“Once we have accepted the story, we cannot escape the story’s fate.” – P.L. Travers
Once upon a time, the blessing of the baby Princess Roderika turned out to be a rather comical and cursed affair, one in which four-year-old Prince Hamlin and seven-year-old Prince Edouard met and fell instantly in loath with each other. Hamlin was busy having a meltdown of epic proportions and Edouard was busy indulging the adults while having his sizeable ego stroked, but, of course, he still had plenty of energy left to scorn the event, as well as Hamlin’s ever so common behavior. To say that the two boys got off to a less than auspicious beginning is an understatement akin to saying that Princess Roderika may be inexplicably attracted to sharp, pointy objects. How right William Shakespeare was when he wrote, “The course of true love never did run smooth.”
Rose and Spindle is the enemies-to-lovers story of Hamlin and Edouard that runs as a romantic parallel to the somewhat more traditional story of Sleeping Beauty, and the curse placed upon Princess Roderika by the thirteenth wise woman. Hayden Thorne’s so very cleverly fractures the tale of the beautiful young girl who was blessed to commune with the flora and fauna, sing like a lark, and is the epitome of feminine perfection. Well, almost is almost as good. When the twelve wise women gifted the baby Roderika with all the talents of a fairy tale princess, you see, they forgot one very important detail—to ensure that Roderika was also blessed with the talent to accompany those gifts—which begs the question, which was truly the greater curse, especially when others are unfortunate enough to be forced to listen to the girl sing.
In the traditions of all the great fairy tales, Rose and Spindle is a story of love overcoming all obstacles, and a story of home; not the place but the person with whom you want to fall asleep and wake up for the rest of your days on earth. It is a story of free will versus fate, and a story of love working with and against an ever-dwindling confluence of time and opportunity.
This is a story of prejudices and preconceived notions. It is a cautionary tale that warns to look beneath the surface and to seek the truth that lies behind what you’ve been told to believe, or risk missing the kindred spirit that calls out to your own. It is a story of sacrifice but also a story of gain, in the knowing that when the time comes for the world to stop for those hundred years, the waking will be all the sweeter because it will be an awakening of both body and soul.
There are no fearsome dragons to slay in Rose and Spindle, but the beauty of this fairy tale is not in the seeing what is there but in the believing of what there could be, and in the imagining of all the possibilities that can exist in a world of magic and myth.
Hayden Thorne has constructed a castle with spires of wit and wonder, parapets of dreams and sighs, and turrets of hope and promise.
What more could anyone want from a fairy tale than that?
Be sure to check back on November 8, 2012, when Hayden Thorne will be here to offer the chance to win a copy of Rose and Spindle!
Available on 11/11/12 to purchase in all E-formats (In Print 11/30) from: 