The Princess Blog

To Betray a King  by Annette K. Larsen  is one of the books I hadn't read yet from 2024's Shattered Tales series . Having recently completed Tangled Sails , her contribution to Displaced Fairytales , I was eager to read more from her. This book is such a loose retelling of "The Frog Prince"  that you'd have to be very familiar with the original fairy tale to catch all the references. The story contains no magic and revolves around a tactical espionage plot to prevent a series of murders by a dastardly villain. It fits well with the themes of The Shattered Tales and transforms "The Frog Prince," which is traditionally a light and rather silly story, into a suspenseful thriller. Princess Faelyn's life turns upside-down when her family escapes her tyrannical fiancé, only to be terrorized further by her wicked cousin, who rules a neighboring kingdom. King Jeshua blackmails Fae to disguise herself as a peasant "Fraug" and poison a man she's ...

Tangled Sails  by Annette K. Larsen is the third and final ARC I signed up for in the upcoming Displaced Fairytales series. This book brings together the protagonists from "Rapunzel" and "The Little Mermaid" with a heavier focus on "Rapunzel." It is a heartwarming tale of healing, generosity, and personal growth. As the title implies, the book borrows some elements that are unique to the Disney version of the tale, but the worldbuilding and characters set it apart as an original take. Lyrielle has been locked in a tower ever since her magic powers manifested when she was a child. Her aunt invited the local villagers to stand at the base of the tower any time they needed healing from her long, magical hair. One day, in an attempt to escape her captivity, she fell through a portal into the ocean of another realm, where she was rescued by a prince named Tavric, who was searching for a mermaid who once rescued him from drowning. In order to pull Lyrielle f...

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...