Once Upon a Twist on an Old Fairy Tale

I am always on the lookout for a good Beauty and the Beast retelling. So when I discovered this book it caught my attention instantly. Instead of reading a physical copy though I listened to it on audiobook. I adored the narrator who brought so much life to the story. It was such an enjoyable experience. The story introduces the reader to Gemma a young women who no longer believes in love. Ever since a scandal with a viscount that ruined her life she has decided to avoid a matrimonial fate and instead look for job. However in the Winter Court on the island of Faerwyvae (where she and her family had moved to) no one is interested in hiring a women as their stewardess. With her awful father pressuring her to marry, an unwanted suitor (Gavin) pursuing her and a wicked so called friend Imogen knowing her scandalous secret Gemma is more determined then ever to get a position and leave her small minded town. When she is offered an interview Gemma thinks her life could finally change for the ...

 A. G. Marshall is one of my favorite authors of all time. Her writing style is a great balance of humor, romance, seriousness, and action. She is also really good at creating retellings that pay homage to the original source while still making the story her own. I honestly cannot get enough of her books. She had also written one of my favorite Little Mermaid retellings, Princess of Mermaids (which I will be reviewing sooner than later). So when I learned she was writing another Little Mermaid book for A Villains Ever After series (a series where twelve authors each contributed a book about a villain becoming a hero) I was excited. As the eleventh book in the series I had to impatiently wait for it to be released but it was worth the wait. The book was not quite as good as Princess of Mermaids I still really enjoyed it. The Prince and the Sea Witch is considerably darker than A. G. Marshalls previous books, since the mermaids are much more like sirens whose song makes men drown the...

Beauty and Beastly by Melanie Karsak is a great Beauty and the Beast retelling. When I first started it I stayed up a good part of the night to finish it. Thankfully its not very long read (around 200 pages) so it won't take long to get through. The book is classified as a steampunk fantasy and this time around the beast character (and his servants) are automations.  The story begins with Isabelle a tinker living in a steampunk version of Europe set in the Victorian era. She is still recovering from the heartbreak and unfortunately having to deal with the unwanted attentions of Gerard LeBoeuf. Her father and her are going on a trip to Scotland where they are to show off their tinkered creations at a wedding. However things do not go as planned when the ship their on capsizes and Isabelle and her father get separated while trying abandon ship. Isabelle washes up on a mysterious island where she comes across a castle in the middle of a storm. There she finds not only her father but a...

This year I have found myself rereading favorite books to see if they still hold up. Examples include East by Edith Pattou, Sun and Moon Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George, Beauty by Robin McKinley. On a random whim I decided reread Dragon Rose by Christine Pope to see if I still liked it. I had remembered the book containing extremely dark elements that I generally try avoid reading about and yet still holding my interest. My memories turned out to be correct and I found it to be quite enjoyable for the most part. The book introduces the reader to cursed town ruled by the dragon Theran Blackmoor. Five hundred years ago Theran was a man who for unknown reasons was cursed to become a dragon. The lands he ruled were also cursed and every few or more years he demands a bride. No one knows what fate befalls the poor girls and the towns lives in constant fear. When Rhianne's closest friend Lilianth is chosen to be the next doomed bride she volunteers to take her place. Taken to the drag...

 This review is extremely overdue. Previously I had planned to read and review as many Swan Lake retellings as I could in honor of my late grandmother Marilyn or Ma as I used to call her. During her life she was a dance critic and reviewed ballet such as Swan Lake. So in the span of a month I read three retellings of the classic ballet in her honor. However while I reviewed The Golden Ball by Erika Everest and The Sorcerer and the Swan Princess by Lucy Tempest I never got around to reviewing the first one I read Swan Lake by K. M. Shea. Part of the reason was because my grandfather Frank or Pa as I used to call him health got worse and he sadly died a few months later. I then read and reviewed some other books in his honor and got sidetracked as a result. But I think it is about time to review the last Swan Lake retelling and am now ready to discuss. And I have to say it was pretty good. Swan Lake by K. M. Shea introduces the reader to Odette who in this version is not a princess (...

Before beginning it should be said that this review includes major spoilers from the previous book The Moonfire Bride. If you don't want to be spoiled than come back to this review after you have finished reading it.  After finishing The Moonfire Bride the cliffhanger ending was so tantalizing that I decided I had to start its sequel The Sunfire King right away. I listened to it at a faster speed so I could finish it on the same day and man what an enjoyable rollercoaster ride it was.  Valera has made a terrible mistake. She betrayed her husband Erolas by looking at his face by candlelight while he slept. And now she is paying the consequences. Erolas is taken from her by a strange pale queen along with his servants. All the happy memories she and Erolas shared are whiped from his mind and he is to marry his abductor. With a heavy heart Valera returns back to the human world with her sister Brielle. However, despite Brielle reassurance that she will be okay now that's she's...

