Books

Happy Book Lover's Day!

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I was going to make a post about Elena of Avalor today until I saw on her Facebook page that it is Book Lover's Day. I decided this would be a great opportunity to tell you about some of my favorite princess books, including some by yours truly.


By far, my biggest inspiration when it comes to writing is Gail Carson Levine. Every princess fan should know who she is, since she penned Ella Enchantedone of the most famous princess books of our time. Though it was that book that earned her a Newberry Award, I can't say it's my favorite of her works. That honor would have to go to Fairest, which was a spin-off of Ella, but very much its own story. If you are unfamiliar with her work (which would surprise me if you are reading this blog), Gail specializes in re-imagining classic fairy tales in new and unexpected ways. What if Cinderella had to do everything her stepmother told her to not because she was weak-willed, but because she was under an obedience curse? What if Snow Whi…

Review: The Sea Fairies by L. Frank Baum

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A few days ago, my friend Kae-Leah, who I mentioned in my "Mermaid Princesses" post, sent me a recommendation and link to readThe Sea Fairies by L. Frank Baum, author of the Oz books. I was hesitant at first because it didn't sound like a story about mermaids from the title, and older books can be unnecessarily wordy. To my surprise, it was entirely about mermaids, and it was just the right length. I couldn't help but wonder as I read it why no one has turned this book into a movie yet.

The Sea Fairies, written in 1911, explores the adventures of a little girl named Trot and her friend, Cap'n Bill, a sea captain entrusted by her mother to babysit her. The two main characters have a fantastic relationship that is rarely explored in the media. Cap'n Bill does not act like an authoritative figure to Trot. Instead, he listens to her and tells her everything she wants to know about the sea to the best of his knowledge. She trusts him without thinking he is omnisci…

Review: Rapunzel and the Lost Lagoon

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The wait for more Tangled episodes ends tomorrow. During the interim, Disney rewarded us for our patience with something unexpected. Rapunzel and the Lost Lagoon by Leila Howland bridges the gap between the Tangled movie and the Tangled: Before Ever After special from the television series. The book was a pleasure to read because it was written in a way that anyone could enjoy, as long as they are at least at a middle school reading level. It is written in first person and switches between the perspectives of Rapunzel and Cassandra. I read the ebook version and found it very informative and enjoyable. I highly recommend it if you want to know more of the backstory behind the series.


Rapunzel and the Last Logoon reveals all of the juicy details that were missing from the Tangled series about how Cassandra became Rapunzel's lady-in-waiting. Since half of the book is written from Cassandra's perspective, it answers a lot of questions we might have, such as why she seems to hate Eu…

Review: The Lost Kingdom of Bamarre

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It's no secret that I am a big fan of Gail Carson Levine 's work. I read all of her books when I was in high school and college. Just a few months ago, she published a prequel to The Two Princesses of Bamarre . I haven't read that book in many years, so my memory of it is vague, but there were some magical items in  The Lost Kingdom of Bamarre  that I recalled from The Two Princesses of Bamarre such as the boots that travel seven leagues in a single step and the table cloth that can create infinite food. Other than the enchanted relics, The Lost Kingdom of Bamarre  is a terrific stand-alone story that has little to do with The Two Princesses of Bamarre . It shares some similarities to the "Rapunzel" fairy tale in the same way that Fairest  does with  "Snow White" and Ella Enchanted  with  "Cinderella." Mostly, though, it is a metaphor for the treatment of the Jewish people during World War II. In The Lost Kingdom of Bamarre , Peregrine i

Review: Palace of Lies

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Most people are familiar with  Ella Enchanted ,   Gail Carson Levine 's feminist retelling of Cinderella , mostly due to the butchered movie version released by Disney/Miramax in 2004. But did you know that around the same time Ella Enchanted  became popular, Margaret Peterson Haddix  had released another feminist Cinderella adaptation that was every bit as exciting? Just Ella  is a thrilling adventure story about Ella trying to escape the castle after the ball to avoid being used as a pawn in a wicked scheme and being forced to marry a prince she didn't love. Years later, Margaret Peterson Haddix turned the series into a trilogy, adding two more books that told equally  exciting stories about princesses in the neighboring kingdom of Suala. Palace of Mirrors  is a fantastic book about a girl named Cecilia who had been raised to believe that she is the true princess of Suala and journeys to the capital to reclaim her throne from the decoy princess, Desmia, who believes that sh

Do Princesses Encourage Vanity?

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One of the most common criticisms that princesses get from adults is that they encourage little girls to be vain. It's a separate issue from body image because it's about their delicate features and not their shape. In fairy tales, there is always an emphasis on the princess character's striking beauty. She is fair-skinned and raven-haired with big eyes and glittering jewels. Take for instance the '90s board game "Pretty Pretty Princess," in which the goal is to have all of the jewelry in the game and win the jewel-studded crown in order to become the princess. As we all know, being a princess is not just about jewelry. Newer Disney Princess movies tend to place more emphasis on inner beauty than many of the older ones.


Fairest is a book by Gail Carson Levine about a girl named Aza who wishes more than anything to be beautiful. It is a twist on the classic "Snow White" tale, changing her defining trait from physical beauty to a beautiful singing voic…

One Hundred Princesses for My 100th Post

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Today is a major accomplishment for me. I started this blog 100 days ago, and I've managed to write a new post in it every day since then. Some of the topics were easier to come up with than others. I also had to go back and edit some after the fact due to poor proofreading. Speaking of which, I'm really sorry about the disastrous short story from my first Story Saturday post. The whole thing was written on my phone on the way to a Mermaid Art Show event in San Diego, so I was a little distracted. I promise to put more effort into future Story Saturdays, which should be easier now that I will no longer be writing new posts every day. Don't worry, though. I will still keep everyone informed of the latest princess news and review all the new princess movies and specials. Without further ado, in celebration of my 100th post, here is a list of 100 princesses with all of the posts I've made about them (in no particular order). Thank you so much for reading my blog. 1-11: T…

Review: The Princess Companion

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Recently, I received a surprise Hanukkah gift in the form of a new princess book. The Princess Companion by Melanie Cellier is a novel-length adaptation of the classic Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, "The Princess and the Pea" in the vein of Gail Carson Levine's restructured fairy tales, Margaret Peterson Haddix's Palace Chronicles, and Jessica Day George's Princesses of Westfalin trilogy. Similar to the aforementioned works, The Princess Companion is the first book in Melanie Cellier's The Four Kingdoms Series, which contains novel retellings of various well-known fairy tales in a world where every princess is connected through blood or significant events in her life. This is the first book I have read in the series, so I can't comment on the rest of it. However, it is surprising how many of these books were written within less than two years.


The Princess Companion is a unique take on a fairy tale that doesn't have many other adaptations, aside f…

Review: The Princess Fugitive

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I recently had the pleasure of reading The Princess Fugitive, the second book in the Four Kingdoms series by Melanie Cellier. You may recall that I reviewed the first book, The Princess Companion, last month. Since every book in this series is a retelling of a popular fairy tale, The Princess Fugitive was inspired by the story of "Little Red Riding Hood." However, it's quite clear from the book that there was no easy way to convert a fairy tale about a poor little girl visiting her granny into a novel about a cold and calculating princess. The book actually had very little to do with "Little Red Riding Hood" outside of a few superficial elements, including a prized red cape that the main character likes to wear often.


I was very impressed by how fast the pacing was in The Princess Fugitive compared to The Princess Companion as well as the heightened levels of suspense. Perhaps that was because it had a more interesting main character. Princess Ava was actually …

Review: The Princess Pact (and Novellas)

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After reviewing The Princess Fugitive last week and seeing how much notably better it was than The Princess Companion, I found myself hooked on Melanie Cellier's Four Kingdoms series. I have completed the next three books in the series, Happily Ever Afters: A Reimagining of Snow White and Rose Red, The Princess Pact: A Twist on Rumpelstiltskin, and A Midwinter's Wedding: A Retelling of The Frog Prince. Though The Princess Pact is the third full-length novel in the series, the two novellas act as the perfect bookends to link it to the second and fourth novels, respectively. I was pleased to find that the pacing and suspense in all three books were fairly consistent with The Princess Fugitive, and the links between the protagonists made each new story feel more welcoming than the last. The more I read the series, the more it feels like coming back to visit a beloved land instead of exploring a strange and unfamiliar one.


The Princess Pact tells the story of Marie, who was first i…

Review: The Princess Game

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I completed The Princess Game: A Reimagining of Sleeping Beauty in record time, solidifying my current obsession with Melanie Cellier's fairy tale princess books. This is the last book in her Four Kingdoms series, but not the last to take place in Melanie's extended princess universe. The Beyond the Four Kingdoms series is still in progress, which means there will be plenty of new literature to look forward to in this realm of fairy godmothers and suspense. However, this book still marks the end of one era and the beginning of another. So, how does The Princess Game hold up in comparison to The Princess Companion, The Princess Fugitive, and The Princess Pact?


There were a few notable differences that stood out to me right away. It's the first book in the series to be written in first person format, which probably should have been done earlier because the other books were clearly meant to be from the perspective of the princesses, even going so far as to occasionally switch…

Entwined Tales Launch Party on Facebook

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I had a very interesting evening, celebrating the release of the Entwined Tales series on Facebook with the six lovely authors of the books from the series. I've never seen a release party quite like this before, but then, I've never seen a book series quite like this either. Each author has her own independent set of fairy tale novels, which brought them together based on their similar story content. They combined their talents to create an original series about a bumbling fairy godfather who goes around granting unwanted gifts to princesses from six different fairy tales. Some of the fairy tales they picked are rather obscure, such as "The Goose Girl" and "East of the Sun, West of the Moon," (which was turned into a live-action movie called The Polar Bear King in 1991, but I wasn't a fan of it). Of course, the one I'm looking forward to the most is inspired by my favorite fairy tale, "The Little Mermaid." On March 5th, A Little Mermaid b…

Review: A Dance of Silver and Shadow

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Now that I've recovered from the chaotically delightful Entwined Tales Launch Party, it's time to get back to reviewing Melanie Cellier's booksA Dance of Silver and Shadow: A Retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses is the first book in the Beyond The Four Kingdoms series. It takes place a few years after the events of The Four Kingdoms and is told from the perspective of Lily, one of the twins that Alyssa took care of in The Princess Companion. It turns out that Lily and her sister Sophie secretly have a telepathic link with each other that they received from a fairy godmother at birth that allows them to talk to each other in their minds no matter how far apart they are. Though this sort of bond may seem intrusive to some, the two princess sisters love each other dearly, and their secret superpower only brings them closer together.


"The Twelve Dancing Princesses" was one of my favorite fairy tales when I was a child. I've seen several adaptations of it, …

Review: A Tale of Beauty and the Beast

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All good things must come to an end. Thus, I have completed the last book released so far in the Beyond the Four Kingdoms series by Melanie Cellier. There are more books coming out later in the year, so I will be reviewing those in time, but this will be the last one for a while. A Tale of Beauty and the Beast is directly linked to its prequel, A Dance of Silver and Shadow. It is told from the perspective of Sophie, Lily's twin sister, who was introduced in the first Four Kingdoms book, The Princess Companion. As a direct result of the events from A Dance of Silver and Shadow, Sophie is forced into an unwanted engagement with a "Beast" who was once called Prince Dominic and must live in his mysteriously isolated castle. The story draws inspiration from the original fairy tale, the Disney movie, and the mythology that Melanie has developed within her series.


In A Tale of Beauty and the Beast, Sophie still possesses the same ability to telepathically communicate with her t…

Review: A Little Mermaid by Aya Ling

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One week after the Entwined Tales Launch Party that I attended on Facebook, the book I was waiting for finally became available to read! A Little Mermaid by Aya Ling is the fifth book in the Entwined Tales series, but I cheated and read it first because I was less interested in the fairy tales that were adapted in the previous books. If you've been following this blog for a while, you know that I have a very strong affinity to the story of "The Little Mermaid."A Little Mermaid is a very unique take on it. It has the same basic premise of the youngest mermaid princess giving up her voice for legs so that she can get closer to a human prince she rescued from drowning, but this time, Princess Clio is not in love with the prince she rescued. In fact, she deems him rather foolish for managing to fall off his own ship during his birthday celebration. Clio does, however, have a huge crush on a merman with a similar name to the human prince. Due to a misunderstanding, the incomp…

Review: Cinderella and the Colonel

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Cinderella and the Colonel by K. M. Shea was one of the freebies given away at the Entwined Tales Launch Party on Facebook. K. M. Shea is an independent author who writes fairy tale adaptations. Her contribution to the Entwined Tales series was A Goose Girl, which is based on a fairly obscure fairy tale, but I skipped ahead in that series and only read A Little Mermaid by Aya Ling. I was a bit skeptical about Cinderella and the Colonel because it seemed like such an odd name for a book but figured I might as well give it a shot since it was free, after all. The book turned out to be just as odd as its title. For the first three-quarters of the story, it bore virtually no resemblance to the famous fairy tale. Unlike in other adaptations, "Cinderella" seemed to be the main character's given name, as opposed to "Ella." There were no references to her working by the cinders or being abused by her stepfamily. In fact, she refused to be pushed around by anyone.


The m…

Review: The Little Selkie

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Mermaids are huge right now. Yesterday, I wrote a short story about a siren. Today, I'm going to a Mermaid Museum to promote Freeform's upcoming Siren series. K.M. Shea, the author of Cinderella and the Colonel from the Timeless Tales series and A Goose Girl from the Entwined Tales series, decided to take the story of "The Little Mermaid" in a new direction with her fifth Timeless Tales novel The Little Selkie. Unlike the Entwined Tales version of the story, A Little Mermaid by Aya Ling, The Little Selkie reimagines the little mermaid and her family as selkies, beings from Celtic mythology who have the ability to transform into seals by putting on seal pelts and taking them off to become human. This obscure mythology was featured in the 2014 animated movie, Song of the Sea.


Dylan is not like other selkies. Instead of a seal skin, she was born with the pelt of a sea lion. In Dylan's world, sea lions are less respected among selkies, but she compensates for it by b…

Review: Beauty and the Beast by K.M. Shea

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After completing her mediocre "Cinderella" novel that focused mostly on taxes, I was only going to review The Little Selkie and Swan Lake from K.M. Shea's Timeless Tales series, but then she released Beauty and the Beast for free. I just can't say no to a free princess book, so I read it, suffering through every cold and tedious page. Beauty and the Beast is the first book in the Timeless Tales series, and the lack of experience shows. The book commits many amateur writing decisions and pushes its audience further and further away from the characters as a result. It's probably the worst adaptation I've read of "Beauty and the Beast" in my short life.


K.M. Shea's Beauty and the Beast focuses on a girl named Elle as the "Beauty" character with a well-mannered "Beast" named Prince Severin. As a result of somehow falling through the roof of Severin's castle and breaking her leg, Elle must stay with him as his guest while his …

Review: Swan Lake by K.M. Shea

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After reviewing Cinderella and the Colonel, Beauty and the Beast, and The Little Selkie from K. M. Shea's Timeless Fairy Tales series, I wasn't sure what to expect from Swan Lake. On the one hand, I did not enjoy two of the three books by her that I had read, but on the other hand, the story of "Swan Lake" is unique because it is performed in dance more often than it is told in prose. My instinct to give this book a chance in spite of Shea's shortcomings as a writer turned out to be spot on. Swan Lake was a real page-turner that stayed true to many elements of the ballet while adding in some modern twists. It is the seventh book in the series, and it is the best one that I have read so far.

Like K. M. Shea's other fairy tale adaptations, Swan Lake features a clever and calculating version of Odette who leads and protects the other cursed swans of the lake. For this reason, she is given the nickname "Swan Queen" like in the ballet, though her shortc…

Review: The Autumn Fairy

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I took a break from the many fairy tale adaptations I've been reviewing lately to read The Autumn Fairy by Brittany Fichter. Brittany has a fairy tale adaptation collection of her own called The Classical Kingdoms Collection, but it's also refreshing to see an original story for a change. I first learned about Brittany's work at the Entwined Tales Launch Party on Facebook. She contributed An Unnatural Beanstalk to the Entwined Tales series, which is a retelling of "Jack and the Beanstalk." So far, the only book I've read from the series is A Little Mermaid by Aya Ling. I was excited to learn that Brittany is working on a trilogy about a fairy since adult books about fairies or faery princesses are something of a rarity these days.


The Autumn Fairy starts out a little rough due to the lack of a proper introduction to the setting. However, Katy is such an empathetic character that it's hard not to become hooked despite knowing so little about her at first. W…

Review: Silent Mermaid

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When I first wrote Of Land and Sea: The Untold Story of The Little Mermaid in 2009, I never would have expected to be reading so many new adaptations of "The Little Mermaid" years later. As much as I enjoyed The Little Selkie by K.M. Shea and A Little Mermaid by Aya Ling, I must eventually come to terms with the fact that my vision won't always coalesce with every other author's vision of my favorite fairy tale. Sadly, this turned out to be the case for Silent Mermaid by Brittany Fichter. It was significantly longer than the other adaptations I've read, but that was to be expected considering how long The Autumn Fairy, the other book I read by her, was. However, I regret to admit that I enjoyed The Autumn Fairy significantly more than this convoluted retelling of "The Little Mermaid."

Silent Mermaid puts its own spin on "The Little Mermaid" tale by telling the story of a mermaid who was born without a voice as opposed to one who gave it away o…

Review: Ellie and the Prince/Faraway Castle

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The authors I started following from the Entwined Tales Launch Party led me to the discovery of a brand new fairy tale book series, Faraway Castle by J. M. Stengl. As it turns out, her writing style is a perfect match for me. Her books are fast-paced and take place in a magical yet modern setting with a light-hearted tone and lovable characters. The series kicks off with two introductory novellas that can each be completed in about an hour. Cinder Ellie sets up Ellie's backstory for the first novel, Ellie and the Prince, and The Little Siren, which is available for free upon signing up for the author's mailing list, introduces a romance between a mermaid and a human that will take place in the second official novel in the series, The Siren and the Scholar. There is so much to love about this series that I'm not even sure where to begin.


Ellie and the Prince, the first official novel in the Faraway Castle series, tells the story of Ellie Calmer, who was selected to help keep…

Review: The Green-Eyed Prince

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About a week ago, Brittany Fichter temporarily released her novella, The Green-Eyed Prince, for free on Amazon Kindle. Not wanting to pass up a good deal, I decided to check it out. You might recognize her name from my reviews of The Autumn Fairy and Silent Mermaid. At this point, I would still say that The Autumn Fairy is my favorite Brittany Fichter book. The Green-Eyed Prince is a retelling of "The Frog Prince" set in the world of her Classical Kingdoms Collection. Since it's a novella, it was much shorter than the other books she's written, but the exotic names and made-up words she used to create a new culture took some getting used to. Overall, I found it enjoyable, but not outstanding.


The Green-Eyed Prince is told from the perspective of a woman named Kartek. Kartek is the "jahira" of her tribe, which I understood to be her culture's version of a princess. She has the ability to heal the sick using a magical jewel that she inherited from her moth…

Review: The Siren and the Scholar

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I was so thrilled when the sequel to The Little Siren came out that I couldn't wait to read it. So far, I have thoroughly enjoyed the Faraway Castle series by J.M. Stengl. The Siren and the Scholar takes place six years after the events of The Little Siren. It is inspired by "The Little Mermaid," and it's my favorite adaptation of the classic Hans Christian Andersen tale that I've read of it so far. The book catches up with Kamoana and Tor, the titular siren and scholar that were introduced in The Little Siren. Just like the mermaid from the fairy tale, Kamoana becomes human to find Tor again. However, instead of giving up her voice, she gives up her memories of him, so she must find him without even know who she's looking for. His memories of her are wiped as well, causing a lot of frustration on his behalf as an intellectual.


I loved the romance and emotion that went into this story. Kamoana and Tor had forgotten their time together but felt empty as a resu…

Review: Unfinished Fairy Tales

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When Aya Ling, the author of A Little Mermaid from the Entwined Tales series, placed her novel The Ugly Stepsister on sale, I was hoping not to get too carried away. After all, the book looks like it could easily be a watered down Gregory Maguire wannabe. However, as soon as I began to read the first paragraph, I was instantly hooked on this wish-fulfillment fantasy. Instead of another fairy tale retelling from an alternate perspective, the Unfinished Fairy Tales series is more like a live-action princess movie, in which an ordinary girl travels to another world and transforms into a princess. Even though the series is called Unfinished Fairy Tales, the books do not tell different stories like the Four Kingdoms or Timeless Fairy Tales series. Instead, all of the books are direct sequels about the same character and the same fully fleshed out "Cinderella" world, meaning that if you got hooked on the story from the beginning like me, you will be frantically jumping from one bo…

Review: The Princess Search

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The Princess Search by Melanie Cellier is the unplanned fifth novel in the Four Kingdoms series. It came out last week, and I couldn't wait to read it. It is supposed to be a retelling of "The Ugly Duckling," but it was no more the story of "The Ugly Duckling" than The Princess Fugitive was "Little Red Riding Hood," but the lack of predictability only made the story more enjoyable. The setting felt both familiar and new at the same time because most of the other books in The Four Kingdoms had a side character who was a prince or princess of Lanover, but since the main character in this book was not royalty, she had travelled to parts of the kingdom that the readers have never seen before. It was particularly nice to see the rambunctious youngest princess Celine again, who played a large role in both The Princess Game and A Dance of Silver and Shadow. Since all of her sisters had married off, she was eager to find wives for her two brothers so she coul…

Review: The Firethorn Crown

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The Firethorn Crown by Lea Doué is the third adaptation of I've read of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" with the first being Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George and the second A Dance of Silver and Shadow by Melanie Cellier. All three books turn the mysterious underground world of glittering trees from the fairy tale into a nightmarish trap that they must find a way to escape. When I first read "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" as a little girl, I loved that the twelve sisters had a magical land they could escape to and find happiness that they didn't have in the real world. To me, that was the heart of the story, not trying to be free from a curse. That said, I didn't exactly dislike any of the adaptations I've read since it's always nice to see new takes on old stories.


The Firethorn Crown tells the story of Princess Lily, who is aggressively pursued by unwanted suitors. As far as princess heroines go, Lily is pretty cookie cutter…

Story Saturday: Book Relaunch!

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Instead of bringing you a new short story this Saturday, I am celebrating over 500 likes on my Facebook page with a relaunch of all the novels I wrote! The covers have been completely redesigned using stock images and Photoshop. I have also lowered the prices for all the Kindle versions. This weekend only, I have a special promotion happening in which the first book I ever wrote, Elf Princess Roweena, and my poetry anthology, Castle>, are completely free! You can find the complete list on my Amazon page.


I was inspired to do this relaunch by fellow author Lyssa Chiavari of Snow Wings Publishing who created the new cover for Elf Princess Roweena. She referred me to some resources about indie publishing, and I realized how much self-publishing has changed since I wrote my last book, Blood Red, back in 2013. It's a lot easier to market yourself as a writer now thanks to Kindle Direct Publishing and other online marketing resources. Since I will be working on my screenwriting again at

Review: Crown of Ice

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My friend who helped me with my book relaunch yesterday also referred me to some wonderful princess stories that Snowy Wings Publishing distributes. The first one I chose to read was Crown of Ice by Vicki Weavil because I was burnt out on Disney's Frozen and eager to read a more faithful adaptation of "The Snow Queen."Crown of Ice delivered exactly what I was hoping for. It gave me a new twist on a classic tale while still remaining true to the essence of the story. The characters were rich and full of life, and the book had lots of suspense on every page.


