BOUND–Inspiration (Let’s talk fairy tales…and a giveaway!) Back to Blog
Update: The winner of the Amazon.com gift card is…Khristine Stain. Congrats!
Fairy tales inspired all of the BOUND novellas that I wrote. What can I say? I am one serious fan of fairy tales. Though I’ll confess, sometimes, I wanted to twist things up a bit with those fairy tales, and that twisting? That’s how the BOUND stories came to be…
For BOUND BY BLOOD, well, you may have guessed that one. It’s a classic tale, and I’ll confess, my all-time favorite fairy tale…Beauty and the Beast. Our heroine is forced to stay with the hero in order to protect those that she cares about…only in my tale, Belle became a vamp and the beast? Well, who better to play a beast than a wolf shifter.
The inspiration for BOUND IN DARKNESS? Snow White. I know many girls root for the prince when they are younger and reading fairy tales. But I wasn’t exactly a prince kind of girl, so…for my take on Snow White, I wanted my heroine to fall for the man who was *supposed* to kill her. Remember the huntsman with orders to cut out fair Snow White’s heart? Well, in my take on the fairy tale, this guy becomes our anti-hero. And, of course, he’s a werewolf. 😉
Next up…
Another werewolf hero and vampire heroine…I do love that pairing! Opposites can make for a powerful attraction, and I so enjoyed pairing vampires and werewolves together in my BOUND books. For BOUND IN SIN, the fairy tale that inspired me was Cinderella. Only instead of Cinderella wanting to marry the prince and escape from her evil family, my heroine’s job was to save the hero. To keep him safe. To protect the guy from his evil family. Who says a Cinderella heroine can’t kick butt?
And, for the most recent BOUND release…
Am I the only one who ever wondered…was Sleeping Beauty asleep for so long because she was a vampire?! Because the Sleeping Beauty tale is one that has always intrigued me. BOUND BY THE NIGHT is my take on Sleeping Beauty, if, you know, Sleeping Beauty had been a vampire queen. Here’s the blurb for the story (can you see the inspiration that Sleeping Beauty gave in the blurb?):
For the last fifteen years, vampire queen Iona has been dead to the world. Trapped under the power of a brutal curse, she has been helpless. A prisoner, locked within her own still body. Then alpha werewolf Jamie O’Connell fights his way to her side. After defeating the guards that surround her, Jamie gives Iona his blood…and she rises.
The world has changed a great deal in the last fifteen years, and Iona has changed, too. Once known as the Blood Queen because of her dark reputation, she now finds herself longing for the blood of only one man…only he isn’t just a man. She wants the blood of her werewolf—Jamie’s blood. But Iona doesn’t realize that Jamie has been keeping secrets from her. Very dark, dangerous secrets. And Iona may have traded one curse for another.
Now that he has Iona, Jamie vows to never let her go. He needs his Blood Queen in order to defeat his enemy, he needs her to make his own beast stronger, and…he just needs her. Jamie has risked his life to claim Iona, and he won’t let anything break their bond. Not time. Not spells. Not even a wild and reckless vampire queen…
***
Inspiration. It can come from so many places…and I love that I was able to write these Bound stories based on fairy tales that have always made me smile.
Do you have a favorite fairy tale? Please share with me! I’ll pick one commenter to win a $15 Amazon.com gift card.
Can we claim The Last Unicorn as a fairy tale? That story has always stuck with me through childhood, always sticking close to the heart.
Okay, I am going to have to admit with shame…I haven’t heard of The Last Unicorn. Going to google now…
The princess and the frog! 😉
LOL, love that one!!
I like “East of the Sun and West of the Moon” 😀
How have I missed this one? It sounds familiar, but I am putting it on my google list, too!
Hey Cynthia! 😀
I love love love your Bound Series! I just bought Bound by the Night and I’ll start reading it tomorrow when I’m on the bus to college 😀
My favourite fairy tale of all time has to be Anastasia which is based on the lost Romanov Princess.
OH! And I can’t wait for Howl for it to come out 😀
Kind Regards,
Michelle Louise Pratley
Scotland
michellelouisepratley@yahoo.co.uk
Thank you, Michelle!! I hope you enjoy the story!
