Everything Writerly: The Official Blog of Author Andrea Boeshaar: Melanie Dickerson: Combining past fairy tales with a brand new book!

Friday, May 20, 2016

Melanie Dickerson: Combining past fairy tales with a brand new book!

Dear Readers~

Today I have the pleasure of hosting author Melanie Dickerson! If you're not familiar with her or her books, here's Melanie's bio:

Melanie Dickerson is the author of The Healer s Apprentice, a Christy Award finalist and winner of the National Reader s Choice Award for Best First Book. Melanie earned a bachelor s degree in special education from the University of Alabama and has been a teacher and a missionary. She lives with her husband and two daughters in Huntsville, Alabama.

Melanie, please tell us how you came to write your latest novel, The Beautiful Pretender.

"Strangely enough, I actually started writing a version of The Beautiful Pretender before I started writing The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest, which was the first book in the series. I wanted to write a gothic-type story where a girl is sent to marry a “beastly” hero at a dark and scary castle in the forest. But my agent wasn’t crazy about the idea and asked me to come up with something else. Thomas Nelson asked me for a proposal for an adult series of Medieval fairy tale re-tellings, so I started thinking, What if I write a mash-up of two different fairy tales instead of just one?

"The first story I thought up was a combination of Robin Hood and Swan Lake. And then as I plotted that story, I realized the margrave—the hero’s boss—would make a great hero for the second book in that series, and I could use the story that I’d already started as a jumping off point for the margrave’s story.

"Everything fell into place, and I added elements of The Princess and the Pea. I felt like God was giving me a forum to show that everyone has longings and insecurities, everyone has hurts from past relationships, but it pays to open your heart to love, kindness, and compassion. That became one of the themes of the story."

Sounds awesome! I can't wait to read the series. Now here's a blurb about Melanie's latest:

After inheriting his title from his brother, the margrave has two weeks to find a noble bride. What will happen when he learns he has fallen for a lovely servant girl in disguise?

The Margrave of Thornbeck has to find a bride, fast. He invites ten noble born ladies who meet the king’s approval to be his guests at Thornbeck Castle for two weeks, a time to test these ladies and reveal their true character.

Avelina has only two instructions: keep her true identity a secret and make sure the margrave doesn’t select her as his bride. Since the latter seems unlikely, she concentrates on not getting caught. No one must know she is merely a maidservant, sent by the Earl of Plimmwald to stand in for his daughter, Dorothea.

Despite Avelina’s best attempts at diverting attention from herself, the margrave has taken notice. And try as she might, she can’t deny her own growing feelings. But something else is afoot in the castle. Something sinister that could have far worse—far deadlier—consequences.