Crown of Ice is the first book in a trilogy called The Mirror of Immortality. From what I've read so far, the trilogy is off to a very strong start. This book is told from the perspective of Thyra Winther, more commonly known as the Snow Queen. Instead of making her another trite misunderstood heroine, Thyra begins as an antihero who is fully aware that her intentions are not pure. She lies and manipulates shameless…

Review: Magic at Midnight

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Fellow author Lyssa Chiavari, who helped me with my book relaunch, recently released a YA fairy tale anthology called Magic at Midnight containing various fairy tale adaptations by her and other authors from Snowy Wings Publishing. Generally, anthologies tend to be a mixed bag. I know some other authors that I follow have contributed to fairy tale anthologies, but I mostly avoid them because I worry I might not like all of the stories if I'm not familiar with most of the contributors. Despite having a multitude of authors, Magic at Midnight was fairly consistent in tone, but I was surprised to learn that the tone was very different from the fantasy image portrayed on the cover of a young woman in a ballgown running into the sunset. Instead, nearly all of the stories contained elements of sci-fi or horror, which is not usually my cup of tea, although I do enjoy my fair share of sci-fi if I'm in the right mood. I am of the personal opinion that princesses do not mix well with va…

Review: A Goose Girl by K.M. Shea

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It's been a while since I attended the Entwined Tales Launch Party on Facebook, yet the only book I had read from it until now was A Little Mermaid by Aya Ling. Instead, I spent the past few months catching up on the authors' other works. This week, I finally read the first book from the Entwined Tales series, which, if you're not familiar with it, is a series of six fairy tale adaptations written by six different authors about characters who must deal with the trials and tribulations of an oafish fairy godfather named Mortimer. The first book in the series is A Goose Girl by K.M. Shea, based on the Grimm Brothers fairy tale "The Goose Girl." I've become familiar with K.M. Shea's writing style as of late, and while I enjoyed some of her books more than others, I must say that this was a very fun read. I became reacquainted with the "Goose Girl" fairy tale recently after reading a version of it in Magic at Midnight last week, so I was eager to se…

Why Kilala Princess Should Be an Anime

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Amid all the recent Kingdom Hearts hype in anticipation of the new game, I learned that there was once a Kingdom Hearts anime series in development that never made it to production. This has been the case for many princess ideas that never quite made it out the door, such as the "Princess Academy" short and the unreleased episodes of Disney Princess Enchanted Tales. The series would have been inspired by the Kingdom Hearts manga that was released in 2009, which got me thinking about another Disney Princess manga that could have made a terrific anime. Kilala Princess came out in 2005 and told the story of a girl whose wish to be a Disney Princess came true. She found a magical tiara that was guarded by a prince named Rei who was searching for the true princess to save his kingdom. The tiara allowed her to travel to the worlds of Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Belle, and Jasmine, collecting jewels for its seven spikes so that it would regain its full power.


Kilala Prin…

Review: A Beauty Among Beasts

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I was recently offered an opportunity to read A Beauty Among Beasts by Melanie Gabrell. I went in with no expectations except that it would be an adaptation of "Beauty and the Beast."A Beauty Among Beasts mixes several genres that would work fine on their own, but not necessarily together. It takes place in Nazi Germany and tells the story of Anna Klein, the sensible daughter of a book merchant. Anna has several siblings like Beauty from the original fairy and is the most humble of all of them, requesting a rose as a gift from her father's travels instead of jewels or gowns like her sisters. Unfortunately, that's where most of the fairy tale similarities end.


As a Jewish woman, it made me a little uncomfortable to read a fairy tale set during the Holocaust. Sure, I've read The Diary of Anne Franklike most other Jewish girls my age, but that was about a real person, and I don't much enjoy my reality clashing with my fantasy. Of course, that doesn't apply t…

Review: An Inconvenient Princess

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It took a few months, but I finally got around to reading Melanie Cellier's contribution to the Entwined Tales series. It was from Melanie Cellier's Facebook page that I first learned about Entwined Tales, a series of six fairy tale adaptations by different authors about a family who was "blessed" with the magic of the worst fairy godfather ever, Mortimer. I had read all of Melanie'sotherbooks as well as the first book in Entwined Tales,&#160A Goose Girl by K.M. Shea, and A Little Mermaid by Aya Ling, the fifth in the series. An Inconvenient Princess by Melanie Cellier is the sixth and final book, so I've now read half the books while skipping over the middle three. The novels work just fine as stand-alone stories, so I didn't particularly feel like I was missing out on anything from the ones I haven't read. An Inconvenient Princess is an adaptation of "Rapunzel," but in this version, the long-haired heroine is more of a comedic sidekick than a main …

Review: An Unnatural Beanstalk

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I finally finished reading the rest of the Entwined Tales series, starting with An Unnatural Beanstalk by Brittany Fichter in anticipation of the sequel to her Autumn Fairy book, The Autumn Fairy of Ages, coming out on Tuesday. I hope to have the rest of my reviews for Entwined Tales up by the end of next week. An Unnatural Beanstalk didn't have the same light-hearted comedic tone as the others in the series, but that wasn't too surprising considering that both of the other books I read by Brittany were pretty dark. It followed the same structure about one of the woodcutter's daughters receiving an unwanted magical gift from her fairy godfather Mortimer and turning her entire life upside-down as a result.

An Unnatural Beanstalk is an adaptation of "Jack and the Beanstalk," but without the fantastical elements from the fairy tale. There are no man-eating giants, no golden eggs, and no beanstalks that tower into the sky. It's quite a shame because those are the…

Review: A Bear's Bride

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Of all the samples I read from the six authors who attended the Entwined Tales Launch Party, I liked the works of Shari Tapscott the least. Therefore, it did not come as much of a surprise that A Bear's Bride was my least favorite book in the Entwined Tales series. "East of the Sun and West of the Moon", the story it was based on, is an obscure and somewhat odd Norwegian fairy tale about a girl who gets engaged to a polar bear who turns human at night, but she is never allowed to see him in human form. It has rather loose morals compared to the fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm in which characters usually get rewarded for doing good deeds and punished for doing bad. The heroine clearly defies the wishes of her betrothed but still defeats the witch who cursed him and gets her happy ending. The fairy tale was turned into a live-action movie in 1991 called The Polar Bear King, and it is one of the worst movies I have ever seen in my life. Everything from the acting to the s…

I Reread The Princess Diaries After Watching the Movie Again

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I have kind of a strange relationship with The Princess Diaries. I saw the Disney movie when it came out in 2001 and more or less forgot about it for at least five years until I had several hours to kill at Barnes & Nobles one day and read the a handful of the books by Meg Cabot. So, unlike many fans of the series, I didn't get into the books as a result of the movie or vice versa. I simply happened upon them at different times because I was bored and looking for entertainment. Don't get me wrong; I have nothing against The Princess Diaries. It just isn't one of my favorite live-action princess movies. It wasn't until at least another five years after I read the books that I saw the movie again, so there had been too much time between viewings for me to properly compare the two mediums even though I knew Disney had changed a lot of the source material. I decided to remedy that yesterday and by rereading the first book shortly after another viewing of the film on Ne…

Review: A Beautiful Curse

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A Beautiful Curse was the last book I read in the Entwined Tales series, and it might just be my favorite. The sample I read from author Kenley Davidson at the launch party was a novella called The Countess and the Frog. I liked the progressive characters as well as the humor, but it was lacking in magic and whimsy. A Beautiful Curse contained all of that and more, which made Davidson's writing truly shine. It was based on the fairy tale "The Frog Bride" by the Brothers Grimm, which, though similar, is not exactly a reverse telling of "The Frog King." Instead of teaching a message about responsibility, "The Frog Bride" is about embracing your differences. It tells the story of three princes who must pass a series of tests to inherit the throne from their father. The youngest prince, who is considered the good-for-nothing runt of the family, passes the tests by taking advice from a talking frog he meets in the woods that turns out to be a beautiful pri…

Review: The Autumn Fairy of Ages

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The Autumn Fairy of Ages is the sequel to The Autumn Fairy by Brittany Fichter. It's pretty similar to the first book aside from a new setting. Where The Autumn Fairy took place in the human world where Katy was raised and fell in love with her childhood friend, Peter, The Autumn Fairy of Ages takes place in the enchanted world of the fae where Katy hopes to find her new home. I appreciated that the book contained a brief in-universe explanation of why the spelling of the word "faeries" was changed to "fairies" in most contemporary prose even though it was derived from the word "fae" because "humans have trouble pronouncing it."  For the most part, I would say that anyone who enjoyed the first book will probably enjoy this one as well. It introduced a lot of new characters, but not a whole lot has changed for the ones we know. Katy and Peter are still fighting against societal norms to prove their love for each other, and Katy still feels lik…

Review: Princess Academy

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Princess Academy by Shannon Hale is the first Newbery Award-winning princess book I've read since Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine. To me, it felt like the book was trying a little too hard to become a modern classic, even though it obviously succeeded. It's not quite what you would expect from a princess book, as it is not a fairy tale adaptation and doesn't contain any familiar characters. For the first few chapters, it seems to take place in a completely non-magical world. I didn't enjoy the beginning of the book very much, but it grew on me as I went along. Though it is not one of my favorite princess books, I can understand how it won so many awards. If I had to compare it to something I've read in the past, it's most similar to Matilda by Roald Dahl.


Princess Academy tells the story of Miri, a simple mountain girl whose village gets selected by the king's priests for the prince to find his future bride. Per Danlandian tradition, all girls in the mo…

Review: Queen of Athelia

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Only a few short months after I had finished her addictive Unfinished Fairy Tales series, Aya Ling released a surprise bonus novella called Queen of Athelia to bring Kat's story to a full close. Even though the book is listed as the fourth in the series, it is actually the fifth, as there was another novella that took place in between the first two books called Princess of Athelia. Like that one, Queen of Athelia takes place entirely in the kingdom of Athelia with no references to goblins or trips back to the modern world that Kat grew up in. As a result, the story is surprisingly realistic, focusing on her responsibilities as a mother and heir to the throne with her husband, Prince Edward. It felt less like a fairy tale than the others did, but Aya Ling included a tongue-in-cheek joke about that in the narrative in which Kat points out that fairy tales always end with the wedding because no one wants to hear about all of the messy non-magical things that happen afterward.


The pre…

Review: A Crown of Snow and Ice

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A Crown of Snow and Ice is the third book in Melanie Cellier's Beyond the Four Kingdoms series. It tells the story of Princess Celine, a character who has been present in many of her previous books. Celine is the little sister of Celeste from The Princess Game, Clarisse from The Princess Fugitive, Cordelia from A Midwinter's Wedding, Frederick from The Princess Search, and the best friend of Sophie and Lily from The Princess Companion, A Dance of Silver and Shadow, and A Tale of Beauty and the Beast. After reading about her so much in the past, I already felt like I knew her pretty well, but this book still had some surprises to offer. Like Melanie's previous books, it takes many liberties with "The Snow Queen," the fairy tale it's based on, and places more focus on Celine's relationship with Prince Oliver than the on the chillingly dangerous Snow Queen herself. As such, it is a very different retelling of the story than Crown of Ice by Vicki Weavil or Di…

Review: The Last Dragon Princess

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I was recently offered an opportunity to read an advance copy of The Last Dragon Princess by Cynthia Payne. It's a good time to read about dragon royalty considering that Netflix is releasing their original animated series The Dragon Prince later this week. The Last Dragon Princess currently has a release date of October 2nd. I think it will have a lot of appeal to people who enjoy dragon lore. It's not exactly written in the format of a fairy tale, but it instead incorporates Greek mythology and a lot of fantasy style world building. I think it would be most enjoyed most by people who liked stories such as The Handmaid's Tale and Game of Thrones. Though not nearly as explicit, the book incorporates similar themes of conquering kingdoms and using women as a tool to continue important lineages.


The Last Dragon Princess takes place in a world of people known as "hisgeii." Those among them who are "shifters" have the ability to transform into dragons at wil…

Review: The Rose and the Briar

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After falling madly in love with J. M. Stengl's Faraway Castle series, I signed up for her Advance Reader List and had the pleasure of previewing her upcoming novel, The Rose and the Briar. This "Sleeping Beauty" adaptation is the third book from Faraway Castle with a few subtle nods to Ellie and the Prince, the first book in the series. It tells the story of Rosa, a young lady with the ability to control plants who is burdened with the task of caring for Zafira, a sleeping princess with dangerous latent powers. Zafira reminded me of the title character from the 2016 horror movie The Curse of Sleeping Beauty, which also featured a powerful Sleeping Beauty character that turned out to be best left asleep! However, this book had a much better protagonist and a far more interesting story. Rosa's unique abilities were a pleasure to explore. They were reminiscent of Poison Ivy from Batman. The love story in the book was also clever and sweet.


There are two versions of the…

Review: Ogre Enchanted

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Long before the bumbling fairy godfather Mortimer bestowed troublesome magical gifts on his changes in the Entwined Tales seriesGail Carson Levine graced us with the incompetent fairy godmother Lucinda in her captivating "Cinderella" adaptation, Ella Enchanted. Today, she is writing as much as ever. Last week, she released a companion novel to Ella Enchanted called Ogre Enchanted, which explores some of Lucinda's previous magical follies. The story is a very loose reverse adaptation of "Beauty and the Beast" about a healer named Mistress Evora who doesn't believe in getting married too young. When the troublesome fairy Lucinda overhears her turn down her friend Wormy's marriage proposal, she is cursed to live as an ogre with a time limit of roughly two months to agree to a marriage proposal if she does not wish to remain in this state forever.


Evie took some time to grow on me as a protagonist. Unlike Aza from my favorite Gail Carson Levine book, Fair…

Review: A Dream of Ebony and White

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Of all the books I've read from Melanie Cellier's Four Kingdoms and Beyond the Four Kingdoms series, I have to say that A Dream of Ebony and White is by far my favorite. This modern adaptation of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" combines all the best things about the original version of the story and contemporary versions such as Snow White and the Huntsman, Mirror Mirror, and Once Upon a Time. The main character's name is Blanche, with means "white," but her nickname is "Snow," allowing her to feel like an organic addition to Melanie Cellier's massive fairy tale world while still paying tribute to the beloved classic character. She is shy and sweet like the Disney version but gains confidence and inner strength throughout the course of the story like in recent adaptations.

What I liked the most about A Dream of Ebony and White is that it took all of the aspects of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" that we already know and inten…

Review: Clara's Soldier

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There are only a few short days before The Nutcracker and the Four Realms comes to theaters. In anticipation of this event, I read a recent adaptation of the classic fairy tale called Clara's Soldier by Brittany Fichter, the author The Autumn Fairy. Before I begin, though, I'd like to acknowledge that today is Halloween. I hope everyone reading this is planning to dress up as their favorite princess! While we're mimicking princess fashions of old, the Disney Princesses are dressing down to look like us in Ralph Breaks the Internet. Disney is already cashing in on the princesses' new modern styles making screen-accurate replicas Ariel, Aurora, and Pocahontas's modern clothing available to grown-up women on their site as well as figurine and doll sets of their upcoming Millennial looks. Okay, back to Clara's Soldier.


I wasn't sure what to expect from Clara's Soldier because many of the previous books I've read by Brittany Fichter were dark and depressi…

Review: Goldheart

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Kenley Davidson was the author of my favorite book from the Entwined Tales series, so I jumped at the opportunity to read her book Goldheart for free. Goldheart is the second book from her series of fairy tale adaptations called The Andari Chronicles. It is a reimagining of  "Rumpelstiltskin." While my favorite version of "Rumpelstiltskin" is still The Princess Pact by Melanie Cellier, this one is a solid runner up. Kenley Davidson excels at writing stories about capable women with traditionally feminine flaws, which is becoming more of a rarity in modern times. Her characters' weaknesses make them easier to relate to than many of the modern movie princess heroines, who often excel at far too many skills for a well-rounded character. This level of realism also accounts for lack of magic and fantasy in her stories, which is the reason I didn't seek out her books as eagerly as most of the other authors from the Entwined Tales series.


Elaine, the leading lady …

Review: Audette of Brookraven

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The Entwined Tales book series introduced me to many authors I had been previously unfamiliar with. Of them, Shari Tapscott was far from a favorite of mine. Still, I couldn't resist when her novel Audette of Brookraven, was being offered for free along with several other books from the Entwined Tales authors as a holiday promotion. Since I didn't have very expectations for it, I was pleasantly surprised by how easy of a read this was compared to the sample novellas from her mailing list. This was largely thanks to the quirky antics of the main character, Princess Audette (not to be confused with Princess Odette). The plot, on the other hand, left much to be desired.


Audette of Brookraven is the fourth book in Shari Tapscott's Eldentimber series, which consists of tales about various princesses from various lands. It's difficult to properly summarize this book because the story is all over the place, which is an issue I've had with all of the work I've read from …

Review: The Marquise and Her Cat

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After reviewing a somewhat mediocre book last week from fantasy author Shari Tapscott, I was pleased to find that I thoroughly enjoyed her retelling of the fairy tale "Puss in Boots". The Marquise and Her Cat is by far the best book I've read by Shari thus far. It remains faithful to the original fairy tale while offering a gender-reversed protagonist along with several other fun twists. Before reading this book, I never realized how much I wanted a fully fleshed out adaptation of "Puss in Boots." Though Puss appears in Shrek 2 as well as other spin-offs and sequels from the franchise, the fairy tale itself is still pretty obscure. Even though I had read it a long time ago, I forgot most of the details and never realized how entertaining it could be with just a bit more imagination.


The Marquise and her Cat is the story of Etta, a miller's daughter with two brothers. True to the fairy tale, her brothers inherit very nice possessions from a recently deceased …

Review: Till Midnight

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Since I was completely enamored with Aya Ling's Unfinished Fairy Tales books, I was thrilled to learn that she would be launching a new series of fairy tale adaptations. She has quickly raised in the ranks to become one of my favorite authors. Her new Reversed Retellings books portray gender-swapped versions of classic fairy tales, presenting brand new perspectives and challenging outdated gender stereotypes. The first book in the series is Till Midnight, based on the story of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses." However, this version has twelve handsome princes who are forced to sneak away at night due to a curse with a female cobbler who must solve the mystery of where they go. I absolutely loved this adaptation and cannot wait for her to release more gender-swapped fairy tales.


Till Midnight tells the story of Alix, a talented young lady working as a dressmaker's apprentice in an attempt to further her career beyond the family trade of cobbling shoes. Even though it is…

Review: Voice of Power

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Over the past year, I have been a close follower of the books of Melanie Cellier. She has done a fantastic job of adapting classic princess fairy tales for a modern audience in both her Four Kingdoms and Beyond the Four Kingdoms series. Recently, she has branched out by writing an original series of her own called The Spoken Mage. The series takes place in a world where the written word holds immense magical power, so only noble families with the ability to control magic are permitted to learn how to read and write. It actually bears a few similarities to a screenplay I'm working on for my class at UCLA. The protagonist in The Spoken Mage series is a commoner who should not possess any magical ability, so no one knows what to do when she releases controlled magic through spoken words alone without even knowing how to write.


Voice of Power is the first book in The Spoken Mage series. It tells the story of Elena, an ordinary girl who is happy with her ordinary life. Her only concern …

Review: Traitor's Masque

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Traitor's Masque by Kenley Davidson is the first book in the Andari Chronicles. I enjoyed Goldheart, the second book, more than this one thanks to a more concise story and a more relatable protagonist. Traitor's Masque is an original adaptation of "Cinderella." It feels like I enjoy every consecutive "Cinderella" adaptation I read less each time because it's so overplayed. Every storyteller thinks they're being more unique than the last by incorporating a bunch of new twists and turns. If they really wanted to be original, they would use one of the hundreds of other fairy tales out there that hasn't already been adapted to death. That said, Kenley Davidson is still a fantastic author. She wrote A Beautiful Curse, which was my favorite book from the Entwined Tales series. Her Andari Chronicles stand out from similar series of fairy tale adaptation novels because she incorporates a more realistic spin. The world contains no magic and a wealth of k…

Review: Pirouette

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I finally completed the third book in Kenley Davidson's Andari Chronicles, and I am pleased to say that Pirouette had everything I felt that the first book, Traitor's Masque, was lacking. Not only is it my favorite adaptation of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" that I've read so far, but it also boasts a disabled princess as the book's main heroine instead of making her a friend or supporting character. The biggest surprise to me after reading the other two books was that the world of the Andari Chronicles does indeed contain magic. It's just that no one in Andar knew about it because their kingdom had magic-blocking properties that they were unaware of. This opened up a whole new set of conflicts that made the story of Pirouette the most engaging, exciting, and suspenseful one in the series so far. I savored every paragraph and finished it wanting more.


Most adaptations of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" alter the original fairy tale by turning …

Review: Pathways

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Pathways by Camille Peters is a new series of fairy tale adaptations that is currently on sale for $0.99. I couldn't argue with that price, so I decided to check it out. The book is loosely based on "Rumpelstiltskin" and "The Princess and the Pea." It's different from the other fairy tale novels I've been reviewing in this blog because it lacks the suspense and adventure that they had and focuses entirely on romance. In fact, the story has no villain at all and very little conflict, making it a slow read. It seems like something that would be right my alley with my love of princesses and romance, but none of the characters were particularly appealing, especially the love interest. By the end of the book, I had absolutely no desire to see Eileen get together with Aiden.

Like many princess stories, the main character in Pathways starts out as a peasant girl. Eileen is a skilled artist, a lot like Elaine from Goldheart, another "Rumpelstiltskin" …

Review: The Tower Princess

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The Tower Princess by Shonna Slayton turns the Shakespearean story of "Romeo and Juliet" into a beautiful fairy tale. Outside of a certain famous Taylor Swift music video, Shakespeare is not the first place most writers turn to when looking to adapt a fairytale, so it was a breath of fresh air for me. Shonna is a huge fan of fairy tales in general and has a wonderful Facebook group for other fairy tale lovers. Her passion is clear in this book through her intricately fleshed out medieval world and original mythology surrounding it. The prologue alone told an expertly crafted fable that developed an intriguing backstory for the troubled kingdom of Morlaix and those who reside within it. Her poetic use of language and world-building drew me into the story before I even met the main characters.


