Dagger's Sleep - Tricia Mingerink

Dagger's Sleep

Tricia Mingerink

Beyond the Tales, #1

SPOILER WARNING for "About a Fairy Tale"

Where to Purchase: Amazon

Official Blurb: 

A prince cursed to sleep.

A princess destined to wake him.

A kingdom determined to stop them.

High Prince Alexander has been cursed to a sleep like unto death, a curse that will end the line of the high kings and send the Seven Kingdoms of Tallahatchia into chaos. With his manservant to carry his luggage and his own superior intelligence to aid him, Alex sets off to find one of the Fae and end his curse one way or another.

A hundred years later, Princess Rosanna learns she is the princess destined by the Highest King to wake the legendary sleeping prince. With the help of the mysterious Daemyn Rand, can she find the courage to finish the quest as Tallahatchia wavers on the edge of war?

One curse connects them. A hundred years separate them. From the rushing rivers of Tallahatchia’s mountains to the hall of the Highest King himself, their quests will demand greater sacrifice than either of them could imagine.

As a Retelling:
This story masterfully takes the story of Sleeping Beauty and ups its meaning by swapping the roles of the prince and princess, telling the stories of the two characters side by side - Alex's in the past, Rose's in the future. The spindle is swapped out for a dagger, as the title implies, which was masterfully handled. However, the romance turns out a bit differently from the fairy tale due to the addition of a new and vital character

Arista's Thoughts: 
My thoughts are pretty mixed on this one. I like its setting, tone, conflict, but am slightly annoyed with the ending. Not that I don't like the romance we got - the couple is absolutely adorable - but I find the trend of "the prince and princess don't end up together" in retellings to be a bit annoying, especially with Sleeping Beauty. I feel better about it having read the following books in the series, but I was majorly annoyed when I first read it.

Genderswap - Sleeping Beauty

Magical

Christian

Alternate Ending

Medieval America

Cameo - Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, Snow White and Rose Red

Alternative Covers:

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Ellie and the Prince - J.M. Stengl

Ellie and the Prince

J.M. Stengl

Faraway Castle, #1

Where to Purchase: Amazon

Official Blurb:

 She should resist him . . . but to rescue the unicorn, Ellie needs the prince's help.

Serving as Controller of Magical Creatures at the illustrious Faraway Castle resort, Ellie Calmer knows her place. She is a servant, and she has no business thinking about handsome Prince Omar, a regular visitor at the resort, much less talking to him!

But then a unicorn on the resort grounds attacks a party of riders, frightening the guests, and a band of young and adventurous nobles decide to hunt it down. Suddenly Ellie needs Omar's help. She knows something must be wrong to have driven the unicorn to such desperate extremes. Can she and Omar find the unicorn before it's too late? And will she somehow protect her heart against the irresistible attraction she feels for the kind and gentle prince?

As a Retelling:

This retelling is set at a luxury resort for royalty, and Cinderella is a servant with a talent for calming and understanding animals. The prince is a regular visitor who she's had a crush on for years. Though there's a lot of build-up and meander to get there, the story does eventually arrive at a traditional ball, provided by a Fairy Godmother figure, and there are two girls who fill a step-sister role, though, having no direct relation to Cinderella, have less of an impact on the story. Ultimately, the story does have a different twist to the end, but deepens the outcome rather than chances it.

Arista's Thoughts:
A definite favorite from the moment I read it. There is a small element of convenience to the romance, resulting in a small bit of frustration at the lack of communication it lead to. Also, the unicorn plotline in the blurb seemed more of a side-plot, especially since it was resolved quite a ways before the ending. Not really a complaint, but the blub did have me expecting it to be more of a focus. I did love the story we got, and even though I guessed the ending's plot twist ahead of time, it was really well done and I rather enjoyed it.

True Retelling - Cinderella

Magical

Indie

Medieval Contemporary

Cameo - The Little Mermaid

Alternate Covers: 

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Beast Hunter - Michelle Israel Harper

Beast Hunter

Michelle Israel Harper

Beast Hunters - Prequel

SPOILER WARNING for "Arista's Thoughts"

Where to Purchase: Amazon

Official Blurb:

Ro’s people are starving. A curse has overtaken her land, blackening the soil, wiping out crops, and bringing ruin to all. She doesn't know what to do.

The only people who thrive are the huntsmen, brought in by the mysterious Gautier to stem the flow of ravenous creatures looking for food.

When Ro accidentally kills a wolf, an idea begins to form. Could she become a huntress? Earn enough livres to feed her family?

