Christine Smith

July Hiatus Notice

Post published:June 30, 2021
Post category:Life
Post comments:31 Comments

Hello, dear elflings! I come to you on this random Wednesday to let you know I'm going on a hiatus for the month of July. For the past 3 years I've made a habit of going on a posting hiatus during July and, hey, why break tradition? Okay, okay actually, I've discovered stepping back from things here at the middle of the year is a fantastic way to rest up from the first half of the year and get all refueled to tackle the second half. 10/10 Recommend I know I've not talked much (if any?) about my writing and…

Burning Thorns // The Story of My Heart

Post published:June 28, 2021
Post category:Writing
Post comments:49 Comments

If you missed it, June has been Beauty and the Beast month over at Fairy Tale Central! And, being as how this is my ultimate, ultimate favorite fairy tale, I have been soaking. it. up. It also made me realize how woefully long it’s been since I’ve talked about my own B&B retelling: Burning Thorns. And that, dear friends, is what I’ve come to do today. Burning Thorns has been a work-in-progress for many, many years, and is easily the story of my heart. But I realize a lot of you may not even know what it is, being as…

Book Review // Madness Solver in Wonderland by E.E. Rawls

Post published:June 14, 2021
Post category:Reading
Post comments:18 Comments

Have I got a delightful story to share with you all today! It’s an Alice in Wonderland retelling! And not only that, a STEAMPUNK WONDERLAND story. YES. THAT IS CORRECT. Buckle in, because this one takes you on a wild ride! It is no secret that Alice in Wonderland is one of my favorite stories of all time. And by “favorite” I mean, if I whiff one inkling of Wonderland goodness within my vicinity, I transform into major ultra fangirl mode and break the sound barrier with my squealing. All perfectly normal things. It’s fine. SO. When my friend and…

Five Favorite Comfort Films

Post published:May 31, 2021
Post category:Fangirling
Post comments:56 Comments

Comfort films—those movies we turn to again and again in the midst of turmoil. The ones that calm our soul, bring a dose of cheer, that feel like a hot cup of tea on a cold day, filling our insides with goodness and warmth. As much as I adore books, I am also a huge movie fan (and even more so with TV series, but that’s a topic for another blog post). I just like good stories, guys! In all their forms. And though usually I am all for tales of epic quests and exciting adventures and end-of-the-world stakes (*cough*LOTR*cough*),…

The Snow White & Rose Red Fairy Tale Tag

Post published:May 17, 2021
Post category:Reading
Post comments:46 Comments

Good day, O’ fairies and fae folk! Today’s blog post theme is…fairy tales! (Lololol when is it not?) I absolutely couldn’t pass up joining in a tag that focuses on not just fairy tales, but one of my favorites! The beautiful and talented Kirsten Fichter, released book #4 of her Once Upon a Twist Tales novella series last month, The Bear of Rosethorn Ring, and as part of the release, she created a super fun TAG! (Am I joining in on the tag a month and a half late? Yes, yes I am. But wizards are never late.) The Bear…

Five Book Series That Shaped My Growing Up Years

Post published:May 3, 2021
Post category:Reading
Post comments:49 Comments

All us bookworms have them—those particular books that changed us, helped us grow, swept us away to a whole new world that shifted our perspective or simply introduced us to a genre that quickly became the One True Favorite. Those special few that became our stories. I definitely have those stories. Some of them may not even be my top favorite books anymore; there are plenty of other novels that I find more engaging and suit my tastes far more these days. But these are the stories that shaped the Christine you know today, and no other tales can replace…

Friends, Foes, & Fairy Wars // A Faylinn Short Story – #11

Post published:April 19, 2021
Post category:Prompts Writing
Post comments:20 Comments

The time has at last come in which I bring you the next installment of my ongoing fairy tale serial story, fondly called the "Faylinn" stories! So it's, um, been a while since I've given you a new Faylinn story. And by "a while" I mean SEPTEMBER. *hides in shame for eternity* Worse still, I left the last story on a prettyyy bad cliffhanger. I'M SO SORRY. NaNo prep, and then NaNo, and then holidays happened, and I had planned to get this story written for late February or early March but those months positively exploded on me. So...here are…

Book Review // The Bear of Rosethorn Ring by Kirsten Fichter

Post published:April 5, 2021
Post category:Reading
Post comments:29 Comments

The fourth book in Kirsten Fichter’s Once Upon a Twist Tales series is almost HERE! And I am thrilled to squeal about review it today. GUYS. This is a Snow White and Rose Red retelling which just— *FLAILS* We need more retellings of this woefully obscure fairy tale. NEED. When Kirsten said the next book in this series was a SW&RR retelling I may have nearly broke my face from too much grinning. I LOVE this novella series and ADORE that fairy tale, so putting them together? YES PLEASE. Oh, it also involves a circus. *cue me flailing eternally* Today…

A Change in Schedule

Post published:March 29, 2021
Post category:Life
Post comments:32 Comments

A most happy Monday, dearest elflings! Today I come to you to talk about life and the struggles of creativity and a few changes in plans on this here blog. I’m going to be entirely honest with you all: Keeping up with everything has been really, really hard lately. Between running this blog, the Fairy Tale Central site, Instagramming, tackling my own writing projects, keeping up with emails (which I have failed at miserably lately, so sorry!), and that whole, ya know, Life thing, I can’t seem to take a breath. The thing is, I LOVE all of these things.…

Why I Love Howl’s Moving Castle

Post published:March 22, 2021
Post category:Reading
Post comments:32 Comments

If you’ve been following me for, well, pretty much any length of time, at some point or another you’ve probably seen me flail about the novel Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. And though I break the sound barrier squealing about it every 0.7 seconds, I haven’t actually ever just sat down and talked about why this story so fully captures my heart and soul. Come every March is a delightful event called March Magics hosted by We Be Reading. It is a celebration of both Diana Wynne Jones’s and Terry Pratchett’s magical works. Every single year I always…