Mashing Up Fairy Tales With Mary Waibel

Hey, gang, welcome Mary Waibel, author of Quest Of The Hart. Quest is a YA fantasy with fairy-tale elements stirred in. It's the tale of Princess Kaylee and her epic quest to save the love of her life, Devlin. But instead of my blathering on about it, let's see how Mary describes her book:

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.

*Mary, the thing that struck me most about your book is you give equal time to the villain of the tale, Arabella, as you do your heroine, Kaylee. The chapters alternate between them. Just curious about your mind-set here. Do you believe Arabella's equally as important to the tale? Or do you just like writing about Pure Evil?

LOL! While I'd love to say I did it because I wanted to explore the dark side of things, the truth is, I needed (or wanted) another POV besides Kaylee's, and couldn't use Devlin as he was asleep for most of the book. The idea of Arabella came to me, and I loved it- gave me a chance to let you see a bit behind her actions.

*There are many elements of fairy tales in your novel. There's the heroine who can talk to animals. Evil and good witches. Magic spells. Princes awakened by kisses. Too many more to list. Was this intentional, part of a master plan? Or were they lucky coincidences?

I set out to make this a retelling, and included many of the traditional fairy tale elements. I even re-watched Sleeping Beauty to brush up my memory of what happened and in what order :-)

*I have to say my favorite character is Aureal. He's not the traditional stereotypical prototype for this type of character and I found his portrayal refreshing. If you want to keep his identity quiet for fear of spoilers, that's fine. But tell us what you can!

Ah, Aureal. Yes, he's quite unusual for a dragon. Again, I didn't want the tradition fire breathing image, but while he may not breath fire, he is still quite fearsome, especially after listening to Trevor's tales about the beasts.

*Do you have empathy for Arabella? I hate to admit it, but I did have a smidgeon. She has a point about the unfairness and sexist nature of her kingdom's laws! It's a feminist book!

I do have to say I have some empathy for her. Enough that I am working on a story of her own- a redemption tale, if you will. You'll have to stay tuned for more on that!

*Sounds good, can't wait to read it, Mary! Along these lines, obviously the female characters are the strongest in the book. The nominal "hero," Devlin, spends most of the time lying around in a coma or looking handsome. Tough essay question time...Explain to my (admittedly few) male followers why they should pick your book up. Pick your pencil up....NOW! You have five minutes...

It has hot chicks. In leather. :-) Seriously, though, if you enjoy quests, sword fights, magic, and a race against time, you should give Quest a try.

*What's next on Mary's keyboard?

Currently I am working on the first in a two book series. It's a paranormal romance with faeries and sorcerers/sorceresses. I'm working on another fantasy trilogy and a YA contemporary romance. (My muse doesn't like me to be idol!)

*Sequels to Quest Of The Hart?

Charmed Memories, a companion novel, released 8/9/13. It follow Kaylee's brother Trevor as he searches for his missing princess. And I just signed the contract for Different Kind of Knight, a third in the series, to released in Winter 2013/14.

Well, all well and awesome! To buy Mary's great fantasy
books, follow the links to her blog:

http://marywaibel.blogspot.com/p/books.html