The Fairest Of Them All by Carolyn Turgeon

The Fairest Of Them All

Carolyn Turgeon

288 pages

Publisher: Touchstone

Release Date: August 6th

Don't get fooled by the beautiful cover of this incredible book. This is not a lovely fairy tale where everyone lives happily ever after and the evil queen ends up dead or being good. And it's not for sure the story about Rapunzel or Snow White that we all now. Because as you know, Rapunzel was not Snow White's step mom, but in this book she is.

We think that seeing the point of view of Rapunzel was much more fun that reading about a corny story about a princess waiting for prince Charming. Don't get me wrong, I love those corny stories, but being evil, in this story, is much more fun!

Reading about Rapunzel's story, you get an insight into her life. Why and howe she evolves from being that girl in the tower with the long, long hair ending up being the evil queen who want Snow White dead more than anything in her life.

At the beginning, you can see how Rapunzel was all innocent and trustful, letting in her a life a handsome Prince full of promises and beautiful words. She opens her heart to him and he ends up marrying another woman. So you can see how Rapunzel started hating the other woman and asking herself why not her. You even feel sorry for her. 

And it's not far after that when she gets what she wanted: the prince and the kingdom. Why not? Even the evil queens deserve a happy ending. But what Rapunzel can't get out of her head is that she's not the fairest of them all, so being the most beautiful of her kingdom becomes her first priority. That's where Snow White enters in the story. When Rapunzel asks the mirror who the fairest of them all is, what do you think it tells her? Not her, for sure. That's when the seed of evilness starts to grow in Rapunzel.

But that's not all. If we have to talk about differences from the original stories that make this book such a killer one, we have to talk about Snow White, too. We have read and seen in movies and TV shows, howe Snow White is the good and forgiving person that everyone tries to be, the saint that cannot be enticed by evil or would not dare doing or saying something considered bad or evil. As a normal person, this version of Snow White has her own character and personality and it's not so saint as every book/movie showed us. You even start, at some point in the story, understanding Rapunzel's hate for this girl. 

In general, the story was incredible, captivating, with a catching prologue and a strong plot. How Carolyn Turgeon did to create this awesome mix of fairy tales, escapes our knowledge, but we know one thing: she did a wonderful job. Bringing a dark touch to the fairy story that we know all so well, Carolyn created a story full of unraveling events and twists that were not expecting at all. AT ALL!

So what's our verdict? We loved this book! So much that we have to thank Carolyn to bring to our world this wonderful new story. So you need to read this book, Book Addicts. Because you are going to get hooked with this one.

Let the magic of Rapunzel and Snow White enter your shelves, Book Addicts, and let us know what you think about this book, because we are giving a five gorjuss dolls from our rating system. 

Our Playlist for The Fairest Of Them All:

Family Tree by Matthew West

Breath Of Life by Florence + The Machine

Born To Die by Lana del Rey

Down by Jason Walker

Run by Snow Patrol

Lonely Boy by The Black Keys

All Those Pretty Lights by Andrew Belle

A Little Piece Of Heaven by Avenged Sevenfold

I Hate Everything About You by Three Days Grace

My Body by Young The Giant

Kill Of The Night by Gin Wigmore

All Fall Down by One Republic

Don't You Remember by Adele

Devil's Love Song by Howl Baby Howl

Fix You by Coldplay

Turning Tables by Adele

Begin Again by Taylor Swift

Echo by Jason Walker

Dead Hearts by Stars

Young And Beautiful by Lana Del Rey

Taylor Swift as Rapunzel

Ian Somerhalder as Prince Josef

Bailee Madison as Snow White

Julian Morris as Gilles

Read the interview with Carolyn about The Fairest Of Them All

Congrats Shelly Summers!!

You are the winner of a paperback copy of The Fairest Of Them All written by Carolyn Turgeon.

Hope you enjoy the book.

The Fantastic Flying Book Club: The Fairest Of Them All

Welcome Book Addicts to our 3rd Fantastic Flying Book Club.
We are really happy to tell you that this month we have in our club Carolyn Turgeon's new book: The Fairest Of Them All. But before starting with our event, we need to say something:

Yes, Book Addicts. Today is the release of this wonderful book and it's time to celebrate and what better celebration than hosting a Fantastic Flying Book Club event? 

We have to thank Carolyn for all her work, for this event and for everything! She's awesome and, Book Addicts, she is the main reason you get the chance to win an autographed hard copy of The Fairest Of Them All. 

We also want to say a big thank you to our team. Guys, you are wonderful and with each tour our FFBC family is growing. So, thank you so much!

Okay, I get the feeling that you want to read more about the book, so let's celebrate!

The Fairest Of Them All

Carolyn Turgeon

288 pages

Publisher: Touchstone

Release Date: August 6th, 2013

What if Rapunzel was Snow White’s evil stepmother? From the author of Godmother and Mermaid, The Fairest of Them All explores what happens when fairy tale heroines grow up and don’t live happily ever after.

Living in an enchanted forest, Rapunzel spends her days tending a mystical garden with her adoptive mother, Mathena. A witch, Mathena was banished from court because of her magic powers, though the women from the kingdom still seek her advice and herbal remedies. She waits, biding her time to exact revenge against those who betrayed her.

