garden Mystical Gnome Home Door

Today Only Bargain Ebook: Celia and the Fairies by Karen McQuestion for $1.99

Celia and the Fairies by Karen McQuestion is on sale today only in ebook format for $1.99.

Book description:

When Celia Lovejoy's grandmother moves in with her family, she tells her granddaughter magical stories of fairies living in the woods behind the Lovejoy home. Ten-year-old Celia believes they are just that-stories-until the day she receives an unexpected visit from Mira, a real, live fairy. Mira needs a favor in a matter of the utmost importance. It seems that Celia's house and the adjoining woods are in danger of being demolished to make way for a new highway. The person behind this horrible plan? Vicky McClutchy, a spiteful woman who holds a childhood grudge against Celia's dad. Fairy magic can counteract this evil, but it will only work with Celia's help. Aided by neighborhood friend Paul, Celia begins a danger-filled quest that takes her out in the woods at night to face her greatest fears. This magical tale of a plucky girl combines an entertaining story with an underlying message about the power of ordinary kindness.

New Release: Briar Queen: A Night and Nothing Novel by Katherine Harbour

Briar Queen: A Night and Nothing Novel (Night and Nothing Novels) by Katherine Harbour was released this week. This is a sequel to Thorn Jack: A Night and Nothing Novel (Night and Nothing Novels) which drew inspiration from Tam Lin.

Book description:

The dark, moody, and mystical fantasy begun in Thorn Jack, the first novel in the Night and Nothing series, continues in this bewitching follow up—an intriguing blend of Twilight, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Alice in Wonderland, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream—in which Finn Sullivan discovers that her town, Fair Hollow, borders a dangerous otherworld . . .

Serafina Sullivan and her father left San Francisco to escape the painful memory of her older sister Lily Rose’s suicide. But soon after she arrived in bohemian Fair Hollow, New York, Finn discovered a terrifying secret connected to Lily Rose. The placid surface of this picture-perfect town concealed an eerie supernatural world—and at its center, the wealthy, beautiful, and terrifying Fata family.

Though the striking and mysterious Jack Fata tried to push Finn away to protect her, their attraction was too powerful to resist. To save him, Finn—a girl named for the angels and a brave Irish prince—banished a cabal of malevolent enemies to shadows, freeing him from their diabolical grip.

Now, the rhythm of life in Fair Hollow is beginning to feel a little closer to ordinary. But Finn knows better than to be lulled by this comfortable sense of normalcy. It’s just the calm before the storm. For soon, a chance encounter outside the magical Brambleberry Books will lead her down a rabbit hole, into a fairy world of secrets and legacies . . . straight towards the shocking truth about her sister’s death.

Lush and gorgeously written, featuring star-crossed lovers and the collision of the magical and the mundane, Briar Queen will appeal to the fans of Cassandra Clare’s bestselling Mortal Instruments series and Melissa Marr’s Wicked Lovely.

June Bargain Ebooks: Lots of Great Choices

It's a new month which means it's a new list on the monthly Kindle books for $3.99 or less. This is one of the strongest lists in a while--there are quite a few children's and YA titles this time, too, probably in anticipation of summer reading needs. I picked some of the titles most pertinent to SurLaLune readers to share here.

The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christoper Healy is $1.99 and was a favorite of my niece Leighton upon its release. So much so that she left my house with my copy and we paid full price for the rest of the trilogy upon release.

Book description:

Prince Liam. Prince Frederic. Prince Duncan. Prince Gustav. You’ve never heard of them, have you? These are the princes who saved Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Snow White, and Rapunzel, respectively, and yet, thanks to those lousy bards who wrote the tales, you likely know them only as Prince Charming. But all of this is about to change.

Rejected by their princesses and cast out of their castles, the princes stumble upon an evil plot that could endanger each of their kingdoms. Now it’s up to them to triumph over their various shortcomings, take on trolls, bandits, dragons, witches, and other assorted terrors, and become the heroes no one ever thought they could be.

Christopher Healy’s Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom is a completely original take on the world of fairy tales, the truth about what happens after “happily ever after.” It’s a must-have for middle grade readers who enjoy their fantasy adventures mixed with the humor of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. Witty black-and-white drawings by Todd Harris add to the fun.

The Council of Mirrors (The Sisters Grimm Book 9) by Michael Buckley is $1.99. I didn't own this one in ebook yet so I bought it, too. The final book of the Grimm Sister series.

