Want a curated list of fairytale retellings with strong leads, adventure, a unique twist on an old, beloved tale, and romance?
I’ve got you!
These are my top 3 fairytale retellings (all seem to be Beauty and the Beast retellings-guess I have a type. lol), plus a bonus book! The bonus book is not a Beauty and the Beast retelling, but another fairy tale.
A Court of Thorns and Roses
I’ll be honest, the first half of this book was a struggle but once the big bad shows up, things really pick up and it’s great! This is usually touted as a Beauty and the Beast Retelling, but there are also elements of Tamlin (an old English tale) in there.
When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a terrifying creature arrives to demand retribution. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she knows about only from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not truly a beast, but one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled her world.
At least, he’s not a beast all the time.
As she adapts to her new home, her feelings for the faerie, Tamlin, transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie she’s been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But something is not right in the faerie lands. An ancient, wicked shadow is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it, or doom Tamlin-and his world-forever.
A Prince So Cruel
He needs my help, but he’ll be my downfall.
A prince by morning.
A cretin by noon.
A beast by nightfall.
There is a curse on his blood, an ailment that, if revealed, could destroy his kingdom.
The only one who can help him is me, a human with average healing abilities. It’s what the Envoy told him, and her word is law.
I’m his only hope.
He sends his blue-blooded friends to kidnap me so I can join their quest to Mount Ruin, the only place where I can heal him.
The path is terrifying, and the prince is lying, hiding things from me. To make matters worse, he isn’t always nice. A Fae prince isn’t supposed to lust for a human, especially when she’s his prisoner. And a human girl isn’t supposed to burn for someone so out of her league.
The quest might kill me, but it’s my heart I’m worried about.
A Ruin of Roses
I could save him, but he would ruin me.
The beast.
The creature that stalks the forbidden wood.
The dragon prince.
He has suffered a fate worse than death. We all have. A curse put upon us by the mad king.
We are a kingdom locked in time. Shifters unable to feel our animals. Stuck here by a deal between the late king and a demon who seeks our destruction.
The only one keeping this kingdom alive is Nyfain, the golden prince to a stolen throne. The last dragon shifter.
He’s our hope.
He’s my nightmare.
When he catches me trespassing in the forbidden wood, he doesn’t punish me with death, as he’s entitled.
He takes me, instead. Forces me back to the castle as his prisoner. Seeks to use me.
Apparently, I can save him. I can save the whole forgotten kingdom, locked away by the demon king’s power.
But it would mean taming the monster beneath his skin. It would mean giving myself to him.
It would mean my ruin.
~Bonus Book~
Alice the Dagger
They call me the dagger.
I’m an assassin and that’s all I’ve ever known.
So when a white rabbit tells me that loved ones are waiting for me in the Wonderland Court of Faerie, it’s surprising. And then, I learn something even more shocking.
The Red Queen stole the Crown of Wonderland from my mother. Murdered her too. The queen singlehandedly created my reality of death and blood and murder.
While that’s devastating, I can handle those emotions. Its what I have been trained to do.
What I don’t know how to handle is rebel leader Henri Hatter.
He’s loved by everyone. A man who sings in the streets because people ask for aether’s sake. A faerie who knows more about my past than anyone—including me.
A good man who could crush my heart if I let him in.
Despite my claims that I work alone, Hatter and two nosey little pixies insist on sticking with me.
Only one thing is for sure, with them by my side assassinating the Red Queen will be unlike any other job I’ve ever tackled.
Throne of Glass meets Alice in Wonderland, Alice the Dagger is a YA Fae fantasy.
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