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The Secret Story
A Young Adult Fantasy Novella by A.J. Ponder
Companion Book to the The Sylvalla Chronicles Series
Subgenres & Tropes:
- Fairy Tale Retelling,
- Cinderella Retelling,
- Witches,
- Castle Intrigue,
- Heist
This book is for you if you're into...
- Secret recipes and magical cookbooks driving the action
- Cinderella retellings with witches, rats, and unlikely fairy godmothers
- Balls where everything depends on what stays hidden
A horde of rats
A coven of witches desperate to stay hidden
A ball to die for, and a ball that must remain secret at any cost
As a smithy's daughter, Amarinda can only dream of going to the ball. She loves the fine gowns and imagines the feisty Princess Sylvalla falling in love with the visiting prince. Amarinda's daydreaming must end when her father is injured and she discovers her family is in debt to Lady Dragonheart. With her father becoming more and more ill, she must take extraordinary measures to pay back the debt. But first, to save her father, she must infiltrate castle Avondale and steal a 'cookbook' with secret recipes, recipes Lady Dragonheart wants to get her hands on.
The harder she tries, the more Amarinda is drawn into a hidden world of witches and power—not to mention Lady Dragonheart's schemes to infiltrate the Avondale ball and seize the kingdom.
Will Amarinda's father survive the night? Will she get to dance with the prince? And who will be turned into a rat? Find out by reading this secret story of a not-quite Cinderella, whose closest thing to a Fairy godmother is, alas, old Granny Earwax.
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