This is my stop during the blog tour for Sleeping Beauty and the Cursed Code by Emma Jean. In Sleeping Beauty and the Cursed Code Sleeping Beauty uses science and technology to battle dark magic and free herself from 100 years of caused sleep.
This blog tour is organized by Lola's Blog Tours. The blog tour runs from 5 till 18 June. You can see the tour schedule here.
By Emma Jean
Genre: STEM Fantasy, Fairytale Retelling
Age category: Middle Grade
Release Date: 5 June, 2021
Blurb:Links:
Sleeping Beauty's thirteenth birthday looms on the horizon as she and her friends hole up in the cursed princess lab, determined to prove that science and technology can defeat dark magic and save the kingdom from 100 years of cursed sleep.
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“Please don’t make me watch.”
“Open your eyes,” a honey-sweet voice ordered.
I clenched my jaw and used my fingers to pry open my eyelids.
I had to watch the curses. I knew I had to.
My curse would be the downfall of our kingdom, so I had to learn all I could about curses to know what I was up against. Torn between bravery and cowardice, I watched through squinted eyes.
I stood inside a slightly curved world. I knew it wasn’t real because I’d been in similar memories before.
I had stepped inside a recording. The pixels sparked at mismatched angles, and the whole world around me was remembered in black and white, like watching the cartoon version of an old television show.
The word LUCY crossed the screen, as if it had been typed directly into my vision. This time, Lucy was the victim. She was all alone on a stormy night tossing in her sleep. Her dark hair was knotting with each restless turn.
From what I could tell, it was the night’s booming thunder and frequent flashes of lightning tormenting her rest.
As more lightning lit the sky, the hockey jersey she was wearing suddenly sparkled.
The poster of the handsome teenage prince on her wall told me she was probably not much older than thirteen, just like me.
The next crack was even louder. I jumped.
It signaled the entrance of Anathema, the evil fairy who torments us.
Anathema was but the hint of a shadow on a stormy night. Her dark robes dangled, her hood covered the obscured essence of her face. I shivered, certain that even in the recording, she’d sensed my presence.
The fairy drifted towards the helpless girl sleeping in her hockey jersey.
“Lucy,” the Evil Fairy whispered, “Fair princess. Fairest of them all. May a toad bring about your downfall.”
In the shadows, Anathema raised a fully draped hand to her gray-scaled lips. She spread her fingers revealing that she was holding a living, breathing toad. It was paralyzed with fear. Anathema scared animals just as much as she scared humans.
The fairy exhaled and let out an indecipherable curse that turned the toad into nothing more than shimmering dust, barely visible in the heavy air. The dust began to drift without hurry towards the slumbering girl.
I wanted to scream. Wake up, Lucy! Run! Save yourself!
I stayed silent, knowing my warning would go unheeded.
I couldn’t change the past. No one can change the past. Not even the fairies.
Then came the loudest crack of all. The dusty powder fell and engulfed Lucy. She started to choke on the dust. She was gasping for air when she woke up. Her deep brown eyes flashed open for barely a second. Her jaw dropped in a scream never delivered, as she shrank until she was no more than a croaking toad. As she transformed she fell from the warmth of her bed, and landed on the cold stone floor beneath with an echoing splat.
She lives in Massachusetts, near the Mayflower (the one the Pilgrims sailed on... or at least a pretty good replica), with her husband, two sons and one troublesome Basset Hound.
She studied Creative Writing at Holy Cross then earned her Masters in School Counseling at Assumption College.
She spent years working in adolescent mental health both in academic and therapeutic settings. Like her reporters in the Charles McCheese series, she found time to travel the world, helping with the Katrina clean up effort in New Orleans, studying abroad in Sri Lanka, and working alongside the Peace Corps. in Armenia. She worked with the Red Cross and counseled children in some of the toughest cities in Massachusetts.
For more information on the author, and to see pictures of the aforementioned basset hound, find her on instagram @Emma.Jean.Author or visit 4Pigs2Fly.com
Author links:
- Website
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