The setting of The Tower Princess reminded me a bit of Neil Gaiman's Stardust. Both stories have protagonists whose lands are blocked by a mysterious forbidden wall. In this story, t…

Review: Princess of Shadows

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I was fortunate enough to receive a free ebook of Princess of Shadows  by up-and-coming fairy tale author A.G. Marshall from a promotion on Facebook. Since the book was named directly after the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale,  I was expecting a fairly direct adaptation. Instead, I was blown away by A.G. Marshall's originality. The book is a "fish out of water" story that delves into the creation of mythology and legend. The protagonist wakes up in another time that she knows nothing about, which allows the reader to explore this new world with her. I am a huge proponent of "fish out of water" stories, so the Fairy Tale Adventures series  is one that I will be following closely from this point on. Princess of Shadows  tells the story of a girl named Lina who wields a magic ring and fights goblins in the shadow world. Due to a sleeping spell that allowed her to stay in the protect the world from some dangerous threats, she wakes up to find that a century h

Review: Thief of Cahraman Trilogy

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Lucy Tempest is the hottest new author among the indie fairy tale adaptation scene. I was a little hesitant to read her premiere gender-bent "Aladdin" novel Thief of Cahraman because it required me to purchase and read two other novels, Prince of Cahraman and Queen of Cahraman just to find out how it ends. I've enjoyed other trilogies that told a complete story within each book while just leaving one thing unresolved at the end to make way for a sequel, but that was not the case here. It was a bit of a struggle for me to complete all three books within the course of a week so that I could write a review, especially when so few important things happened in the story until the end. In fact, I would even say it would be possible to skip over the second book entirely without missing too much of the overall story. Of course, this is speaking from my own personal preference. If you're the type of person who doesn't like your stories to end in a single book, you might l…

Review: Princess of Secrets

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I was so impressed with A.G. Marshall 's adaptation of "The Princess and the Pea"  that I simply could not wait to dive into the next book in the Fairy Tale Adventures series. Princess of Secrets  takes place immediately after the events of Princess of Shadows , so it's best to read these two in order. The book starts out with Prince Alaric's brother, Prince Stefan, sneaking away to find Princess Carina so that she can be Lina's maid of honor in her wedding. Carina is the only friend Lina made after being asleep for a hundred years and waking up to find that everyone she knew was gone. Once Stefan sets off on his quest, the book becomes a whirlwind adventure of magic, romance, and fun that is every bit as engaging as its predecessor. I was amazed by how well A.G. Marshall was able to combine the elements of the original "Frog Prince"  with mermaids, sea monsters, and more. If you recall from my review of Princess of Shadows , Princess Carina is

Review: Just the Way You Are

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One of the benefits of blogging about princess books is that I occasionally get recommendations from my readers about books that I probably would never have known about otherwise. This month, that's been a little stressful for me since three of my favorite authors are releasing new books. When I received a recommendation on my "Disabled Princesses" post, I tried to read it as quickly as I could before my reading list explodes. Just the Way You Are by Allison M. Boot was written with the intention of creating positive visibility for disabled princess fans. While it succeeds in that respect, the story itself leaves much to be desired. Allison is a fantastic advocate for people with disabilities, and I think she is a very admirable person for all of the effort that she has put into this. She isn't a bad writer either, but the story structure in Just the Way You Are borrows heavily from common tropes, making it difficult to appreciate as an original fairy tale or adaptat…

Review: The Beast and the Beauty

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The Beast and the Beauty follows up Till Midnight as the second book in Aya Ling's Reversed Retellings series, which reverses the gender roles from well-known fairy tales. This book was her take on the story of "Beauty and the Beast" with a male beauty and a female beast. Though Gail Carson Levine did something similar to this with Ogre Enchanted, The Beast and the Beauty is more of a direct translation of the romantic elements of the original story, giving the reader a better opportunity to look at how the dynamics of the characters change when their genders are reversed. A conventionally beautiful man has different problems than a conventionally beautiful woman, and the same applies to a grotesque or deformed man vs. a grotesque or deformed woman. I thought this was a very clever take on the story while still staying true to the most beloved elements of it.


The Beast and the Beauty is the story of Lady Sybil de la Roche, a rich debutant who was cursed by a wicked sorcer…

Review: The Lady and the Wish

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Thanks to J.M. Stengl's Advance Readers list, I had the privilege of being one of the first to read the latest addition to her Faraway Castle series, The Lady and the Wish. I believe this book will be available to the public next week, so my review will be just a bit early for those of you who are interested in reading it right away. Unlike the other three books in the series, which were based on popular fairy tales that have had many adaptations created, The Lady and the Wish is inspired by the obscure Grimm fairy tale "King Thrushbeard," which I had never seen adapted in book or media format before this point. I was familiar with the fairy tale prior to reading this book, but it had never been one of my favorites, which might be why I didn't enjoy The Lady and the Wish quite as much as the other Faraway Castle books. Regardless, it was still a very creative and original take on the story while still remaining faithful to its theme of a prideful woman's capacity…

Review: The Last Autumn Fairy

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The final book in the Autumn Fairy Trilogy was released a few weeks ago. I've been reading these books since the beginning, so I knew exactly what to expect from this one. Like the rest of Brittany Fichter's work, it was pretty dark for a faery princess story. The main characters were tortured through the entire book until they were ultimately saved by their divine faith in Atharo, who is this world's version of God. For me, the best thing about this series was the beautiful imagery of the magical naturalistic world that the fairies lived in and the elegant floral fashions that they wore. The final book cut back on most of those pleasantries in favor of even more character torture leading up to the final conflict. Therefore, The Last Autumn Fairy was the weakest book in the trilogy for me.


The Last Autumn Fairy chronicles the logical next step in Katy and Peter's star-crossed relationship as well as all of the obstacles that inevitably come with it. Since The Autumn Fai…

Review: Rapunzel and the Vanishing Village

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Did you know that the Tangled series might be in trouble? Despite boasting beautiful music, breathtaking artwork, and top-notch storytelling, it is reportedly one of the lowest rated shows on Disney Channel right now. Executive producer Chris Sonnenberg has been diligently reaching out to fans via Twitter to spread more visibility for the show. Loyal fans have also created a new Twitter page to share and discuss news about the series. Don't worry; we're still getting a third season. I just have no idea when. In solidarity of the recent efforts to promote the show, I did some research and discovered that there was a second companion novel released last year called Rapunzel and the Vanishing Village. I had already discovered the first companion novel, Rapunzel and the Lost Lagoon, right around the time it was released thanks to an aggressive advertising campaign on Facebook. It did a fantastic job of bridging the gap between the original film and the series. Rapunzel and the Van…

Review: Beast of Rosemead

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You may recall my recent review of the Cahraman trilogy by Lucy Tempest, a gender swapped adaptation of "Aladdin" with an overly complicated backstory. Needless to say, I wasn't particularly eager to read her latest book, Beast of Rosemead until I was offered an advance copy in exchange for my honest review. As it turned out, I was pleasantly surprised. Beast of Rosemead is the first part of a two-book saga, which is an improvement over the the slow pacing of the lengthy three-part Cahraman trilogy. As the next story in Lucy Tempest's Fairy Tales of Folkshore series, it contains plenty of references to the Cahraman books. While it certainly helps to read those first, it's not hard to figure out what's going on in Beast of Rosemead even if you have no prior knowledge of the series.


Beast of Rosemead os the story of Bonnie, Adelaide's best friend from Thief of Cahraman. Unlike Adelaide's story, this "Beauty and the Beast" adaptation is not gend…

Review: Peas and Princesses

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I was recently offered an opportunity to read and review the new book Peas and Princesses by up-and-coming author Aleese Hughes. Just as it sounds, the book is an original adaptation of the fairy tale "The Princess and the Pea." However, the cutesy title is somewhat misleading when it comes to the tone of the story. The book's villain is truly terrifying and does some awful things, so I would hesitate to recommend it for younger princess fans. Outside of that, it's a quick and fun read for young adults who enjoy fairy tale adaptations. The protagonist is easy to relate and winds up in a similar situation to the main character in last year's Netflix movie, The Princess Switch.

Peas and Princesses is about a village girl named Milly who is forced to enter a competition to replace the kingdom's princess after she ran away. In that respect, it is reminiscent of Shannon Hale's Princess Academy but much darker. This book focuses on the common desire for princes…

Review: Dead Princess Walking

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I was recently offered an opportunity to read Dead Princess Walking, the first book in a new series by L.M. Schukraft. The book is an original adaptation of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," but reads more like a cross between the movies Snow White and the Huntsman and The Wizard of Oz. It is a high fantasy adventure featuring a magically inclined Snow White at the forefront. There were lots of fun and colorful characters that reminded me of Disney sidekicks. The biggest downside to the book is that it doesn't have a conclusive ending. However, it doesn't end on a cliffhanger either, which is good because the next book isn't out yet.


Dead Princess Walking introduces us to a unique fae world that reminds me of Oz due to its sleep-inducing poppy fields, magical inhabitants, and history of powerful women. It follows the journey of an empowered Snow White, who awakens her inner magic upon learning about her fae blood. Snow White discovers pretty quickly that her magi…

Review: Cinders, Stars, and Glass Slippers

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I don't enjoy writing negative reviews, which is why I put this one off for about a month. I've read quite a few books by Brittany Fichter, so I'm used to her stories being dark and religious without even a hint of comic relief. In the case of the AutumnFairytrilogy and Clara's Soldier, the melancholy thematic elements are often redeemed by touching star-crossed romances that overcome all obstacles. That was not the case for Cinders, Stars, and Glass Slippers, the sixth book in her Classical Kingdoms anthology. Whenever I read a new take on "Cinderella," it feels as though someone is trying to reinvent the wheel. It's a simple fairy tale with a simple message that doesn't always work under the scrutiny of modern feminists. Yes, Gail Carson Levine did it right with Ella Enchantedback in 1998, but even that was turned into an overly complicated movie in 2004 that made a mockery of her simplistic story-telling techniques.


Cinders, Stars, and Glass Slipper…

Review: Unicorns of Balinor

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Unicorns of Balinor is a series of children's books by Mary Stanton, who was one of the writers for my favorite cartoon, Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders. The unfinished series consists of eight short chapter books about a girl named Ari who leans she was once a princess from a magical land called Balinor. The story contains elements of Anastasia, Jewel Riders, and Wicked. Though it helps to read them in order, any of the books can easily be enjoyed on its own. Each one tells a complete adventure story with a clear beginning, middle, and end. This is not the only Jewel Riders-inspired book series from the turn of the millennium. Avalon: Web of Magic by Rachel Roberts was another series of chapter books about girls from the real world who also learn that unicorns and magic exist in a different realm. Her books incorporated lyrics directly from the original Jewel Riders soundtrack. The Jewel Riders references in Unicorns of Balinor were more subtle but still present.


The Road …

Review: A Captive of Wing and Feather

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Melanie Cellier had been on hiatus from her Beyond the Four Kingdoms series of fairy tale retellings to work on Elena's adventures in The Spoken Mage books. Therefore, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that she went back to her fairy tales sooner than I was expecting with A Captive of Wing and Feather. This adaptation of "Swan Lake" is set in Melanie Cellier's extended fairy tale universe, where Princess Adelaide takes on the role of Odette. Adelaide is the sister of Prince Dominic, the "Beast" character from her book A Tale of Beauty and the Beast, linking her story to the rest of the books in the series. Unfortunately, Melanie has a tendency to shy away from full human-to-animal transformation sequences, which took some of the magic and mystery out of this version of "Swan Lake."


A Captive of Wing and Feather is hard to follow at first because there is so much information to digest about Adelaide's situation. Little by little, we learn that…

Review: The Dragon Princess

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The fairy tale retelling/reimagining genre is huge in novel world right now. I realize that most of my reviews cover books in this genre, but putting the word "princess" in the title or having a princess as a protagonist is still enough to compel me to read a book. When I wrote my last novella, The Stolen Jewel, I didn't want to make another adaptation because I wanted to tell my own original fairy tale. In the case of The Dragon Princess by Lichelle Slater (not to be confused with The Last Dragon Princess, which I also reviewed), I would say that the subtitle "Sleeping Beauty Reimagined" is a detriment. I've read other "Sleeping Beauty" adaptations that stray far from the original fairy tale, but here, it felt so forced that the story would have actually benefited from not including the reference at all. The Forgotten Kingdom series stands perfectly well on its own as an original princess fantasy series.

The Dragon Princess starts very slow and to…

Review: Princess of Mermaids

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Did you know that today marks the actual 30th anniversary of Disney's The Little Mermaid? To celebrate, I would like to share a book review of A.G. Marshall's Princess of Mermaids with you. I've readmanyotheradaptations of "The Little Mermaid" and even wrote one of my own, but I have never seen a book that managed to pay tribute to the fairy tale and the Disney movie while also telling a compelling original story so effortlessly. Princess of Mermaids is the third book in A.G. Marshall's Fairy Tale Adventures series. Though it works as a standalone novel, I highly recommend reading the other two first. Not only are they fantastic books, but they also paint a clearer picture of the world and characters in this book. Princess Fiora first appeared in Princess of Shadows, originally called The Princess and the Pea when I reviewed it. Her love interest, Gustave, was introduced in Princess of Secrets (originally The Frog Prince) along with some of the mermaids that …

Review: The Siren Princess

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The "Little Mermaid" nerd in me could not resist reviewing another adaptation of my favorite fairy tale. The Siren Princess is the second book in The Forgotten Kingdom series by Lichelle Slater. Its prequel, The Dragon Princess, had very little to do with "Sleeping Beauty," so I wasn't too surprised to find that The Siren Princess also had very little to do with the fairy tale it was based on. In fact, it had more in common with Peter Pan than it did with "The Little Mermaid" with a love interest who was none other than Captain Hook himself. This romantic version of Captain Hook was polite and heroic unlike Emma Swan's rough-around-the-edges beau from Once Upon a Time. There were a lot of random name references to Disney's The Little Mermaid, J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, and Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, but the characters' personalities bore no resemblance to the ones they were named after. Like its predecessor, I thought …

Review: The Cursed Prince

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Aya Ling recently released The Cursed Prince, the third and final book in her Reversed Retellings series. Of the three fairy tales that she covered, I think the "Sleeping Beauty" fairy tale lends itself to gender-reversal the best without changing the themes of the original story because the roles of the protagonists have are not affected by their physical strength or conventional beauty stereotypes. Till Midnight, the first book in the Reversed Retellings series, changed the plot of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" by requiring the princes to battle trolls at night instead of dance at a ball, which made them more conventionally masculine. In The Beast and the Beauty, Lady Sybil attempted to use magic, fashion, and makeup to make herself look more presentable to suitors in spite of her monstrous appearance, which are conventionally feminine things that we never saw the Beast do in "Beauty and the Beast." In contrast, the main character in "Sleeping Be…

Review: Beauty of Rosemead

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It's been a while since I read Beast of Rosemead by Lucy Tempest. By the time I got around to its sequel, Beauty of Rosemead, I remembered very little except that the first book was very similar to the Disney adaptation of "Beauty and the Beast." Thankfully, Beauty of Rosemead had more than enough exposition to refresh my memory. As the fifth book in the Fairy Tales of Folkshore series and conclusion of Bonibel's story, I found it pretty enjoyable for what it was. I liked that Lucy shortened this story to two books since the Thief of Cahraman trilogy, her gender-swapped retelling of "Aladdin," ran a little too long with three books to tell a single story filled with exposition. She continues to shrink her garrulity with Princess of Midnight, the next book in the series, which is going to be a single standalone book. Beauty of Rosemead contained some of the same unnecessary exposition as the Thief of Cahraman and put too much focus on the eastern storytelli…

Review: A Princess of Wind and Wave

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Happy New Year, princesses! I concluded my 2019 with yet another of my favorite fairy tale, "The Little Mermaid."A Princess of Wind and Wave is the final book in Melanie Cellier's Beyond the Four Kingdoms series and her last book of 2019. Though it wasn't my favorite "Little Mermaid" adaptation of the year, it did focus on certain aspects of the fairy tale that other versions tend to overlook. A Captive of Wing and Feather, the previous book in the series, featured a protagonist who couldn't communicate with humans during daylight hours, which is something that would ordinarily apply more to "The Little Mermaid" than "Swan Lake." Perhaps it was for this reason that Isla does not lose her ability to speak in A Princess of Wind and Wave, making it one of the few "Little Mermaid" adaptations that does not require her to find an alternate method of communication on land such as writing or sign language. Instead, her limitations…

Review: The Stepsister Scheme

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After years of reading fairy tale adaptations and reimaginings, I was in the mood for something a little different. I discovered The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines on a list of 20 modern fairy tale books. It stood out for a few reasons. First, the book takes place after the "happily ever after" part of its leading princesses' fairy tales, which gives it a similar feel to Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix, in which the princesses are more experienced and willing to fight to keep their happy endings. Instead of focusing on one princess, the book features Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty in a girl-power team-up, giving it a Magical Girl vibe with a stronger focus on friendship than romance. It's also about a bunch of princesses teaming up to rescue a prince, and there aren't as many books out there about that as there should be. Right from the get-go, I knew this wasn't another reimagining of a story I've already heard a million times.


Righ…

Review: The Mermaid's Madness

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After I reviewed The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines, I didn't think I was interested in reading more until I learned that the next book in the series was based on my favorite fairy tale, "The Little Mermaid." Though I reviewed a lot of "Little Mermaid" adaptations lately, I figured one more couldn't hurt. Or could it? I can say with some certainty that fans of the Disney movie would not enjoy this book. The Mermaid's Madness is much darker than the Hans Christian Andersen version of the story, which is really saying something. It unapologetically dashed many of my fairy tale princess hopes and dreams, yet the book was a daring undertaking that focused on an aspect of "The Little Mermaid that often gets left out in other adaptations. This is a version in which our protagonist actually goes through with the proposition to kill her beloved prince in order to save herself.


Since The Stepsister Scheme centered around the adventures of Snow White, Cin…

Review: Princess of Midnight

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Did you know that this past Wednesday was National Tell a Fairy Tale Day? That means this is a big week for sales on princess books! I celebrated the joyous occasion by attending another Facebook party with many talented authors. Among those authors, Lucy Tempest released her latest book in the Fairy Tales of Folkshore series promptly time for the holiday. As the newest and shiniest release, Princess of Midnight was the first book I read in honor of National Fairy Tale Day. I had mixed feelings about Lucy Tempest's Thief of Cahraman trilogy and Beast/Beauty of Rosemead duology, so I wasn't sure what to expect from this reimagining of "Cinderella" and the "The Snow Queen." To my delight, I found that it was not only more concise than the other Folkshore novels, but also one of the best adaptations of "Cinderella" that I have ever read.


Princess of Midnight tells the story of Ornella, a minor character from the other books in the Folkshore stories. T…

Review: Dragon's Maid

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Dragon's Maid was another one of the book deals I took advantage of for National Fairytale Day. It's the 9th book in a series called Love's Enchanted Tales by Kimberly A. Rogers. In't that the most princessy name for a book series ever? I was able to jump right into the story without feeling like I missed eight books worth of content, so it definitely works as a standalone. It's a romance between a human girl and a shapeshifting dragon who takes on the form of a human man. Judging by the descriptions of the other books on Kimberly's website, most of the ones from this series are about human girls falling in love with shapeshifting dragons, so I'm not sure how much variety it has aside from each book drawing inspiration from a different fairy tale. That said, if Dragon's Maid is any indication of what the other Love's Enchanted Tales books are like, I would strongly recommend anything from this series.

To say that Dragon's Maid is a retelling of

Review: The Silent Princess

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Princess League by Mira Crest was another series I learned about through this year's National Fairy Tale Day. The Silent Princess, a retelling of "The Little Mermaid," appears to be the first book, despite the big number "2" on the cover above the title. The Hidden Princess, which has a number "1" on the cover, is scheduled to come out next month. Princess League series is promoted as "Princesses meet Avengers," which sounds pretty similar to another series I read recently. It appears that all the princesses from the series are supposed to have some sort of superpower and that each book ends with some sort of cataclysmic battle that affects the lives of thousands of people. Though The Silent Princess was not my favorite adaptation of "The Little Mermaid," it did bring a few elements to it that have not been done before.


The Silent Princess starts out with a seemingly ordinary girl on land named Marina who is working at some sort of …

Review: A Curse of Gems

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If you need something lengthy to read during your extended self-quarantine, A Curse of Gems by Brittany Fichter is a terrific option. I was aware of this "Diamonds and Toads" retelling since its release last year but had little interest in reading it until it was offered it as a deal for National Fairy Tale Day and am so grateful I did. The book contained one of the most compelling love stories I ever read and built an incredibly robust world that was like a mature version of the Isle of the Lost from Disney's Descendants. It had a lot of the usual torture and religious subtext that Brittany Fichter is prone to including in her stories, but it didn't bother me as much it did in some of her other books. I was so engrossed in the characters, world, and elegant literary style that I couldn't wait to complete the uphill climb to the end.


Like many people, I was familiar with the "Diamonds and Toads" fairy tale from the adaptation Gail Carson Levine publishe…

Review: The Storyteller's Daughter

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I was recently offered an advance copy of The Storyteller's Daughter by Victoria McCombs in exchange for my honest review. This book is a retelling of "Rumpelstiltskin," a story I've read a couple other adaptations of. This version was more similar to the way it was presented in ABC's Once Upon a Time than the loose interpretations I've read in the past. The book also seems more appropriate for younger audiences than some of the ones I've read in the past. It is marketed toward fans of Gail Carson Levine and Jessica Day George, which seems appropriate due to the simplistic storytelling style and first person narrative. There were aspects of it that bugged me as an older ready, but I think it's a great book for teenagers who love fairy tales and princesses. It will be released by Parliament Press on July 14th.

The Storyteller's Daughter is set in a world where everyone has a magical power except for the main character, Cosette. The world reminded m…

Review: Dagger's Sleep

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Dagger's Sleep by Tricia Mingerink is the last book I had left to read from National Tell a Fairy Tale Day. It's the first in a series called Beyond the Tales, which seems to be similar to Aya Ling's Reversed Retellings in that they both contain gender-bent adaptations of popular fairy tales. Like Aya Ling's The Cursed PrinceDagger's Sleep is a gender-bent retelling of "Sleeping Beauty." Aside from the basic premise, the two books are different enough to enjoy separately. Dagger's Sleep is a more progressive take on the classic fairy tale. The setting is loosely Native American and incorporates some cultural and religious undertones. It was quite unique for a "Sleeping Beauty" retelling and uses some less popular aspects of the story, such as the 100 year passage of time.

The best way I can describe Dagger's Sleep is that it felt like a cross between Charles Perrault's "Sleeping Beauty" and Disney's Pocahontas. Prince…

Review: The Stolen Kingdom

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The Stolen Kingdom is a retelling of "Aladdin" by Bethany Atazadeh. It was recommended to me by one of my readers. Praising it can feel a little self-indulgent due to the many coincidental similarities it has to my own book, The Stolen Jewel. That said, I found the setting and story of The Stolen Kingdom very enjoyable overall. Even though it focuses on the princess from the tale, it is not a gender-bent "Aladdin" retelling like Lucy Tempest's Thief of Cahraman trilogy. It switches to the "Aladdin" character, whose name in this version was Kadin, later in the story. Similar to the Tangled novelizations, the character whose perspective you're reading from changes depending on the chapter. This can get a little jarring because their inner voices weren't all that different even thought their personalities were. I had to go back a few times to check which character was telling the story in that chapter. Aside from that minor nitpick, it is a uniqu…

Review: The Jinni Key

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I dove right into The Jinni Keyafter I completed The Stolen Kingdom by Bethany Atazadeh. This book is an adaptation of "The Little Mermaid," but it doesn't work as a standalone story as well as other series adaptations do. Instead of switching perspectives between the two new love interests, the book continues the story from Arie and Kadin's points of view from The Stolen Kingdom along with introducing us to Rena. As much as I liked this book, I would have loved to see some Gideon or Bosh chapters to offer more clarity and perspective on Rena's story. It also felt like Arie's story was dragged out into this book when it could have concluded in The Stolen Kingdom, but that's a minor gripe. I enjoyed The Jinni Key even more than The Stolen Kingdom overall since I'm a bigger fan of "The Little Mermaid" than "Aladdin."


