Three Times A Charm with Mary Waibel

Welcome to Three Times A Charm. I love meeting new authors, illustrators, bloggers, agents, editors or promoters from the children’s publishing industry and sharing their careers with my readers.

Today’s guest is young adult author, Mary Waibel. Welcome to Strands of Thought, Mary. Tell us a little about you, please.

I live in upstate New York with my husband and son. I'm the youngest of four children and the only girl.

I love reading, and am often found with my nose in a book (or tablet) when I'm not writing. I also enjoy gaming, watching hockey, and camping with my family and friends. I also like to hang-out on line and can be found at:

http://marywaibel.blogspot.com

https://www.facebook.com/authormarywaibel

@mewtweety14 (twitter)

Both of your books are on my to-read list. Can you tell us about them, please?

Quest of the Hart  by Mary Waibel

A reverse Sleeping Beauty tale where the princess goes on the quest to save the prince.

Princess Kaylee has never had to fight for anything. Her entire life has been arranged, even her marriage. But when Prince Devlin falls under an enchantment, she finds she is willing to do anything to save him, even if it means fighting a dragon.

Devlin's own sister, Princess Arabella, is behind the deadly plot. She wants the throne and will use any means necessary to gain it. Her perfect plan unravels, leaving Devlin caught in a magical sleep that is slowly spreading through the kingdom of Breniera. All Arabella needs to finish her spell and claim the crown is a drop of Kaylee's blood, but obtaining the single drop is proving more difficult than expected.

To save her betrothed, Kaylee embarks on a quest to find an ancient sword and gather a drop of dragon's blood, while trying to stay out of Arabella's traps. But Arabella's traps aren't the only danger. Time is everything. For once the last inhabitant of the kingdom falls asleep, the spell will be sealed, and not even true love's kiss will break it.

Charmed Memories by Mary Waibel

Duty or love? Which would you choose?

Prince Trevor has always placed duty to his kingdom above the desires of his own heart. But when his betrothed is lost at sea, he finds himself torn between honor and love.

After four years of searching for the missing princess, he begins to secretly long for Lady Bri, the Woodland Guide he works with each day. But the law says he must marry a princess, and Bri is barely a noble.

When Trevor learns that Bri shipwrecked at the same time and place as the princess, he begins to believe he has finally found his bride-to-be. But his happiness is short lived. Bri has no memory of her past, and the princess wasn't the only girl who disappeared from the ship.

Desperate to prove Bri is his princess, Trevor unwittingly places the two of them in grave danger. Buried in Bri's memories are deadly secrets someone wants kept from the light of day, and learning who she is may cost more than either is willing to pay.

I recommend my books to readers who like fairy tale retellings such as, The Claidi Journals by Tanith Lee, and the Graceling series by Kristin Cashore

Now, for the Threes. Share with us your top 3’s to help us know you a little better.

Top 3 books you recommend reading and why you recommend them.

OK, I'm a bit of a rule breaker, so instead of 3 books (how could I choose just 3?) I'll give 3 series.

            The Lux Series by Jennifer Armentrout. Hot aliens. Seriously, Ms. Armentrout is an amazing story teller. I love escaping to her worlds whenever I can.

            The Raine Benares by Lisa Shearin. Sexy goblins. I know. Right? Ms. Shearin gives an amazing twist on traditional elves and goblins. She has a medieval setting with modern language and magic. Very cool books! (meant more for adults than kids!! Definitely not for under 12- I'd say more for 15 and up)

            The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. Ms. Clare has an incredible talent for world building. Love her descriptions.

Top 3 tools of the trade you couldn’t live without.

1) My laptop. No explanation necessary, I hope!

2) Google. Yes- I use Google often. And search out odd things. Lots of medieval history things and old words. And names. And to get to thesaurus.com and dictionary.com (yeah, I need to look up words and variations of words, and meanings a lot). Oh, and Google translate is always fun when coming up with new magic terms. (love playing with that!)

3) Dropbox.com. This way I always have access to my work AND I don't have to worry about losing it. It's safely backed up in 'the cloud'.

(I use GoodSearch and raise money for my favorite cause while I’m researching crazy things for my writing. My current favorite cause is the Boise State University Symphonic Winds – my daughter plays the clarinet with this fabulous group. Anyway, I figure I’m doing the research anyway, I may as well show some support while I do it! Check it out.)

Finally, your top 3 super heroes and/or super villains – and why they are your favorites.

1)     Batman. He is my all-time favorite superhero. Why? Because he's an ordinary guy in a suit (OK, a rich guy, but still, just a guy.) He has super cool toys and he's a geek. What's not to like?

2)     Buffy. Yes, I know she's not a comic book hero, but still I think of her as a super hero. She's got super strength and extra healing, but deep down, she's still just a human fighting to protect all she loves, no matter that it always seems to cost her life.

3)     Malcolm Reynolds. Who? Did you just say who? Have you never seen Firefly?? (OK, I know I'm breaking the rules again, but I can't help it!) Malcolm Reynolds may not be a comic book hero, but, he is the glue that hold together the crew of the Firefly. Honestly, if you haven't seen this show, check it out. It's awesome!

Thanks for charming us on this week’s Three Times A Charm, Mary. Best of luck to you and your books.

THANKS!

GUESTS WELCOME!  I am always looking for guests for Three Times A Charm. If you are an author, illustrator or book reviewer, an agent or an editor. If you have something related to children’s publishing that you’d like people to know about, feel free to contact me about a future appearance.


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