Book description:

In the final volume in the Sisters Grimm series, Sabrina, Daphne, and the rest of the Grimms and their friends must face off against the Master to decide the fate of Ferryport Landing--and the world. When Mirror fails to escape the barrier using Granny Relda's body, he turns to his plan B: killing all the Grimms so that the magical barrier collapses. In the meantime, Sabrina has gathered the other magic mirrors as advisors on how to deal with their mortal enemy. They tell her to join forces with the Scarlet Hand against Mirror, in exchange for offering all the citizens of Ferryport Landing their freedom. This final chapter is the end of the road for several beloved characters, but the conclusion is sure to satisfy devoted fans of the series.

Storybound by Marissa Burt is also $1.99. This is part one of a two part series.

Book description:

When Una Fairchild stumbles upon a mysterious book buried deep in the basement of her school library, she thinks nothing of opening the cover and diving in. But instead of paging through a regular novel, Una suddenly finds herself Written In to the land of Story—a world filled with Heroes and Villains and fairy-tale characters.

But not everything in Story is as magical as it seems. Una must figure out why she has been Written In—and fast—before anyone else discovers her secret. Together with her new friend Peter and a talking cat named Sam, Una digs deep into Story's shadowy past. She quickly realizes that she is tied to the world in ways she never could have imagined—and it might be up to her to save it.

Little Sister And The Month Brothers by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers is also $1.99. This is one of my favorite versions of the hundreds of ATU 480 Kind and Unkind Girls tales, which are often misidentified as ATU 510 Cinderella, like in the description for this book.

Book description:

Little Sister is very busy doing all the work around the house and the yard. But she doesn’t mind: she sings and hums, and she grows prettier and prettier as she does her chores. Her wicked stepmother and stepsister can’t stand the fact that Little Sister is so happy. One day, they tell Little Sister to bring home violets in the middle of winter—or not to come home at all!

How Little Sister gets help from the Month Brothers in the forest offers a delightful twist on this Slavic version of Cinderella.

Bliss by Kathryn Littlewood is $1.99, too. Not fairy tale related but a fantasy with culinary elements that will hopefully appeal to those kids who like to watch Food and Cooking channels with their parents.

Book description:

Rosemary Bliss’s family has a secret. It’s the Bliss Cookery Booke—an ancient, leather-bound volume of enchanted recipes like Stone Sleep Snickerdoodles and Singing Gingersnaps. Rose and her siblings are supposed to keep the Cookery Booke under lock and whisk-shaped key while their parents are out of town, but then a mysterious stranger shows up. “Aunt” Lily rides a motorcycle, wears purple sequins, and whips up exotic (but delicious) dishes for dinner. Soon boring, nonmagical recipes feel like life before Aunt Lily—a lot less fun.

So Rose and her siblings experi-ment with just a couple of recipes from the forbidden Cookery Booke.

A few Love Muffins and a few dozen Cookies of Truth couldn’t cause too much trouble . . . could they?

Kathryn Littlewood’s culinary caper blends rich emotional flavor with truly magical wit, yielding one heaping portion of hilarious family adventure.

Forgive My Fins by Tera Lynn Childs is $1.99. A mermaid book for the beach.

Book description:

Lily Sanderson has a secret, and it's not that she has a huge crush on gorgeous swimming god Brody Bennett, who makes her heart beat flipper-fast. Unrequited love is hard enough when you're a normal teenage girl, but when you're half human, half mermaid, like Lily, there's no such thing as a simple crush.

Lily's mermaid identity is a secret that can't get out, since she's not just any mermaid—she's a Thalassinian princess. When Lily found out three years ago that her mother was actually a human, she finally realized why she didn't feel quite at home in Thalassinia, and she's been living on land and going to Seaview High School ever since, hoping to find where she truly belongs. Sure, land has its problems—like her obnoxious biker-boy neighbor, Quince Fletcher—but it has that one major perk: Brody. The problem is, mermaids aren't really the casual dating type—the instant they "bond," it's for life.

When Lily's attempt to win Brody's love leads to a tsunami-sized case of mistaken identity, she is in for a tidal wave of relationship drama, and she finds out, quick as a tailfin flick, that happily ever after never sails quite as smoothly as you planned.

Wings by Aprilynne Pike is also $1.99. A fairy book to read on the beach.

Book description:

Laurel was mesmerized, staring at the pale things with wide eyes. They were terrifyingly beautiful—too beautiful for words.

Laurel turned to the mirror again, her eyes on the hovering petals that floated beside her head. They looked almost like wings.

In this extraordinary tale of magic and intrigue, romance and danger, everything you thought you knew about faeries will be changed forever.