Free eBook: The Fairy Tale Bride (Once Upon a Wedding) by Kelly McClymer

The Fairy Tale Bride (Once Upon a Wedding) by Kelly McClymer is currently priced at $0 for its Kindle edition. This is a part of a series originally published by Kensington Zebra Ballad in October 2000 and now rereleased in ebook format by the author.

Description from the publisher:

Miranda Fenster was known as the Fairy Tale Miss during the one disastrous London season that convinced her she would never have a happily-ever-after. But when her brother's love match is thwarted by the impossibly proper Duke of Kerstone, Miranda sets off to convince the duke to champion her brother's cause for love. Unfortunately, he is too proper to consider love a suitable reason for marriage, and too proper not to marry Miranda when they find themselves compromised. Now, Miranda has a second chance for happily-ever-after, if she can uncover her new husband's darkest secret.

And here's a snippet from a reader review--not positive--but showing that fairy tales do play a part in the novel:

The one thing that annoyed me to no end was the heroine's "cutesy" way of likening everything around her to various fairy tales. Every time it made her seem like a juvenile, naive idiot, when the rest of the time she was rather level-headed and even cynical at times. It was jarring each time, but I enjoyed the rest of the aspects of the book.

Free is nice if you are interested....

Advertising: Little Red Riding Hood Fights Back

Okay, this one is just fabulous. Wow, what a marketing budget, too.

To increase awareness and registration for their children’s self-defense classes, The World Black Belts Center in Dubai tackled this in an unconventional way. Nope, they didn’t reverse punch parents into registering their kids, instead Memac Ogilvy Dubai created an illustrated children’s book that’s based on the well-known story of Little Red Riding Hood. What happens in the end? Our little heroine courageously beats up the big bad wolf to save the day. A simple call to action on the back cover – “You Too Can Fight Back” – provides the reader with more information on self-defense classes for kids and directs them to register. The End.

Little Red Riding Hood Fights Back

Through the woods she walked
in her cloak of red,
Bound with food, for the side
of her grandmother’s bed.

Riding Hood met a wolf,
and the wolf he seemed nice
So she told him her plight,
and he gave her advice.

“Pick her some flowers”
is what the animal said,
as a plan began forming
inside his own head.

While she picked her flowers,
the wolf, off he ran.
They were both going to visit
Red Riding Hood’s Gran.

The wolf arrived first
at Grandmother’s gate,
He’d be quiet enough
and inside he would wait.

“Come in little red,
cried Gran from her bed.
But in came the wolf,
who swallowed her instead.

Red Riding Hood arrived
shortly after lunch,
and unleashed her fury
in one killer punch.

After eating poor granny,
the wolf didn’t know,
our heroine had a black belt,
in the art of Tang Soo Do.

Credits:
Advertising Agency: Memac Ogilvy & Mather, Dubai, UAE
Executive Creative Director: Till Hohmann
Creative Director: Dalbir Singh
Art Director: Regina Groffy
Copywriters: James Bisset, Kareem Shuhaibar
Illustrator: Regina Groffy
Via Ads of the World.

Extraordinary by Adam Selzer

Released today: Extraordinary*: *The True Story of My Fairygodparent, Who Almost Killed Me, and Certainly Never Made Me a Princess by Adam Selzer.Which appears to win the prize of "cutest" title in a while. Yes, it sounds like it could be related to Ella Enchanted in plot devices, but it is modern and may appeal to some of the readers in your life. The cover looks more like a B-Grade movie poster, but I'm not the target audience am I? I know I sound jaded, but the book and its author sound like fun, yet the title and cover are somehow off-putting to me. I'll await more buzz and see if it is liked by its primary audience.

Here's the usual:

From the publisher:

Jennifer Van Der Berg would like you to know that the book ostensibly written about her—Born to Be Extraordinary by Eileen Codlin—is a bunch of bunk. Yes, she had a fairy godparent mess with her life, but no, she was not made into a princess or given the gift of self-confidence, and she sure as hell didn't get a hot boyfriend out of it.
Here's the REAL scoop . . .

About the Author

Adam Selzer was born in Des Moines and now lives in Chicago, where he writes humorous books for young readers by day and runs ghost tours by night. (If you can find two cooler jobs than those, take them!) He is the author of I Kissed a Zombie, and I Liked It, The Smart Aleck's Guide to American History, Andrew North Blows Up the World, I Put a Spell on You, Pirates of the Retail Wasteland, and How to Get Suspended and Influence People, and he is just famous enough to have a page on Wikipedia. Check him out on the Web at adamselzer.com.

Advertising: L’Express News Magazine and Chaperon Rouge

L’Express News Magazine and Chaperon Rouge

The more informed we are, the stronger we are.

I don't love this one very much, but it is always to fun to see the various ways LRRH is used in France.

Credits:
Advertising Agency: Bambuck, Paris, France
Art Director: Emmanuel Cendrier
Copywriter: Anthony Clouet, Michael Capgras
Illustrator: Jonny Mendelsson
Via Ads of the World.

Caperucita Roja / Little Red Riding Hood illustrated by Adolfo Serra

Caperucita Roja / Little Red Riding Hood (Spanish Edition) illustrated by Adolfo Serra was released earlier this year. It is listed as Spanish language but the book itself is a wordless picture book apparently. I found these images on Serra's blog and wanted to share. I love this first one with its foreshadowing....

From Serra's blog:

A new book with Narval Publishers is coming out, a version without text of the Classic Little Red Riding Hood. In this book illustration is the only way to tell the story, helping the reader to imagine, despite of being a child or an adult. Every reading is a new version of the tale.

Bargain Book: My Fair Godmother by Janette Rallison

My Fair Godmother by Janette Rallison is currently bargain priced in ebook edition for $1.99 on Amazon. I've featured the book and its sequel--My Unfair Godmother--here on the blog previously but here is your chance to try it out at a great price if you haven't yet.

Book description from the publisher:

After her boyfriend dumps her for her older sister, sophomore Savannah wishes she could find a true prince to take her to the prom. Enter Chrysanthemum Everstar: Savannah's gum-chewing, cell phone-carrying, high heel-wearing Fair Godmother. Despite a few wish-granting mishaps, Savannah's fairy-tale ending might not be as far off as she imagined.

Advertising: Glaxo Smith Kline and Fairy Tales

Don't let one risk hide another.

I really like these. They use the concept well and the clean design is appealing, too.

Advertising Agency: Air, Brussels, Belgium
Creative Director: Michel Vandyk
Art Directors: Nam Simonis
Copywriters: Nam Simonis
Photographer: Paul Ruigrok
Published: September 2007
Via Ads of the World.