The Princess Blog

Tainted Beauty  by Alesha Adamson is the first book in the All That Glitters series and the last book for me to complete after receiving ARCs of every other book before I got to it. Ending with the beginning, this series has now come full circle for me. Tainted Beauty is a combined retelling of "Beauty and the Beast" and "King Midas."  Both stories are blended together equally with no bias toward one or the other. It is a sweet romance with lots of magic and dragon lore. Among the All That Glitters series, this story shares the most similarities to  Rapunzel's Gambit  by Mary Mecham , but it still stands out as a unique and original dual fairy tale adaptation. Aurelius seeks the aid of a dragon to restore his family's fortune. The ability to turn anything he touched into gold sounded like a great idea at first, until he accidentally froze his own mother in a gilded prison, turning the blessing into a curse. Soon, he realized that he was a threat to anyo...

Thirty years ago, it would have been considered a crime to twist the sweet, gentle princess archetype  into a cold-blooded murderer. Times have changed . Today, the type of violent nature required for horror movie leads is not so far off from how modern princesses act . That's why it's not too surprising that the niche fairy tale horror genre has increased in popularity over the past couple of years. In 2024 alone, there have been three gruesome, twisted princess films, two of which were based on the same fairy tale .  Cinderella's Revenge , Cinderella's Curse , and The Little Mermaid  all take a beloved protagonist known for her kind-hearted nature and turn her into a killer. Is there an audience for this growing trend, or is it merely a passing fad? The concept of combining the traditionally family-friendly fairy tale genre with the darker, more adult horror genre is not entirely novel. Original versions of fairy tales had many dark elements before they were Disney...

Ties of Shadow by Alora Carter is another ARC I received from the Tethered Hearts multi-author series about characters who are binded together by magical ties. So far, this series has been surprisingly dark, especially in comparison to Sacrificed Hearts , which shares similar themes. Despite its simplistic nature, this book has some levity to it in the form of cute animal sidekicks that live the shadow world and make wisecracks to the main characters. It does a good job developing the romance and is thematically similar to Mask of Deception and Sacrifice , which was inspired by "Beauty and the Beast" and Phantom of the Opera . The dark/light dynamic of the lead characters works well, allowing them to balance out each other's strengths and weaknesses. Lady Aelia has a hard time saying "no." She is dangerously loyal to the crown and Prince Leon who was once a dear friend to her. However, when those she is most loyal to ask her to sacrifice herself based on the...

Enchanting Fate  by Ashley Evercott  is a twisted retelling of "Beauty and the Beast"  in which the girl destined to break the beast's spell falls in love with one of the other cursed residents of the castle. It is the first book in the Fairy Tales of Gallia series, which is likely to contain other twists on popular stories. Fractured fairy tales are a popular niche , and I'll admit this was a concept I hadn't seen before in a retelling. The characters' motivations are clear, and their struggles are understandable. However, the solution to their problem seems so obvious that some chapters are frustrating to get through. I just wanted to see everyone live out their happy ending with their true love and stop obsessing so much over a misunderstood solution to the curse. Marguerite is the daughter of a merchant whose business is about to go under. To restore her family's legacy, she must marry a wealthy nobleman who she doesn't particularly care for. Howev...

Disney was once famous for producing the most screen-accurate adaptations of well-known fairy tales, but their mission has strayed in recent years . Their current fairy tales are either soulless remakes of their animated classics  or stories that shy so far from the original source material that they can barely be considered adaptations. Nowadays, if you want to see classic stories from the past  brought to life on screen, you must turn to other studios. In a way, this post is the opposite of my "Ten Alternatives to Disney's Live-Action Remakes"  since that was a list of movies that were more creative and original with their ideas, and these are movies that stick as close to the source as possible. If you want to see the stories from your childhood brought to life on screen, this is the post for you. Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella (1957) Disney produced a beautiful remake of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella  starring Brandy in 1997, but the first produc...

Just when I thought I'd seen every creative way to retell a fairy tale , a new series called  The Princess Swap series  showed up at my library. At first glance,  Cinderella and the Beast (or, Beauty and the Glass Slipper)  by Kim Bussing appears to be a simple case of mistaken identity as two princesses wind up in the wrong story. However, it is actually much more than that. In fact, these two misplaced heroines wind up exactly where they need to be to learn important lessons and grow into the iconic princesses they were meant to be. The book ages down its protagonists to 12 to match its ideal reader's age and forgoes the romance from these classic stories in favor of more relevant themes including friendship , forgiveness , and perseverance . It even has a touch of disability inclusion  with Ella's glass leg. One minute, Ella is at home, minding her own business, and the next, she finds herself in an unfamiliar land surrounded by strangers. She learns that...

The Scarlet Rose  is the second book I've read from Valia Lind's Skazka Fairy Tales , a series of Russian-inspired fairy tale retellings. This story is a fairly standard adaptation of "Beauty and the Beast."  She made some small changes to the story to make it her own, but for the most part, it follows the Disney movie beat for beat. This comfortable and familiar retelling falls perfectly into the "cozy fantasy romance" genre that the Skazka Fairy Tales are categorized as. I enjoyed the love story from her other book, The Cursed Beauty , more than this one since it took the main character a longer to fall in love with the beast. However, The Scarlet Rose  contains some interesting family dynamics by incorporating the siblings from the original fairy tale instead of making the "Beauty" character an only child and giving the "Beast" character his own family that he swore to protect. A young lady named Nikita grows concerned when her father ...