But her world is shattered when her father promises her to a beast in exchange for his own life. If she doesn’t go, a curse will fall on her family worse than the one destroying their land. But Ro is determined to save her family another way.


Will Ro have the courage to seek her own fate instead of the one pressed upon her?

As a Retellling:

This is basically set-up for Harper's full-length novel Kill the Beast, but it does cover the first act of the original fairy tale - with the twist being that instead of our heroine's demure sweetness, Ro is quite resentful of the hard times that have overtaken her family, and she also has more than her fair share of Rebellious Princess Syndrome, and instead of going to the beast to save her father ... she runs away in search of the means to save her land. The Red Riding Hood parallels come up in the fact that there are Hunters who kill wolves (the book actually opens with Ro killing one accidentally), and the climax involves Ro meeting with a "grandmother" character who's not who she seems.

Arista's Thoughts: 

I really love the concept for Kill the Beast, and this prequel hasn't turned me off from my goal of tracking that book down and reading it ... but Beast Hunter suffered for being, well, a prequel. There was a lot set up in the book that wasn't really resolved, and the climax happened when there was still a bit of book left, leaving the final act feeling a little underwhelming. Ro was also a very inconsistent character and had no real growth. I feel that these issues could and probably will be resolved in the main book, but I just couldn't connect with this prequel.

Prequel - Beauty and the Beast
Inspired By - Little Red Riding Hood
Twisted Tale
"I'll Save Myself"
Traditional European


Have you read Beast Hunter? If so, leave a comment below with your own short review to help future readers!

The Princess Companion - Melanie Cellier

The Princess Companion

Melanie Cellier

The Four Kingdoms

SPOILER WARNING

Where to Purchase: Amazon

Official Blurb:

Danger and romance await a woodcutter's daughter in a royal palace.

One dark and stormy night, lost and alone, Alyssa finds herself knocking on the door of a castle. After a lifetime spent in the deep forest, Alyssa has no idea what to expect on the other side.

What she finds is two unruly young princesses and one very handsome prince. When Alyssa accepts the job of Princess Companion she knows her life will change. What she doesn't know is that the royal family is about to be swept up in unexpected danger and intrigue, and that she just might be the only thing standing between her kingdom and destruction.

This retelling of the classic fairy tale, The Princess and the Pea, reimagines the risks and rewards that come when one royal family goes searching for a true princess.

As a Retelling:
What if the prince's true love was the first to try the bed? What if she just failed to tell anyone that it was insanely uncomfortable, and then she's hired on to be companion to the prince's younger sisters, allowing her to properly get to know and fall in love with the prince? Alyssa is also a woodcutter's daughter instead of being an actual princess. The prince is also the son of Cinderella and her prince, who have fallen out of love due to her feeling like she can't handle the pressure of being queen.

Arista's Thoughts: 

Very sweet romance here, though it was a bit infurating as most of the book's conflict boils down to "lasp in communication." I also was quite disorinted as most of the book was in Alyssa's first person POV, but there were some "extra" scenes that were in Max's and Ava's, also first person. Lily and Sofie were adorable little girls, the showdown in the final act was pretty nice, and the ending was perfect. 

Fairy Tale Romance - The Princess and the Pea

Twisted Tale

Indie

Fallout - Cinderella

Alternative Covers:

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Spindle - W.R. Gingell

Spindle

W.R. Gingell

Two Monarchies Sequence #1

SPOILER WARNING

Where to Purchase: Amazon

Official Blurb:

As a Retelling:

This Sleeping Beauty story starts with the kiss, but immediately, nothing is as it should be. First off, Poly knows for certain that she's not the princess, but she can't remember why she's asleep in the princess's bed, wearing the princess's clothes. The story follows a twisted romp as she and her rescuer - a wizard named Luck - meander through the world she's found herself in, and try to figure out What Went Wrong.

Also, she keeps trying to fall back asleep, though her hair (which is now incredibly and annoyingly long), seems to contain the curse and it keeps growing in an effort to protect her. 

Along the way, misadventures happen and they eventually figure out who's to blame and how to break her curse.

Arista's Thoughts:

As a retelling, it's a very clever idea and pretty decently executed. However, there's a lot of meandering between concept and resolution and we're left quite in the dark with Poly as Luck refuses to trust her with any information regarding her curse and she's forgotten how she came to be sleeping in the princess's bed. The romance also suffers as we're told that she likes him, but once we're to his home, she spends more time with decoy love interests instead, both of whom are decent figures (I mean, Melchior's squintable, but at least he's keeping Poly on the same page as him.) Honestly, it was annoying how much of the book was Poly getting into trouble 'cause Luck won't give her vital information. Like, I love how determined she is to fix her own problems, but she keeps getting put in the corner 'cause she's only making the problem worse.

