What a Novel Idea: Dancing and Doughnuts Blog Tour

Hello everyone!

I hope you enjoyed this last week. I sure did. It was a wonderful week-long birthday celebration that started with going to the state fair on my actual birthday. My sisters, and a best friend tagged along, and we ate all the good food I'm not supposed to eat, went to a concert by Francesca Battistelli, then went and ate more food I'm not supposed to eat. The next day Jarod took me shopping, and out for supper, and we had so much fun. Then Saturday we went to my grandma's house to watch the opening Husker football game. They got bombarded by lightning at the stadium so the game was cancelled, but I enjoyed taking another opportunity to bask in birthday bliss. I have a great family. I'm spoiled.

But enough of that. Today I'm joining in the blog tour for Rachel Kovaciny's book, Dancing and Doughnuts.

It is a retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses, set in post Civil War Kansas. I admit, I don't actually know the story of Twelve Dancing Princesses, but this was a fun little read anyway.

Here is what Goodreads has to say about it.

Twelve Dancing Princesses… reimagined.

Fifty dollars just for asking a few questions? Jedediah Jones figures it must be his lucky day. What dancing and doughnuts have to do with anything, he neither knows nor cares. He’s only interested in earning that money so he can finally eat something other than the apples he's been living off for days. Once his stomach and his pockets are filled again, he plans to move on.

But answering the advertisement plunges him into a forest of painted trees, twelve pretty sisters, trouble, and more trouble. And, yes, doughnuts.

So many doughnuts.

Can Jedediah Jones solve the mystery and earn that fifty dollars when the whole town has failed? Or will the twelve sisters lose their family's business no matter what he does?

Rachel did well with this story. That's a very large cast (twelve girls!) and a relatively small space to work with them all. Jedediah has a dry sense of humor that makes for a fun narrative, and it took me quite a while to solve the mystery.

I do have to take a minute to talk about those painted trees. That was probably my favorite part of the whole book. The dancehall in the story is painted inside like a gold and silver magical forest, and Rachel's descriptions were amazing. It really made me wish I could paint and transform my basement into something whimsical like that.

Don't forget to check out the rest of the tour! You can find the schedule on Rachel's blog, here. There are interviews, book spotlights, giveaways, and so much more.

Speaking of giveaways, here is the link.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/2b4f811754/

And what are you entering for?

These adorable prizes!