In case you haven't heard the terrific news, there is a fairy tale advent calendar  you can access all month for free books from some of the best fairy tale authors! With so many books to choose from, it's no wonder princess stories have migrated back to the page . Among the books offered that I hadn't read, Beauty in the Tower  by Sara Farnsworth  stood out because it combines "Rapunzel" and "Sleeping Beauty."  This seemed like such an interesting and fun combination that I've never seen before. I read a book that combines "Beauty and the Beast" with "Sleeping Beauty," but not "Rapunzel." Beauty in the Tower , the first book in the Realms of Caelia series, exceeded my expectations with its unique combination of romance, magic, and suspense. I also appreciate that the author put a trigger warning at the beginning of the book for anyone who might be uncomfortable by its darker elements, but thankfully, it did not go int...

The Beauty and the Griffin  by JM Stengl  is the thrilling conclusion to the Faraway Castle series  that I started reading  during the first year of my blog . It's been a long wait for this sixth installment, but it was worth it. The ARC I received serves as a cathartic conclusion to the stories of all these royal modern-day teenagers who stayed at the enchanted Faraway Castle resort as an escape from day-to-day life. This book is a retelling of "Beauty and the Beast"  that adapts the fairy tale uniquely, incorporating elements that are rarely used in other adaptations including the beast's nightly proposals and the beauty's dreams of him as a prince. It is firmly ingrained in the setting of Faraway Castle and contains all of the magical properties of this world that have been set up in the other books. I would not recommend starting the series with this one, but it is well worth diving into these six novels and two novellas from the beginning with Ellie and the...

We are closing in on the first half of #fairytalesummer  with The Rose Gate  by Hanna Sandvig . This was a new author for me. Her unique style of modern-day fae isekai stories in her Faerie Tale Romances series made for a refreshing change from the usual fairy tale retellings. This book is an adaptation of "Beauty and the Beast"  that does a good job of keeping it fresh while retaining the essence of the classic tale that we all know and love. On a personal level, I particularly liked that the main character worked in the children's section of a library  reading fairy tales to kids. That was more than a little relatable . 😉 The series follows a pattern of girls from the real world traveling through fae gates to Tir Na nOg , which is a great method of escapism that perfectly balances modern sensibilities with fantasy stories of old. Isobel is a typical modern girl who spends her days teaching kids feminism at the library for a mysterious boss who is more than she ap...

I was elated to learn that the next visual novel in Time Princess  would be a return to noblebright stories about royalty! The now massive smartphone app originally premiered with a visual novel about Queen Marie , so it was only a matter of time before it returned to its roots. Twilight's Crown is a mix of history and fantasy, with a disclaimer that any relevance it has to real-life events is purely coincidental. However, the game is packed with references to famous princesses and queens. Its main character, Eleanor, shares a similar backstory to Queen Elizabeth in regards to living in a world where  primogeniture  laws favor male heirs over female ones and a series of unlikely events that lead up to her becoming a sovereign queen after her brothers die young. Her royal gowns feature a red and green flower insignia that strongly resembles one used on the iconic necklace from Anastasia  to prove her regal lineage. There are also visual and plot-related nods to "Beau...

Of all the Sacrificed Hearts books I've reviewed so far, Island of Secrets and Sacrifice by Deborah Grace White was the one I was looking forward to reading the most. She is the author of my favorite mermaid series, The Vazula Chronicles , and this book had a similar premise only without the mermaids. It takes place in the same world as the Singer Tales , one of my favorite fairy tale anthologies, and has a relatable protagonist and charming love story with undertones of "Beauty and the Beast." Suffice to say, this book had a lot of thought put into its setting, plot, and characters, and it shines through its strong worldbuilding, relatable themes, and compelling yet easy to follow narrative. Ember is a stubborn redhead who was raised in a dystopian society cut off from the rest of the world. She has a strong desire to be free from the confines of her island and learn the secrets of the outside world as well as the truth behind the maidens who are sacrificed from her...

As a member of the street team for the Sacrificed Hearts series , I have been eager to read these books about unexpected romance from many of my favorite authors. The series plays on the trope of sacrificial maidens  who learn that their "captors" are not what they appear to be and grow to love them. In other words, they can be interpreted as loose retellings of "Beauty and the Beast,"  one of the most beloved love stories. The first book in the series, Mountain of Dragons and Sacrifice  by Tara Grayce , is a quintessential starting point for this series. I recently reviewed Netflix's Damsel , which had a similar premise but was marred by modern agendas and stereotypes of what it means to be a princess today . In many ways, this story is the opposite of Damsel , taking a damsel who believes her life will be threatened by a fearsome dragon before learning she doesn't need physical strength to defeat it and that what is inside her heart is already enough. I wa...