FRAGMENTS OF ASH by Katy Regnery - From New York Times bestselling author Katy Regnery comes a dark and twisted retelling of the beloved fairytale, Cinderella! ***Guest Post by Katy Regnery -- Giveaway***

Fragments of Ash 
Katy Regnery
(A Modern Fairytale #7)

Publication date: October 1st 2018
Genres: Adult, Fairy Tales, Contemporary Romance


From New York Times bestselling author Katy Regnery comes a dark and twisted retelling of the beloved fairytale, Cinderella!

My name is Ashley Ellis…

I was thirteen years old when my mother – retired supermodel, Tig – married Mosier Răumann, who was twice her age and the head of the Răumann crime family.

When I turned eighteen, my mother mysteriously died. Only then did I discover the dark plans my stepfather had in store for me all along; the debauched “work” he expected me to do.

With the help of my godfather, Gus, I have escaped from Mosier’s clutches, but his twin sons and henchmen have been tasked with hunting me down. And they will stop at nothing to return my virgin body to their father

…dead or alive.

** Contemporary Romance. Due to profanity and very strong sexual content, this book is not intended for readers under the age of 18.**

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Fragments of Ash is part of the ~a modern fairytale~ collection: contemporary, standalone romances inspired by beloved fairy tales.

The Vixen and the Vet (Beauty & the Beast) – available now
Never Let You Go (Hansel & Gretel) – available now
Ginger’s Heart (Little Red Riding Hood) – available now
Dark Sexy Knight (Camelot) – available now
Don’t Speak (The Little Mermaid) – available now
Sheer Heaven (Rapunzel) – available now
Fragments of Ash (Cinderella) – coming October 1, 2018
Swan Song (The Ugly Duckling) – coming soon

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Modernizing Fairy Tales: Retelling vs. Inspiration
by Katy Regnery

Something I have learned over the years: there is a very big difference between a fairy tale “retelling” and a story “inspired by” a fairy tale. To be honest, I didn’t actually acknowledge the difference until it was pointed out to me by my friend and an immensely talented author in her own right, Lauren Stewart (Darker Water), who also modernizes fairy tales in her series. I remember chatting with her once, and I was comparing The Vixen and the Vet (my “Beauty and the Beast” retelling) to Darker Water. I called them both “retellings.” Lauren corrected me immediately – “Mine isn’t a retelling,” she said. “Mine was inspired by a fairytale, but anyone looking for a strict retelling will be disappointed.”

It took me a beat to sort through the semantics of her words, but once I understood, it gave me a lot more flexibility when writing my own tales.

Take for instance, The Vixen and the Vet, which is a fairly faithful retelling of “Beauty and the Beast.” There is a hero (Asher Lee/The Beast) who has been injured, and is frightening at initial outward appearance. There is a heroine (Savannah Carmichael/ Belle) who is beautiful, but wants more from life than being ornamental. Asher’s housekeeper, Miss Potts (see what I did there?), was his grandmother’s best friend and is now his only companion in a lonely, but very grand, house at the edge of town. Asher and Savannah meet in the library of Asher’s mansion. They fall in love little by little, and soon it doesn’t matter to Belle—er, Savannah, that Asher’s face has been disfigured by an IED. All she sees is his heart. All she sees is the man. In my own way, I re-told the angry mob that forces them apart (a la Twitter!), but also brings them back together. And there is, of course, a happily ever after with a hero more beautiful than he was when the story began.

The Vixen and the Vet is a faithful, modern retelling of a beloved fairytale. But for my upcoming fairytale, Fragments of Ash, I took a different path. Because “Cinderella” isn’t one of my favorite stories, I needed to find a way to tell it that was palatable to me as an author.

I broke down the characters into individuals and really looked at their function within the story, then—maintaining that function only—I re-wrote them however they’d work best in an updated narrative. So, there’s a waifish girl (Ashley Ellis) who is all alone in the world. There’s an evil stepfather and two evil stepbrothers (Mosier, Anders and Damon) who are mean to her. There’s a fairy godfather (Gus-Gus and his partner, Jock) and a tarnished prince charming who saves her (Jesse Ducharmes, who has a redbone coonhound named, of course, Bruno.)

And I think that’s all I can tell you for now, or I’ll spoil the story! I hope you like Fragments of Ash, my Cinderella-inspired modern fairytale…but if you are more of a purist, don’t worry! There’s always The Vixen and the Vet out there waiting for you!

Author Bio

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Katy Regnery started her writing career by enrolling in a short story class in January 2012. One year later, she signed her first contract, and Katy’s first novel was published in September 2013.

Forty books later, Katy claims authorship of the multititled New York Times and USA Today bestselling Blueberry Lane Series, which follows the English, Winslow, Rousseau, Story, and Ambler families of Philadelphia; the six-book, bestselling ~a modern fairytale~ series; and several other stand-alone novels and novellas, including the critically-acclaimed, 2018 RITA© nominated, USA Today bestselling contemporary romance, Unloved, a love story.

Katy’s first modern fairytale romance, The Vixen and the Vet, was nominated for a RITA® in 2015 and won the 2015 Kindle Book Award for romance. Katy’s boxed set, The English Brothers Boxed Set, Books #1–4, hit the USA Today bestseller list in 2015, and her Christmas story, Marrying Mr. English, appeared on the list a week later. In May 2016, Katy’s Blueberry Lane collection, The Winslow Brothers Boxed Set, Books #1–4, became a New York Times e-book bestseller.

Katy’s books are available in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Turkish.

Katy lives in the relative wilds of northern Fairfield County, Connecticut, where her writing room looks out at the woods, and her husband, two young children, two dogs, and one Blue Tonkinese kitten create just enough cheerful chaos to remind her that the very best love stories begin at home.

Sign up for Katy’s newsletter today: www.katyregnery.com!

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