And I love the Anastasia story! A few years ago, we had a big Romanov display at our museum in town. We saw all of the jewels and clothing that they had recovered. Beautiful, but sad.
First of all, I luv your Bound series!!! One word….HOT!!!! 😉
My fav fairy tale would be Sleeping Beauty!!! “True love’s kiss”!!! 😉
Thank you, Tonya!!! And isn’t true love’s kiss just grand?!
Ah my favorites has always been the Little Mermaid… yeah, Ariel was awesome in all of her incarnations, from the original to the Disney version! Beauty and the Beast (of course)is also one that I loved reading to my children as well.
Love, LOVE the Little Mermaid!
I really like ‘Beauty and the Beast’. 🙂 It has a lesson in it that not everything/everyone is as they appear on the outside!
And I think that is such a great lesson!
Hansel and Gretel. I know it was always told to me as a ‘stranger danger’ story, but I still love it 🙂
😉 Total stranger danger–and beware of little old ladies who want to put you in the oven! That one is a fave tale of mine, too!
Guess Snow White would have to be a fav, prob for many reasons!
Yay for Snow White!
Hi Cynthia,
Thanks for everything :).
My favorite tale was always Puss-N-Boots. I haven’t read it in years. I think I’ll do that soon ;).
Thank you, Viki! 😉 And I’m like you…I used to love Puss-N-Boots, but I can’t remember the last time I read it. Maybe I’ll read it to my son this weekend!
Beauty and the Beast has always been my favorite traditional fairy tale. My others all stem from Russian folklore about Baba Yaga, firebirds and the magical ponies of the four winds.
Oh, you had me at firebirds. 😉
Sleeping Beauty is my favorite fairy tale. I reread Darkness & Sin over the weekend in anticipation of Night!!
You are awesome!! I hope you enjoy Bound by the Night!
My favorite fairy tale would be Cinderella because my name is Cindy and it was close to my name.
I can totally relate. I’m actually a Cindy, too (when I chose my pen name, I decided to go with the slightly longer version of Cynthia).
I love, love, love Little Red Riding Hood…even when I was a kid and would get very upset that the woodsman killed the wolf in the end…I always felt the wolf was just misunderstood 😉
I agree!! That poor wolf. He definitely needed a better ending!!!
I would have to say Cinderella. I always hoped that one day Prince Charming would find me. Now my daughter is also a fan of Cinderella. I took her to the re-release of it quite a few years ago. Our local theatre showed it for a christmas party. She also love Cinderella 2, very cute movie also.
Love Cynthia’s books, especially her Bound series. My two favorite paranormal beings in one book. Love vamps and wolves.
How have I missed Cinderella 2? Must find!!! And I’m so happy that you enjoy my stories–thank you!
I have always loved The Seven Swans. My second favorite would be The Snow Queen. I had beautifully illustrated versions of both stories as a child.
Oh, I am such a Snow Queen fan!
My fav fairytale is Sleeping Beauty, but I love them all in general… I even have a book of Irish Fairytales! Congrats on this latest release! 😀
Thank you for the congrats! 😉 And I am so jealous of your Irish fairytale book! Wish I had one!
Loved reading about your inspiration for the Bound series! When I was younger Goldilocks and the three bears was one of my favorite fairy tales together with Sleeping Beauty and Snow White. If you want to check out some truly beautiful illustrations of (mainly Swedish) fairy tales you should look up the artist John Bauer, his work was..amazing! An example: http://runeberg.org/jbauer/01.jpg
The book with Swedish Folk tales that he illustrated “Bland tomtar och troll” is a must have when you are a child in Sweden 🙂
Annika, thank you so much for the link! I will check out those illustrations right away.
I have read two of the Bound series and loved them.I need to catch up 🙂
My favorite fairy tale is Beauty and the Beast.
Another vote for Beauty and her Beast! Love that one!
Peter and the Wolf. I would sit and listen to the L.P. for hours…over and over on my little turn table (I have now dated myself severely!). The music was/is so haunting. And the narrator was always a man with a lovely, deep voice.
Not sure if Puff the Magic Dragon qualifies, but I listed and read along to that story/song as well. Never understood why it made my dad cry. I do now.