The Jinni Key picks up right where The Stolen Kingdom left off except that now we see the point of view of the "Me…

Review: The Spoken Mage Series

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Last year, I wrote a review of Voice of Power, the first book in Melanie Cellier's Spoken Mage series, and decided I wasn't engaged enough in it to read the rest. Then she released all four books at a discount, and I decided to put them aside until I felt the time was right to complete the rest of the series. That time came this week. The recent pandemic has us all locked away in our towers, and we now have more free time than ever before. Even though it had been over a year since I read the first book, I still remembered it vividly. The tale of a girl who can cast magic spells using only her voice in a world where the written word is the only way for most people to access power is hard to forget. I have to give Melanie Cellier credit for keeping each book fresh and interesting while maintaining the same overall tone. Still, I had many of the same issues with the other three books in the series as I did with the first one. I began reading The Spoken Mage because I was a fan of…

Review: Princess of the Rose

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Before I begin, please be aware that the book I'm about to review contains extremely sensitive content that should only be read by adults. If you are under the age of 18, please skip this review and refer to my other book recommendations for something else to read. I learned about Princess of the Rose through a promo thread on Twitter for indie authors. Being an indie author myself, I was eager to help promote the work of K.L. Bone. Of course, the title and premise piqued my interest as well. This is the sixth book in her Black Rose series, which I was unfamiliar with. Looking over the reviews, I learned that it is a prequel to the series and that many readers recommended reading it first because the earlier books would have spoiled the ending. With that in mind, I eagerly dove into the dark world of the Muir court. Though it was different from the sort of book I usually read, I was impressed with K.L. Bone's beautiful imagery and gothic storytelling as well as the innocent pr…

Review: Spelled

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It's been over a year since I reviewed Pathways, the first book in Camille Peters' Kingdom Chronicles series. Though it wasn't my favorite, I decided to check out the next two books from a box set she released recently with the first three in the series. Spelled tells the story of Rosie, the best friend of the protagonist in Pathways. I remember I found her mildly irritating for trying to force Eleanor to fall in love when she told her repeatedly that she wasn't interested in a relationship. Unfortunately, reading a book from Rosie's perspective makes her flaws even more irritating than in Eleanor's book. She comes off as so much of a dreamer that it reaches the point of borderline psychosis. The romantic moments were charming, but it often felt like I was watching an episode of Crazy-Ex Girlfriend without the redemption arc where the main character seeks psychological help for her obsession.

Rosie is a romantic dreamer who is somewhat full of herself. She com…

Review: Identity

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Last week, I read Spelled and brought up some issues with the main character's personality as well as the lack of a direct antagonist. Now that I have completed Identity, the next book in The Kingdom Chronicles, I am pleased to say that my enjoyment Camille Peters' writing has greatly improved. The book has a fantastic protagonist who is easy to relate to and a deliciously wicked princess who does everything in her power to get between prevent the main character's happiness. The book is inspired by the fairy tale "The Goose Girl," in which a wicked handmaiden steals the identity of the princess she serves, but it more closely resembles the novella A Goose Girl by KM Shea, in which a selfish princess forces her handmaiden to take her place against her will. The story of a princess switching places with an underprivileged lookalike is fairly common in movies such as The Princess and the Pauper or The Princess Switch. It is a story that I never grow tired of, and t…

Review: Ella and Ash

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If you've been keeping up with my author mailing list, you would have seen that I recommended the book Ella and Ash by K.A. Last before I had the chance to read it. I decided to remedy that yesterday when I breezed through a copy of this short and sweet "Cinderella" retelling. The book follows the Brothers Grimm version of the story instead of the more popular Perrault version that Disney uses, so there was no Fairy Godmother. Ella spends a great deal of time at her mother's grave, where she meets the prince character prior to the ball. Like most modern "Cinderella" adaptations, this book attempts to address the prince's lack of character development that is so often criticized in older versions, but the romance still feels a little rushed. Overall, it's a fairly standard retelling of the fairy tale with a few new elements.


Ella is the same familiar girl we all know who lives with her evil stepmother and two wicked stepsisters, Anna and Drew. She fr…

Review: The Secret Princess

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If you've been following my blog for a while, you probably noticed that I posted book reviews almost every week for the past couple of years. All of that started when I received the first book in Melanie Cellier's Four Kingdoms series, The Princess Companion, as a Hanukkah present from a friend. That got me started on a long-running obsession with reading every princess ebook I could get my hands on. I've read and reviewed all of her books since then and was a little disappointed when she switched from her fairy tale retellings to The Spoken Mage series. Now, the world of the Four Kingdoms is back with The Secret Princess, the first book in a new series called Return to the Four Kingdoms that takes place in the same world as her other retellings. The book features Princess Giselle, a minor character from A Crown of Snow and Ice, and it just might be the most perfect fairy tale book ever.

The Secret Princess is a retelling of the underappreciated Grimm fairy tale, "The…

Review: Selkie's Song

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A few months ago, I reviewed the book Dragon's Maid from the Love's Enchanted Tales series by Kimberly A. Rogers. I enjoyed the fantasy, originality, and romance of Dragon's Maid, so I decided to go back and read the first book in the series, which was based on my favorite fairy tale, "The Little Mermaid."Selkie's Song was not the first "Little Mermaid" adaptation I've read with a selkie protagonist, but I still prefer KM Shea's version, The Little Selkie, due to its faster pacing and stronger heroine. There was so much I wanted to like about Selkie's Song, especially due to its many tongue-in-cheek references to the Disney movie, but most of the story drags like crazy due to poor decision-making on behalf of the main character. I can see from reading Dragon's Maid that Kimberly Rogers improved her writing as the series progressed, so I suppose this was more of an experimental book to set up the vast dragon-centric world of Love'…

The Stolen Queen Is Here!

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If you are already subscribed to my mailing list, you probably received an email this morning that my book The Stolen Queen is now available on Amazon for Kindle and paperback. I was going to wait until August for the anniversary of The Princess Blog, but with all the awful things going on right now, I thought it would be nice to give my readers a chance to relax and escape from their towers. The Stolen Queen is a sequel to The Stolen Jewel, but it can easily be enjoyed as a standalone story due to the new protagonist and setting. I decided to follow in the footsteps of the other authors I read and give each of the royal ladies of Klingland her own book. In case you missed it, I also published a short story from the perspective of Denise in my blog a few months ago as a free prequel to The Stolen Trilogy. The final book will be told from the perspective of Lady Krystal, who has a great number of misdeeds to make up for.


Just like The Stolen Jewel, The Stolen Queenstarted out as a scre…

Review: Enchantment

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Yesterday, Camille Peters released her latest book in the Kingdom Chronicles, and I was fortunate enough to receive an ARC. Enchantment is a loose adaptation of "Beauty and the Beast" about a merchant's daughter who finds herself trapped in a castle by an enchanted garden. It takes place in the same world as the other Kingdom Chronicles books, which I've had some mixed feelings about. My favorite by far is Identity, which was the first in the series to introduce a formidable villain. Enchantment has some conflict and adversaries, but none of it comes into play until the last few chapters. The majority of the book is a traditional love story, which works fine if you are looking for a peaceful read. However, if you are seeking action and adventure, it might be better to skip ahead to the end.


Enchantment begins in the middle of Maren's story, when she finds herself bound to the grounds of a castle after plucking a rose from its enchanted garden. She explains to the …

Review: The Dark Mermaid

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I recently sent out a survey on several of my social media accounts to get a better idea of what types of posts you would like to read on The Princess Blog. One of you requested reviews of princess content from black creators. It just so happened that I had a new adaptation of "The Little Mermaid" on my reading list by a black author that I was dying to get started on. I review many "Little Mermaid' adaptations and even wrote my own, yet I never get tired of reading them becuase the story is so versatile. Will she end up with the prince? How does she communicate? Is she a mermaid or a selkie? Does she already have experience as a human or is their world completely new to her? The Dark Mermaid by Christina L. Barr is a refreshing and expertly crafted new take on Hans Christian Andersen's tale that explores the risk the mermaid underwent by chasing after her dreams. It also builds a rich undersea setting that rivals the land of Sirenea in the Filipino mermaid seri…

Review: Spindle

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Spindle is the third book I've read from Kimberly A. Rogers' Love's Enchanted Tales series. It felt appropriate to read a book from the middle of the series after completing the second to last book, Dragon's Maid, and the first book, Selkie's Song. Spindle is about on par with the sweet love story from Dragon's Maid and is a vast improvement over the faux Disney-mocking from Selkie's Song, though it did contain some welcome cameos of Naia and Malik. This book stood out among the ten in the series because "Sleeping Beauty" is such a versatile story to adapt. The fairy tale is so simple that every novelization is unique in how it chooses to expand upon the details. This version follows the protagonist's journey after she wakes up to learn that a century has passed and her kingdom is in turmoil. It has everything you would expect from a contemporary retelling of "Sleeping Beauty."

Spindle is the story of Celena, the cousin of King Eric f…

Review: The Cursed Hunter

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Back in April, I was introduced to the enchanting world of Bethany Atazadeh's Stolen Kingdom series. The first two books, The Stolen Kingdom and The Jinni Key, told the story of two princesses and their struggles to find love and save a kingdom. I eagerly awaited The Cursed Hunter, the third book in the series, in the hopes that it would continue the story and expand the world. When I finally got the opportunity to read it, it felt like it was from a completely different series that lacked the robust setting that was teased in the first two books. The Cursed Hunter is a simple story that feels dry and empty despite taking place in the same world. The expansive lore of Jinnis and Meremaids is replaced by a tale of a lone woman on a boring quest. I wish I could say this book was just as engaging and emotionally provocative as the first two, but I'm afraid The Cursed Hunter is a different beast entirely. Bethany Atazadeh is clearly a talented author, so I'm not sure what happ…

Review: Thorn

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"The Goose Girl" by the Brothers Grimm seems to be one of the hottest fairy tales to adapt right now. It is one of the only fairy tales featuring a princess that has not been turned into a Disney movie. Thorn by Intisar Khanani is the fourth adaptation I've read of this identity-swapping fable, but I can't say that it's one of my favorites. It is the most loyal adaptation I have read, incorporating darker elements that had been graciously removed from other versions, such as the slaughter of the princess's prized horse. Though I appreciate Intisar's attempts to stay true to the tale as well as her incorporation of her culture within the language of the story, the book seems to drag on for ages before anything interesting happens. The climax of Thorn has a big payoff that conveys a strong anti-violence message, which implies that it may have been more enjoyable if it were a little shorter.

For the most part, Thorn is a faithful retelling of "The Goose …

Celebrating Three Years with The Stolen Trilogy!

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Three years ago today, I decided to create a safe space on the internet for people who love princesses and fairy tales as much as I do. My social media feed had become too political, and the people I could discuss the latest princess shows with were few and far between. I had just gotten married and celebrated my birthday, so I was in a great place to do something just for me. Thus, The Princess Blog was born. In the beginning, I made a new post everyday, starting with an analysis of Disney Princesses. Now, I share roughly two updates a week, but my level of passion has not shifted as I continue to pursue new princess content to enjoy and review. I've also worked on other writing projects over the years. The biggest of these is The Stolen Trilogy. I wanted to create a world similar to my favorite show, Princess Gwenevere, and the Jewel Riders, by exploring the lives three royal ladies who lived together in a castle and went on their own magical adventures. This week, the trilogy i…

Review: Fairest of All

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Fairest of All by Serena Valentino came out a little over a decade again. It would eventually kick off a long series of official Disney villain fanfiction that, to the best of my knowledge, is still going to this day. I was aware of this book when it came out but was not quite motivated enough to pick up a copy for myself. It looked like an experiment by Disney to see if they could cash in on the success of Gregory Maguire's Wicked. Five years later, the book was made into a series, and Disney's Maleficent was released in theaters. Therefore, it would appear that the experiment was a success. I have read the first three books in this series and found that Fairest of All about the Evil Queen from Snow White is by far the best, most likely due to being the only one that was not written solely to continue chugging out more money for the mouse.
Fairest of All covers the backstory of the Evil Queen from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, who becomes bent on killing her stepdaughter to…

Goldilocks and the Three Books

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The story of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" is not exactly a princess story, but it is one of the only popular fairy tales that rarely gets adapted in mainstream media. That's because it acts more as an isolated event in a young girl's life than as a complete story. A few of you told me in my last survey that you would be interested in adaptations of this fairy tale, so I scoured the Amazon Kindle store and found a total of three full-length novels inspired by the story. Then I went ahead and read them all. (The things I do for you guys... :-P) What was particularly interesting was that the dichotomy between the three novels followed the progression of Goldilocks's experience in the bears' cottage, so I thought it would fun to arrange my reviews in a way that follows the story. Ready? It's time to enter the cottage of the three books.Someone's Been Sleeping in My Bed by Linda Winstead Jones -This book is too hot. This book is not bad by any stretch of…

Review: Dreamer of Briarfell

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Lucy Tempest's Fairy Tales of Folkshore series had a rocky start for me with the Thief of Cahraman trilogy. I'm glad I gave her books another chance because I loved her "Cinderella" retelling, Princess of Midnight. Now, she has a new book that combines "Sleeping Beauty" and "Robin Hood," which is one of the best "Sleeping Beauty" retellings I have ever read. Dreamer of Briarfell resolves the most common issues with developing "Sleeping Beauty" into a full-length novel while still remaining true to the roots of the fairy tale. The biggest obstacle an author has to face with adapting this story is finding a way for the princess to fall in love with the prince when she is asleep for the most important part of her adventure. I've seen some creative solutions to this issue, but none quite so clever as what Lucy Tempest did. This is by far my favorite book in the Fairy Tales of Folkshore series. Dreamer of Briarfell tells the stor…

Review: The Rose and the Thorn

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"Beauty and the Beast" is a fairy tale that princess fans never get tired of. Its gothic setting, intrigue, and romance are staples of any good princess story. The most famous novel adaptation is Beauty by Robin McKinley, but there are plenty of others that are just as good. I was fortunate enough to stumble upon a more recent retelling on Twitter called The Rose and the Thorn by Katherine Macdonald. This book shares some common threads with Enchantment by Camille Peters, another "Beauty and the Beast" adaptation I read recently, but unlike that version, it does not overlook the main theme of seeing beyond physical appearances. The "Beast" character in this book is cursed to appear to the world as a monster just like the one in the fairy tale and even picks up some of the violent tendencies of his beastly outer shell once a month, similar to werewolf mythology. However, the book has very little violence overall. Like most "Beauty and the Beast" …

Review: Voyage

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Voyage is the latest book in The Kingdom Chronicles by Camille Peters. It is a retelling of the lesser-known fairy tale, "King Thrushbeard," about a conceited princess who thinks she is too good for any of her suitors. Though that concept makes it difficult for the story a likable protagonist, Seren's dignity was compensated with an unfortunate upbringing. It takes place on a ship while Seren is sailing to her new kingdom for her upcoming wedding to a stranger. I can see that Camille Peter did a lot of research for this story. There are many descriptions for different parts of a large ship and how they operate, which made the world feel organic. Even though she took some liberties with the fairy tale, it was a unique and pleasant adaptation that made for a refreshing take on an old story. Like all the books from this series, the main focus was on the romance between Seren and Ronan. It got a bit repetitive at times, but the story really picked up near the end.
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Review: Power Born

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I was so pleased to be selected as an advance reader for Aya Ling's upcoming fantasy novel,Power Born. I've been a huge fan of Aya Ling ever since reading her Unfinished Fairy Tales series about a time traveler who ends up in the world of "Cinderella" and falls for the prince. Power Born is a spin-off of Aya's Reversed Retellings series that takes place in the same world but does not follow the same format of gender-bending popular fairy tales. Instead, it focuses on what she does best by challenging gender stereotypes in a unique fantasy setting. Similar to the Entwined Tales series that Aya participated in about a bumbling fairy godfather who messed up everyone's magical gifts, Power Born is about two siblings whose magical gifts are accidentally reversed. Chiara, who was supposed to receive the gift of beauty, got the supernatural strength that her brother, Cristian, was supposed to receive instead. What follows is a Jessica Jones-inspired adventure that j…

Review: Tangled in Time - The Portal

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When I first saw an ad for the novel Tangled in Time: The Portal, I assumed that it was part of Disney's poorly rated Twisted Tales series of alternate universe fanfic retellings of their classic movies due to a portion of the title being shared with a popular Disney movie of the same name. Having little to interest in that series, I ignored the book entirely. Fortunately for me, it popped up again recently on a short list of princess book recommendations, and I realized that it had nothing to do with either Disney or the story of "Rapunzel." Instead, it is a juvenile historical fiction that incorporates time travel to the days when the most famous Queen Elizabeth was still a princess. If I had known that from the beginning, I would have picked it up much sooner than I did. The duology is written by Kathryn Lasky, who is known for her other historical fiction series including Dear America and The Royal Diaries. The book fell into my lap during a time that I started doing…

Review: Rebel Rose

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Rebel Rose  is the first book in a new series of official fanfiction  called The Queen's Council , which is about the Disney Princesses growing into queens  of historically accurate kingdoms  that incorporate their fictional movies as a jumping-off point. I generally avoid fanfiction, official or otherwise, but the concept behind this series sounded intriguing. After all, I recently completed a visual novel about Marie Antoinette , so it seemed like a logical next step to read about Belle experiencing the French Revolution as well. I found many similarities between the two stories. Both are about powerful women who are concerned about the wellbeing of their people and the way they are perceived. The Marie Antoinette visual novel in Dress Up! Time Princess  is a bit more educational because it doesn't try to blend a magical fairy tale into the darkly realistic setting. Still, I thought Rebel Rose  was pretty good overall for what it was trying to do. Before I go any further, I

Review: Princess of Roses

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When you love a book series as much as I love A.G. Marshall's Fairy Tale Adventures , you are bound to come upon a book that you don't love quite as much as the rest. The first three books in this series  were just about perfect in terms of creative retellings , relatable characters , and playful references to other adaptations . I cannot recommend them enough. The latest Fairy Tale Adventures release is Princess of Roses , a retelling of the beloved classic  "Beauty and the Beast."  On its own, this book is a perfectly fine adaptation that expands upon the universe of the series and adds ample backstory to both main characters. However, after being spoiled by the overwhelmingly magical other books in this series, I found this one to be a tad bit lacking. It downplays much of the magic and mystery that I love about the original fairy tale by devoting an extensive section to the realistic and mundane elements of the main characters' lives before they were touched b

Review: The Princess Curse

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My friend sent me The Princess Curse  by Merrie Haskell  after letting me know that she didn't care for it quite enough to keep. Frankly, I can understand why. It fascinates me how many well-written family-friendly princess books there are out there by indie authors when a famous publisher like Harper Collins  would release a questionable book like this one through their children's market. I got the impression that the author wanted to write a princess story for adults , but the mainstream media likes to follow the misconception that anything involving fairy tales is solely for children , so they forced her to age down her protagonist and water down the story. Doing so turned the whole thing into a big mess of an adaptation suffering from a severe identity crisis. The Princess Curse  is an adaptation of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" and "Beauty and the Beast."  Right off the bat, it loses points for doing exactly what every other author who wrote an a

Review: The Princess in the Opal Mask

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I received  The Princess in the Opal Mask  as a gift along with The Princess Curse . Of the two books, this one was far superior. It is yet another retelling of The Princess and the Pauper , which seems to be a popular trope these days, especially among movies. It works surprisingly well in book format, as it allows readers to switch between the perspectives of both main characters. We all know the story of two girls who discover they look alike and decide to switch lives for a few days. However, this was a refreshing break from the standard "princess meets someone who looks just like her and decides she wants a vacation" format. This book goes deeper than that by exploring themes like identity, family, and self-fulfillment. After a few slow opening chapters, it picks up with an exciting investigation that tests both girls to their limits. Princess Wilha has been forced to cover her face with a bejeweled mask for as long as she can remember, never knowing why. The glittering

Review: Tangled in Time - The Burning Queen

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My recent interest in Tudor history with The Spanish Princess and Six the Musical inspired me to read the second book in Kathryn Lasky's Tangled in Time  duology . If you forgot or missed my previous review, this limited series is about a middle school girl named Rose Ashley who copes with the death of her mother by traveling back in time through a magical rose in her grandmother's greenhouse to the era of a young Queen Elizabeth. The first book, The Portal , was satisfying enough that I didn't feel obligated to read the next one. However, there were a few loose ends that I was curious about, so I decided to complete the series with The Burning Queen . I was disappointed to learn that this book was very similar to the first one and offered almost no progression in Rose's quest to rebuild her family. This post will contain some spoilers for Tangled in Time: The Portal , so please read my review for that instead if you don't want to be spoiled. The Burning Queen  pi

Review: The Opal Crown

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Last week, I reviewed an unnecessary sequel , so it only feels appropriate to follow up with another sequel I read that is so necessary that the original book feels empty without it. The Opal Crown  by Jenny Lundquist  fills in all of the gaps that were left behind by the Princess and the Pauper -inspired book,  The Princess in the Opal Mask . I enjoyed The Princess in the Opal Mask , but was left with many questions after completing the final chapter. It leaves both girls in a delicate situation that is likely to fall apart at any moment. The Opal Crown  conveys prcisely how that situation falls apart and how the girls must work together to save themselves, their kingdom, and choose how they will spend the rest of their lives. It is a fast-paced suspenseful adventure story that is superior to the original book in every way. This review will contain spoilers for The Princess in the Opal Mask , so be sure to read that first if it is a concern. The Princess in the Opal Mask  concludes wi

Review: Stalks of Gold

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I was fortunate to receive an ARC of the first book in the upcoming Bewitching Fairy Tales series by Celeste Baxendell . Set for release on January 28th,  Stalks of Gold  is a retelling of "Rumpelstiltskin" and "Rapunzel"  that I enjoyed quite a bit more than the last "Rumpelstiltskin" adaptation I reviewed. The love story in Stalks of Gold  is not shallow like many other fairy tale adaptations, and the protagonist's obstinance toward love is understandable. It sets up a flawed love triangle that gives the reader a chance to piece together how it might end up without being too heavy-handed. The first installment in this fairy tale series does a good job of balancing the two fairy tales without having  a split personality  by giving each of the two love interest a different role in both stories. Stalks of Gold  wastes no time in setting up the premise. Aurelia, a miller's daughter, is captured by palace guards and forced to spin straw into gold, s

Review: Poisoned

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I saw an ad on Facebook for Poisoned  by Jennifer Donnelly  and thought "Cool. A retelling of 'Snow White.' " Little did I know that this book would be one of the darkest and unpleasant retellings about the fairest one of all that I've ever read. The book has nothing in it that would be considered inappropriate for children, but it has the same level of storytelling as the 2012 film Snow White and the Huntsman . If you enjoyed that movie, you might like this book. However, I was not a fan of either. So much of Poisoned tries to incorporate Tim Burton -esque imagery that I wasn't sure if Jennifer Donnelly  was aware that she was writing a book and not a screenplay. Films are meant to tantalize their audiences with stunning visuals and sounds while books must allow us to connect with the characters on an emotional level by revealing their internal monologues. A good film or book would succeed in both. This succeeds in neither. Poisoned  is written mostly in the

Review: The Scarred Prince

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I recently started a new series called Kingdoms of Fable by Erika Everest . The first book is The Scarred Prince , which is promoted as an adaptation of "Beauty and the Beast"  and "Little Red Riding Hood."  Instead of retelling these well-known fairy tales, I found that The Scared Prince was actually an original story with references to many other fairy tales that were not listed in the description. I knew about Erika Everest from the Fairytale Courtyard group on Facebook  that she shares with one of my favorite authors, A.G. Marshall . This series is quite new with only two books out so far, and I think it's off to a terrific start. It's about a group of princesses who know each other due to a shared curse inspired by "The Twelve Dancing Princesses." Each book focuses on one of their adventures while further developing their shared friendships and experiences. The Scarred Prince  does not feel like a true "Beauty and the Beast" adapta

