Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Waiting on Wednesday: 5.27.09

In keeping with the theme of this week's Contest Monday, I thought it appropriate to share this book for today's WOW post.

The Diamond Secret by Suzanne Weyn

About the Book (from Amazon.com): "A Retelling of "Anastasia"

Nadya is a mischievous kitchen girl in a Russian tavern. Having nearly drowned in the Iset River during the turmoil of the Revolution, she has no memory of her past and longs for the life she cannot remember.

Then two young men arrive at the tavern and announce that Nadya's long-lost grandmother has sent them to find her. Yearning for family and friendship, she agrees to accompany them to Paris for the joyful reunion. Nadya eagerly embarks on her journey, never dreaming it will be one of laughter, love -- and betrayal."

As you may have noticed, The Diamond Secret is the latest installment of the Once Upon A Time Series. There seems to be a little bit of uproar about this book. First of all, you'll notice the cover is different than the usual Kinuko Craft covers. Apparently, she's no longer doing the cover art. :-( I love her covers. But, I feel almost like a traitor saying it, I do like this new one too. Though that dress is totally not period-appropriate. They are apparently redoing the covers for the entire series, but more about that in another post.

Secondly, some people are upset because this has been labelled A Retelling of "Anastasia". Which isn't a fairytale. Anastasia Romanov was a really person. So here's my take on the whole thing. Based on the description of the book, this very much sounds like a retelling of Fox's (no, it's not Disney, despite what everyone thinks) animated movie Anastasia. Which, technically, could be considered a fairytale. It is based on what could have happened to Anastasia, but really didn't. The entire movie (with a few very minor exceptions) is all made up. So does that make it a fairytale...well someone thinks so. Either way, I think it will be interesting to see what the book turns out to be.

The Diamond Secret by Suzanne Weyn will be released on June 2nd (just a few more days!) and can be pre-ordered right now from Amazon.com:

4 comments:

Amelia said...

Sounds like a great book!

Minding Spot said...

An award for you :)

http://mindingspot.blogspot.com/2009/05/literary-blogger-award.html

Mari - Escape In A Book said...

I hope they know that Anastasia was a real person. The mystery concerning the rumor that Anastasia and her brother escaped that fatal day in July 1918 has always fascinated me. Sadly it was confirmed this year that all the remains of the Tsar family had been accounted for.

Still I would like to read this fairytale, keeping in mind that's what it is.

Alyssa F said...

Ladybug- My thoughts exactly! You pretty much hit them right on the nose.

The disappearance has always fascinated me too. Another book that deals with that is The Fetch by Laura Whitcomb.