Oh, Stacey, don’t worry, we’re both dated–I used to listen to it over and over on my turn table, too!! And, please, let’s definitely count Puff!
All time favorite is by far Sleeping Beauty!!! So very excited with this Bound book being inspired by this fairy tale.
I love this book Cynthia, was up till midnight finishing it!! By far my favorite
So glad you enjoyed it, Michele! Thank you!!
My favorite fairy tale was always the Little Mermaid. The Grimm’s version was super creepy and I couldn’t help but read it repeatedly when I was a kid.
I must admit–with shame–that I have never read the Grimm version of The Little Mermaid. Guess what just went on my reading list?
I’ve always liked Beauty and the Beast. The Chinese fable of Mulan is pretty cool, too.
I think Mulan is cool, too!!
Beauty and the Beast is my favorite. I also like Sleeping Beauty.
Two great ones, Jane! You’ve got fabulous taste. 😉
I love Beauty and the Beast, I don’t know if it counts as a fairy tale, but, I love the Neverending Story. How can you not love a story about books that come to life.
Tamara, I adore that movie! When I was a kid, I’d watch it over and over and get all teary.
i like cinderalla the most, my first fairy tale read, i love the godmother and the mice who help whoo
comgrats on teh books whoo, such hot covers,
thanks for the givewawys
Thank you, Kim! Wouldn’t it be nice if we all had fairy godmothers?
Beauty and the Beast! Siiiigh. It’s so sweet, and romantic. Makes me want to watch it just typing about it! 😉
Though, I have to say, I am SO looking forward to watching Snow White with Kristen Stewart. It looks wicked!!
I am looking forward to that one, too!!! Oh, if she would just wind up with that huntsman, I would jump with glee. 😉 But I’m afraid she’ll still wind up with some princey guy.
Beauty and the Beast is my favorite(and it doesn’t hurt that Jerry Orbach voiced Lumiere either. I loved the actor and find it amazing that he was Lennie Briscoe of Law and Order fame). I find the Disney version of Sleeping Beauty too dark for my taste. Another favorite of mine is The Princess and the Frog. I like the atmosphere of that movie and the secondary characters-the little lightning bug is precious. I can’t wait to read your Bound series.
LindaC
Lennie is a man with so many talents. He’s the reason I watched Law & Order for so very long! (And thank you!)
OK I hate to put it because so many other commenters have already used it but the truth is, my fav is Beauty and The Beast. Wish I could come up with something more original. Also, I love your books Cynthia. I am a big fan.
Oh, Shonna, no, don’t hate to write it! Write it with pride! Beauty & the Beast is awesome! The more folks who list it, the happier we can all be! 😉
And thank you!
I love the inspirations. Now, as to my favorite – I have two, one better known one and the other maybe not so well known.
Snow White for the former and for the latter – a dragon story.
Don’t know as it has a formal name, but it is regional and specific to Krakow, Poland. The (highly paraphrased) story goes that way back when, there used to be a dragon in the environs of Wawel Castle in Krakow and had a cave by the Vistula River (the castle sits above a bend in the river) and it used to feed on the sheep of the farmers.
Well, one day, a clever shepherd boy killed a sheep, skinned it, filled the skin with pitch, and set it out for the dragon to eat.
The dragon ate the pitch-filled sheep and became very thirsty. Trying to quench his thirst, the dragon drank and drank from the Vistula River to the point were he burst from being overfilled with water.
End of dragon and the villagers lived happily ever after.
On a sidenote to the story – walking down to the river from the castle, there is a metal statute of a dragon by the river to symbolize the story. At certain times of day, it is set up to “blow” fire from its nostrils.
That dragon story was just awesome. Thank you so much for sharing it! I love dragons, and I’m always excited to hear new dragon stories or lore.
Beauty and the Beast is my favorite. I try to read everything I find with that theme
Love that theme!
Beauty and beast is my favorite but I Like all fairy tales.
Pam, I love getting lost in a great fairy tale.
Hmmm…favorite fairy tale would be either, The Snow Queen, Beauty and the Beast, or Sleeping Beauty. It’s so hard to choose. Close follow-ups are Rapunzel and Thumbelina.
So glad you mentioned Rapunzel! That is another I’ve always loved.