Dagger's Sleep ~ Review and Giveaway

Dagger's Sleep
Beyond the Tales #1
By Tricia Mingerink

For almost one hundred years the Seven Kingdoms of Tallahatchia have been divided as High Prince Alexander of the kingdoms sleeps a cursed sleep within the walls of Castle Eyota. But the way to the seventh kingdom Kanawhee is not easily traveled as the kingdoms of Tuckawassee and Pohatomie war against any who seek this path. Legends surround the prince - promising a princess who will with love's true kiss break the curse and awaken the prince. But one hundred years will soon be upon them and the curse has yet to broken. Any thought to be the promised cursebreaker are all too soon targeted by those who want the sleep to be endless and unto death.

Princess Roseanna has always enjoyed hearing the tales told of the High King and the High Prince. The tales of old have filled her dreams with sights she's never beheld. With the current state of warring among the kingdoms she knows she'll never see these distant lands. But when a raiding party is found within the Kingdom of Neskahana she is set on a path she never sought or expected. Daemyn Rand has been pursued by Tuckawassee raiders deep into Neskahana because he has news he needs to share with those within Castle Deeling. And he has even more important news for Princess Roseanna ~ she is the promised cursebreaker and he is bound to bring her to Castle Eyota and High Prince Alexander.

But who is this prince that she is to awaken?

High Prince Alexander has been blessed with superior intelligence and in true princely fashion, he is amazed at his own superior abilities. But Alexander is living under a curse ~ on his 21st birthday he will be pricked by his own dagger and fall into a sleep from which he will never wake. Determined to prevent this curse from being fulfilled the prince sets out on a mission with his manservant Jadon Rand. Alexander is on a mission to seeking out a Loyal Fae whom he hopes to convince to lift his curse. But Alex's mission doesn't go quite how he planned it. In fact, traveling his kingdom in disguise opens his eyes to the true state of Tallahatchia.

Dagger's Sleep seems at first glance of the story summary to be a retelling of Sleeping Beauty but this is so much more than that. There is a spiritual element that runs throughout that adds an extra depth to this story. And then there is Daemyn Rand who seems to know more than he is willing to share and yet seems resigned to what he must do. There is a thread of mystery that runs through the story that one gets little glimpses of. This was a delightful read that one just doesn't want to put down. The story is told from both Rosanna and Alexander's perspectives as it unfolds before the reader. The story comes to a satisfying ending and can be considered complete so I'm interested to read what comes next in book 2 of the Beyond the Tales series. This is one book you don't want to miss out on. Fans of both Fairy Tale retellings and Speculative Fiction will love this book. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves a good book.

I was provided a digital ARC copy of this book by the author with no expectations of a positive review. All opinions expected are my own.

Be sure to check out my interview with Tricia Mingerink and Sarah Addison-Fox

About the Book:

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 the Author

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.

Tricia Mingerink is 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.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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 (You're Here)

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.

Dagger's Sleep and Dissociate ~ Author Q and A with Giveaway

Today I'm playing host for Dagger's Sleep and Dissociate and their two talented authors.
That's right Tricia Mingerink and Sarah Addison-Fox are here for a fun author Q and A session. And they're each hosting a giveaway to celebrate the release of their newest books!

1) What is your favorite method of book brainstorming? A random comment, a thought, a dream, or…?  

Tricia: Most of my ideas are random thoughts that can be sparked by almost anything. If I get stuck and need to do serious brainstorming, I have one close friend who gets even crazier ideas than I do and she’s the one I call up for brainstorming sessions.

Sarah: Ideas for stories generally come from a combination of things. A name, a setting, a question that needs to be answered. As long as I have those elements to work with I generally plod along without too much brainstorming. I actually prefer to work that way. I’m a hardcore panster who doesn’t really know where the story is going from one moment to the next. If I’m working on something and get stuck for inspiration, I generally switch what I’m listening to or watch movie trailers. That usually works.

~*~

2) If you could live in any Genre which would be? and why this one?  

Tricia: Probably a portal fantasy, but one where I could go between the fantasy world and our world whenever I wanted. I love fantasy worlds, but I wouldn’t want to leave my family behind and there are things I love about this world, such as not having to worry about a dragon randomly burning your house down.

Sarah: Hmmmm. I’m going to cheat and copy Tricia’s answer. It would be great to leave the mess and mum stuff behind for a bit and go be a warrior princess somewhere. Although that’s pretty much what I do when I write!

~*~*~

3) What two authors (one from the past and one from the present) would like to spend the weekend with and how would you spend it?

Tricia: One from the past would be C.S. Lewis. The Chronicles of Narnia are still my all time favorite books. I’d love to spend the afternoon with him in Oxford sipping tea (even though I don’t even like tea, but I would put on a brave face) and listening to him talk.