Review: The Golden Ball

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Since I enjoyed  The Scarred Prince  by Erika Everest as much as I did, I was eager to read and review the next book in the Kingdoms of Fable series,  The Golden Ball . This book is a charming novella that combines several fairy tales with the main spotlight on  "The Frog Prince" and "Swan Lake."  It is every bit as compelling as The Scarred Prince,  though it was a different story with a different type of protagonist. I thought it was an interesting choice to combine two fairy tales that both involve transformation sequences . To avoid having a bunch of sentient animals running around, the author only kept the physical transformation from one of these fairy tales. I think that was the right decision, though it would have been fun to see a swan and a frog interact together like Odette and Jean-Bob did in the animated Swan Princess  movies . Another magical twist to the tale is that the main character in The Golden Ball  also happens to be the daughter of "The

Review: The Enchanted Crown

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The Enchanted Crown  is the fourth and final book in The Stolen Kingdom series by Bethany Atazadeh . This is an excellent book for fans of any other book in the series. As a fan of The Stolen Kingdom  and The Jinni Key , I was happy to catch up with Arie and Rena for one last adventure. I was less impressed with The Cursed Hunter , but Nesrin was not featured enough to detract from my interest in this conclusion.  The Enchanted Crown  contains chapters from the perspectives of all three protagonists and several love interests, which keeps the story moving at a quick pace. The variety of perspectives creates a unique reading format since the story itself is a pretty traditional "final battle" narrative. I recently noticed that the subtitle for this book claims that it is a "Sleeping Beauty" retelling. That claim is a bit of a stretch, but that has nothing to do with the quality of the novel itself. The Enchanted Crown  is the exciting climax of The Stolen Kingdom ,

Review: Embers: Beastly Curses

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Last week, I received an advance copy of Embers: Beastly Curses  by Sky Sommers  in exchange for an honest review. This is the second book in a new fairy tale series called the Magic Mirrors Saga. I felt that there was a lot I missed by not reading the first book even though this one is supposed to work as a standalone. It is a creative and unique retelling of "Little Red Riding Hood,"  but it loses direction so many times that I wasn't sure which fairy tale I was supposed to be reading after I got several chapters in. Magic Mirrors reads like an ambitious attempt to reboot Once Upon a Time  with new fairy tale characters who are related in various ways, and it suffers from the same flaws as a result. The further I got, the more difficult it was to discern who the main character was supposed to be. It is unique for being the first time I've ever seen the "Red Riding Hood" character as a little boy, but the story is more focused on the wolf, Grace, while cons

Enchanted Kingdoms Review: Part 1

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The Enchanted Kingdoms box set  is a massive undertaking by the Enchanted Quill Press  to collect a large group of fairy tale authors to adapt 20 different fairy tales in an anthology to support an Puzzle Piece United , a children's autism charity. For a while, I was juggling with the idea of signing up to be one of the authors in this set, myself, and now I am kicking myself for not doing it. These 20 top tier books not only retell a multitude of beloved stories, but they do so in a unique and creative way that makes each one feel fresh and new. I haven't finished the entire set yet, so I decided that the best way to review it would be in chunks because I might forget the first few book by the time I get to the last one. Therefore, this will be the first post in a four-part series of mini reviews in which I summarize my thoughts on five books within this set. Before I begin, I have to say that it is absolutely worth the price for 20 full-length novels. Each one could easily th

Review: The Princess Vow

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The Princess Vow  is the third book in the Kingdoms of Fable series by Erika Everest . It continues the story of the League of Princesses that began with Sienna in The Scarred Prince . Each book combines two seemingly unrelated fairy tales in a unique way. This one covers "Sleeping Beauty" and "Puss in Boots."  It is the second novel adaptation I have read of "Puss in Boots," but of course, I have read many adaptations of "Sleeping Beauty,"  which gives this one some big shoes to fill. I don't think I would have enjoyed this book as much if I hadn't read the first two books in Erika Everest's series. It does a good job of further developing the other princesses from the dream world and their relationships with each other but doesn't work well as a standalone due to a lack of conflict within the story. The Princess Vow  continues the theme of sisterhood from the Kingdoms of Fable series. It focuses on two princesses, who happen

Enchanted Kingdoms Review: Part 2

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This is the second review in a four-part series. If you missed the first part, you can  find it here . I completed the next five books in the Enchanted Kingdoms anthology  and was pretty disappointed. Every single adaptation in this section went for the dark gritty reboot version of the fairy tale ala Fate: The Winx Saga  instead of a creative contemporary retelling. They include vampires, ghosts, or werewolves, making these five fairy tales feel like Halloween horror on steroids instead of an enchanted world, as the title of the anthology would suggest. These stories encompass the rest of the ebook that is provided when you order this set on Amazon . The other ten books in the series are included in a download link that is provided at the end. Hopefully, those books will be more optimistic because dang, I thought I had turned cynical toward fairy tales, but I had nothing on these writers. Rumple's Revenge  by Craig Halloran This retelling of "Rumpelstiltskin"  starts ou

Review: The Faerie Prince

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The Faerie Prince  is the latest installment in the Fairytales of Folkshore series by Lucy Tempest . I have to say that this author's writing style has changed significantly since the original Thief of Cahraman trilogy . Her books used to overflow with lengthy and unnecessary exposition, and now they are succinct and to the point. This change was most noticeable in her "Cinderella" story, Princess of Midnight , which might be my favorite from this series. The Faerie Prince is the most simplistic book in the series to date, which might work a little to its detriment. It is an adaptation of "Snow White,"  but intentionally leaves out "and the Seven Dwarfs" from its marketing. It's just Snow White. I can only assume that Lucy cut these additional side characters to keep the story simple enough for a single book. but doing so turned a unique princess story into a generic fantasy romance adventure, albeit still a pretty good one. The Faerie Prince  te

Enchanted Kingdoms Review: Part 3

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This is the third part of my review for the massive Enchanted Kingdoms fairy tale anthology . You can find the first part here and the second part here  if you missed them. Today I am covering the first five books from the external file that is linked to at the end of the Amazon ebook. This was my favorite set of stories from this series so far. They stuck closer to the fantasy settings of original fairy tales than the previous books, which contained more sci-fi and horror. These are princess stories at their best, filled with more twists and turns than you would expect from a traditional fairy tale retelling, so let's dive right in! Crumbling Towers  by Anne Stryker This story is my favorite in this anthology so far. Not only is it the best "Rapunzel" adaptation I have ever read, but it is also one of the best fairy tale novels I have had the pleasure of experiencing. My only complaint is that it ended way too soon, which the author apologized for in her notes due to w

Review: Disney Princess Tales of Courage and Kindness

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As soon as I learned that yesterday's Ultimate Princess Celebration  came with a free ebook, I scoured the internet to find and read it. Tales of Courage and Kindness   contains 14 short stories that each feature a different official Disney Princess  and two bonus stories that about Queens Anna and Elsa that take place after  Frozen 2 . The book's illustrated novella format reminds me of a two-book series I found many years ago called Once Upon a Princess , which retold each princess's story from her point of view. This book differs from that format in that it is told in the third person narrative, but the compilation of different princess stories accompanied by beautiful illustrations is still similar. Each short story is written by a different author and illustrated by a variety of artists, each with their own unique and colorful style. There isn't much point in reviewing each short story individually when you can read them all for free online , so instead, I will go

Review: Awaken

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Though I wasn't sure what to expect from Camille Peters'  new fairy tale book after reading the last one , I am pleased to say that Awaken  is now my favorite book in The Kingdom Chronicles along with  Identity . It may be no coincidence that these two books are connected by a recurring character, Archer, who was the brother of the protagonist in Identity  and the love interest of the protagonist in Awaken . This is a creative retelling of "Sleeping Beauty"  that focuses on a specific aspect of the 1959 Disney adaptation  rather than anything from the original fairy tale. It never ceases to amaze me how many creative ways  authors have found  to retell this story in a way that allows the sleeping princess to be more active  while remaining true to the heart of the original. The heroine from  Awaken  suffers from a bad case of amnesia. She refers to herself as Primrose even though she knows it isn't her real name. When she first encounters Archer in the woods and f

Enchanted Kingdoms Review: Part 4

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In about a month and a half, I completed all 20 books from the Enchanted Kingdoms anthology . It was not easy to read this many novels in such a short period of time. I learned about a lot of terrific authors and some that I probably would not have been interested in reading otherwise. Each of the four sets of books I reviewed follow vague themes. The first five books  were contemporary retellings of well-known fairy tales. The second five  were horror and paranormal romance. The third set  included more traditional retellings, and these last books placed a spotlight on disabled characters  overcoming seemingly impossible odds. I thoroughly enjoyed this last set of books and even learned about some new fairy tales. Silent Melody  by Alice Ivinya This is a creative and beautiful retelling of "The Pied Piper of Hamelin."  It's one of the best books in this entire anthology and incorporates new ideas that fully flesh out the characters and settings in an otherwise simple sto

Review: The Mystery Princess

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The Mystery Princess  is the latest installment in Melanie Cellier's Return to the Four Kingdoms series . It contains many references to characters and events from her other fairy tale adaptations including The Princess Fugitive , A Dream of Ebony and White , and The Secret Princess . This book follows the same format as Melanie's other books in which a capable young lady intercepts a royal conspiracy, saves the day, and falls in love with a prince. Though it might be a bit predictable after all the other books she wrote that take place in this setting, that doesn't mean that it isn't interesting. Not only is this the first of Melanie's books to feature a dark-skinned heroine on the cover, but it is also a unique take on "Cinderella"  that changes many elements of the timeworn fairy tale to keep it fresh while remaining true to the heart of the story. Like all of Melanie's fairy tale books, The Mystery Princess  has a protagonist that long-time reade

Book Owl Word Search 500th Post Extravaganza!

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To celebrate  500 posts in The Princess Blog , I'm participating in the Book Owl Word Search (BOWS) along with many other talented writers. Each author has a secret word hidden somewhere in their blog. If you can find and collect all the secret words, you get a chance to win a prize! I'm on the orange team. You can learn more about the challenge on the Snowy Wings Publishing website . For my entry, I decided to release the bonus chapter from my book, The Stolen Slipper , which had only been published in the Kindle box set for The Stolen Trilogy until now. This chapter is from the perspective of James, the "Prince Charming" character from my reimagining of  "Cinderella,"  who is also  Lily's brother from The Stolen Queen , the second book in the trilogy .   After you read the chapter, you will find a link to the next blog in this challenge. I hope you have fun learning about these talented authors and searching for their hidden words.

Review: Gisela's Passion

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One of the most intriguing stories in the Enchanted Kingdoms anthology  was Naiya's Wish  by Astrid V.J. , which retold a beautiful fairy tale that I was not previously familiar with. That was no coincidence as this author has built her career around obscure adaptations. Among her other works, I was most intrigued by Gisela's Passion , which is inspired by the ballet Giselle , a story I knew next to nothing about except that it was featured in the Barbie movie The Pink Shoes  and inspired the name of the heroine (but not the story) from Disney's Enchanted . That was just enough to make me want to know more. I trusted Astrid's beautiful descriptive storytelling after reading Naiya's Wish , and this book did not disappoint me in that respect, though it did in others. No matter how the story is told, Giselle is a classic love triangle between one woman and two men from different backgrounds. It is also a real downer, which is probably why the ballet was never adapted

Review: Waiting in the Water

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My favorite book in the Enchanted Kingdoms anthology  was Crumbling Towers  by Anne Stryker . I was so impressed by her innocent and whimsical imagery that I decided to look into some of her other works. From what I've seen on her website, she appears to be very good at starting series, but not at continuing them. She has a number of fantasy series that only contain one or two books each. I selected two of her books to introduce myself to her fantasy realms. One is about faeries , and the other is about mermaids . Though I was going to start with the faery book, Day of Wishes and Wonder , I had trouble opening it on the Kindle Cloud Reader, so I switched to  Waiting in the Water  instead. Waiting in the Water  is the second book in Anne's Beyond the Veil series. It made no references to any earlier story or series of events, so it can easily work as a standalone. Waiting in the Water  is inspired by "The Little Mermaid," but not based on it. It reads like a gender-be

Review: Day of Wishes and Wonder

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After I completed Waiting in the Water , I jumped right into another fantasy series by Anne Stryker . Day of Wishes and Wonder  is the first, and so far, only book in her Starlight Fae series. It had a tonal shift from Waiting in the Water  and even Crumbling Towers , her "Rapunzel" adaptation from the Enchanted Kingdoms anthology that motivated me to read more of her work. I realize that in older mythology, the fae are a dark, mischievous, and often deadly species that hardly resemble the sparkly faery princesses  that we see in modern media. As fan of the latter, I prefer some sort of middle ground when I read books inspired by this mythology, such as Brittany Fichter's Autumn Fairy trilogy . Even the Disney Princesses update their fairy tales and characters every few years to go along with the times. The other books that I had read by Anne Stryker gave me certain expectations that this missed, despite its gorgeous cover. Day of Wishes and Wonder  follows the "l

Review: Memory's Wake

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I had been a fan of Selina Fenech's fantasy artwork  for many years before I learned that she is also an author . After I discovered one of her books in a fairy tale anthology , I started reading the first book in the Memory's Wake Trilogy and was instantly hooked. This series contains all the things I love about princess stories--a magical fairy tale kingdom, romance, a strong cast of characters, a dash of real-world perspective , and gorgeous illustrations from the talented author/artist. I haven't been this excited about a book series in a long time. I am halfway through the second book,  Hope's Reign ,  and can't wait to find out what will happen next. Memory's Wake  has two distinct protagonists, who are both appealing in different ways. Eloryn is the traditional fairy tale princess with flowing golden locks who is kind to everyone she meets and maintains a positive outlook  in spite of the danger that has been following her since birth. Memory is a jaded

Review: Kingdom of Beauty

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It's hard to get back into the fairy tale retelling grind after completing such a great original fantasy series . Some fairy tale retellings are unique, while others stick pretty closely to the original story. Kingdom of Beauty  by Deborah Grace White  fell somewhere in the middle. It was just similar enough to the original  "Beauty and the Beast"  that it suffered from a case of sameness after so many other retellings . That is not to say that it was bad or poorly written. In fact, it was quite good for the first book in a new series of fairy tale retellings . It's just very vanilla. Kingdom of Beauty  is about a girl named Felicity who lives with her eccentric father and brother, Ambrose. Ambrose is friends with a bully who forces his affections on Felicity no matter how much she rejects him. Though his name is Kurt, he is such a cookie-cutter archetype that it might as well have been Gaston. Every other chapter in the book switches to the perspective of Justin, a

Review: Fae's Deception

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After reading so many fairy tale adaptations , you might think I've been obsessing over the same stories again and again. Oddly enough, the fairy tale books I've read have proven to be more imaginative and diverse in content than the original  faery princess  stories that I've switched to as of late. Each one seems to have the same plot. An ordinary girl with a difficult life discovers that she is a lost princess  of a magical land that she is magically transported to, often by a handsome young man, and overcomes a number of insurmountable odds to take back her kingdom from a greedy and powerful villain. I loved the way this story was presented in Selina Fenech's Memory's Wake  trilogy , but it started to lose traction after I read another book with the same plot. Fae's Deception  by Michelle Lynn  and Melissa Craven  suffers from a similar lack of originality along with inconsistent characters that made me disinterested in reading the rest of the series. This

Review: Reclaiming Ryda

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Reclaiming Ryda  by Rachel Rossano  is a book I've had on my backburner for a while after I saw a recommendation for it in an author newsletter. Now that I've finally gotten around to reading it, I just wish I had done so sooner. This is the second book in the Once Upon a Duchy series  that worked just fine for me as a standalone. It is an original romance story even though the cover claims that it is based on the fairy tales  "Rapunzel" and "East of the Sun, West of the Moon."  My only complaint is that it is a little longer than it needs to be, but that is a small price to pay for such a beautifully crafted love story. The book doesn't have any magic in it, which allows the plot to devote itself entirely to its characters and their relationships. Any lover of romance would be sure to devour this book. Reclaiming Ryda is a "lost princess" story that doesn't follow the traditional modern-day narrative. Ryda has no need or desire to recla

Review: The Beast and the Enchantress

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The Beast and the Enchantress  by Camille Peters  is the first book in a new collaborative series of fairy tale retellings called A Villain's Ever After . Each week for the next three months, a new villain-inspired book will be released by a new author, many of whose fairy tale books I have reviewed in the past. The series follows the latest trend in which villains are treated like princesses or heroes  who made mistakes or were misunderstood. This trend first gained popularity ten years ago with Gregory Maguire's Wicked  in 2011 and its corresponding musical and has grown exponentially in  recent pop culture and animation . Though I may not have time to read every book in the Villain's Ever After series, I was fortunate to receive an ARC of The Beast and the Enchantress , which just came out this weekend. This is the second adaptation of "Beauty and the Beast"  I have read by Camille Peters. The story is quite different from Enchantment , so it didn't feel li

Review: Hearts at Dawn

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Earlier this month, I was generously offered the opportunity to read a review copy of Hearts at Dawn  by Alysa Salzberg . This book is a historical interpretation of "Beauty and the Beast."  Though I've read many adaptations of this beloved fairy tale, Hearts at Dawn  is an original take that I don't think has ever been done before. The story is so grounded in reality that it feels like something that could have actually happened during the Franco-Prussian War. It offers a unique narrative style that reminds me of Lemony Snicket from  A Series of Unfortunate Events  with a narrator who almost never appears in the story despite her emotional involvement. This is a great book for history buffs, though it lacks the whimsy and mystery of other "Beauty and the Beast" adaptations. One thing that makes Hearts at Dawn  stand out from other versions of "Beauty and the Beast" is that it is told from the perspective of the enchantress , though she is not the

Review: The Desert Princess

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Melanie Cellier  is the author who introduced me to the wide world of indie authors with her first fairy tale retelling, The Princess Companion . Since then, she has written roughly a dozen more adaptations of classic fairy tales set in the same world of fairy godmothers and true love. The most recent of these is The Desert Princess . After reading so many books from the world of the Four Kingdoms already, it's a little difficult to experience a new book from these series that feels fresh and exciting. The prospect of a gender-bent "Aladdin" retelling  is nothing new, but I was eager to see Melanie's unique take on it. However, this adaptation did not add any new developments to her many other fairy tale retellings set in this world. If you have never read another Melanie Cellier book before, this is a good introduction to her storytelling style. It has become a predictable trope for all of Melanie Cellier's fairy tale books to begin with a caravan raid that sends

Review: Enspelled

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This book popped up as a surprise in Aya Ling 's latest newsletter. I could not be more pleased to learn that she wrote another book along the same lines as her Unfinished Fairy Tales series , which was a guilty pleasure of mine. Both books feature girls from the real world who are transported into less-than-desirable roles in well-known fairy tales, go on a new adventure in the same setting, and live happily ever after. Enspelled  is more overtly inspired by izekai anime and manga  than the Unfinished Fairy Tales books because the main character is transported into the story of "The Goose Girl" after getting killed by a truck, which is a classic trope in modern anime. In fact, the story bears an extremely strong resemblance to an anime I watched recently called My Next Life as a Villainess . Both stories feature a girl who wakes up in the body of the villain from a story she is already familiar with after getting hit by a truck and must struggle to block all the "d

Review: The Thorn Princess

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After taking a brief hiatus from the weirdly specific genre of girls from the real world who find out they're actually faery princesses , I decided to take a risk and dive into  The Thorn Princess  by Bekah Harris . This wasn't the worst book I've read with this plot, but it had all the usual suspects of paranormal YA fantasy romance novels. There's the average down-on-her-luck teen protagonist who's so unremarkable that any reader can place themselves in her shoes, the quirky best friend, and the oh-so-sexy supernatural love interest who comes into her life like a whirlwind to whisk her away to a fantasy land. Despite all of these stereotypes, the story was enjoyable enough for what it was. There were no major plotholes, and the characters remained consistent throughout. However, it was so similar to other books in this genre that I felt no motivation to read more of the series once I completed it. The Thorn Princess  centers around Ivy Hawthorne, the lost heir

Review: The Dark King and the Eternal Dance

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The Dark King and the Eternal Dance  is the second book I've read in  A Villain's Ever After , though it is not the second book in the series. I received an ARC copy from Camille Peters , who wrote the other book I read from this series, The Beast and the Enchantress . Camille supposedly encouraged Alesha Adamson to become an author and contribute to A Villain's Ever After, which is a very sweet thing to do for a friend. We could all use a good friend who encourages us to share our passions with the world as a true modern princess would. This book is based on "The Twelve Dancing Princesses," which is one of my favorite fairy tales, but one of my least favorite to read adaptations of . Most authors prefer to turn the tale into a horrific nightmare about siblings who are forced to go out each night and perform tasks against their will instead of an escapist fantasy about twelve sheltered princesses who sneak out to enjoy some freedom from the confines of their c

Review: Beasts of Beauty

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I had no idea what I was in for when I agreed to read an ARC of Beasts of Beauty  by Celeste Baxendell , the third book in the Bewitching Fairy Tales series. This book really packs a punch! I had read the first book in this series, Stalks of Gold , but I don't remember it being quite as heartwrenching as this one. It is not a light read. If you attempt to climb this mountain of a book, you must be prepared to have your heart ripped out and squeezed into pieces. However, the story is amazing and well worth it if you are in the right mood. It is a gender-bent retelling of "Beauty and the Beast" and "Little Red Riding Hood" and tells both in an innovative way. I loved and hated it at the same time for the way it manipulated my emotions. In this gender-bent retelling of  "Beauty and the Beast"  and  "Little Red Riding Hood,"  Chasen takes on the roles of both Beauty and Red Riding Hood. When his sister tells him about a ferocious beast living i

Review: The Sorcerer and the Swan Princess

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The Sorcerer and the Swan Princess  is the third book that I have read in the Villain's Ever After series . I've been skipping around because the series contains too many books to keep up with on a regular basis. This one stood out to me after enjoying several of Lucy Tempest 's recent fairy tale books and because the story of "Swan Lake" has always fascinated me due to its many possible interpretations . While this book follows the same basic structure as the others I've read  in which the prince or princess falls in love with the villain instead of their traditional love interest, it also had a few clever twists that made it stand out. It takes place in the same fairy tale world as Lucy Tempest's other books , so it can be interpreted as the latest installment in the Fairy Tales of Folkshore series just as easily as the Villain's Ever After series. Princess Ava's sister, Lina, has always been jealous of her claim to the throne, but Ava never re

Review: The Prince and the Sea Witch

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It's no secret that "The Little Mermaid" is my favorite fairy tale. One of my favorite adaptations of it is Princess of Mermaids  by AG Marshall . In  The Prince and the Sea Witch , she brings us an entirely different imagining of the story in a much darker world where mermaids follow the classical siren mythology of luring men to their deaths. This is one of the latest entries in the Villain's Ever After series that I had been looking forward to the most. Considering the length of many of AG Marshall's recent novels , I was pleasantly surprised that this one was quite short, allowing me to read it on my own time without feeling pressured to finish. It doesn't convey the same themes of risks and sacrifice that I love about the original "Little Mermaid" story, but it is a pleasant book in its own right that follows the narrative structure of the other Villain's Ever After books, giving readers a good idea of what to expect. You've heard of

Review: Carabosse and the Spindle Spell

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Since I was feeling a little down this week, I decided to check out the final book in the Villain's Ever After series, Carabosse and the Spindle Spell . This book stood out to me because it sounded like such a drastic twist from the other books in the series. It's a high fantasy retelling of "Sleeping Beauty"  from the villain's perspective, but it's nothing like  Maleficent . The book turns the cold-hearted fairy into a bubbly and somewhat geeky princess whose kingdom gets caught up in a power struggle. It has shapeshifting dragons like the Love's Enchanted Tales series  and reads more like a high fantasy novella than a fairy tale retelling, which appears to be the common them among  author Sylvia Mercedes ' roster of books. No longer a scorned fairy who places a curse on a newborn princess at her Christening, Carabosse is now the princess of a magical kingdom that is protected by twelve dragon lords. Meanwhile, Aurora is the ruthless daughter of a

