Dagger’s Sleep review + character interview with Disassociate

 

In this post: Aydel takes over for the second time in as many days, and talks with someone else’s characters. I review an great new book, and tell you about several giveaways.

People, it is time for the Disassociated Sleeping Dagger Blog tour.

Tricia Mingerink, author of The Blades of Acktar Series, has a new book out very soon, and Sarah Addison-Fox, a New Zealand author, released the third book in her Allegiance Series. (Which I know almost nothing about.)

 

About the books

Dagger's Sleep - It's got a castle on it and a rose in the Series Logo. Yes, it's a sereis of what must be fairytale retellings. This one being Sleeping Beauty.

Dagger’s Sleep

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.

 

About Tricia Mingerink

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.

 

Disassociate

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.

About Sarah Addison-Fox

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.

She can be found on Facebook,  Goodreads, Twitter, Instagram, and her website.

 

Aydel’s Interview with Celeste, Amaya, Rosanna, and Isi

Please welcome Celeste and Amaya from Disassociate, along with Rosanna and Isi from Dagger’s Sleep.  And, yes, Aydel from my very own Girl of the Rumours. She took advantage of my lack of inspiration, and begged me to allow her to do the interview. I would have had more restraint, at least in the manner I asked the questions.

Now imagine that instead of standing the the blank whiteness of this webpage, they are sitting together in your favourite place in the great outdoors. Except Aydel is standing because she thinks it’s more dramatic. And the others are slightly on their guard because Aydel is being less reassuring than usual.  After basic introductions are exchanged, she moves to her first serious question.

Aydel: What are the hardest parts of being a heroine, or a heroine’s helper?”

Isi: Making sure Rosanna’s hair looks good. Seriously, she wouldn’t brush it for days if I wasn’t around. That and dealing with her love for canoeing. It’s disgustingly wet.

Rosanna: Admit it. You enjoy it a little bit.

Isi: Maybe.

Aydel: I rather think I would enjoy it. What about you two?

Celeste: I’m not a heroine.   

Amaya: *rolls eyes* No, you aren’t. I am. You’re my helper.

Rosanna: *sits down next to Celeste* I’m not really a heroine either. For some reason everyone just thinks I am.

Aydel: Who do you most want to protect?

Amaya: Why? Are you threatening me?

Aydel: I’m not Joane. I don’t threaten unless someone wants to hurt my sister.

Celeste: Amaya, that’s not what the question means. I can answer even if she won’t. We both want to protect the people we care about, right?

Amaya: Whatever, princess.

Rosanna: *glances between Celeste and Amaya* Celeste said what I was going to say. My family. Isi.

Isi: And Amaya, sort of, stole my line. Protecting you is my job, princess, not the other way around. Not that you need too much protecting on a daily basis.

Aydel: Is there any food you hate eating, but have to anyway? Mine is stew.

Rosanna: After two weeks on the trail, dried meat and stale biscuits aren’t the most pleasant things to eat, but we eat them anyway because it is either that or starve.

Isi: Even a bland stew sounds amazing at that point. Seriously, two weeks and only a handful of hot meals. What I wouldn’t give for a steak.

Amaya: Are you trying to make me throw up? I don’t eat anything I don’t have to.

Celeste: I grew up eating whatever we could find. Then in the mines we were lucky to be fed more than scraps. So there isn’t anything  I hate eating. I’m still grateful to eat three meals a day when so many others don’t.

Amaya: You’re such a suck up. For the record, she hates rabbit stew as much as I do. Even if she won’t admit it.

Aydel: Only people who are forced to live of stew for weeks, or know someone who almost choked to death on it, like admitting to disliking it. But even when it’s not lethal, it’s an evil necessity. There are for too many of those in the worlds.  They make life hard. How are you able to keep going even when it’s tough and confusing?

Celeste: I have no choice but to keep going, even when I hated what I was doing, I had to do it to keep the Haynes family intact.

Amaya: I never get confused. I don’t have time to. And I am tough. I had to be. Is that it?

Celeste: You have no manners. You know that?

Amaya: *mutters under breath* Can we go now?

Isi: *grabs Amaya by the arm and manages to duck under her punch* Not yet. Rosanna and I still have to answer the question.

Rosanna: It’s fine, really. We’ll make our answers quick. I guess I just choose to keep going. It’s either that or crumble into a ball and do nothing, and that doesn’t accomplish anything. And it isn’t all that smart to sit around doing nothing when your enemies are catching up and trying to kill you.

Isi: *shakes her head* That wasn’t a short answer. Did you steal that one from your brother Willem?  

Rosanna: Nope, Daemyn. *nods* Thanks so much for hosting us for this interview.

Aydel: You’re very welcome. Brie has been ignoring me lately, so I simply had to do something to get out.

Me: Once again, you are welcome. Thank you or putting up with Aydel. Once’s she’s endured a few more hardships, she will become more tolerable, and less prone to self entitled moods.

Aydel: You are you calling self entitled? I just did a task you needed help with, and you’re the one who engineered things that I am important.

Me: *sighs* As I was saying…  Never mind. Thank you again. It was lovely to get to know you a bit better, and I’m sure you words will be encouraging to someone.