This review and the one that will soon follow are the last two books I had been meaning to write in honor of my late grandfather. Both books in this duology The Moonfire Bride and the Sunfire King are based off the two Greek myths Hades and Persephone and Cupid and Psyche. Cupid and Psyche is what could be considered the precursor to East of the Sun and West of the Moon and so I included them in my reading project to read as many of these tales as I could. In the end I listened to five of them all on audiobook. Truth be told though I had previously read these books before at some point in my life with the exception of these two. I had never heard of its author Sylvia Mercedes until recently and I find that I am now very eager to read more of her work.  The Moonfire Bride is the story of Valera a young woman who's life revolves around protecting her little sister Brielle not only from the cruelties of the world (their abusive father included) but from the Fae too. Valera fears that ...

When I finished listening to the Princess Pact on audiobook, I debated whether or not I should listen to A Midwinters Wedding since I have previously read it earlier this year. For a while I thought of skipping over it but in the end but I figured I would write a better review if it was fresh in my head and so I reread it. It also helped that it was a novella and wouldn't take as much time to read as a full novel would. As it turned out I enjoyed it more than I did the first time. Before beginning I should mention this review has a couple of major spoilers from The Princess Pact. If you plan to read this series in order and don't want any spoilers, then wait a while before reading this review. Cordelia is one of the many royal siblings from the kingdom of Lanover who are famed for their beauty. However, despite her good looks Cordelia feels unimportant and longs to stand out. She gets her chance when she alone is picked to attend her brother Rafe's wedding to Princess Marie...

Rumpelstiltskin is such an odd fairy tale. The plot is just strange to me which is why I am always curious to see how authors will retell this story. They can answer questions such as why did Rumpelstiltskin want the queen's child? What would he have done with the baby? How could he spin straw into gold? Why didn't the greedy king ask his wife to spin more gold after they were married? Why did he even believe the poor millers false claims in the first place? These are just a few of the questions the tale of Rumpelstiltskin brings, and this retelling does a good job of answering most of them.  The Princess Pact is the story of Princess Marie who had appeared in The Princess Companion as a friend and ally to Alyssa. She is also known to not have the beauty most princesses known for. She finds out the reason to this in the beginning of the book. It turns out she is adopted. When the queen (formally the miller's daughter) made her deal with the strange little man he didn't ...

I read this novelette sometime late last year and I really enjoyed it. It was honestly just the kind of story I needed when I was feeling down about something. It was actually the second book I read by Melanie Cellier the first one being A Tale of Beauty and Beast and it made me want to read the rest of her books despite how long her series are. The reason I picked up this book in the first place was because I was trying to read a bunch of short Cinderella retellings at the time. I don't remember how many I read altogether but I remember this one being my favorite. This is a short book that is only about 60 pages long (making it the shortest Four Kingdoms book) but that didn't stop it from being so endearing. The Coronation Ball is the story of Hanna the sisters to Hans (the love interest from The Princess Fugitive) and a misused apprentice pastry chef who was forced to leave her home country Rangmere some years prior due to a prank gone wrong. Now Hanna works as a servant in t...

Warning: Spoilers from The Princess Fugitive are mentioned  After greatly enjoying The Princess Fugitive I decided to read the novella Happily Ever Afters which is a direct sequel. This book is about the side characters Sarah and Evelyn as they discover a new evil plot that could throw the country of Ragmere back into chaos. After winning their battles to put Ava on the throne both Sarah and Evelyn are now trying to settle into their roles. Sarah is determined to marry a nobleman and find her place among the court while Evelyn is doing her best to gain the respect of the other soldiers as she attempts fulfill her role as Ava's new personal bodyguard. Both girls soon find themselves trying to protect the kingdom once more from a wicked nobleman who possess a fairy relic with the ability to control people as they find love along the way. This was a sweet novella with a story I enjoyed overall but had a couple of minor issues with. My main gripe with this book is that I wasn't com...

In general, I am not a fan of the fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood. It's a creepy story about a deceiving wolf who in the original Charles Perrault version eats the little girl and her grandmother and that's the end of the story. I know that in the Grimm Brothers version the wolf gets what coming to him and Little Red Riding Hood is saved but even with this happy ending the story has just never appealed to me. So, when I finished Melanie Celliers first book The Princess Companion, I wasn't too excited to start The Princess Fugitive simply because of its origin story. Looks however can be deceiving (just like the wolf) and this book turned out to be my favorite book (so far) in the Four Kingdoms series. Before continuing I should mention that this book contains some spoilers from the Princess Companion so read it at your discretion.  The Princess Fugitive actually has actually very little to do with its original source. This certainly benefited the story a great deal since ...