NOM, NOM, NOM, Cookies!!!

Okay, okay, I admit. My new baby is cutting into my blog time a little more than I expected. But hey! Today she's helping me blog!!!!



Sorta. Well, she's keeping me company anyway!:D

She is so fun and she is starting to make the cutest little cooing noises! *lesigh* I love her!

Anyway, couple of things.

The Wings series has officially been voted "The Next Twilight!" in a showdown with Beautiful Creatures that spurred from a close vote between six original contenders. Thanks guys!!! In case you didn't already know, you all rock to the extreme!!!

I've had people asking me where I am touring to this year and I don't know everywhere yet (I will soon!) But what I do know is that I will be participating in Harper's summer group tour that I have been fortunate enough to be included in for the last two years. This year they have renamed it The Dark Days, a title that allows them to tack on "of Summer," or "Of Winter!!!!" Which means, yes!! They are adding a whole new leg to the tour!!! They have a fabulous website set up here with tons of cool stuff. And when the Dark Days of Winter tour is over it will switch over to the Dark Days of Summer and that's where I'll be! The Summer schedule isn't up, but I will let you know that I will be coming to Chicago, Portland, Austin, and Ann Arbor, but even more exciting for me is that the tour will be coming HERE to Phoenix!! I am so excited not only that I get to do a fun event for my Phoenix peeps, but that they will all get to see all these cool authors as well!!! (Very, VERY cool line up to Dark Days!!!) So check out the website now, and the summer stuff will be coming soon!

Okay, last thing before we get on to cookie-ing, I wanted to give you a heads up that I will be doing my annual ARC giveaway starting next week on Valentines Day. But instead of the one ARC that I usually give away, I am doing three. On top of that, my two main fan sites will also be getting an ARC to giveaway, so that is FIVE ARCs up for grabs in the next few weeks! So keep tuned!!

Okay, so this cookie is a conversation between Tamani and Chelsea. One of the very funnest thing about bringing Tamani into Laurel's world in this book is the way he interacts with her friends. Chelsea especially. So here you go! Chelsea and Tam!:D

@font-face { font-family: "Cambria"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 10pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }

"Do we get to play twenty questions now?" Chelsea asked.

All eyes turned to her.

"Not you," Chelsea said, then pointed at Tamani. "Him."

Tamani stared at her for a long, silent moment. "I'm afraid I don't know that game."

"Oh it's easy," Chelsea said, "You play it with Laurel all the time, but she never asks you fun questions. Although she did tell me about a bunch of Shakespearean plays being faerie legends. I've been waiting for ages to ask you the really good stuff!"

"Um, okay," Tamani said, not sure what Chelsea considered 'good stuff.'

"So is it only Shakespeare, or are there more stories that exist in both cultures?"

"Oh!" Tamani said with a laugh. He sank into an armchair close to Chelsea. "There are lots. In Avalon, we love stories. The Summer fae dedicate their lives to telling stories, through dance or music or painting. But humans are endlessly inventive, always coming up with new ways to make the story interesting by telling it wrong. Nonetheless, a lot of your stories have faerie roots."

Chelsea was undeterred. "Cinderella."

"No," said Tamani. "I mean, faeries don't even wear shoes most of the time. And finding someone based solely on shoe size? That doesn't make sense for humans or faeries."

"What about the faerie godmother?" Chelsea asked.

"Unnecessary. We can make pumpkins grow that big without magic. And even a Winter faerie couldn't turn a mouse into a horse."

"Beauty and the Beast."

"Story of a faerie who fell in love with a troll. Scares the wits out of most seedlings. The troll never turns out to be a handsome prince, though."

"Rapunzel."

"Growth tonic gone terribly wrong."

Chelsea squealed. "Thumbelina."

"That's just basic anatomy misinterpreted. We are born from flowers, but we're never that small. Mischievous Sparklers were known to have encouraged tiny-faerie misconceptions, though."

"Tell me one that would surprise me."

Tamani thought for a moment. "Do you know the Pied Piper of Hameln?"

Chelsea looked blank for a minute. "You mean Hamelin?"

"That sounds right. That one's not a story, it's true," Tamani said, very seriously. "And it has scarcely been distorted at all. The Piper was a very powerful Spring faerie. Most of us can only Entice one or two animals at a time, but the Piper could Entice a whole city. He was eventually executed for that stunt."

"What did he do with the children?" Chelsea asked.

"It's kind of a long story. Ultimately, though, he marched them off a cliff. Killed them all."

Chelsea and Laurel were both silent, staring at Tamani in horror.

"Perhaps not our happiest story," Tamani said awkwardly.

LOL! I have to admit, the best part of this scene is the part that comes next!!! (But it's kinda spoilery . . . I'm a terrible tease!!!:D)

Ciao!