Christine Smith

{Book Review} An Echo of the Fae by Jenelle Schmidt

Post published:June 29, 2020
Post category:Reading
Post comments:19 Comments

And I am back to squeal about another new book release! There have just been so many delicious books coming out lately, guys. It’s fabulous. And this one. Oh, this one makes my fairy tale loving heart so happy. Quite a while back, the illustrious, incredible, beautiful fantasy writer and magical human bean, Jenelle Schmidt, posted on her blog the opening of a new story she had begun. A semi-original, semi-Rapunzel inspired fairy tale. The snippet was THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING and I needed moooore. Well, praise all that is good, that beginning snippet quickly became a PUBLISHED BOOK. That…

{Book Review} Beast of the Night by E.E. Rawls

Post published:June 22, 2020
Post category:Reading
Post comments:12 Comments

Today I am super excited to introduce you guys to a delectable Beauty and the Beast retelling! If you’ve known me for 0.7 seconds you know I live for all B&B stories, and this one has an Austria flair to it! Um YES. This particularly gorgeous B&B novella just released to the world and I’m so honored to be part of the book tour. I’ll be reviewing the book as my part of the tour because, um, OF COURSE I HAVE TO FLAIL. So let’s jump right in, shall we? Synopsis A one-armed girl. A lord hiding a curse.…

The Never Have I Ever Tag {Writer’s Edition}

Post published:June 15, 2020
Post category:Writing
Post comments:26 Comments

Writer: That strange creature who claims to write but in reality spends hours at a time scrolling on Pinterest. Ah yes, we writers always have some shameful confessions about our chosen career path, amiright? WELL. Today I’m going to be spilling the (coffee)beans of some of mine! Earlier in the year a blog tag was floating all around the writers’ blogosphere that just looked way too much fun to resist. Me being me, I’m arriving some 4 months late to the party. BUT I’M HERE NOW. And ready to revive this delicious tag! I’m sure you’ve all heard of the…

My Journey with Hans Christian Andersen

Post published:June 8, 2020
Post category:Reading
Post comments:41 Comments

It’s nooot exactly a secret that I’m a huge fairy tale nerd. But confession time: I had never read all of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales. Until now that is! Though I certainly loved reading fairy tales when I was little, I wouldn’t say I’ve read a broad range of them. There is so much I’ve yet to explore, and so lately I’ve been trying to remedy that! Last year I plunged into reading all the Brothers Grimm fairy tales, which is what I read most of as a child but I wasn’t sure if I had read every single…

{Book Review} Five Magic Spindles

Post published:June 1, 2020
Post category:Reading
Post comments:24 Comments

Happy June! It is Sleeping Beauty month over on Fairy Tale Central and to celebrate I’m kicking this month off with a review of an utterly delightful Sleeping Beauty anthology. I have been following along with Rooglewood’s fairy tale anthologies ever since the first one came out. I adore these anthologies of five novellas from five different talented authors. It’s so thrilling getting so many different takes on one specific fairy tale. Shamefully, I only just recently read Five Magic Spindles. I’ve read all three other anthologies, but this one got put on the backburner for absolutely no reason at…

Genies Don’t Make Great Babysitters {A Faylinn Short Story – Part 9}

Post published:May 25, 2020
Post category:Prompts Writing
Post comments:28 Comments

At last it is time for another Faylinn short story! And I thiiink you guys are going to be pleased with this one. *grins* Let’s get to the info first. For Newcomers Each month Arielle posts a prompt on her writing blog that goes along with Fairy Tale Central’s monthly featured fairy tale. I’ve been writing short stories for it of a continuing story about a wingless fairy and banished prince, Raylinn and Finn, or “Faylinn” as is their designated ship name, and their tag along sassmaster, Zayd the genie. The Previous Stories For a while each story was…

{Book Review} Diamond by Kirsten Fichter

Post published:May 18, 2020
Post category:Reading
Post comments:18 Comments

The third book of Kirsten Fichter’s Once Upon a Twist Tales series is heeeere! And if it’s not obvious, I’m a little bit excited. Okay, that was a lie. I AM OVER THE MOON, BOUNCING OFF THE WALLS, SCREAMING FROM THE ROOFTOPS EXCITED. But wait! There’s moooore. Not just one Rapunzel retelling is releasing but TWO. The lovely, fairy tale enthusiast Kendra E. Ardnek is also launching a new Rapunzel retelling—a short story titled Misfortune. YES. SO MANY FAIRY TALES. I need them alll, precious! Today I’m joining in on the blog tour for these exciting releases and reviewing Diamond.…

Writing Good Stories: Lessons from Stranger Things Pt. 2

Post published:May 11, 2020
Post category:Writing
Post comments:18 Comments

I have returned with part 2 of the many writing tidbits I’ve picked up from Stranger Things! Today we’re diving into some of THE best tricks this show used to make it downright bingeworthy, and how we can make our own stories go from okay to GOOD. If you missed it, click here for part 1, where we learned things like how to make your readers fall in love with a character within the first 10 seconds of meeting them, how a simple gesture can make your reader’s heart swell, and basically a ton of other things to manipulate readers’…

Camp NaNo Wrapup {April 2020}

Post published:May 4, 2020
Post category:Writing
Post comments:45 Comments

It is officially May! Which means Camp NaNoWriMo is *gasp* OVER. And thus today I come to you to babble all about my April Camp NaNo experience! Normally I’d be talking about how the month flew by and I can’t believe it’s already May and yadda yadda yadda. Buuuut these past two months have more felt like a year each. Seriously, February was at least half an age ago. *collapses* With that said, Camp NaNo came at the BEST time. I’ve been needing a good boost in my rewrites and, since I’m stuck at home every day on these loooong…

Writing Good Stories: Lessons from Stranger Things Pt. 1

Post published:April 27, 2020
Post category:Writing
Post comments:21 Comments

Stranger Things—you’ve probably heard of it. That Netflix show that swept the internet as rapidly as the Frozen craze. Sometimes I’m leery about overhyped shows. But this one? This one earned its hype. Why? Because the writing is just so absurdly GOOD. If you were here for my post a couple of weeks ago about Disney TV series, you’ve probably gathered I’m pretty disgruntled with TV these days. Writing has just gone so downhill lately, and it frustrates me to no end. But sometimes, sometimes, a gem rises from the garbage and it restores my hope in TV writers. And,…