One from the present? That’s a tough one. Many of my writer friends who are in the United States I’ve met in person or will meet at Realm Makers this year or have the hope I’ll meet them at a writer’s conference sometime in the future (Jaye L. Knight, Jill Williamson, and Serena Chase are authors I really, really hope I meet at a writer’s conference sooner or later). So ruling out the authors that I have a good chance of running into eventually, I’d have to go with Sarah Addison-Fox. Since she lives WAY over in New Zealand, it will take a lot of planning to actually meet her. I’d love to visit New Zealand and spend the day hiking in the mountains over there are seeing the Lord of the Rings filming sites.

Sarah: For the past, I’m going to go with Mary Shelley who wrote Frankenstein at age 18. Can you imagine what a conversation with her would have been like? I’d just chat to her and drink tea in front of a crackling fireplace and eat cake.

Aaaaw! Tricia! I’d love to meet you too! That’s my answer for the present. I’d like to meet Tricia and possibly coerce her into co-writing something with me. Although she’d be smiling and nodding politely as I talk her ear off. I tend to talk too much.  

Tricia: I tend to be quiet for the first little bit after you meet me, and I’m very good at listening and tend to have a lot of talkative friends. ;) But just wait until I’ve known you a little bit. Then getting me to stop talking is the hard part.

~*~*~*~

4) What is your all-time favorite book (not yours) that you want others to read and love as much as you do?

Tricia: There is no way I can answer this with just one book. Can I answer with a whole genre? There are TOO MANY books out there that are awesome and more people need to hear about, especially in the Christian speculative fiction genre. I’ve talked to a lot of parents and teens who were blown away after reading my books that Christian action adventure/fantasy exists and want to find more, though they don’t know where to start looking.

So here’s a start: The Blood of Kings trilogy by Jill Williamson, Follower of the Word series by Morgan Busse, the Eyes of E’veria by Serena Chase, the Ilyon Chronicles by Jaye L. Knight, the Songkeeper series by Gillian Bronte Adams, the Rising Shadows trilogy by Ashley Townsend, the Out of Time series by Nadine Brandes, the Legends of the Woodlands by Angie Brashear, and, of course, the Allegiance series by Sarah Addison-Fox.

Sorry, that’s a rather long answer. I’m rather passionate about the whole Christian speculative fiction genre and helping it reach readers.

Sarah: How cool is that? Tricia Mingerink recommending my books! All-time favourite book? I’d have to go with The Sunken Realm by Serena Chase. I don’t often re-read books but that is one I have no problem re-visiting. Mainly because it has romance, action and pirates. If I was allowed to answer with more, lots of the books Tricia mentioned would be on the list as well as Tricia’s Blades of Acktar series. But I’m following the rules. One of has to eh Mingerink?

Tricia: Me? Break the rules? Never, except for answering interview questions.

Hey, rules are meant to broken, especially if you have to only pick one book. I can never pick just one either and my list is always growing - just like with these two touring books! Favorites list grows by 2!

~*~*~*~*~

5)  What is the one question you wish was asked during an interview and how would you answer it?

Tricia: One question, huh? Something fun and not serious, like what is the oddest, true story I’ve included in one of my books. The answer would be at the beginning of Dare, Ginger the goat is actually based on my family’s goat who also happens to be named Ginger. When she was little, she really did sleep curled up on top of our horse when he laid on the ground to sleep. And my horse would let Ginger and our other goats climb all over him. It’s all of one sentence in the book, but Brandi mentions that Ginger in the book sleeps on Blizzard.

Sarah: That is the best question ever! My brain is in overdrive thinking now. I wish someone asked me more questions like that one!

But seriously, I wish people asked me why my books aren’t more overtly Christian. I’d answer that my mission is to reach young readers from all backgrounds and that is why the preach and conversion factor is minimal in my published work.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Now we'll learn a little about these two books Dagger's Sleep and Dissociate
Dagger’s Sleep:

 

About the Book:

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.

You can read my review of Dagger's Sleep here

About the Author

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.

     

Dissociate:

About the Book:

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.

You can read my review of Dissociate here

About the Author:

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.

Connect with Sarah online at:

Instagram: sarahaddisonfox/

Facebook: sarahaddisonfoxfantasyauthor/

Website: www.sarahaddisonfox.com

Twitter: @Saddisonfox

Goodreads: Sarah Addison-Fox

Facebook Festival

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!

Join the Facebook Festival

Giveaways! 

Sarah Addison-Fox

and

Tricia Mingerink

are each hosting

a giveaway for their

books for the

blog tour.

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.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tricia Mingerink is 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.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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 (You're Here)

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