Retold Fairy Tales Monthly Author Post & Int. Giveaway (#3): Anna J. Evans

Hello, my friends! It's that time of the month to continue our discussion on retold fairy tales.

Today, I'm super excited to have Anna J. Evans on the blog again!! YAY! Back in January (my how time flies) she was on the blog for an interview to discuss her wonderful Demon Bound series. Today she's back to tell us a little about a different series she wrote. One that I had no idea Anna had written! Did you know that Anna loves to write some very ... wicked *grins* stories?! Well she does and she has, and she's here to share with us her erotic Perfectly Wicked retold fairy tales series!

So, please welcome Anna J. Evans, back to Among the Muses!

~*~*~*~*~*~

Hi Tanya!

Thanks for having me over to the blog again!

So...fairy tales.

I have a love-hate relationship with fairy tales. As a storyteller, I love the epic sweep of the stories, the good guys and the bad guys, and the princesses in great danger from beasts or frogs or wicked stepmothers or really hard legumes (darn that pea!). And what's not to like about true love saving the day? I love love. And true love that saves? Even more lovely.

But as a feminist... Well, I don't really like what most of our fairy tales have to tell us about what it means to be a "good" woman. In most of these stories the heroines are passive (to the point that many of them are asleep in need of a man to awaken them) and their lives are in the hands of those who will save them. Meanwhile, the "bad guys" are often women. The wicked stepmothers and witches are the only women shown taking action and trying to control their own lives, and they are nearly always killed off in the end, driving home the lesson that "only good girls who follow the rules and submit to the dictates of their patriarchal culture" are going to have a happy ever after. In addition, I think many of these bad women are driven to their evil actions by the same messed up culture, a culture that tells women that they are worthless once they are no longer young, beautiful, as skinny as a 12-year-old boy, or hopelessly naive. Their culture has dismissed these women and many of them are just trying to recapture the youth and beauty that made them feel like someone important.

Now, I'm not saying I'm an advocate of making Cinderella hang out in the fireplace or cursing Sleeping Beauty to sleep for a hundred years--those were the actions of some wicked ladies. But, I would like to see more strong women--of all sizes, shapes, and ages--in fairy tales. So I decided to take the bad girls of fairy tale fame and give them a chance at their own sexy happy ever after. Some of these ladies are just misunderstood, some of them are broken people in need of a chance at redemption (much like the Beast in Beauty and the Beast), but all of them are women who have broken the passive heroine rules and lived to tell about it.

And they have a lot of really hot nookie while they're doing it because... Well, these are erotic fairy tale retellings, after all ;).

Here's a little bit about the books!

Title: Main Attraction
Series: Perfectly Wicked series, #1

~*~Book Blurb~*

Edna Emily Argent Rella runs the Wicked Stepmother and her Stepsisters S&M parlor in Kingdom City, but she has a secret… She's not so terribly wicked. A dominatrix by necessity, rather than calling, she does her best to capitalize on her naughty reputation. After the smear campaign waged by her stepdaughter Cynthia, there aren't many other employment options.

Frank, the Captain of the Queen's Guard, has been sent to protect Edna from the stalker threatening her life. Posing as a client, this dominant male soon realizes he's in for more trouble than he bargained for.

Because Edna is a born submissive. And Frank can't resist the urge to show her what she's been missing while on the Mistress side of the fence.

Title: Sinfully Sweet

Series: Perfectly Wicked series, #2

~*~Book Blurb~*

Bella's a candy maker who's been framed for a horrible crime. Being accused of trying to boil children in a vat of peanut brittle has been bad for business, and even worse for her heart. Desperately trying to save her company, Bella's afraid the secret she's sworn to keep may force her to abandon her legacy as a beloved confectioner to the Kingdom.

Heath Miller makes toys — kinky sex toys. And he has a sweet tooth that's out of control. He'll do anything to convince Bella to create magnificent flavors for his edible underwear and flavored condoms…absolutely anything. But a simple seduction goes awry when Heath begins to lose his heart, and a hot and sticky encounter shows both lovers how quickly sweet can cross the line into sinful.

Title: Bad Apple
Series: Perfectly Wicked series, #3

~*~Book Blurb~*

Some women are misunderstood, others are a misdemeanor waiting to happen…

Katarina was a very bad girl, but she spent five years in the dungeon paying for her crimes and made a vow to leave her wicked ways behind her. She's praying a makeover and a stint on Kingdom City's newest reality show, Real-Life Ways to Catch a King, will help her get back on her feet. Unfortunately the show's producer, notorious bad boy Serge, is making it hard for her to resist giving in to her naughtier nature…

Serge is looking to turn his life around. He wants a wife and a family and a place in respectable society. Taking up with a former wicked queen with a penchant for poison apples isn't on his agenda. But Kat quickly proves to be irresistible, and when a mutual affection for public passion turns into something more, he has to make a decision. Break the heart of the only woman he's ever loved or risk forever being known as a "bad apple".

  Title: Beauty Sleep

Series: Perfectly Wicked series, #4

~*~Book Blurb~*

After accidentally cursing a princess to a hundred years of sleep, fairy Calliope La Fae couldn't get hired to enchant horse dung, let alone work as a court fairy to a royal family. The only way she made it to the castle was by way of the dungeon, and the only way she made it out with her life was by risking the use of her fractured magic for the first time in years.

And so a spell is cast, and two lovers enchanted…

King Aaron should be concentrating on saving his brother from Calliope's enchanted castle, but he can't seem to keep his mind on anything but the fairy herself. Whether it's in the castle bath, by the side of the road or tied to a tree — he'll take Calliope any way he can get her, again and again. Even when the spell is broken, he can't get the woman out of his mind. There's no way he'll let her end up the next victim of her own magic, no matter what he has to risk to save her from her own century of beauty sleep.

I'm so excited to share this books with new readers, and I hope you have as much fun reading as I did writing.

Best!
Anna J. Evans

~* Info. ~*

Visit Anna J. Evans at her WEBSITE


Main Attraction @ Ellora's Cave
Sinfully Sweet @ Ellora's Cave

Bad Apple @ Ellora's Cave

Beauty Sleep @ Ellora's Cave

Giveaway:

• Anna has so generously offered an eBook copy of each of her erotic retellings to four different commenters!! That's right four winners! (1st number drawn will have the first choice of book, 2nd the 2nd choice, etc..)

• This contest is open to EVERYONE (not just challenge participants)!!

• You MUST be 18+ to enter.

• Leave a comment and your email addy to be entered.

• Winner will be chosen via random.org and be notified by email.

• Contest will run Thursday, 3/10 - Tuesday, 3/15.

Good Luck!