Woodcutter's Grim Series, Volume I Anthology (four short stories in one volume) by Karen Wiesner

“ In Papa, Book 1, Ms. Wiesner's retelling of Hansel and Gretel with a twist will make you hunger for more of these reinvented fairy tales. My heart went out to Rand and Amy. After a loveless marriage he couldn't seem to escape, Rand finally divorces his wife, who is the mother of his children. With Amy, he's at last found someone to love who loves him back. When his ex-wife and their young son and daughter are killed, Rand and Amy try to heal, but it seems past sins and a wicked curse won't let them.

In Book 2, Blood of Amethyst, the horror continues with a loose retelling of the story Rumplestiltskin. Amethyst and her father's farm is too close to the woods where the evil in Woodcutter's Grim is said to lurk. But her relationship with Gabe, the sheriff in town and the Guardian of the Protectorate that is the only defense against the evil, reaches an ultimatum with her pregnancy and imminent birth of their first child. The horrifying choice she makes and the consequences of that decision set the tone for everything that follows this story in the series.

"In Dancing to the Grave, Book 3, the author continued to freak me out with a chilling, twisty-turny rendition of The Pied Piper of Hamelin. Amethyst's best friend Diane is the heroine in this story. After an extremely rough few years apart, Diane and her husband Kurt, a member of the Protectorate, are trying to put their marriage and lives back together. But, after what happened in the previous story, the evil that lives in Woodcutter's Grim is out for revenge. Even as I was rooting for this couple to come out victorious, a happily-ever-after seemed like the least likely scenario.

"The Amethyst Tower, the very last book in the Woodcutter's Grim Series, finishes out this collection, which contained an explanation from the author on the suggested reading order of the books in the series. Luckily, Wiesner *does* recommend reading The Amethyst Tower directly after reading Books 1-3--even before going on to Books 4-10. All those books were written in a way that assumes the reader has already read The Amethyst Tower, which is kind of a time-travel fantasy story loosely based on Rapunzel.

"The Amethyst Tower is a complicated, thrilling tale of good versus evil, hope and patience, and epic triumph only earned by never giving up, no matter how impossible the odds.

"The Final Chapter concludes an awesome series that I didn't want to stop reading. Highly recommended!!!!

Hotcha ”

Woodcutter's Grim Series, Volume I (Classic Tales of Horror Retold) is a compilation of the four short stories.

Including:

Papa {romantic horror}

A wickedly horrifying rendering of the classic children's story "Hansel and Gretel", in which modern revenge is served up sweet...

Less than a year after Randall Park left his family for elementary school teacher, Amy, the unthinkable happens--his ex-wife and two children are killed in a car accident. Ever since the accident, Amy has had terrible nightmares in which Rand's son and daughter return to exact revenge on their father and Amy herself (the wicked step-mother) for abandoning them. When Rand convinces her to come away with him for a healing respite to an isolated cabin in the woods, Amy's guilt-filled nightmares turn into pure horror.

Blood of Amethyst {romantic horror}

A blood-curdling answer as to why the childhood-nightmare creature Rumpelstiltskin so wanted a child of his own...

Amethyst Phillip's father--her only family--disappears in Woodcutter's Grim's evil woods. Town Sheriff and Guardian Gabe Reece sends out a search party and eventually they find the body, completely drained of blood. A devastated Amethyst refuses to do anything but carry on all by herself in the isolated area she grew up.

But something strange is happening, and Gabe realizes it every time he drops by to check on the woman who's held his heart for long years. She's grown pale, cold. She's sleeping all the time, waking only in the night, when her taste for blood overwhelms her. Then Gabe becomes aware that something in the woods is calling to her, something that's stealing her life...

Gabe will face his deadliest foe yet when the woman he loves falls prey to a nameless creature who wants her very soul.

Dancing to the Grave {romantic horror}

Loosely based on "The Pied Piper of Hamelin". The children of Woodcutter's Grim are changing...and only one person, music teacher Diane Anders, realizes the truth. Can she and her husband, Kurt Jones, a member of the ancient lineage of the Protectorate's Chosen Seven, save them and the future of their town?

The Amethyst Tower (The Final Chapter) {romantic time-travel horror}

Loosely based on "Rapunzel". The isolated maiden meets her knight in a time-traveler who's come into the future to rescue her from the Warlock Lord holding her captive in the amethyst tower. Where else but in the fairy-tale-horror town of Woodcutter's Grim?

Genre: Paranormal/Mild Horror/ Christian Romance (Halloween)

ISBN: 978-1-925191-25-7

ISBN PRINT D2D: 9798201407469

ASIN: B0107P4RLA

Word Count: 97, 525

* Purchase includes the PDF, EPUB and MOBI versions.