Dagger's Sleep & Dissociate Blog Tour

Okay, so remember when I took part in the cover reveal tour for Tricia Mingerink's new book, Dagger's Sleep?

Well, that wasn't the end.  I'm back, and this time I've got even more cool stuff to share...

(Quick Disclaimer: This blog tour is for both Tricia Mingerink's book Dagger's Sleep, and Sarah Addison-Fox's book Dissociate.  However, I have read none of Sarah's books, and so I can't give a good or bad opinion/review on them.)

 A prince cursed to sleep.

A princess destined to wake him.

A kingdom determined to stop them.

High Prince Alexander has been cursed to a sleep like unto death, a curse that will end the line of the high kings and send the Seven Kingdoms of Tallahatchia into chaos. With his manservant to carry his luggage and his own superior intelligence to aid him, Alex sets off to find one of the Fae and end his curse one way or another.

A hundred years later, Princess Rosanna learns she is the princess destined by the Highest King to wake the legendary sleeping prince. With the help of the mysterious Daemyn Rand, can she find the courage to finish the quest as Tallahatchia wavers on the edge of war?

One curse connects them. A hundred years separate them. From the rushing rivers of Tallahatchia’s mountains to the hall of the Highest King himself, their quests will demand sacrifices neither of them could imagine.

Dagger's Sleep is available for preorder on Amazon Kindle!!  Go and click the link!!

Let me get a few things straight: I am new to (and sometimes hesitant to read) fairy-tale retellings.  I’m getting back to reading fiction after a long break of not reading much at all.  My sketchy memory makes it hard to remember all the names and places that show up in fantasy books.

Despite all that, Dagger’s Sleep has easily become one of my favorite reads this year.  If it wasn’t 11:30 at night when I finished reading, I most likely would have run around the house, cackling maniacally.  Even while reading, my own facial expressions likely would have caused anyone looking at me to instantly be worried, if I hadn’t read this book while sitting at the Mile 33 Aid Station of a 100K race, where everyone around me looked either in horrible pain, or else wore crazy grins plastered across their face.  I even risked motion sickness and devoured parts of the book while riding along twisty mountain VA roads.

That’s how good this book was.

I could not put it down.

Dagger’s Sleep is an absolutely marvelous retelling of Sleeping Beauty.  Though I knew how the original fairy-tale went, this story took the tale in a wonderfully new direction, yet still stayed true to the tale (cause it’s a fairy tale re-telling, mate).

So what did this book have that can possibly interest anyone?

~Sleeping Beauty story line.  Okay, so that’s obvious.  But I’ve always loved the story of sleeping beauty (okay, so mostly because the old Disney movie had a dragon in it)(and the Studio C video is absolutely hilarious) but this book takes an EPIC spin on the tale.

~A relatable heroine.  Sometimes I have a horrible time connecting with female main characters...they are usually too kick-butt for me (so Black Widow is cool, but I’m never going to get to her level of fitness and strength) or too shallow (I mean, I like to think I'm fairly active and might be able to put up a good fight against the bad guys!), but Princess Rosanna was perfect.  She was a believable female.  Yes, she had flaws and fears and doubts.  That’s human.  But she has humor and can paddle a canoe down rapids and even chucks a few rocks when the situation gets dire.  That’s someone I can relate to!!  She might not be out there wielding a 30-pound sword and cutting down every foe in her way, but she's strong and willing and does what she has to do.

~Alex.  So Daemyn was epic.  Don’t get me wrong.  I loved him to pieces (can I please have him in my life, please??).  But Alex…. His story arc was just what I love to read.  I mean, his logical way of thinking was so funny and amused me, and then I saw his flaws and was like “oh, dis guy got problems…”  So yeah.  Alex was great.

~American History.  Maybe it was just me.  But the names...the descriptions...the canoes...I felt like I was reading some old Daniel Boone novel.  From the first few lines of the book, I felt like I had gone back in time, and I was paddling my own canoe, hunting buffalo, and playing the folk tunes of old Appalachia.  And I loved every minute of it.

~Bere-bear.  So many puns.  It was brilliant.  Read this book for the humor alone and you won’t be disappointed.

