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“How to Dress as a Character in Eden’s Escape for Halloween” & Signed Giveaway With M. Tara Crowl

Please welcome today’s Featured Author M. Tara Crowl to Mother/Gamer/Writer. Tara is the author of the middle-grade adventure and fantasy series, Eden of the Lamp. Eden of the Lamp follows twelve-year-old Eden, a genie who’s on a mission to make friends and live a normal human life. However, life’s not completely normal when you have magic, must grant wishes, and mysteries lurk around every corner. Join for a fun guest post on, “How to Dress as a Character in Eden’s Escape for Halloween” and enter for your chance to win a signed copy of Eden’s Escape!

 

 

 

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“How to Dress as a Character in Eden’s Escape for Halloween” & Signed Giveaway With M. Tara CrowlEden's Escape by M. Tara Crowl
Series: Eden of the Lamp #2
Published by: Disney-Hyperion on September 6th 2016
Genres: Middle Grade, Fantasy & Magic
Pages: 320
View on: Goodreads
Grab it: Amazon
About the Book:

Eden's new life on earth begins in New York City under the guidance of her new guardian: Pepper, a petite, bubbly genie alum who's also a Broadway actress. Before she has a chance to settle in, though, Eden is whisked away for a granting--only to find herself trapped in a laboratory. David Brightly, owner of the world's leading tech company, cares more about tapping into the lamp's power than making a wish and starts performing tests on Eden. With Brightly's plasma shield around the lamp, Eden has no way home. Left without a choice, she escapes the lab and goes on the run. After her daring exit, Eden finds herself on the streets of Paris--home to Electra's headquarters. Left in a strange city with a price on her head (courtesy of scheming Brightly), Eden has to keep her wits about her. She dons a chic disguise and flits around Paris incognito, investigating Brightly Tech. Assisted by Pepper and her old adversary Bola, as well as some new friends, Eden embarks on a quest to retrieve the lamp and protect the secrets of the genie legacy.

 

 

 

 

 

“How to Dress as a Character in Eden’s Escape for Halloween” & Signed Giveaway With M. Tara CrowlEden's Wish by M. Tara Crowl
Series: Eden of the Lamp #1
Published by: Disney-Hyperion on September 1st 2015
Genres: Middle Grade, Fantasy & Magic
Pages: 272
View on: Goodreads
Grab it: Amazon
About the Book:

All twelve years of Eden's life have been spent in an antique oil lamp. She lives like a princess inside her tiny, luxurious home; but to Eden, the lamp is nothing but a prison. She hates being a genie. All she wants, more than anything, is freedom.

When Eden finds a gateway to Earth within the lamp, she takes her chance and enters the world she loves. And this time, she won't be sent back after three wishes.

Posing as the new kid at a California middle school, Eden revels in all of Earth's pleasures--but quickly learns that this world isn't as perfect as she always thought it was. Eden soon finds herself in the middle of a centuries-old conflict between powerful immortals. A ruthless organization run by a former genie will stop at nothing to acquire the lamp and its power--even hurt Tyler and Sasha, the new mortal friends who have given Eden a home. To save her friends and protect the lamp's magic, Eden must decide once and for all where she belongs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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How to Dress as a Character in Eden’s Escape for Halloween

Tara Crowl

 
 

 

Trick or treat! It’s almost Halloween!

For book lovers, it’s a no-brainer to use this holiday to dress as your favorite literary character. Since the big day is quickly approaching, I thought it would be fun to share a few ideas for how to dress as characters from my middle-grade series!

The Eden of the Lamp books are about a twelve-year-old genie named Eden who wants to live on Earth like a regular girl. In Eden’s Wish (Disney-Hyperion, 2015), Eden discovers a way to leave her lamp and surfaces on the beach in California. There, she makes friends with mortals and tries to pretend she’s one of them.

In Eden’s Escape (Disney-Hyperion, 2016), Eden changes history by becoming the very first genie to come to live on Earth while remaining an active genie. That means she can still be summoned anywhere in the world to grant wishes whenever the lamp is rubbed. With an immortal genie alum named Pepper as her guardian, she begins a new life in New York City. But just as Eden is getting comfortable, she’s whisked away for a granting that goes very wrong. She escapes, realizes she’s in Paris, and goes on the run.