Review: Turret

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It's oddly fitting that my last post before moving from my cramped tower into a spacious castle is about an adaptation of  "Rapunzel."   Turret  is the latest book in Camille Peters' Kingdom Chronicles , a series that has improved exponentially  since its humble beginnings . Like the other books in this series, Turret  places the love story first and foremost with everything else as a subplot or setting. Fortunately, the setting is interesting enough to carry it along whenever the romance needs a breather. The princess in this version of "Rapunzel" does not possess the iconic magical hair that most adaptations do ( except the Barbie movie ), but there is still plenty of magic to behold within the walls of the tower. Turret  is technically a retelling of "Rapunzel," but I think it is actually a better version of "Beauty and the Beast"  than Enchantment , the other "Beauty and the Beast" adaptation from this series. Like Enchantme

Review: Fae Bloodlines Duology

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Fae Away  and Fae Fractured  make up the first Fae Bloodlines duology by Rose Garcia . The title of the first book may sound like some sort of weird supernatural insect repellent, but the story is much better than its namesake. I was drawn to this series by the description of a fae princess who falls in love with a boy from the human world. It sounded like a fairy version of  "The Little Mermaid."  While it does read a little like that, Fae Away  is very much its own story with lots of worldbuilding and character development. The book is told from the perspective of both lovers, so it provides lots of insight into the human and fae worlds. I wasn't able to get quite as into the sequel, Fae Fractured . Like most epic fantasy conclusions, it focused more on war and death than further developing the protagonists' love story, but it does provide a satisfying conclusion to the two-book series. Princess Celyse grew up feeling like she never fit in among the fae court, but

Review: A Kiss in Time

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A Kiss in Time  by Alex Flinn is one of several "Sleeping Beauty" adaptations that was recommended to me from  the last adaptation I reviewed before moving into my new castle . You might say I was "sleeping" on the recommendations (queue the crickets). This book stood out to me because it sounded similar to the  Fae Bloodlines duology that I just completed and loved. Both books are about a princess from a magical medieval world who falls in love with a modern-day teenage boy from our world. Fae Away  is a better book overall with a deeper and more fulfilling love story. Still, A Kiss in Time  is not without its charm. It's a fun and easy read that would appeal to younger readers than most of the other books I review and would be perfect for middle schoolers who want to get an early start on YA fiction. This book begins just like "Sleeping Beauty." A princess named Talia is cursed to prick her finger on a spindle before she turns 16 and take the ent

Review: The Enchanted Rose by R.M. ArceJaeger

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The next book on my "Sleeping Beauty" recommendation list  was The Enchanted Rose  by R.M. ArceJaeger . This book is an adaptation of both "Sleeping Beauty" and "Beauty and the Beast" in equal parts. After reading the description, I wondered how Beauty could fall in love with the Beast if she was asleep, but the book wisely saved her sleeping curse until the end. While "Beauty and the Beast" adaptation overpowers much of the middle section of the book, the author still manages to expand on the "Sleeping Beauty" elements by making a good chunk of the opening section about the lives of the fairies, how the princess and prince were cursed as babies, and the kings and queens' reactions to the curse. I must also commend this book for being extremely thorough. It doesn't waste a single page dragging out an individual character's storyline. Instead, it fleshes out the emotional arc of everyone involved equally. Like most "Sle

Review: The Sultan and the Storyteller

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In honor of National Tell a Fairy Tale Day  last weekend, all of the books from the Villain's Ever After series went on sale, so I decided to add one more to my collection. The Sultan and the Storyteller  by Lichelle Slater  caught my eye because instead of doing the obvious choice of reimaging "Aladdin," it is an adaptation of One Thousand and One Nights , a myth that rarely gets much attention. Lichelle Slater's previous books  were just okay for me, so I wasn't too sure what to expect from this one. Still, I was eager to read something new. I found it adequate, but not as enjoyable as some of the other books in this series , considering that they are all written by different authors. In this rare adaptation of One Thousand One Nights , the role of Shahrazad is taken by a young lady named Shahira, who has the unique ability to prophesize the future by speaking it out loud in the form of a story. Such a powerful ability could allow her to change the world in a

Review: Before Beauty

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"Beauty and the Beast"  is the most popular source for the fairy tale novel adaptations that I've read, so it's no surprise that it was the inspiration for the first book in Brittany Fichter 's Classical Kingdoms Collection series. I was reluctant to read Before Beauty after seeing a preview of the first chapter and after my disappointment with several other books in this series. Now that I've read it, I do not have much motivation to read the two sequels as neither of the main characters were particularly interesting. Brittany loves torturing her characters, which was made very apparent in her Autumn Fairy  trilogy, and this book was no exception. Some people enjoy reading about characters who suffer. I am not one of those people. The preview I read a while ago for Before Beauty  involved a description of the young Prince Everard helping a petite girl at a public event before accidentally pushing her in front of a moving carriage that ran her over and perma

Review: Hooked

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I'm not usually a big fan of "Peter Pan"  stories, but when I read the description for Hooked , I was, well, "hooked." This is the first book in a new series called Tales of Winberg by Annette K. Larsen . Though I was not previously familiar with her work, this story made me pretty curious about her other princess adventure tales. The series takes place in the same world as her previous series,  Books of Dalthia , which also contains a number of fairy tale retellings. This book is an excellent princess story that contains everything a great fairy tale should, but I would not necessarily recommend it to fans of Peter Pan  in particular, as it takes great liberties with its homage. Still, I have to give the author props for coming up with such a creative reimagining. Wendolyn spent most of her teenage years in hiding for fear that she would be discovered by the wicked captain her family tried to force her into marriage with. In order to hide her identity, she went

Review: Mirrors of Ice

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Mirrors of Ice  was one of the many promotional sales from National Fairy Tell a Fairy Tale Day . I decided to check it out since I had already read the first and third books in this series. Celeste Baxdendell  is not the kind of author you should turn to if you are looking for a quick fairy tale fix. Her Bewitching Fairy Tales series  is long, detailed, and often quite dark. However, if you have some time on your hands and are looking to be fully immersed in a fleshed-out fantasy world packed with references to multiple fairy tales, this is a good series to check out. Mirrors of Ice  is the second entry in this series and works just as well as a standalone book as it does an expansion to the world that was built in the other books. It is a combination of "The Snow Queen" and "Snow White"  and cleverly addresses elements of both fairy tales that I rarely see in other adaptations, which secures its place as my favorite book in the Bewitching Fairy Tales series thu

Review: Forgotten

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I admit I wasn't too excited at first when I learned that Camille Peters ' new book, Forgotten  would be based on one of my least favorite fairy tales "East of the Sun and West of the Moon."  However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it bears little resemblance to this story is actually a stealth retelling of "Romeo and Juliet."  It is a heartfelt tale of forbidden love and all the trials and tribulations that come with it. This book evokes some heavy emotions that I really appreciate during a time when most stories have become more about politics than feelings. I found myself drawn to the characters and their surprisingly steamy romance. This is the first Camille Peters book set in this world that I feel stands on its own as an original classic. Princess Taryn has a secret. Though she is loyal to her crown, she is also in love with the enemy prince, Xander, and will not let logic or reason stop her from sneaking away to be with him even if it kills

Review: Cinders of Glass

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I just finished reading an ARC of Cinders of Glass  by Celeste Baxendell , and all I can say is wow! This book drastically exceeded my expectations. Even though it is an adaptation of "Cinderella" and "The Little Match Girl,"  it was not the least bit predictable and kept me on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen after each chapter. It had one of the most relatable shy princess  protagonists I have ever seen in fiction while thoroughly exploring the pros and cons of being selfless or charming without coming off as cynical . This book is the fourth entry in the Bewitching Fairy Tales series and my favorite by far. Despite being nearly three times as long as the books I usually read in this genre, there was not a single sentence that felt extraneous or expository. I savored every page right up to the last one. At first glance, Liora may seem like your typical "Cinderella" character, devoting herself to serving her stepfamily and letting others

Review: Magic in Mauve

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Magic in Mauve  by Nonona Gerikh is a book that appeared in my inbox as if by magic. It is a similar take on The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants  with a more feminine flair since the traveling clothing item in question is a frilly mauve skirt that makes its way to a number of women around the world including a Middle Eastern princess. The book is a quick read that doesn't spend a lot of time delving into the lives of each woman who was touched by the "magical" skirt, which makes it a light-hearted book for a rainy afternoon. I would recommend this to someone who is looking for a quick fix of female empowerment and doesn't want to think too hard. Magic in Mauve  has four and a half-ish protagonists, but its real starring role goes to the mauve skirt that brings them all together. The skirt is crafted by a woman named Monique, who dreams of her magical wedding and honeymoon as she lovingly chooses the fabric and assembles it on her sewing machine. Her dream of marria

Review: Beauty and the Beast and the Enchantress

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"Beauty and the Beast"  is one of the most popular fairy tales for novel adaptations next to "Cinderella."  Given how similar these adaptations can become, it's important for authors to add some new elements to the story. Beauty and the Beast and the Enchantress  by Finley Aaron is one book to attempt this. It is told from the perspective of the enchantress and parallels the romance between Beauty and the beast with a second love story that is the true heart of the book. The problem is that so much of this book focuses on the story we already know that the newer romance is rushed and underdeveloped. Still, it provides an interesting concept about some of the psychological and existential elements of the fairy tale that are often overlooked. Beauty and the Beast and the Enchantress  introduces Rosalina as the character who cursed a prince named Alexander to become a beast. However, she does not do this out of spite, nor does she put much consideration into the r

Review: Kingdom of Thorns

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Kingdom of Thorns  by Katherine Macdonald  does not offer anything I haven't already seen in a "Sleeping Beauty" retelling, so I was hesitant to read it at first. In recent years, it has become traditional for the princess to fight against her curse , so that is something I have always come to expect from modern-day retellings. I even read another version where she uses astral projection to communicate while sleeping so she can still consent to the controversial kiss . Yet, this book manages to hit all the right marks in all the right places, combining everything great about fantasy novels and fairy tale adaptations in a way that's both engaging and interesting. Both protagonists are fleshed-out characters with hopes and fears just like any ordinary person. Their love is so strong and pure that it makes you want to read all the way to their "happily ever after" despite knowing that it's coming already. Prince Leo is not a hero. He is not prone to slayi

Review: A Song of Sea and Shore

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Most adaptations of "The Little Mermaid"  do one of two things. They  retell the exact same story with more detail than the original or they turn the whole tale on its head and create something completely different , usually losing what made the story so special in the first place. A Song of Sea and Shore  by Katherine Macdonald lies somewhere in the middle. The best way I can describe it is that it turns the story sideways. Some aspects are exactly the same while others have shifted, such as the mermaid's motivation to visit her human prince. This is the third book I have read from The Fey Collection , and the author takes more liberties with this fairy tale than she did with the other two . Some of the changes lower the stakes for the main character, making it less of an emotionally powerful tale, while others address concerns that critics have brought up with this story for years. Like most incarnations of "The Little Mermaid," Neri is a headstrong and opti

Review: Ever Cursed

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Ever Cursed  by Corey Ann Haydu  reinforces the reasons that I enjoy indie fairy tale books more than books released by mainstream publishers over the past decade or so. This book was released by Simon and Schuster , a very well-known publisher of both juvenile and adult books that I used to read often when I was a child. Yet, it is so woke and borderline inappropriate--even for teenagers--that I'm shocked they would allow such a story to sit on bookshelves in the Young Adult section of stores. Maybe shocked isn't the right word. I'm  disenchanted with the modern mainstream portrayal of fairy tales in general. Like most contemporary media, this book contains a clear political message that is stronger than the plot or characters who reside within it. One of the most common criticisms of classic fairy tale princess stories is that they are misogynist . Princesses are always targets , witches and queens are always evil , and brave heroes always save the day . Over time, thes

Review: Spindle Fire Duology

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There are few books that I would equate the experience of reading to physical torture, but Spindle Fire  and Winter Glass  by Lexa Hillyer managed to accomplish just that. I would never have expected to dislike an adaptation of "Sleeping Beauty"  so much after reading so many good ones , and yet here we are. It isn't that Ms. Hillyer doesn't know how to write. Indeed, it's quite the opposite. She seems to think of writing as a way to show off her impressive array of the English language and very little else. With no sense of story structure, the plot and characters in these books fall to the wayside, leaving no motivation on the reader's part to complete them. I received both books from the Spindle Fire  duology as a gift and felt obliged to finish them for the sake of completion but took no pleasure in this task. Spindle Fire  is a re-imagining of "Sleeping Beauty" in which the cursed princess, Aurora, has a half-sister named Isbe. Isbe is blind be

Review: Court of Swans

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Court of Swans by Melanie Dickerson  is a book that was recommended to me a long time ago that I just got around to reading it. I was impressed by Melanie's vast array of fairy tale retellings , especially as a traditionally published author. Her books are classified as Christian Fiction, which gives her a pass for telling more traditional versions of these stories instead of the obligatory contemporary spin  that requires women to become warriors and swear off men. What makes her books unique is that they retell these stories from a historical perspective of how they could have actually happened. The magical elements have been removed and replaced with metaphorical interpretations. It was interesting how she retold the story of "The Wild Swans" without anyone transforming into a swan. This book takes place in 14th century London and tells the story of a young woman named Delia whose brothers were arrested by the king on false charges. As the only one who was not placed

Netflix Is Adapting The School for Good and Evil, So I Read the First Book!

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The School for Good and Evil  is a middle grade book series released in 2013 with a similar plot to Ever After High  and Descendants  and with all the ambition of Harry Potter . Considering how popular this fairy tale-inspired series seems to be, I'm surprised I never heard of it until a little over a week ago when I learned that Netflix is turning it into a movie . Perhaps one of the reasons it was so overlooked is its super generic title, which sounds like it could be about literally anything. Most fictional stories are about the battle between good and evil. A better title would have been The School for Princesses and Witches , which would have been more eye-catching to lovers of fairy tales. Maybe the vagueness is good, though, since this book contains many horror elements that could scare off young fairy tale aficionados or particularly sensitive older ones like myself. When I began reading The School for Good and Evil , I had many questions that were mostly resolved by the en

Review: Love of the Sea

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Love of the Sea  by Lauren Masterson  is an indie mermaid princess book I learned about through Twitter. As an ardent love of "The Little Mermaid," I decided to check it out. Even though it isn't a fairy tale adaptation, it has more in common with "The Little Mermaid" than other original mermaid boos I've read such as Rescue Sirens , The Tail of Emily Windsnap , or Deep Blue . Unlike these stories, which contain little to no romance,  Love of the Sea  is about a mermaid who falls in love with a human and visits his kingdom in the hopes of winning him over. However, there are a few key differences between this novel and the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale. In Love of the Sea , the mermaid princess intends to recruit the human prince to rule her underwater kingdom and become part of her world instead of the other way around. I found the story to be a bit lacking in the romance department, but the world-building was exceptional. Princess Asrai has been hid

Review: The Silent Songbird

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The Silent Songbird  is the second book I've read by Christian fiction author Melanie Dickerson . This one appealed to me because it was inspired by my favorite fairy tale, "The Little Mermaid."  Considering that this fairy tale already has some heavy Christian themes such as the mermaid wanting to gain an immortal soul through holy matrimony and the prince being found in a temple when he washed ashore, I thought this book would have some heavier religious undertones than it did. It was a pretty loose retelling that was far more realistic than the original story, much like the first book I read by this author. The Silent Songbird has nothing to do with mermaids or even the sea and instead tries to capture the rebellious spirit of the little mermaid while engrossing its readers in a believable historical setting. Evangeline has royal blood flowing through her veins despite her illegitimate birth. Because of this, her cousin, the king, is not quite sure what to do with he

Review: Cinder (Lunar Chronicles)

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The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer  is not a series I would have considered reading if it wasn't inspired by fairy tales, and even then, I had some hesitation. It takes place in a dystopian cyberpunk-like world filled with robots, aliens, and disease. It's hardly the setting you would expect for a story based on "Cinderella,"  yet the first book, Cinder , wholeheartedly embraces this odd combination. I was intrigued by the concept after reading a good short story  about a robotic Cinderella, but this world was a bit too dark for my tastes. Though I have little interest in reading the rest of the series, I have to give the author credit for her creativity and passion. Cinder is a cyborg working as a mechanic in the dystopian city of New Beijing. She has several chance encounters with Prince Kai, who is in a marriage alliance with the wicked Queen Levana, an alien from the Lunar Kingdom with mind control powers. He hopes to get out of the alliance by finding the lost

Review: Songs of Stone

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Cinders of Glass  was one of the best fairy tale adaptations I have ever read, so it was difficult to follow up with a book that was just as romantic, compelling, and magical. Songs of Stone  by Celeste Baxendell  has all of those things to an extent, but it does not live up to the high pedestal that its predecessor set for it. This is the fifth book in the Bewitching Fairy Tales series  and is inspired by two somewhat lesser known stories, "The Pied Piper" and "The Sandman."  The book has a rough-and-tumble protagonist similar to the one in Beasts of Beauty , the third book in this series, and is a far cry from the gentle Liora in Cinders of Glass . It is jam-packed with so many references to previous books that many chapters were cumbersome to get through even though I've already read the rest of the series. Piper is a tragic young lady who lost most of her family and turned to a life of crime to save the one relative she has left. She is "gifted" a

Review: Lost in Averell

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Lost in Averell  by Tara Grayce  is a portal fantasy  where no one dies or takes over anyone else's body for a change. The book was recommended to me, and I figured out why when I realized that Tara Grayce was one of the authors who participated in the Villain's Ever After series . Lost in Averell is the first book in a new series called Princess by Night about a girl who travels between the real world and a fantasy land where she's a princess. I've read similar series in the past such as Avalon: Web of Magic  and The Tail of Emily Windsnap , and this one has the same level of magic and charm. I love these books because they encourage us to imagine that the magical worlds we love to fantasize about may be just within our reach. Half the time, Amy is an ordinary girl from Michigan. The other half, she's a princess of a fairy tale kingdom called Averell. Amy's story differs from many other portal fantasies about regular teenagers traveling to enchanted worlds be

Review: Beacon

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Beacon  by Camille Peters  is the second "Little Mermaid" adaptation I've read this summer that doesn't actually contain any actual mermaids. The other was  The Silent Songbird  by Melanie Dickerson . Between the two, I must admit that I prefer the latter.  Beacon  struggles with many of the same shortcomings as other books from Camille Peters' series  such as slow pacing and an overall lack of conflict. It's a pleasant enough love story that gets bogged down by concepts that are difficult to swallow involving the main character. Like the previous book in this series, Forgotten , the magical elements of the setting are underdeveloped, which causes issues with the believability. Though  Beacon  is listed as inspired by "The Little Mermaid," the story seems to draw more inspiration from other sources such as Moana  and Frozen . Like the films themselves, the Moana  elements work better than the Frozen  ones. The main character, Marisa, is the daughter

Review: Part of My World

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I thought I already knew everything there was to know about Jodi Benson , the iconic voice of my favorite Disney character, Ariel, from The Little Mermaid . When I found out she was releasing an autobiography, I expected it to contain the same stories I'd already heard in interviews, live performances , and word of mouth. As it turns out, I was wrong. Part of My World: What I've learned from The Little Mermaid about love, faith, and finding my voice  is an intimate and revealing account of everything that went on behind the scenes of Jodi's life, and not all of it is pretty. This book humanizes this smiling upbeat role model for princess fans and musical theater ingenues and shows us that she is a real person with real problems just like everyone else. Reading Part of My World  made me feel closer to Jodi Benson than I ever have, even after meeting her in person. I highly recommend this book to all fans of musical theater and animation. Part of My World  was like catching u

Review: A Kingdom Submerged

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It's no secret that I love mermaids . So when I found out about a great deal on the first book in a four-book series by Deborah Grace White  that features a mermaid, I decided to dive right in. The last book I read from her was a mediocre retelling of "Beauty and the Beast."  I decided to give her another chance for the sake of mermaids, and I'm so glad I did! The Vazula Chronicles  is such a well-written and compelling series that as soon as I finished A Kingdom Submerged , I immediately got started on A Kingdom Discovered ! While this series is not based on "The Little Mermaid,"  it does contain a torrid romance between a mermaid and a human that will keep you on the edge of your seat. A Kingdom Submerged  tells the story of Merletta, an underprivileged mermaid who gets accepted into an elite school and is mocked for getting ahead based on her background as opposed to her own merit. Yet, it's pretty clear that the school would have preferred not to ha

Review: Sands of Deceit

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Few authors are able to pump out lengthy fantasy novels with fantastic character and world-building as quickly as Celeste Baxendell . The latest book in her Bewitching Fairy Tales series is Sands of Deceit , an adaptation of "King Thrushbeard" and "Bluebeard," two lesser-known fairy tales that rarely get adaptations. I was pleased that this story was a direct tie-in to my favorite of her books, Cinders of Glass . Instead of a sweet, naive, and reckless protagonist like Liora, this book is about the "mean girl" who bullied her, Lady Gisele, who is equally relatable in entirely different ways. Gisele is cold, calculating, and worldly with an unexpected vulnerability at her core. I thoroughly enjoyed reading her redemption arc, especially since it reminded me of one of my own books, The Stolen Slipper . Lady Gisele has just about given up on her chances of succeeding in life. She comes from a ruined family, and to top it all off, the prince she was seeking

Review: The Golden Princess

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Melanie Cellier's Four Kingdoms series  was my first introduction to the world of indie fairy tale retellings. The Princess Companion  got me started on a mission to read as many fairy tale adaptations written by independent authors as I could and even to try writing some of my own . Since then, Melanie's Four Kingdoms series has expanded from one series of fairy tales into three and includes over a dozen books that each cover a different princess and take place in the world of the Four Kingdoms. Normally, I find Melanie Cellier's books easy to follow, but there was something off about this new one that I couldn't quite pinpoint. The Golden Princess  is a retelling of "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" that ties into the new kingdom discovered in The Desert Princess , the previous book in the Return to the Four Kingdoms series. Whether it's books, television, or film, when a series goes on for too long, it reaches a point where it loses its charm. The Gold

Review: A Kiss and a Dare

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I received a review copy of A Kiss and Dare  by Charlene Raddon  and completed it just in time to write my review on National Princess Day (Happy National Princess Day, by the way). This book is a fairytale izekai, or "portal fantasy," story , a genre that has exploded in popularity, in which a character from one world is transported to another one that they are unfamiliar with. Typically, the character is either from the real world or travels to it. In this case, it is the latter. The timing of this review is particularly appropriate because  Disenchanted  comes on on Disney+ today, which is the sequel to another fairytale izekai film . A Kiss and a Dare is actually more of a time travel story than a full portal fantasy, but the lines between fantasy and reality get blurry when you throw magic into the mix. Gwenlyn is a young Welsh woman from the medieval era who was cursed by a witch to become a frog, and she can only break the spell by kissing her true love. It isn't