~The characters.  So remember what I said about having difficulty with remembering names??  Well, I didn’t have to worry about that here.  Each character and place was distinct enough that I could keep them seperate and remember who was who and where was where.  And it’s not because there was like, two characters in the entire book.  There was a completely lovely cast, and lots of exciting places I’d like to visit.

~The Theme.  Admittedly I often have a hard time picking up themes.  Not sure exactly why.  But anyway...maybe I didn’t come away with the author’s intended theme.  Or maybe I did.  *shrugs*  But I was left for days thinking about gifts and curses, and the way we use what we are given, and this is probably the first fiction book I’ve ever read that left me thinking about a theme for so long.  I mean, normally I just day-dream about the characters, and long to get in the storyworld, but I rarely meditate on the theme.  But Dagger’s Sleep has stuck with me. 

I need to reread this book, like, yesterday.

Need I sing any more praises??

~Clean as the dishes in a drying rack.  So there’s romance, alright?  What book doesn’t have at least a tiny bit of romance??  But this was clean.  Clean, you hear me???  No cussing, no sleeping around….maybe a bit of violence, simply because there are fights, and stabbings, and arrows, and swimming in cold rivers...but really, this was a lovely clean read.

~Minimal magic.  Yeah, I’m iffy about magic.  Just depends on the way it’s handled, honestly.  This was handled very well.  Since this was a fairy-tale retelling, I came in ready to handle the feys and the little hints of magic...and didn’t have a problem with it, in the end.

~Daemyn.  Alright, I’ll admit it.  He’s epic, with just the right bit of heroism, chivalry, and stubborn devotion all mixed into a canoe-paddling-wielding hero.

~Berend.  So this happens to also be the name of one of the MCs of my stand-alone Rauladin.  At first I was like “Oh, cool, that’s a name of my character, too!”  And then I was all “That’s my characters name, not yours!”  And finally, I sat back and just fell in love with Tricia’s own Berend character.  :)

~The Canoes.  I need more books with canoes, okay??  I go kayak-camping with my family and friends, and I grew up canoeing at my grandparents house, and this book awoke my love of canoes and camping and adventure.

Do yourself a favor, and read Dagger’s Sleep, okay??  Please, just do it.  Shoo.  Go now. 

 

Tricia Mingerink is also giving away a paperback of Dagger’s Sleep!!! The giveaway is open internationally where such giveaways are permitted and where Createspace or the Book Depository ships. The book may or may not be signed depending on where the winner lives.

To enter, click HERE

You won't regret it!

As an extra bonus, I got to ask Tricia a few questions about Dagger's Sleep and the writing of it.  Enjoy!

What made you decide to start writing fairy-tale retellings?  (Is it a genre you've always liked, or were you just looking for something different to write?)

Fairy tale retellings have actually been a genre I've written in for a long time. Most of the first stories I wrote growing up, besides the horse stories I wrote in crayon when I was a little kid, were fairy tale retellings. If anything, The Blades of Acktar was the unusual genre for me and Dagger's Sleep is going back to my roots. I actually wrote the first version of Dagger's Sleep (then called The Quest for the Sleeping Prince) back in 5th or 6th grade, but much of the book has changed since then. 

What is the first thing you do when you begin fleshing out a story idea?

Before I ever write a book, I spend a great deal of time brainstorming it/daydreaming about it in my head before I ever write it down. Dagger's Sleep was an idea I started thinking about a full year before I even started trying to write it. By the time I write a rough outline (no more than 2 or 3 pages of bullet points), I already know the beginning, ending, most of the major plot points, and I have many of the major scenes planned out down to the dialogue and descriptions. But all of that planning is done in my head. I've tried writing it down on paper as part of a full outline instead of my sketch of an outline, but for some reason, that doesn't seem to work for me at the present moment.

How do you go about naming characters?

It tends to be a mix of various methods. For example, Alexander has stayed named Alexander all the way from the very first draft of this book back in grade school. Rosanna was named Cassandra back in that version, but I decided to change her name. She actually went through several name changes before I settled on Rosanna. Isi also had 2 or 3 names while writing Dagger's Sleep (I don't remember what her name was back in my original grade school version. I think it started with an A). I googled a lot of baby name sites on the Internet. Sometimes I look for names that have a certain meaning (like Berend's name means brave as a bear). Sometimes I look for names that start with a certain letter of the Alphabet, such as many of Rosanna's guards I picked their names based on which letters of the alphabet I haven't used for main characters yet. Others I look for a specific origin to the name.