One day Rapunzel’s beautiful voice and long golden locks captivate a young prince hunting in the forest nearby. Overcome, he climbs her hair up to her chamber and they fall into each other’s arms. But their afternoon of passion is fleeting, and the prince must return to his kingdom, as he is betrothed to another.

Now king, he marries his intended to bring peace to his kingdom. They have a stunning daughter named Snow White. Yet the king is haunted by his memories of Rapunzel, and after the mysterious death of his wife, realizes he is free to marry the woman he never stopped longing for. In hopes of also replacing the mother of his beloved daughter, the king makes Rapunzel his queen.

But when Mathena’s wedding gift of an ancient mirror begins speaking to her, Rapunzel falls under its evil spell, and the king begins to realize that Rapunzel is not the beautiful, kind woman he dreamed of.

We're happy to welcome to our Fantastic Flying Book Club to The Fairest Of Them All written by Carolyn Turgeon, and that's why we wanted to get to know the author a little bit more and wanted to share it with you, Book Addicts!

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

When the story takes you over and you forget you’re writing at all

 

Law & Order SVU

Mysterious Skin 

Exploring some brand-new place

“The Carny” by Nick Cave

Roasted Brussels sprouts 

Edward Scissorhands

Both

Magic realism or crime

“He pushed me too far! So I pushed him just far enough.” 

Eli Wallach in The Lineup, after pushing a crime boss over a balcony

Just to keep reading, and to share your love of reading as much as possible, especially with the children in your life!

I was inspired when I looked at all my favorite fairy tales and realized that all the beautiful, damaged young princesses and all those evil queens, stepmothers and witches were essentially the same women. So I started shuffling around the stories and liked the idea of Rapunzel growing up to be Snow White’s stepmother. I also like looking at the stories of the non-heroine characters in popular fairy tales: the godmother in Cinderella, the princess (the mermaid’s rival) in The Little Mermaid, and now Snow White’s stepmother.

I picked Rapunzel because her story moves to well into the story of the evil queen from Snow White. She’s raised by a witch in a tower—and so has to be a witch herself, unless she spent all those years learning nothing from her surroundings..! She’s incredibly beautiful and admired far and wide for that beauty, and nothing else—and so might not react too well when she gets older and someone like Snow White starts getting all the attention. And plus I like all those gorgeous details: the hair, the woods, that tower, witches. I liked the idea of Rapunzel emerging from that tower and becoming a powerful queen—with some anger issues.

I like Rapunzel, and I also like her adoptive mother Mathena, who’s a pretty complicated character (not nice) but is full of rage and passion and magic. I also like the character of Gilles, the king’s falconer, who plays the huntsman role in my book. I tried to make him a romantic figure—swoony and brooding, the Heathcliff type who actually loves you way more than the charming prince does. 

I think the evil queens are much more interesting than the sweet princesses dreaming of their prince charmings! And I’m interested in looking at the psychology of these tales and what might happen to real, feeling women in these positions. I’m not sure that Rapunzel has much choice but to become a queen with some anger issues, when it comes down to it. If you’re a woman in a fairy tale—with no real power, valued only for how beautiful and sweet you are—you really should be pissed off!

August 6 

The UnofficialAddiction Book Fan Club & A Reading Nurse -> Welcome to the Fantastic Flying Book Club! 

August 7 

Dedicated Readers Only -> Review + Dream Cast 

Between The Pages -> Review 

Musings Of A Blodger -> Review 

Addicted 2 Heroines -> Review 

August 8 

Boricuan Bookworms -> Review + Interview 

Looking For The Panacea -> Review + Favorite Quote 

The Book Rat -> Review + Excerpt

August 9 

Closed The Cover -> Spotlight

A Backwards Story -> Review

A Backwards Story -> Guest Post

Reader Rising -> Review 

Cecilia Robert -> Spotlight 

August 10 

Reading and Writing Urban Fantasy, Paranormal and Romance -> Review + Favorite Quote 

After Dark Rendezvous -> Review + Interview 

Literary, etc. -> Review 

Paranormal Book Club -> Review + Favorite Quote 

August 11 

Bookcase To Heaven -> Review + Dream Cast 

Bookish Outsider -> Spotlight

Bookish Outsider -> Review

Bookhounds -> Review + Excerpt 

On The Shelf -> Review 

August 12 

Paper Cuts -> Review + Excerpt 

Bound By Words -> Review 

Wicca Witch 4 BookBlog -> Promo Post

August 13 

Trips Down Imagination Road -> Review + Guest Post 

The Reader's Antidote -> Review 

A Dream Within A Dream -> Review + Excerpt 

Read. Sleep. Repeat -> Excerpt

August 16

The UnofficialAddiction Book Fan Club
Review
&
Giveaway winner!

Enter this incredible giveaway!

Win (1) Signed Hard Copy Of The Fairest Of Them All written by Carolyn Turgeon

**INTERNATIONAL GIVEAWAY**

INFORMATION ABOUT THE GIVEAWAY: WINNERS

For those who don't know how this works, the winners will be those who have participated the most. Meaning, the winners will be those who have more points. No Rafflecopter luck this time, Book Addicts. This is all on you now! If there's a draw, then the odds will decide and this time the Rafflecopter luck would be a major factor deciding if you win or not. But don't worry, this time you have 5 chances to win!

Tell us something about yourself, like Carolyn and if you were expecting this book as much as we were.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you to our beloved team for making this event possible.