I love reading.
Seriously, I love it. As an English major, it is basically my reason for living. My favorite genres are probably fantasy and historical fiction, but my favorite sub-genre is fairy tales. I love fairy tales. A lot. I always have; like many people, I grew up on a healthy (-ish) diet of Disney movies and picture books of Grimm’s famous stories.
As I have grown up, I have been drawn to various retellings of such fairy tales. I enjoy the various re-imaginings of Beauty and the Beast or Cinderella, and I like to study the huge changes that can be made to stories in order to fit the needs or the moods of the author or the time in which it is written. I would like to share my favorites with you.
Fellow readers, allow me to introduce to you my most favorite fairy tale retellings.
Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge
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This retelling of Beauty and the Beast is set in a fantasy world full of demons and darkness. The Beast is a demon who makes deals with people for results that always end up costing more than people think. Beauty does not go to the Beast out of her own courage and goodness, but because she was raised to marry and then destroy him. Good, right?
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Nyx has been training since birth to marry, seduce, and destroy the immortal Ignifex to break a centuries-old curse on her land. She is angry because a) her father made a deal promising her to Ignifex before she was born and b) because her family has never tried to save her and she has been treated differently her entire life because she is doomed. She goes through with it, marries him, and then she’s thrown for a loop because he is not what he expected. Nyx has to struggle with both the resentment and loyalty she harbors towards herself and her family as well as her hatred and emerging feelings for Ignifex, her husband, whom she is supposed to kill. Cruel Beauty is full of suspense, intrigue, and surprise.
The Shadow of the Bear by Regina Doman
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This is a retelling of Snow White and Rose Red, a less prolific story than, say, regular old Snow White, but just as enjoyable. If you haven’t read the original story, go do it! It’s fun.
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Regina Doman’s retelling is set in contemporary New York and features Blanche and Rose, two sisters who live with their mother, a nurse who must practice great frugality. Blanche is shy and retiring, Rose is outgoing and energetic, and they are very close. A troubled young man named Bear turns up on their doorstep, and the whole family takes him in. As their friendship deepens, intrigue, mystery, and danger fill their lives. I won’t give away any more plot details, but the story is considerably darker than the one I read as a child, and there is no magic in Doman’s stories; all the problems that occur are human-made, sometimes purposefully and sometimes not. There are two sequels, one about each sister: Black as Night (based on Snow White) and Waking Rose (based on Sleeping Beauty). I love both of them, too, but I’ll talk about them another time.
Alex O’Donnell and the Forty Cyber-Thieves by Regina Doman
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This book is a retelling of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves and it’s super awesome! It takes place after Waking Rose and features a tech-savvy, martial arts enthusiast family who end up running a hotel in Virginia. The main characters are introduced in Waking Rose, the third book, and some of the main characters from Waking Rose turn up in Cyber-Thieves, so if you read out of order (like I did), SPOILER ALERT.
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Mr. O’Donnell, Alex’s dad, is a computer enthusiast who does certain things that may or may not be legal. He accidently signs up for something in the dark Web and ends up with a heck of a lot of money that he doesn’t know what to do with. So he buys a hotel to run. Alex is home from college, and he helps his family make the transition to the Virginia hotel and he brings his girlfriend, Kateri, with them. Kateri is kind of type-A, comes from a farm, and is an activist; she doesn’t really do technology, but she ends up staying with Alex’s very computer-loving and disorganized family, watching the brothers wrestle and figuring out what she wants in the middle of the chaos. Unbeknownst to everyone, the poeple who gave Mr. O’Donnell the money want it back. It’s a fun book; there are katanas, ninjas, murder, hacking, kidnapping, a pool… It’s so great. Read it.
Before Midnight by Cameron Dokey
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This is a retelling of Cinderella set in a far away land by the sea. It is a part of the Once Upon A Time Series, which I also highly recommend, but I will only discuss select books from the series because there are too many. This is the book that started me reading the series, though.
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Etienne de Brabant is nobleman who adores his wife, and when she dies in childbirth he won’t even look at or name his daughter and he leaves his home to stay at the court for years. Before he disappears for good, though, he brings a baby boy to his home and leaves him behind. Both children are named-La Cendrillon and Raoul, respectively-and brought up by the servants for sixteen years. Neither is kept in the dark about their backgrounds or circumstances of living, and neither is mistreated. Then a carriage arrives bearing de Brabant’s new wife and two new stepdaughters, all of whom were completely unaware of La Cendrillon’s existence. I won’t give away anything else because this is where things get interesting. I really liked how the familial relationships evolved in this story.
This is just the tip of the iceberg that is fairy tale retellings. Please enjoy the books on this list, and I’ll have more for you soon!