Review of Dagger’s Sleep

(Very minor spoilers ahead)

I loved reading this book. It doesn’t rank quite as high in my mind as The Blades of Acktar, but being a series that automatically gives me more time to fall for the characters, and they’re among my favourite books ever.  Not much can measure up.

Still, Dagger’s Sleep lived up to all my expectations. Strong characters, solid setting, slight twist, and sterling silver themes. It was delightful.

It begun with a princess shooting the rapids of the Onohio river in a birch bark canoe. That was the first moment of joy. Like the Blades of Acktar, this is not quite the traditional medieval setting.  It has hints of it, but that is mixed with native American mythology, and its own fairy tale world.

This first point also introduced Rosanna who is a lovely character. She’s a great mix of outdoorsy, strong and feminine. Not to mention smart, and capable of pulling the hero she just saved head first into the river. Accidentally of course. Isi her bodyguard is an interesting contrast to her. She (as seen in the interview) isn’t quite so fond of the outdoors, and cares more about appearance. But she would follow Rosanna anywhere, and if necessary give her life for Rosanna’s safety.

We then meet Rosanna’s family. Her father, the king of Neskahana, her younger and very funny brother Berend who is cursed to turn into a bear each night, her older brother Willem who is gifted with charismatic writing, and is a good person for advice, and her beautiful and brave mother.

The story then skips back  one hundred years to Prince Alexander who, by his great intelligence, has come to the conclusion that there must be a way to avoid his curse, or have it removed. He’s nowhere near as likeable a character as Rosanna is, because intelligence doesn’t automatically come with humility, but he feels real enough, he is competent, and he’s quite capable of learning. Eventually.

It is rather comical to see Alex try to fit in with people who he considers obviously beneath him, and also to attempt to stay his arrogant, and intelligent self as he slowly changes. There are phrases like this: “He could afford to be magnanimous to his manservant after the trek  they’d gone through.” It’s also comical and sad to see him thinking he’s changed, but still holding onto his pride. The character arc is awesome, I’m telling you.

I saw the main reveal of the book as it was coming, but there were numerous small things that surprised or delighted me. The Fallen and Loyal Fae being equivalents to demons and angels respectively. The way the ultimate control of the Highest King, Lord of  Fae and Men shines throughout the story. The little teasers of books to come (Snow White, Twelve Dancing Princesses, and a few things that could be hints of others).

There are other characters of importance. The greatest of them being Alex’s manservant Jadon Rand, and Rosanna’s escort, Daemyn Rand. (No coincidence with the names.) Jadon is the perfect manservant. He’s gotten so good at being subservient to Alex that he has a little trouble when Alex decides to treat him more like a friend. But he’s totally devoted. Daemyn is the perfect heroic fighter on those occasion he doesn’t fall into the river (actually, even on those occasions). He’s slightly mysterious to which lead to me begin paranoid that he was actually going to turn Rosanna over to the Tuskawasse. (and who knows, maybe he does.)

There is also Daemyn’s nephew Zeke, and a number of other relatives including Aunt Frennie who sells moonshine to soldiers, then listens to them once their tongues are loosened. And Jadon’s older brother Luke who is  protective  and not afraid of Alex in the least. Also Rosanna’s other guards, and that other character I forgot. I know there is someone else who deserves a mention.

And it ends wonderfully, in a way that I didn’t quite expect form the beginning, but fit perfectly.  I really hope we see a little bit of the characters ongoing lives as the series continues.

So, if you like fantasy, fairytales, or adventure, I recommend this. It’s a very lovely book.

Note: I didn’t talk about antagonists. There are a few people as antagonists, but the biggest ones are Alex’s curse and his inner self. I enjoyed reading a story that did not focusing on defeat some evil leader, or enemy kingdom.

Giveaways and parties

To finish up the post, I have a special invitation to a 28 hour Facebook festival. (Yes, I will be asleep for parts of it, so will the hosts. Just not all at the same time.) There will be games and giveaways, and Serena Chase, the author of the Eyes of E’veria series will be along as the guest of extra honour. Stop by whenever, from wherever.

>>Facebook Festival Here<<

Now, 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. (*Cheers wildly*) The books may or may not be signed depending on where the winner lives.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


And Tricia is giving away a paperback of Dagger’s Sleep which is also 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.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

To find more reviews and interviews for Dagger’s Sleep and Disassociate, visit the rest of the tour of the dates shown.

Good night. Or good morning to most of you. I’m going to bed.

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

 

 

6 Comments

  1. Sarah Taleweaver

    Official opinion: Amaya annoys me. Aydel didn’t seem that bad, though.
    I’m very much looking forward to reading Dagger’s Sleep. 😀

    • Brie Donning

      Heh. In an interview, other people’s characters don’t tend to annoy me. But Aydel simply wasn’t being the person I want her to be. The tone she was using was irritating, but that doesn’t come across here.

  2. M.H. Elrich

    My favorite part of this is the interview! So in character 😉 this interview made me smile and gave me some insight into your own character, who I have not read. Good job!

    • Brie Donning

      There’s good reason for not being familiar with Aydel. I don’t have anything published.
      Tricia and Sarah know their characters very well.

      • M.H. Elrich

        Same here. I am working on my first book, hopefully to be published in July/August this year. How about you?

        • Brie Donning

          I’m working on too many books. I hope to be published sometimes next year. But it’s going to take a lot of work to get there.

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