Review: Beyond the Tiara

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In the early 2000s, I purchased a thin hardcover book entitled Disney Princess: The Essential Guide  because I felt it was important to have the reference materials to back it up my princess fan status. At that time, there were only six official Disney Princesses , and the brand was still fairly new. Since then, the Disney Princess brand has exploded  into a corporate empire that has kept my blog alive and thriving for over five years. So it seemed like a good time for an upgrade. Beyond the Tiara  by Emily Zemler  is a nearly 200-page long coffee table textbook that puts The Essential Guide  to shame. It contains quotes, concept art, memorabilia, and other Disney Princess facts that make it the most comprehensive guide on the market for the Disney Princess brand today. Plus, it has a sparkly holographic cover. This book contained everything I was hoping for and more. It covers each and every aspect of the Disney Princess brand from conception to reception. Just about everything that I

Review: Blood in the Snow

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Blood in the Snow  by Sarah Pennington  was a recent recommendation that combines two stories about princesses in dire circumstances-- "The Goose Girl" and "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."  The title makes it sound more violent than it actually is. It refers to blood magic that the royal family wields in this Asian fantasy setting. The main character is more of a damsel in distress  than most modern adaptations of these stories, but she uses her powers to even out the odds. It's a short and sweet book that combines both popular fairy tales with Asian culture. Princess Baili is a gentle princess who rarely raises her voice and never wishes harm upon anyone. So, when her servants stop paying attention to her on a journey to a foreign kingdom, she tries not to complain. She is confused, but it is only after the royal caravan arrives at their destination that she demands to know why everyone is ignoring their princess. That is when she learns that her stepmother

Review: Mermaid's Song (Dark Sea Academy)

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One of the books that stood out to me the most from the last free book promotion  was Mermaid's Song  by Stacy Claflin . I'm a sucker for all things mermaid and princess . After completing Deborah Grace White's Vazula Chronicles , I had high expectations for stories about mermaids and royal academia . The first book in the Dark Sea Academy trilogy did not quite meet those expectations. While the setting of a school for mermaids was similar on a surface, level, Mermaid's Song  was very juvenile and didn't present anything new about mermaid lore. At least the covers are stunning. It can be a challenge to write from the perspective of a teenager and not come off as flighty or immature. Marra, a half-human half-mermaid princess along the lines of  Emily Windsnap , looks like a mature young adult in her cover illustrations but sounds like a silly preteen, at least in the context of the first book. All she wants to do is live a normal life as a human on land, flirting wit

Review: Legacy of the Curse

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Deborah Grace White  astounded me with her top-notch mermaid series  a few months ago, so when I saw a promotional deal on a book from one of the prequel series that was set in the same world, I decided to give it a try. Legacy of the Curse   is the first book in The Kyona Legacy trilogy, which is a follow-up to The Kyona Chronicles . I had previously read Heir of the Curse , the first book that was set in the kingdom of Kyona, and thought it was just okay. Her writing has improved exponentially since then. Legacy of the Curse  is a lengthy adventure filled with princesses, dragons, and magic that I savored every page of. Deborah Grace White is a master worldbuilder and a prodigy at writing sweet romance scenes. The main character in Legacy of the Curse is a princess named Jocelyn who has a magical ability that she doesn't want because she thinks it poses a danger to those around her. In that respect, the book is similar to The Autumn Fairy trilogy by Brittany Fichter , but not as

Review: The Rogue Princess

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I'm kicking off 2023 with a review of the second gender-bent retelling of "Puss and Boots" that I've read, The Rogue Princess  by Melanie Cellier . This is the latest in her Return to the Four Kingdoms series , the third book collection in an ever-growing list of fairy tale retellings with plenty of familiar faces from previous books. It is the second book since The Secret Princess  to incorporate a talking animal, which I am finding that Melanie Cellier is quite skilled at writing about. Both Puss and Arvin are humorous Disney-style sidekicks that can lighten the mood of any story. As far as adaptations of talking animals go, "Puss in Boots" is the quintessential fairy tale. The Rogue Princess  tells the story of a miller's daughter named Kali who lives in the desert kingdom that was discovered in one of its prequels,  The Desert Princess . Kali agrees to a mysterious quest accompanying an enchanted talking cat across the desert to the kingdom of Lan

Review: The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea

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The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh  is an Asian-inspired book that was recommended to me by a friend. It does not have any princesses in it per se, but it is (very) loosely based on a Korean fairy tale called "The Tale of Shim Cheong."  It incorporates the concept of sacrificial brides, which overlaps with the common princess trope of forced marriage alliances and the desire to be free . Typically, these types of stories end with the princess or maiden either falling in love with her captor, which can come off as toxic unless it's done well , or escaping, if her betrothed is truly irredeemable. One such book I reviewed was  The Princess Curse , in which a girl was forced to marry a demon and eventually came to terms with their relationship. This book did not come off as romantic to me in the slightest. However, I also read Stolen Midsummer Bride  by Tara Grayce a few weeks ago, about a girl who voluntarily chooses to get kidnapped as a fae bride for personal r

Review: Voiceless - A Mermaid's Tale

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Seeking out books I see in Facebook ads can be hit or miss , but I'm glad I picked up this one. Voiceless: A Mermaid's Tale  by Anna Finch  is a uniquely modern take on "The Little Mermaid"  that is feminist without being too misandronist . It is not a true retelling of my favorite fairy tale, but more of a "What if?" scenario that explores what could have happened if the story took place in a different type of setting and if the main character had made a different decision when facing the sea witch, kind of like selecting a diverging branch in a visual novel . Though it uses some direct dialogue from the Disney movie during a key scene that many authors seem to enjoy referencing , there are few references to the Disney movie or even the Hans Christian Andersen story overall. Instead, this is a well-researched book about trauma and manipulation built around a fantasy setting. Voiceless  tells the story of an ambitious young mermaid named Moriah who is trap

How Andrew Lang's Fairy Books Started the Princess Craze

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Though it feels like fairy tales have been around forever, the popular versions that we know today have actually only been circulating in English-speaking countries for a little over a hundred years. Much of this is thanks to a name that we rarely hear associated with fairy tales, Andrew Lang . Lang didn't write any fairy tales himself, but he was one of the first people to translate stories from the Brothers Grimm , Hans Christian Andersen , Charles Perrault , Madame d"Aulnoy , and others into English to introduce them to a wider audience of fantasy lovers with the Fairy Books of Many Colors , a 12-volume encyclopedia of fairy tales from all over the world. Lang was a scholar who published a number of periodicals, poems, and fiction, but he was most famous for annotating these stories that were translated by his wife and illustrated with beautiful ink drawings by H.J. Ford . Thanks to the magic of the internet, I was able to acquire a full set of the Fairy Books at a relative

Review: Song of Ebony (Singer Tales)

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From the cover alone, it's clear that Song of Ebony  is a unique and creative take on your average "Snow White" retelling. Instead of the traditional skin as white as snow and hair as black as ebony, this story presents a protagonist with skin as black and ebony and hair as white as snow. This rare combination implies innate supernatural abilities like Storm from the X-Men . The unique properties of this book go beyond mere aesthetics. Deborah Grace White 's were somewhat generic fantasy stories, which is why I never read past the first book in her Kingdoms series of fairy tale anthologies. Since then, she has really managed to hone her craft, especially with her top-notch mermaid series, The Vazula Chronicles , which I've been shamelessly recommending to anyone who likes mermaids. So when I found out that Deborah was starting a new fairy tale anthology called The Singer Tales , I couldn't wait to find out what was in store. Song of Ebony  is the premiere bo

Is Disney Retconning Their Little Mermaid (Again)?

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We have to wait a bit longer than initially anticipated for the new trailer of  Disney's live-action remake of  The Little Mermaid . To ease the wait, fans were treated to a surprise yesterday in the form of an excerpt from the upcoming prequel novel , Against the Tide  by J. Elle . Typically, books like these are considered side stories that don't need to fit perfectly with the main canon of the films, but that would be difficult in this case. It would be impossible for the little that has been revealed of this book not to have any effect on the upcoming May 26th film release. So much of it is different from what Disney has already established about Ariel's backstory in both the prequel series and the 2006 direct-to-DVD movie, Ariel's Beginning , which already contradict each other to an extent. According to this upcoming novel, Ariel and her sisters are granted responsibilities as Protectors of various territories in the sea as teenagers, which would make her later

Review: Of Chivalry and Revenge

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The latest ARC I received from Celeste Baxendell  is Of Chivalry and Revenge , a perspective swap on the classic King Arthur tales in which Morgana, who is typically portrayed as a villain, gets her happy ending. This book is different from anything else I've read by Celeste Baxendell. Usually, her stories are long and complex, introducing characters and worlds that take a lot of time and effort to keep track of. That formula worked well in Cinders of Glass , which is currently my favorite "Cinderella" retelling. Here, everything is stripped down to brass tacks, using only the original Arthurian lore with no new magic systems or settings to keep track of. With its shorter length and simpler plot, this book would have fit perfectly with the multi-author Villain's Ever After series  to the point where I wouldn't be surprised if it was initially intended for that. Most of my Arthurian knowledge comes from vague high school memories, the BBC's Merlin series , and

Review: The Ocean Between Us

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The Ocean Between Us  by Cate Rowan  is a book I saw advertised on Facebook. It sounded more adult than the books I normally read, so I was going to pass it up. Then I saw that it had quite a few positive reviews. The concept of a Greek mythology mermaid romance intrigued me, so I decided to check it out. The book was short enough for something I was on the fence about and didn't take up much of my time. While it was pretty mature, it was a decent story for someone who is interested in paranormal romance. Of course, it goes without saying that I would not recommend this book to anyone below the age of 18. The Ocean Between Us  is about a mermaid named Mareisa who is cursed to live on a desert island as a siren to sink any passing ships with her uncontrollable song. To her surprise and delight, one of those ship's passengers survives and makes his way to the island, where he is no longer held by the grasp of her song and has the opportunity to get to know her as a person. That

Ten Hidden Gems from the Fairy Books

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After completing over 400 fairy tales in Andrew Lang's Fairy Books , it's easy to get burnt out by all the alternate versions of stories we're already familiar with. The biggest draw of these books is the potential to discover new fairy tales that are as compelling and imaginative as the ones we tell our children. Though these stories are few and far between, I compiled a list of the top ten hidden gems after reading all twelve books. Since this list only contains stories I have never heard of outside the Fairy Books, The Blue Fairy Book is automatically disqualified since it mainly contains popular stories. I also didn't care for any of the stories from The Pink or Lilac Fairy Book s even though these are named after the two most feminine colors in the set. The stories listed below are ahead of their time in one way or another with brave princesses who rescue princes, spiteful fairies, and unique visual or story elements that stand out from anything Disney or any ot

Review: Song of the Sea (Singer Tales)

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Deborah Grace White  is the author of my current favorite mermaid series , The Vazula Chronicles . To say I was eager to read her new retelling of "The Little Mermaid"  would be an understatement, especially after having thoroughly enjoyed Song of Ebony , which was a fun and creative retelling of "Snow White"  and the prequel to this latest book. Though  Song of the Sea  did not contain any references to the Vazula Chronicles aside from a few similar themes, Deborah Grace White did what she does best and created an entirely new and fleshed out world of mermaids, magic, and romance. I'm really excited to read more books from this series, which focuses on magical singing. Song of the Sea  does an amazing job of bringing in elements from the original Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale while adding just enough new ones to keep its readers guessing. I appreciate that it didn't include any blatant references to the Disney movie and instead created its own compell

Review: Of Songs and Seashells

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Of Songs and Seashells  by T.M. Franklin  is another book I saw advertised recently on Facebook that drew me in with the prospect of mermaids  despite having very little mermaid content once I actually read it. It's an adaptation of "The Little Mermaid"  that takes place after the fairy tale when the title character became a daughter of the air. I've always loved this concept because so few people have taken the time to explore exactly what that means. That's why I wrote my own adaptation of "The Little Mermaid"  to explore it. At that time, there weren't any adaptations I was aware of that kept the original ending. This story was very different from the one I wrote and not my cup of tea. If you plan on reading this book, make sure you are familiar with Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid."  I know that should be a given, but there are so many people who think that the Disney movie was the original story that it's importa

Review: White as Frost

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I received White as Frost  by Anthea Sharp  as part of a neat promotion I signed up for called BOMYA  which allows you to receive free YA fantasy novels in your inbox every month. It sounded too good to be true at first, but it does exactly what it says! This was the second book I received from this mailing list and the first one that I decided to read because it pitched princess protagonists. Though not advertised as such, I quickly recognized it as a retelling of "Snow White and Rose Red," a fairy tale that few people know of and even adapt faithfully, often combining it with "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" for the sake of familiarity. I liked that this book paid loyal tribute to the lesser-known story, but as the first in a trilogy, it suffered from the same issue as many other books do that are meant to introduce a series in that nothing felt resolved at the end. White as Frost  tells the story of Rosaline, who is the alter ego of Rose Red from the "Sno

Review: Dreams of Roses

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Celeste Baxendell  has been on a role with her Bewitching Fairy Tales series. Her "Cinderella" retelling from last year  remains my favorite "Cinderella" adaptation of all time. Now, she is tackling "Sleeping Beauty" with her latest book, Dreams of Roses . This book stands out from the others in this series as the first one that does not tell a complete story. It ends on a cliffhanger that is teased to conclude in her next book, Thorns of Gold . I find it frustrating when authors do this, and this book was no exception. It felt like it took a very long time for anything to happen, and as soon as something finally did, it ended abruptly. Still, the book offers some unique twists on the classic "Sleeping Beauty" fairy tale. Dreams of Roses  applies the "lost princess" trope  to "Sleeping Beauty." Ro had a pretty good life. She was engaged to a prince and was about to become empress of a great nation. The only problem was the cu

Review: The Shore of Sun's Afterglow

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The Shore of Sun's Afterglow  was an ARC I received from Madison McAuley , a relatively new author who promotes her books as historical fiction. I am far from a history buff , but I noticed that this book had very few details to set it in a specific place or time. It contained more of a general knowledge of royalty and kingdoms that could be derived from any fairy tale or Disney movie. Those details don't matter to me, personally, but I would want any historical fiction fans who pick up this book to be aware of that before reading it. It is more of a character-driven story focusing heavily on the lost princess trope  and the universal human desire for love and family. The book is scheduled for release on July 7th, so there is still some time left before it will be available for purchase. It is the second book in a series called Fallen Stars, but it worked fine as a standalone. Amira is an ordinary farm girl who is relatively happy with her life when her friend, Emily, takes her

Review: Poisoned: Snow White's Story

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Poisoned: Snow White's Story by Mary Mecham  is one of the books I was most excited about from this year's Fairy Tale Day event , especially after reading her excellent "Rumpelstiltskin" retelling that is included with a subscription to her newsletter . I thought a disability-friendly retelling of "Snow White"  was an interesting concept and was eager to see how it would tie into the original fairy tale. The disability elements of the story were handled excellently and clearly had a ton of research and personal experience put into them, but I was a bit surprised by how few fairy tale elements the book contained. The "Snow White" story is rushed through in the first few chapters and is stripped down to its most basic elements to leave time for the story that the author actually wanted to tell. I think the title is a misnomer, particularly after reading another "Snow White" retelling with the same name . This is hardly Snow White's sto

Review: Against the Tide

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As a lifelong fan of Disney's adaptation of "The Little Mermaid,"  I was curious when I learned that the upcoming live-action remake  would have a prequel novel. For a fan like me, it seemed like required reading prior to the upcoming movie on May 26th. Would the book be a love letter to fans that expands upon the musical and colorful world that was depicted in the animated series , or would it rewrite history and change everything that Disney has established about their underwater fantasy world? As it turns out, Against the Tide  by J. Elle is very much the latter. Though the author touts herself as a childhood fan of Disney's The Little Mermaid  in the Acknowledgements section at the back of the book, the story proceeds to tear apart everything that Disney has built  over the last 30 years  about the characters, world, and backstory in favor of a more original and darker take. One year before the events of The Little Mermaid , Ariel was a 15-year-old rebel who we

Review: Princess of the Beans

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Though it's been slow going, I've been trying to read all the promo releases from National Tell a Fairy Tale Day while still keeping up with newer books. The next one on my list was Princess of the Beans  by Sarah Beran , a retelling of both "Rapunzel" and "Jack and the Beanstalk."  I thought this was such a creative idea because both stories involve climbing tall towers, but unfortunately, Rapunzel's tower was not located at the top of a beanstalk in this version. Still, it was a sweet little romance story about rescuing a damsel in distress , with some heavy-handed Christian messaging mixed in. As the second book in a series of fairy tale adaptations called The Order of the Fountain, this story begins with a summary of the first book in the series that I found a little convoluted. There are plenty more books in the series after this one, so I hope the world and characters continue to improve. The first few chapters of this book were the roughest. Sa

Review: Thorns of Gold

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I received an ARC for Thorns of Gold  from Celeste Baxendell pretty quickly after the disappointing cliffhanger ending from  Dreams of Roses . After reading it, it became clearer why this story needed two books. While Dreams of Roses  was about Rosalia, the "Sleeping Beauty" character from the Bewitching Fairy Tales series , this book was the conclusion of Aerona's story from Celeste's "Beauty and the Beast" retelling, Beasts of Beauty . Though it is promoted as the conclusion of the Bewitching Fairy Tales series as a whole, I was pleased to find that it ended with a teaser for a continuation called Enchanting Fairy Tales that begins with an adaptation of my favorite fairy tale of all time . It may not be the end of a storytelling era, but it does provide a satisfying conclusion to Dreams of Roses . Many books from fairy tale adaptation series can be read as standalones. Thorns of Gold  is not one of them. At the very least, readers of this book must read

Let's Review Some Ever After High Books!

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Did you know that there are several fairy tale franchises that portray the legendary princesses as mothers ? One of the most famous is Ever After High , Mattel's series of dolls, books, and animated webisodes that ended abruptly a couple of years ago. I consider myself a casual fan of this series, watching or reading stories as I find them without going out of my way. I love the concept of fairy tale characters fighting to write their own story as well as the beautiful character designs that were cleverly engineered to sell as many dolls as possible. A couple of weeks ago, I hit the jackpot at a local library sale that had not one, not two, but three Ever After High books available for my reading pleasure! Until then, I had only skimmed through the first book in the series, The Storybook of Legends  by Shannon Hale , which was the only book with a faithful animated adaptation . The premiere series went on to release three other full-length novels. I got my hands on the second one,

Review: True Princess

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It's hard to find new retellings of "The Princess and the Pea"  that don't stray too far from the original source material . That could be because the soft delicate princess presented in the original fairy tale is the exact opposite of how princesses are portrayed in modern media . Nevertheless, Kayla Eshbaugh  does her best to honor the source material in her premiere fairy tale retelling, True Princess . This is the first book in The Cursed Kingdom Chronicles , which expands upon the world of fairy tales by making each princess's unique situation a curse on her kingdom created by the Ancients, a vengeful race of magic users. The premise is similar to Ever Cursed  without all the misandry. Using this overarching narrative, the book provides a simple explanation as to why the princess from "The Princess and the Pea" was so delicate that she turned black and blue from a single pea being placed under her mattress. True Princess  is stereotypical in its pr

Review: The Seven Years Princess

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The Seven Years Princess  by Brittany Fichter is one that had been on my reading list for a while. After reading several of Brittany's other books , I knew to expect a dark fantasy romance with religious undertones. In this case, however, I was not very familiar with the fairy tale it was based on. So I pulled out my fancy Brothers Grimm anthology and took a few minutes to learn the story of  "Maid Maleen."  It is about a girl who was imprisoned for seven years after falling in love with a prince and left her tower to find that everything she knew had been destroyed. As soon as I finished it, I said to myself "Yup, that sounds like a Brittany Fichter story." Her adaptations tend to be darker than most, so this seemed like the perfect fairy tale for her to expand upon. Ever since she was a little girl, Princess Maleen took a liking to Prince Roburts, who belonged to an enemy kingdom. The one person who she could never tell about this forbidden romance was her u

Review: Saving Winter

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After joining a review team for one of Rachel Huffmire 's upcoming books, I decided to familiarize myself with her first series, The Mirror Chronicles. Unfortunately, the fourth book in the series was probably not the best place to start. Unlike many other fairy tale series I've read, Saving Winter  does not work as a standalone at all. I've discovered in the past that the science fiction genre does not blend well with fairy tales , and this ARC was no exception. The book is loosely based on "The Snow Queen,"  but I found little similarity to it despite the quoted Hans Christian Andersen passages at the beginning of each chapter, which seemed out of place. Regardless of whether or not it followed the fairy tale, this was not a pleasant reading experience in general. While it could be because I didn't read the rest of the series, I found it exceedingly difficult to keep track of the characters and plot in this book. This would normally be the place where I sh

Review: Kingdom of Cinders

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Kingdom of Cinders  is a "Cinderella"  retelling from Deborah Grace White's Kingdom Tales which had been on my reading list for a while. I read the first book in this series  but wasn't as impressed with it as her original fantasy books including the Vazula Chronicles and the Kyona Legacy . I have been thoroughly enjoying her newer fairy tale series, The Singer Tales , which incorporates even more original lore into these beloved tales. While this book does focus a lot on the popular fairy tale, there are some key differences that make it unique. For instance, it takes place in a kingdom where magic is illegal with a protagonist who must hide her powers from the crown. I couldn't help noticing how similar these elements were to my own original princess trilogy  which also includes a "Cinderella" retelling , but I will try to leave any personal bias out of this review. Penny never asked to be born with magic, nor did she want it. In fact, she was so ash

Review: Ugly: The Stepsister's Story

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While it may not be the first retelling of "Cinderella"  to flip the script from the perspective of the ugly stepsister , Ugly: The Stepsister's Story  by Mary Mecham is really something special. The last book I read from this author, Poisoned: Snow White's Story  was somewhat misleading because the story focused more on the dwarf characters than on Snow White. This one, on the other hand, is exactly what it looks like, a fresh new take on "Cinderella" with a tragic heroine that explores trauma in a believable and sympathetic way. I also thought the love story in this book was much stronger, possibly because the main couple knew each other for most of their lives. Between this and A Curse of Gold and Beauty , I think writing romance is one of Mary Mecham's strongest suits even though she places more focus on disabled representation , which she also does well. Truly is a refined lady of the court who lives in the castle with her parents and sister. Her m

Review: Maiden of the Sea

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Maiden of the Sea  is the second book I've read from Sarah Beran's Order of the Fountain series  and the third book in the series. My opinion of this series hasn't changed from what it was when I read Princess of the Beans . It uses popular fairy tale names and elements as a selling point and then removes the magic and whimsy that make these stories appealing. I've read some decent fairy tale adaptations that remove the magical elements  to create a sense of realism, but what's odd about this series is that while it still has magic in it, it removes the most iconic magical aspects of each fairy tale it retells. In the two books I've read so far, these include the magic beanstalk from "Jack and the Beanstalk," Rapunzel's impossibly long hair, and in the case of this "Little Mermaid" adaptation , the merfolk race and the whimsical undersea kingdom. Ariel is a maiden working in a temple who gave up her ability to use her legs when she went o

Review: Snow So White

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When I saw a Facebook promotion for Snow So White  by C. Gockel , I was curious but hesitant. The book was promoted as urban fantasy , which is not usually my cup of tea. When I finally got around to reading it, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it bears more similarities to some lesser-known fairy tales than it does to "Snow White."  The accurate marketing also helped me ease into the modern setting and urban fantasy creatures within it like vampires and monsters. I was pleasantly surprised by how strong the book's world-building is and how emotionally connected I felt to the characters. While it may not be the type of fairy tale retelling I'm used to reading, it has a strong sense of what it wants to be. Cherie lives in a world that is similar to our own with one major difference. One day, the earth was infused with magic, causing ordinary people to gain supernatural abilities, monsters to roam freely, and certain forms of technology to become unnecessary. Peo