What is your favorite aspect of Dagger's Sleep?  (What did you enjoy writing the most?)

Chapters 18 through 22 are my favorite chapters. They are the heart of the book and the ones that I looked forward to writing and editing the most.

What's your favorite part of the writing journey?  (Plotting, drafting, editing, etc.)

All of it and none of it. When writing the first draft is going well, I love it. I don't love it so much when the words are struggling to come. I love editing and polishing the books, though editing can get frustrating. I think my least favorite part is the formatting of the paperback because it can get very tedious and time consuming.

Tricia Mingerink is a twenty-something, book-loving, horse-riding country girl. She lives in Michigan with her family and their pack of pets. When she isn't writing, she can be found pursuing backwoods adventures across the country.

You can connect with her on Facebook, Pinterest, Goodreads, Twitter, Instagram, and her blog.

To celebrate the release of Dissociate and Dagger’s Sleep, Sarah Addison-Fox and Tricia Mingerink are hosting a day-long Facebook Festival. There will be plenty of games and giveaways, not to mention Serena Chase, author of the Eyes of E’veria series, will be the guest of honor. It’s a party you won’t want to miss! You’ll be able to stop by any time during the day to join the fun, no matter what time zone you live in!

Click HERE to join the FaceBook fun!!

 Freedom begins with finding the truth.

Amidst the turmoil caused by Smyth’s arrest, Celeste is stuck in limbo, stripped of her citizenship, with no choice but to flee to a peaceful Kyraenean hideaway with the tumultuous Amaya Mason.

When bounty hunters threaten the local orphanage, Celeste and Amaya must work together and fight. Even if it means risking what they cherish the most.

His plans in tatters, his career in jeopardy, Mick Haynes is forced to leave Kyraenea with the enigmatic Torrance Kyle, the agent he still can’t trust.

Torrance is good at lying, and even better at hiding his pain, but is he strong enough to deal with the consequences of betraying his own father?

Can Celeste accept the truth, accept her place in the Haynes family or will lies chain her to the past and destroy her chance at a new life?

 Dissociate is available for sale on Amazon here. The first two books in the series Disowned and Dissemble are also available on Amazon.

Sarah Addison-Fox is giving away a paperback set of the first three books in the Allegiance Series. The giveaway is open internationally where such giveaways are permitted and where Createspace ships. The books may or may not be signed depending on where the winner lives.

Click HERE to enter!!! 

Sarah Addison-Fox is a New Zealand-born home-schooling mother of two who loves action-packed fantasy with strong heroines. She has an astonishing amount of nail polish, has all her creative writing credentials shoved in a drawer somewhere, and has a husband who, after 27 years, can still make her blush. When she’s not working on her Christian YA fantasy series',  she can be found fangirling on Goodreads or sending GIFs on Twitter.

Blog Tour Schedule

Tuesday – May 22

Laura Grace – Author Interview

Reading Anyone – Book Review

Jaye L Knight – Book Spotlight

Quirky Faith – Book Reviews and Author Interview

Wednesday – May 23

Allyson Kennedy – Author Interview

Sam H. – Book Review

Addyson Huneke - Book Review and Author Interview

Ivie Brooks - Book Reviews

Thursday – May 24

Shantelle Mary - Book Review and Book Spotlight

Brie Donning - Book Review and Multi-Character Interview

Blooming with Books - Book Review and Author Interview

Julian Daventry - Book Review and Author Interview

Friday – May 25

Faith Thompson - Book Reviews and Author Interview

Hannah Gaudette - Author Interview

CM Williams - Book Review

Chloe Parker - Book Reviews

Saturday – May 26

JM Christian - Book Review and Multi-Character Interview

Abigail McKenna - Book Reviews

Liv Fisher - Author Interview

Book Wolf - Book Reviews and Author Interview

Liz Koetsier – Book Spotlight

Monday – May 28

Jessica Dowell - Book Review and Author Interview

Lila Kims - Book Reviews

Marie Elrich - Book Reviews

Faith Potts - Book Review and Book Spotlight

Facebook Festival – begins 5PM EST May 24th through 9PM EST May 25th with special guest Serena Chase