I wish there could have been more proper development to their relationship, because there's pretty much zilch after the one-third point, and we're just expected to believe that she's actually in love with Luck at the end? (I will say, I have a lot of friends who ship 'em hard, but as a kid who grew up in a household with a manchild Dad ... romances like this are hard to sell me on, and this one covered too much time with too little actual development for it to sit right with me)

Onepiece was adorable, though. Would recommend the book just so you can read about him, the precious child. Oh, and for Poly organizing Luck's library. That was amazing.

Happily Ever After Gone Wrong - Sleeping Beauty

Influenced By - Rapunzel

Magical

"I'll Save Myself"

Indie

Traditional European

Alternative Covers:

Have you read Spindle? If so, leave a comment below with your own short review to help future readers!

Beauty and the Beast - K.M. Shea

Beauty and the Beast

K.M. Shea

Timeless Fairy Tales #1

SPOILER WARNING for Arista's Thoughts

Where to Purchase: Amazon

Official Blurb: Once upon a time Elle made a mistake. A small miscalculation sends her through the roof of an enchanted chateau. Stranded until her broken leg mends, Elle is unwillingly forced to rely on the good will of the sour chateau owner —the cursed Prince Severin.

Prince Severin—the commanding general and staunch supporter of his brother the crown prince—is cursed to look like a beast until a maiden falls in love with him. He has given up all hope of shattering the curse, and has only disdain for Elle.

Unfortunately, the pair can’t seem to avoid each other thanks to the meddling of the chateau’s cursed servants. Eventually Elle’s playful manners and Severin’s hidden gentleness draw the pair together.

But not all love stories can end that easily. After all, Elle is not what she seems, and Severin’s life is placed in danger when hostilities flare between his brother and the monarchs of a neighboring country. When Elle risks everything to save Severin, will he be able to forgive her for her lies?

As a Retellling: Prince Severin is a Beast due to an enchantress's curse, and Elle is the daughter of a merchant who has fallen on hard times. However, she winds up in Severin's house not because of an extracted promise from her father, but because she is a really good spy and her kingdom is taking advantage of her family's debt to eek as much work out of her as possible. She had been assigned to spy on Prince Severin, and, belying her skill ... fell through a glass roof and broke her leg, forcing her to rely on his hospitality. All of his servants are immediately hopeful that she might, finally, be the girl to break their master's curse, and immediately start shoving the two together. 

Arista's Thoughts: It's an interesting take on the tale and I appreciate that there is very little, if anything, that feels Disney about it. However, B&B is a very slow fairy tale, and this retelling removed most of the story's action - it opened when Elle fell through the roof, and there's no occasion where she gets to go home and have Thoughts with herself concerning the Beast. As a result, while I love that it got the fairy tale's themes and messages right, it dragged painfully in many places. Also, the plot twist concerning Elle's spy position was rather clumsily handled, and, I felt, played up too much for drama at the end.

Fairy Tale Romance - Beauty and the Beast

Twisted Tale

Magical

Traditional European

Alternative Covers:

 

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After the Twelfth Night - A.G. Werff

After the Twelfth Night

A.G. Werff 

Where to Purchase: Amazon (paperback only)

Official Blurb: Antonio was a pirate, and now he's in jail for that long ago sea fight with the Duke. His friend, Sebastian, was supposed to bail him out of jail, but Sebastian has been kidnapped! Antonio promises Sebastian's wife that he will find her missing husband, but first he must get out of jail. . . In A.G. Werff's debut novel, you will find humor, heroes with sidekicks, villains with henchmen, pirates, love, peril, adventure, and lots of treasure!

As a Retellling: Just a few days after things look like they're happily ever, Sebastian is kidnapped, and his wife and sister bail Antonio out of jail, along with a young boy named Antony, and send him off to look for his friend. Sebastian and Antonio's backstories are explored. The overall tone of the book is more adventure-driven than the original play, but there is romance to be found, and a girl masquerading as a boy.

Arista's Thoughts: I have never actually read or seen Twelfth Night, merely read a few summaries to give me a basic idea of the plot. However, I was able to follow this book's plot well enough and quite enjoyed the cast of characters and their misadventures.

After Ever After - Twelfth Night
Non-Magical
Renaissance Europe 

Have you read After The Twelfth Night? If so, leave a comment below with your own short review to help future readers!