Review: The Crownless Prince

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As a member of the street team for Once Upon a Prince , an upcoming collaborative series of gender-bent fairy tale retellings, I get to take advantage of some amazing perks. One such perk includes early ARCs of the books from the series, such as The Crownless Prince  by Selina R. Gonzalez , a gender swap of "Maid Maleen."  This book won't be available to the public until December 1st, so it was a real treat to get to read it so soon. "Maid Maleen" had not been a very popular story until Brittany Ficther's retelling, The Seven Years Princess , which likely inspired many authors to realize its potential for adaptations. Selina's version did a better job with the story by coming up with a more believable explanation for elements that made less sense in The Seven Years Princess  and incorporated it in a creative way by turning Maid Maleen into a prince named Marcus. As punishment for loving a princess from an enemy kingdom, Prince Marcus was imprisoned  in a

Why Princesses Are Migrating from the Screen Back to the Page

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It's a well-known fact that most feature films begin their life as books. Even the classic Disney movies that are considered the epitome of children's cinema were mostly adapted from old fairy tales that were published around the late 19th century . However, for the majority of the 20th century, most fairy tale fans were more interested in seeing these stories come to life on the screen than they were in the source material, and who could blame them? Classic Disney movies are visually stunning, beautifully orchestrated, and fleshed out beyond their short-form origins in a way that is less violent and more family-friendly . However, the current decade seems to be a transitional period that takes fairy tale adaptations back to their roots. Countless issues in Hollywood including union strikes and a long-running dearth of creativity  make it more difficult than ever to enjoy modern adaptations of classic media. The past decade has also seen a steep increase in fairy tale authors

Review: A Wish of Ashes and Glass

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The story of "Cinderella" has been told so many ways  with a prince as the main love interest that I think it is the best candidate for a queer-friendly adaptation. With her latest novel, A Wish of Ashes and Glass , my favorite fantasy artist, Selina Fenech , agrees. The ARC I received of this book contained every new element I've seen in a "Cinderella" retelling with the addition of a female love interest for our tormented heroine. Political intrigue ? Check. A selfless heroine with magic powers ? Check. A royal conspiracy revolving around the use of magic ? Check. Nicer stepsisters ? Check. Despite having so many similar elements to other retellings, the story remains fresh and interesting thanks to its surprise romantic lead, a mighty warrior princess who exudes qualities that are similar to queer-coded anime heroines of the past like Princess Knight , Utena, and Oscar . Ellasyn was born with healing powers that allow her to absorb other people's pain,

Review: The Prince's Captive

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When I first received the ARC for The Prince's Captive  by Celeste Baxendell, I thought that it was her entry for the upcoming Once Upon a Prince series . However, I quickly realized that it is the first book from her newest fantasy series, Runes of Pain and Peace. Her gender-bent fairy tale retelling, The Wicked Prince , is yet to come. The Prince's Captive  is quite a bit longer and more intense than a light-hearted fairy tale retelling. It tells an original fantasy story for young adult readers that gives off Romeo and Juliet  vibes in a world with mages who cast spells using runes similar to my own fantasy trilogy . Though it was a riveting book, the circumstances behind the romance were so troubling that it felt like a guilty pleasure. The female lead was a prisoner like Belle from "Beauty and the Beast,"  Yet that story is rather tame compared to the level of torment that Marcella suffers in this book. Marcella's appearance is both a blessing and a curse. Sh

Review: Lake Locked

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I received  Lake Locked  by S.R. Nulton  from an amazing book deal a few years ago that contained many of my favorite fairy tale books. This one stood out to me because it was a retelling of my favorite fairy tale, "The Little Mermaid," and "The Wild Swans," which I had only read one other adaptation of. Both of these fairy tales have a protagonist who must remain silent for varying reasons, making them a natural choice to bring together. However, there are enough differences that a combination of the two would need to favor one over the other, and in this case, Lake Locked  favors "The Wild Swans." In fact, the mermaid element is so downplayed in this book that it makes me question why it was included at all. Aside from the lack of undersea worldbuilding, the main character comes off as immature, making her difficult to relate to. However, her personal growth as a result of these experiences makes her more tolerable by the end of the book. Ariel is a p

Review: The Unlucky Prince

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The Unlucky Prince  by Deborah Grace White  is the second ARC I've received from the Once Upon a Prince series, an anthology of fairy tale adaptations by different authors from the princes' perspectives. While The Crownless Prince  was a creative gender-bent retelling of "Maid Maleen,"  this book is a basic retelling of "The Frog Prince" with no frills attached. It makes sense that the author chose to go this route since reversing the genders to have the princess turn into a frog would make the story focus more on her like in the Disney version , and it's something that has been done before . For such a short length, this book is somewhat slow and unimaginative, which was surprising coming from Deborah Grace White, who is usually a master worldbuilder . There were some references to her other books, including the dragon Rekavidur, a recurring character in most of her stories. The main character, Ari, is a minor character from Kingdom of Feathers , her

Review: The Golden Prince

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The Golden Prince  by Alice Ivinya  is the third ARC I received from the upcoming Once Upon a Prince multi-author series. While it isn't a full gender reversal fairy tale retelling like The Crownless Prince , it is a unique take on the story of "Rapunzel"  that focuses heavily on the prince, making it clear that the author understood the assignment. There are some fun nods to Disney's Tangled  as well as many original fantasy elements that convey a strong sense of worldbuilding. The book delves into fae mythology  as well as the legend of Baba Yaga  with a few subtle nods to "The Snow Queen."  The romance is tantalizingly chaotic with lots of "Will they? Won't they?" moments that dance on the fine line between lovers and enemies. Overall, it is a solid addition to the Once Upon a Prince series that works well as a standalone fantasy novel. When Prince Thomas inherits the legendary Sword of Spring, the only thing that can ward off the deadly po

Review: The Prince's Mage

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I was very excited to receive an ARC of the second book in the Runes of Pain and Peace  series by Celeste Baxendell . The Prince's Mage  is the sequel to The Prince's Captive  and the highly anticipated conclusion to Marcella and Gavril's tantalizing love story. The first book had me on the edge of my seat from all the juicy romance and suspense but left me with a feeling of discomfort due to the awful situations that Marcella ends up in because of the feud between her clan and Gavril's. This book resolves those issues so they can have a chance to live in peace. Gavril and Marcella are star-crossed lovers like Romeo and Juliet. The more passionate their feelings are toward each other, the more people seem to get hurt along the way. The Prince's Mage  provides a thrilling conclusion to their love story demonstrating how true love can overcome seemingly impossible odds. When we left Marcella at the end of The Prince's Captive , her worst fear became realized. In

Review: Fierce Heart

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Fierce Heart  by Tara Grayce  is the first book in the Elven Alliance series , a love story between a human princess and an elf. Unlike her  Princess by Night series, which only has one book, Elven Alliance has a healthy amount of both primary and tie-in novels. It contains a fully fleshed-out fantasy world with Tolkien-style elves that live hundreds of years. One of the many things I liked about it is that it demonstrates how true love  can be a choice if both parties are willing and isn't something a person needs to sit around waiting for, hoping that the perfect partner will just show up one day. This is the second book I've read by this author in which the main couple falls in love after the wedding. The first is Stolen Midsummer Bride , which focuses on the fae court instead of the elven one and does an equally good job of showing how arranged marriages don't always result in misery for either party. The main character in Fierce Heart  is a princess named Elspeth, or

Review: The Winter Prince

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The Winter Prince  by Constance Lopez  is the fourth ARC I have read from the upcoming Once Upon a Prince series. Constance was the frontrunner for the series, so I expected her book to capture the essence of what Once Upon a Prince was meant to represent. It was not my favorite of the ones I've read so far, but it did have some unique elements. The Winter Prince  is a relatively standard retelling of "Beauty and the Beast"  with the main difference being that the Gaston archetype is the prince's cousin instead of a person that the Beauty character knew from her hometown. I was hoping for a gender-bent retelling of the fairy tale since I wasn't too impressed with the ones I've read so far . Still, the timeless classic of "Beauty and the Beast" is always a pleasant read with much to offer to gothic romance and fantasy fans. Revi is a fae prince of the Winter Court whose kingdom suffered under a curse that was enacted by their enemies. Though Revi al

Review: The Wicked Prince

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When the multi-author collaboration was announced for the newly launched Once Upon a Prince series , the last prince I was expecting anyone to focus on was the cowardly Prince John from the Robin Hood legend. Yet, Celeste Baxendell has taken another twist on the enemies-to-lovers trope and turned it into a touching romance . This book is the most original I've read so far in the series, taking whatever liberties were necessary with the original lore to make it work for this new take. The ARC I was provided of  The Wicked Prince  presents a gender-swapped Robin Hood, the beautiful cousin of Maid Marian who is propositioned into marrying Prince John so she can stop running from the law and pardon her merry men. The result is an unconventional love story that follows the recent trend of falling in love after marriage . In this upside-down Robin Hood retelling, Robin is a noble lady who lost her family and possessions in a fire and became an outlaw when the kingdom's taxes grew

Review: The Scarecrow King

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The Scarecrow King  by Jill Myles  was recommended to me a while ago, and I just recently got around to reading it. It is a delightful retelling of "King Thrushbeard"  in a traditional fairy tale world where all stories are connected. Though there were few references to other fairy tales in this book, it was a clever touch that the main character was the daughter of the protagonist from "Rumpelstiltskin"  who was blamed for her mother's incompetence of being unable to turn straw into gold after becoming queen. The book plays on a lot of the questionable elements of "King Thrushbeard," which was originally a pretty messed-up story about an abusive relationship with a princess who was lied to and manipulated to teach her a lesson. Here, the book expands upon why the princess acted the way she did and forces her husband to face the consequences of his actions, making for a more well-rounded story that fixes the problematic issues of the original fairy ta

Review: Feathers of Snow

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I received  Feathers of Snow  by Alice Ivinya in a book promotion some time ago and recently got around to reading it. After reading her ARC of The Golden Prince  I knew that Alice Ivinya was an expert at fantasy worldbuilding. This book is a retelling of "The Goose Girl"  that puts a unique spin on it by switching the role of the oppressed protagonist from the princess who was forced to work as a goose girl to the lady-in-waiting who was forced to be a princess against her will. Though the princess role swap is an overused trope, it is less common for a girl to be forced into the role of a princess unwillingly. That said, the plot of this book is nearly identical to Camille Peters' Identity  only with less focus on romance, making it less of an emotional journey. Brianna is a lady-in-waiting to the spoiled and selfish Princess Elyanna who loves to manipulate people and get her own way. When a political marriage alliance is proposed for Elyanna to Prince Jian, whose fa

After Nearly 30 Years, Jewel Riders Is Getting a Graphic Novel!

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It's no secret that Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders was my absolute favorite cartoon as a kid. There are few others who share this passion with me as the show is still obscure even in an era of countless nostalgic reboots , so when I first heard that Mad Cave Studios  was partnering with 41 Entertainment to make a series of Jewel Riders graphic novels , I was skeptical. A few days ago, my cynicism  was laid to rest when a press release revealed the cover art and release date for the novel. It's really happening! On May 28, 2024, the first issue of the brand new YA Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders graphic novel will be available wherever graphic novels are sold. It's even available to pre-order on Amazon right now! Take a gander at the gorgeous new official cover art below that stays true to show's color palette and art style while adding a modern manga-inspired flare. I am absolutely in love with this new Magic Girl anime-style cover art that features

Review: The Awakened Prince

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For my next book review, I was planning to cover The Silent Prince  by C.J. Brightly , a gender-bent retelling of "The Little Mermaid" that was released on Black Friday, but I unexpectedly received an ARC for The Awakened Prince  by Alora Carter , another book from the Once Upon a Prince series that I had not read yet. Based on the title, I was hoping this would be a gender-bent adaptation of "Sleeping Beauty."  Instead, it was a direct retelling of the Disney movie from the prince's perspective that adds very little to the original story. Though some of the names and lore were altered to avoid copyright issues, I could see that the author was inspired mainly by the most popular version of the story and took very little liberty with the many other fairy tale adaptations out there. The book provides everything a reader would expect from a fairy tale retelling--romance, fantasy, and a bit of medieval history with nothing new or insightful to offer. Though Prince

Review: The Silent Prince

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The Silent Prince   by C.J. Brightley  was one of my most eagerly anticipated books from the Once Upon a Prince series . I've read many other retellings of "The Little Mermaid,"  but never one about a merman. Doing a gender-bent adaptation  for this assignment instead of going the easy route of retelling the same story from the prince's perspective  really breathed new life into a classic tale. Though the story is simple and direct for what it is, the portrayal of a merman in the role of the little mermaid comes off as fresh and original. It has a cute romance, plenty of action, and a healthy dose of comedy. All in all, it is a fun read and an exemplary addition to the series. Kaerius is a confident merman prince who is proud of his incredible singing voice. One day, he rescues a human princess from drowning. From that moment on, he becomes obsessed with her. He swims to the surface frequently and learns that her name is Princess Marin, that she is lonely, and that

Review: Princess of Mirrors

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One of my favorite series that I have had the pleasure to review is the Fairy Tale Adventures series by AG Marshall . Throughout these books, the author builds a unique fantasy world that breathes new life into many old stories, tying them together in unexpected ways. Princess of Shadows  introduced a new version of "The Princess and the Pea" featuring a legendary shadow warrior who is anything but delicate. Princess of Secrets  gave a fresh take on "The Frog Prince"  in which the princess was a spy who used her selfishness and extravagance as a cover to hide her true intentions. It has been a long wait, but the fifth book in the series, Princess of Mirrors , AG Marchall's take on "Cinderella," is finally here. Like the others, the heroine in this book is not a typical Cinderella and has many secrets of her own, ones that a certain prince is dying to uncover. When her father was on his deathbed, he told Gabriella two things: to guard the magic mirror

Review: Mazarine

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I had seen some Facebook ads in the past for Mazarine , a mermaid fairytale romance by Cece Louise , so when it came up in a recent holiday promotion, I decided to check it out. Though it is not exactly a retelling of "The Little Mermaid,"  this book has a strong love story with lots of fantasy and adventure. It is part of the Forest Tales series , which contains many fairytale-inspired stories set in the same world. Even though this was the only book I've read so far, I saw several references to characters who were clearly from earlier books. Mazarine  is not named after the main character, but after the Mazarine Sea, which is the area the two protagonists travel through for most of the story. Unlike most mermaid stories, this book follows the "road trip" archetype in which two unlikely heroes must go on a long journey and get to know each other intimately along the way. I did not care much for the male protagonist at first, but like in  Tangled , the heroine s

Review: The Heart of the Sea

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There's been a lot of big news for The Little Mermaid  this year. Not only did the live-action movie come out, but we also got a new stage show  of the classic Disney musical with another one on the way for Disney's Hollywood Studios . With that in mind, I was excited to review a gender-bent version of the story from the Once Upon a Prince series, The Silent Prince , a few weeks ago. On that review, I was recommended another gender-bent adaptation called The Heart of the Sea  by Chesney Infalt . In the spirit of the holiday season, I decided to treat myself to it. This book takes place in a more complex world than The Silent Prince  but does not flesh out the details enough to make it an easy read. It relies on the same hit-or-miss storytelling technique as  ABC's Once Upon a Time  in which the timeline constantly shifts between the past and the present with no rhyme or reason. Still, the book presents a touching love story that stays true to the themes of the original f

Review: Seaspoken

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For the final day of 2023, let's review one more mermaid book before branching out to other fairy tales in the New Year. Seaspoken  by Sarah Delena White was part of a previous holiday promotion. I was drawn to the title and beautiful cover illustration of two elves swathed in white embracing in front of a stormy sea. Since  Fierce Heart  by Tara Grayce  had a charming interracial elven love story, I hoped this one might be similar. As an added bonus, the female protagonist in Seaspoken  comes from a race that can transform into mermaids while underwater, so what's not to love? The book introduces a strong Romeo and Juliet-style relationship between two warring races , but it lacks the stakes or compelling emotional core of many other similar stories. Seaspoken  includes many traditional princess tropes including arranged marriages , forbidden love , and magical transformations . It contains elements of "The Little Mermaid,"  including an underwater rescue sequence

Review: The Abandoned Princess

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I have a special place in my heart for Melanie Cellier's Four Kingdoms books. Her first novel, The Princess Companion , pulled me down an endless rabbit hole of independently published fairy tale adaptations and author collaborations that resulted in the past seven years of book reviews for my blog. The Abandoned Princess  is the final book in the Return to the Four Kingdoms series , concluding an impressively long and successful run of interconnected fairy tale retellings about princesses. Though there is one more  tie-in duology on the way, this book felt very much like a homecoming from an extended vacation full of adventure, romance, and magic. The Abandoned Princess is also a wonderful and creative reimagining of "Rapunzel"  on its own merits. This book is a heartfelt and emotional journey that is an absolute must-read for anyone familiar with Melanie Cellier's fairy tale retellings. With Easter eggs galore from the other Four Kingdoms books, The Abandoned Pri

Review: Song of Moonrise (Singer Tales)

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I have thoroughly enjoyed what I've read so far of the Singer Tales by Deborah Grace White , which is a more innovative and cohesive series than  her previous collection of fairy tale retellings . For my next read, I picked Song of Moonrise  to explore her take on "Little Red Riding Hood," a story often misinterpreted in other adaptations. Ever since the Red Riding Hood  film came out in 2011, almost every new interpretation of this fairy tale turned it into a mystery story about a werewolf curse in the protagonist's family instead of an innocent coming-of-age story about learning who to trust. In fact, I got so frustrated by this trope that I wrote my own adaptation  of the fairy tale back in 2013. While the Singer Tales version of "Little Red Riding Hood" does incorporate werewolves, it does so in a way that stays true to the themes of the story along with a princess twist and a heated romance. Rosa was an adventurous girl living in the forest until her

Review: Kingdom of Slumber

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Before she started the inspired Singer Tales series , Deborah Grace White had another series of fairy tale retellings called The Kingdom Tales . This series took some time to find its voice, but I think it found it with Kingdom of Slumber , a retelling of "Sleeping Beauty" with a twist. In this interpretation of the often-retold tale , the princess is cursed to fall into an enchanted sleep during the day, while the rest of the kingdom sleeps all night without ever knowing that she is awake. In addition to its creative twist, the book boasts a beautiful romance and a guest appearance from the dragon Rekavidur, who travels across each Kingdom Tales book as well as Deborah Grace White's original mermaid series, The Vazula Chronicles . Up to this point, I hadn't enjoyed the Kingdom Tales as much as her newer Singer Tales , but this book had a certain something missing from others I've read so far. Like many princesses before her , Princess Azalea was born into a mar

Review: The Jabberwocky Princess

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The Jabberwocky Princess  is a book from The Forest Tales series  by Cece Louise  that I received from a promotion. It takes place right before Mazarine , another book I reviewed recently from the same series. The title suggests that it could be a new interpretation of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland . Yet, aside from the presence of the Jabberwock and a few superficial literary references, the story is a generic fantasy adventure. This book does not hold a candle to the creativity and emotional intensity of ABC's Once Upon a Time in Wonderland , my favorite interpretation of Alice. In a way, it is even a bit disrespectful to Lewis Carroll by having the characters interpret direct quotes from his work as the rantings of a madman. Like Mazarine , the chapters alternate between two different perspectives. However, instead of swapping between two love interests, it focuses on dual female protagonists who, while different in their motivations, have similar int

Review: Song of Winds (Singer Tales)

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To promote the final book in her Singer Tales series, Deborah Grace White released a free promotion for the third book in the series,  Song of Winds , her adaptation of "East of the Sun and West of the Moon."  Since I have always had issues with this fairy tale, I initially skipped over this book and went straight to Song of Moonrise . However, Song of Winds  is such a sweet love story addressing all my problems with "East of the Sun and West of the Moon" that it quickly joined the ranks of some of my favorite fairy tale adaptations. Like Tara Grayce's Elven Alliance series, Song of Winds tells the story of a couple falling madly in love after their unconventional marriage. Though it follows the basic story beats of "East of the Sun and West of the Moon," it does so in a way that makes the characters appealing and the story compelling. Adrienne is a sweet girl who comes from a troubled family. Her father's gambling addiction placed her entire fa

Review: To Defy a Dream

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To Defy a Dream  by Mary Mecham  is a retelling of "Sleeping Beauty"  from The Shattered Tales , a multi-author series bent on deconstructing popular fairy tales and rewriting them with a twist that shatters their most defining elements. As a huge fairy tale fan, I wasn't too interested in a premise that it rips apart the foundations of what makes fairy tales so beloved. I think deconstructions work better for outdated romcom tropes such as Rachel Bloom brilliantly executed in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend  than they do with timeless fairy tale classics. Still, I enjoyed this author's deconstructed "Cinderella" retelling , and since  To Defy a Dream  was part of a big fairy tale promotion for Valentine's Day , I thought I might as well give it a chance. Overall, To Defy a Dream  has very little to do with "Sleeping Beauty" despite being a retelling. There is a sleeping curse and a magic spindle, but the princess was not cursed to die or sleep at her birt

Review: Ella and the Elf

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Ella and the Elf  by Anabelle Raven  was an unexpected treat from this month's Valentine's Day promotion . It is a sweet reimagining of "Cinderella"  set in a world of elves and magic. The human/elf romance dynamics are similar to Tara Grayce's Elven Alliance series , but the characters and their stories are very different. This is a "Romeo and Juliet" style romance about an interracial relationship between two star-crossed lovers and the obstacles they must face to be together against all odds. Though the story touches on slavery, it never gets as dark as Celeste Baxendell's Runes of Pain and Peace series . The romance is charming, and the characters are refreshingly straightforward about their feelings toward each other. Ella and Altair's "Meet Cute" begins similarly to Andrew Lloyd Webber's recent "Cinderella" adaptation  in which one lover finds the other tied to a tree and releases them. In this case, Ella discovers t

Review: The Net that Holds Me

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The Net that Holds Me  by Scarlett Luna Strange is a bare-bones minimalist retelling of "The Little Mermaid" with virtually no stakes. I learned about it from the recent Valentine's Day book promotion and decided to throw in the anchor because I usually love "Little Mermaid" retellings and even wrote  one of my own . The book is innocent and inoffensive for the most part, but it mitigates the majority of the tragic themes that make "The Little Mermaid" such a classic story and comes off as disrespectful toward the original protagonist at one point near the end. As a standalone YA romance, it's a short and sweet love story that can be finished in about two hours, but as a "Little Mermaid" retelling, it doesn't hold a lot of water. Anyone who has read or seen a "Little Mermaid" adaptation knows the drill. Sage is a lonely mermaid who is bored with her life under the sea and thirsts for something more. One fateful day, she me

Review: Framed in Florals

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There are so many retellings of "Cinderella"  that one would think it would be impossible for a new version of it to be fresh and original. Yet, Abigail Manning  proves that it is possible with Framed in Florals , a lovely and suspenseful adaptation of "Cinderella." This book is most similar to Amazon Prime's 2021  Cinderella  jukebox musical  only much better. Both adaptations feature Cinderella as an entrepreneur who attends the ball to pursue her career ambitions with the handsome stranger she'd encountered previously as a bonus perk. Both Cinderellas are enchanted so their stepfamilies won't recognize them, but the prince knows exactly who she is.  Framed in Florals  goes a step further by throwing some truly devious and fearsome villains into the mix for a thrilling climax that will keep readers on the edge of their seats. As far as wicked stepmothers go, this book really takes the cake. Sapphira is the most horrible and abusive woman any orphan gi

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