Dearest: (Color Interior) (Woodcutter Sisters Book 3)

This 2024 edition of DEAREST now includes the previously unreleased Chapter 20 (both book and audiobook have been updated!)Cover art and interior design by Caitlin GreerWhen Friday Woodcutter stumbles upon seven sleeping men in her sister Sunday’s palace, she takes one look at Tristan and knows he’s meant to be her destiny. But these exiled royal brothers are cursed—along with their sister, the mute kitchen girl Rampion—to be swans by day. Amidst a kingdom in chaos and a castle flooded with refugees, can Friday’s unique magic find a way to break the spell?In this delightful third book in the Woodcutter Sisters series, Alethea Kontis invokes a few fine-feathered fairy tales—featuring “The Wild Swans,” “The Goose Girl,” and the Armenian folktale of Queen Anahit—to focus on Friday Woodcutter, the kind and loving seamstress.Because where there is kindness, there is strength…***“I think Alethea Kontis has magic herself.”—Luna’s Little Library“The tale is the most gripping of the Woodcutter Sisters tales so far.”—Fangirl Nation"A mashup of the original seven swan brothers fairy tale, ingeniously woven with new twists. Magic abounds." —VOYA“Dearest takes the reader into Kontis’s unique world of fantasy and magic, a world I’m always glad to return to.”—Buried Under Books"With her trademark wit and clever world building, this will easily appeal to fans of the series as well as readers who love fractured fairy tales." —Booklist“Like her sister's stories, Friday's is yet another breathtaking assortment of odds and ends, bits and bobs of well-known and loved classic tales, woven together in such a way that they are both entirely new and entirely faithful to their original versions.”—Jessica Silverbow"Magical adventure, occasional humor, and moments of gentle romance make this a good choice for younger to mid-teens. Enchanted, Hero, and now Dearest will be at home in most libraries." —School Library JournalThe Woodcutter sister with “a heart as big as the moon” meets her destiny in the third of the frothy fairy-tale series (Hero, 2013, etc.). Empathetic Friday is as “loving and giving” as the old rhyme says, qualities desperately needed when an accidentally summoned ocean devastates the kingdom. She immediately puts her generous nature and enchanted needle at the service of the refugee children. Discovering that the seven swans on the palace grounds are actually enchanted royalty, she no sooner locks eyes with Prince Tristan than the pair fall instantly in love. Naturally, Friday devotes herself to helping their sister break the princes’ curse, and that’s when her troubles really begin….Once again, Kontis provides a sparkling mashup of familiar tales with a few original twists. Friday is an astonishingly sweet, optimistic and self-sacrificing heroine—the sort anyone would be lucky to know in real life—from Kirkus***Alethea Kontis is a New York Times bestselling author, storm chaser, Saturday Songwriter, and granddaughter of a pirate. She has received the Scribe Award, the Garden State Teen Book Award, and is a two-time winner of the Gelett Burgess Children’s Book Award. She was twice nominated for both the Andre Norton Nebula Award and Dragon Award. Alethea narrates stories for multiple online magazines and does freelance work for Writing the Other. Born in Vermont, Alethea currently resides on the Space Coast of Florida where she watches K-dramas with her teddy bear, Charlie. Together they are ARMY, VVS, and Black Roses. Read more