Smorgasbord Posts from Your Archives – #PotLuck – Fiction — The Truth About Fairy Tales by HL Carpenter

Welcome to the series Posts from Your Archives, where bloggers put their trust in me. In this series, I dive into a blogger’s archives and select four posts to share here to my audience.

If you would like to know how it works here is the original post: https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/2019/04/28/smorgasbord-posts-from-your-archives-newseries-pot-luck-and-do-you-trust-me/

This is the second post from mother and daughter writing team HL Carpenter (Helen and Lorri). They have two blogs and one is for guest posts and book promotions which I featured last week and is a great place to share your work Top Drawer Ink Corp. Now I want to focus on their other blog and their own work.. and here is a short story… keeping the fairy tale alive.

Fiction — The Truth About Fairy Tales by HL Carpenter

I can tell you two things about fairy tales. First, it’s absolutely false that only a princess can de-frog a prince. I’m not a princess, and one kiss from me released my prince, Mack, from his wicked curse.

Second, the endings are totally wrong. It’s been a month now, and I’m starting to think whatever hope Mack and I had for our happily-ever-after is doomed. No one approves of our relationship because I’m not royalty, and because Mack…well, Mack’s still sort of a frog.

I want my fairy tale back.

Image source: tzunghaor via openclipart.org

The palace is a riot of colorful strobe lights, music, and laughter. I’m standing to one side of the dance floor, corralled by Princess Allison. She’s a true princess, from the tines of her towering tiara to the painted petunias on her tiny toes.

She eyes my newly green hair and says, “Listen, Cindy, I’m really happy you like kissing frogs, and I’m especially grateful you saved Mack. But you have to give up this silly idea he’s going to be your boyfriend. He’s not for you, sweetie.”

“Of course he is, Allie.” I scratch my elbow and smile at her. “Haven’t you ever read a fairy tale? Only the prince’s true love can free him from the evil curse.”

“You only half-freed him. And it’s time for you to buzz off so a real princess can finish the job.”

“Nope. Not gonna do it.”

She crosses her arms and scowls. “You do realize there’s a reason he was turned into a frog in the first place, right?”

“He mentioned your mom,” I say, as Mack hops up next to us.

He grins at me. At least, I think he’s grinning at me. It’s hard to tell, since his eyes are on opposite sides of his face. He says, “Want to dance?”

“Love to,” I say, at the same moment Allie says, “Yes.” I guess she can’t tell who he’s looking at either.

I grab Mack’s hand. “Sorry, Allie. First dibs.”

When Mack and I are face to face on the dance floor, I gaze into the eye that’s aimed at me. He says, “I like your hair. Frog green suits you.”

“Thanks.” I lean toward him and whisper, “I’m shedding.”

A hush descends, as if the band and the chattering nobility surrounding us have left the ballroom. Mack leans away, and I half-expect him to walk off the dance floor. Instead, he lowers his head and whispers back, “Goes with the territory. Still happens to me once a week.”

“Allie could change that.”

“I’ll pass. I like being me.”

“The kiss—”

“Yes,” he says. “It changed both of us.”

“You okay with that?”

“Yep.” He pulls me closer. “I’m thinking of ditching this clambake and going for a swim in the lily pond. You interested?”

“Absolutely,” I say, and think, this fairy tale might have a happy ending after all.

©HL Carpenter 2014

Ah…lovely story… definitely a Fairy Tale….

About HL Carpenter (Helen and Lorri)

HL Carpenter is a mother/daughter duo who writes family-friendly fiction from their studios in Carpenter Country, a magical place that, like their stories, is unreal but not untrue. When they’re not writing, the Carpenters enjoy exploring the Land of What-If and practicing the fine art of Curiosity Their website Top Drawer Ink Corp also offers opportunities for promotion for other authors and their books.

A selection of books for adults, YA and children by HL Carpenter

One of the reviews for Murder by the Books

Peggy M McAloon Is the Answer in the Missing Journals & Accounting Records?

The mother-daughter duo known as HL Carpenter created a character in Fae Childers who can go the distance. Murder by the Books is well-paced and will hold your interest to the end.

I have a long-standing background in researching financial scams and con-artists, so the topic was a perfect one to entertain me on a cold and dreary Saturday.

Fae Childers is so horrified by the suggestion that she has embezzled from the accounting firm she leaves without defending her decades-long career with the firm.

The fact that her boyfriend has sided with the owners causes her to stay in seclusion in her apartment in Tampa. Wallowing in self-pity, she’s intrigued when a letter arrives informing her of an inheritance from a grandmother she had no idea existed.

The lawyer she encounters in Seafoam appears to be thoughtful, compassionate and handsome. Why is Fae drawn in so by his passionate green eyes? Could Ret Karaffa be at the center of the murders and break-ins that suddenly seem to happen with an unnerving regularity around all the people her grandmother came in contact with while living along the coast in Seafoam?

You’ll learn to love to hate the annoying local reporter, Pat Jablonski. Will she show up dead in the surf too?

The real mystery is whether or not the killer believes that Fae has inherited her grandmother’s abilities to see things most of us will never experience. Will he or she recognize the piercing headaches as the same ones Fae’s grandmother had before she solved the mysterious puzzles the inhabitants of Seafoam had with unnerving regularity?

The missing journals and balance sheets hold the answers, but will Fae discover them in time to save herself and protect the vast inheritance everyone is focused on? What of the handsome Ret? Will he provide the love connection she’s been looking for her whole life?

This book has a clever plot, interesting characters, and enough last-minute revelations to keep you interested from beginning to end. It was a fast read filled with richly defined backdrops. I thought I’d figured it out three times before I finished it. You’ll need to pick up a copy to find out if Fae has fortune-telling instincts like her grandmother.

Read the reviews and buy the books: https://www.amazon.com/default/e/B007SHS9LA/

And on Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/HL-Carpenter/e/B007SHS9LA/

You will find a lot more reviews on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5820921.H_L_Carpenter

Connect to HL Carpenter

Website and blog: https://www.hlcarpenter.com/
Author Guest posts: https://www.topdrawerinkcorp.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/hl_carpenter
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hlcarpenter/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/hlcarpenter/

Thank you for dropping in today and I hope you will head over to both of Helen and Lorri’s blogs to explore them further and to take advantage of their kind offer to promote your work.. thanks Sally.