Young Adult – Christine Smith

{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.…

{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.…

{Book Review} The Geppetto Codex by Kyle Robert Shultz

Post published:April 13, 2020
Post category:Reading
Post comments:13 Comments

Synopsis They've got no strings...and they want revenge. The people of the city of Vetri are turning into wooden statues... ...and Beaumont and Beasley are not on the case. Not technically, anyway. This case must fall to two of their employees, the faun Gareth Llewellyn and the dryad Sylvia Kirke. True, Gareth and Sylvia don't have a great deal of experience, but this shouldn't be too difficult. The solution to the mystery is fairly obvious, and the evil magical force at work will be no great challenge to defeat. Unless Gareth and Sylvia make a terrible mistake that puts…

{Update} 🌱🪻🌱🪻🌱🪻🌱 Happy Sept

A Season of Rest 💛🌱💛🌱💛🌱💛 He

How is the writing going? 🖋️☀️🖋️☀

{Break the Beast}

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This story.

Break the Beast by @allisonteboauthor is a retelling of Beowulf with a delightful twist of telling the story through the point-of-view of a female Grendel.
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I barely even know where to begin. It's one of those stories you have to experience, and what an experience it is. It starts off with a bang and carries you through heartache and action and disaster and healing. The allegorical threads of our beastly nature being stripped away so we may be made a new creature by our Savior are impacting and flow so naturally throughout the story.

Every page, every beautiful, sharp word, cuts straight to the heart, making the reader bleed, only for the story to pour salve into the wound.
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Grendel herself is such a relatable character as she wrestles with her beastly nature and takes the hard path of redemption, failing and rising again in turn.

Then we have dear Beowulf. Brave, hopeful, and full of light, he is a hero of the ages, and it was so refreshing to have a story portraying true heroism, as modern fiction is often so lacking in truly inspiring heroes. I also appreciated the deep bond formed that stayed wholly platonic. We need more stories about love that are not romantic. This is a love story, but not in the way you might expect. And goodness was it beautiful.
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From exciting battles to heart-wrenching losses to great beams of hope shooting through the darkness, this story broke me and put me back together again, and it will stay with me for a long, long time.

If you love adventure, redemption stories, true heroes, or simply good old-fashioned fantasy tales, this one is for you! I cannot recommend it enough. 💛

Have you read this one? What's a favorite story of yours that portrays true heroism?
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#breakthebeast #allisontebo #allisonteboauthor #beowulf #beowulfretellings #aclassicretold #fantasy #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookflatlay #flatlay #bookphotography #bookphoto #yabookstagram #yabookstagrammer #readingcommunity #bibliophile #books #read #reader #bookish #bookworm

How was your first half of 2024, friends?

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SOMEHOW 2024 has deemed itself halfway over. It's so easy to look back and worry that we haven't done enough and 2024 is slipping through our fingers. But I like to live that glass-half-full life. It's all about the mindset, right? Instead of looking at it like a whole half year is gone, what if we shift the mindset and say we still have a WHOLE half year ahead of us.

That's a pretty exciting thought.

It also helps me to reflect back and add up what HAS been done--the goals I've met, the growth I've experienced, the memories I've made. It's easy to let the mundane and busyness of the days steal away our awareness of how meaningful each day really is.

So before we dive headfirst into this second half of the year, I thought it'd be fun to do a little half-year check-in and take some time to reflect on the first half of 2024.
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✨ 2024 THUS FAR ✨

I always choose a word to live by at the start of a new year, and for 2024 my word is BOLD.

That word can mean so many things, and it's been interesting the ways in which God has been nudging me to embrace it.

I've talked a lot recently about how, due to health issues, 2024 has had to be a quieter year. It seems like BOLD would be an odd word for a year of rest. But that's the thing. It often TAKES boldness to be content in a quiet life and season of rest.

In this workaholic, rushing world, taking things slow is often looked down upon. And I'm hard on myself over it.

We so often have to be bold in our choices in life when they bend away from social norms or even our own desires.

But as the year has progressed, I've seen how God has used that word to help me embrace the season I'm in and be more confident in all He made me. And as I face a lot of hard things and unknowns and changes, it's exactly the word I've needed for this year.
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From writing the first rough draft of a Regency novel with my co-writers, to stepping out of my comfort zone to DM a homebrew roleplaying game, to making more time with friends and family, I have found countless blessings amidst the hardships, and SO much growth along the way.

Nothing is wasted, friends. 💛

{The Freedom of Storytelling}

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Happy Independence Day!! I hope my fellow Americans are having a good day celebrating, and I hope everyone is having a most lovely Thursday.

As we're celebrating freedom here in America today, I couldn't help but use that as a jumping off point to discuss one of my favorite things--stories! (Lol that's all I talk about. I make no apologies.)
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One of my favorite things about telling and experiencing stories is the FREEDOM in it all.

As readers, there are countless sources of worlds and adventures and people and experiences to be explored merely by opening the pages of a book.

As writers, we get to offer that to others and ourselves.

We spend a lot of time groaning about the trials and exhaustion of being a writer. And yes, it's HARD. There is no getting around that.

But it's also MAGICAL.

Is it not the greatest privilege to have the freedom to explore anything our imaginations can conjure? Create entire worlds form our own minds? Form countless types of people and creatures? Explore anything at all from the mundane to the extraordinary, and use it all to make sense of this messy life we live in?

GAH. It gets me all abuzz with excitement.

We can do anything with our pens and imaginations, friends. ANYTHING. ✨
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With that freedom, of course, comes responsibility. Stories are powerful things and can change and shape minds. And that's why it's a privilege to have the freedom to do so, and a responsibility to use it wisely.

This passion we have to tell stories is a GIFT. Stories themselves are a gift. And just as we should not take our freedom for granted or use it wrongly, we should not with storytelling either.

Stories are powerful, wonderful, magical things, and the ability to consume and create them can be the greatest privilege, gift, and blessing.

So as I celebrate freedom today, I can't help but also be so grateful for the freedom found in storytelling. It is one of my favorite things about being a writer, and I do not ever want to take it lightly.
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What is one of your favorite things about stories? 📚

{Hello July} 🌱🌼🌱🌼🌱🌼🌱 Halfwa

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