Disguises and deception are a huge part of this book! Characters are constantly tricking one another, and there are lots of twists and turns! So without further ado, here are my Eden’s Escape costume ideas…

 

 

Eden: Eden has light blonde hair that she usually keeps in a braid. She’s spunky, adventurous, and constantly getting herself into sticky situations. Often, those situations determine what she’s wearing. In Eden’s Wish, she sneaks into her master’s study late one night, discovers the spout of the lamp, climbs out, and finds herself on a beach in California. Unfortunately, she’s still in the long white nightgown she wore to bed. When she meets her first friends, she struggles to explain why she’s wearing pajamas at the beach! A white nightgown would be a great, easy costume for Eden. And don’t forget her magic genie bracelet, a thick gold cuff with her name inscribed in cursive!

 

In Eden’s Escape, while she’s on the run in Paris, Eden befriends a young fashion blogger named Melodie. Melodie dresses Eden in a disguise: a Parisian school uniform, complete with sunglasses and a dark wig to hide her blonde hair. This is what she’s wearing on the cover of Eden’s Escape (minus the dark wig). This would be a great Eden costume too!

 

 

Melodie: Speaking of Melodie, she’d also be a fun character to dress up as! Melodie is a rebel with eclectic style. When Eden first meets her, she’s wearing suspend­ers, a men’s oxford shirt with the sleeves roughly cut off, and high-waisted jean shorts. Her thick, dark hair is cut into a messy bob, with long bangs swept to one side, and there’s a camera hanging on a strap around her neck. There’s also a slender silver hoop through one of her nostrils, which Eden thinks is strange since she looks like she’s around her own age. Later, she finds out that it’s fake!

 

 

Pepper: Pepper is Eden’s radiant, gleeful guardian. Over the course of her time on Earth, she’s had several careers as a Broadway actress. Her most memorable outfit is the white Grecian-style dress when they go to sing karaoke in New York City. Pepper sings a show tune from My Fair Lady and brings the house down! If I were dressing up as Pepper, I’d carry a fake microphone to evoke that scene. Unfortunately, that’s right when Eden is summoned by the wisher in Paris, so she disappears from the karaoke bar!

 

 

David Brightly: When Eden appears at the location she’s been summoned to, she meets David Brightly. She quickly learns that he’s no ordinary wisher; he didn’t find the lamp accidentally, and he won’t be satisfied with three wishes. It turns out that he’s a heartless tech mogul who has been long been scheming to get the lamp—and, if he has his way, all its power. When Brightly summons Eden, he’s wearing blue jeans, a faded red Stanford sweatshirt, and big eyeglasses with round lenses. When Eden escapes his lab, she accidentally burns his leg with a laser, so he limps and uses a cane through the rest of the book. So I’d definitely include a cane in the costume. And don’t forget to speak in his thick Southern drawl!

 

 

Sylvana: Sylvana is a charming, conniving genie alum. She’s the head of Electra, which is not only a high-end auction house based in Paris, but also an organization of immortal genie alumni who are determined to acquire the lamp for their own evil purposes. Sylvana is endlessly glamorous. She has long, honey-colored hair, is usually wearing sunglasses, and she wouldn’t be caught dead without heels. The first time Eden sees her in Eden’s Escape, she’s wearing a turquoise wrap dress and nude heels.

 

 

Bola: Bola is the leader of the Loyals, the faction of genie alumni who want to protect the lamp’s masters and its legacy. She is fierce! She has blood-red dreadlocks, and she wears a lot of black. She’s hard on Eden, so their relationship is complicated. At one point in Eden’s Escape, when Eden sees Bola wearing a black T-shirt, black jeans, and combat boots, she thinks that “Standing in the doorway with her hands on her hips, [Bola] looked like a shadowy superhero—or maybe a villain.” This outfit would be the perfect costume for Bola.

 

 

If you’re still scrambling for a costume, I hope you may have a few new ideas! Have a great Halloween! Whatever you wear and wherever you go, have fun and be safe!

 

 

 

 

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1 Signed Copy of Eden’s Escape (US/CA)

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About M. Tara Crowl

M. Tara Crowl

M. Tara Crowl grew up in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. She studied Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California, then received an MA in Creative Writing at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. She lives in New York City.