Billie Bloebaum wrote in with a rather interesting question:
Has there ever been a GS vs. STA for fairy tale-inspired romance? Because I'm totally going through a phase with it right now and was hoping for some recommendations of things inspired by tales other than Cinderella or Beauty & the Beast. I can find a ton of stuff in YA and Fantasy and even Lit Fic (and if you haven't read 'The Snow Child' by Eowyn Ivey you should do so nownownow) ( A | BN | K | S ), but Romance seems to be stuck on those two stories, with the occasional foray into Princess & the Pea territory. There have to be Snow White or Sleeping Beauty or Rapunzel stories out there in the great wide world of Romance, so why am I not finding them? Some help, please? What am I missing? And, if anyone can direct me to an 'Alice in Wonderland'-inspired Romance, I might just expire from joy.
Some of my favorite romances are fairy-tale retellings, but they are Beauty and the Beast or Cinderella-based. Teresa Medeiros' Charming the Prince (A | BN | K | S) and The Bride and the Beast (A | BN | K | S) come to mind immediately, as does Julia Quinn's book for Benedict Bridgerton, An Offer from a Gentleman ( A | BN | K | S ). Eloisa James did the Princess and the Pea recently with The Duke is Mine ( A | BN | K | S ) but I am struggling to think of another Pea romance. (Also, am I the only one who reads “The Duke is Mine” and immediately hears Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson singing, “The Doggone Duke is Mine?” Yes? I'm alone in that? Oh, well.)
What fairy-tale-inspired romances are your favorites? Any Rapunzel retellings? Alice in Wonderland? Hansel and Gretel? Which do you recommend – or recommend readers avoid?
There was an entirE series called – tada – FAERIE TALE ROMANCES. Here’s the list from my inventory…No Authors, but I bet you can find them all on Amazon along with the very distinctive and fanciful covers.
Title
LET ME COME IN
CINDERFELLA
INTO THE WOODS
COOKING UP TROUBLE
BIG BAD WOLF
THE GLASS SLIPPER
THE EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES
ONCE UON A TANGLED TALE
THE SNOW QUEEN
JACKIE AND THE GIANT
THE STEADFAST HEART
THE PRINCESS AND THE PEA
THE MIRROR AND THE MAGIC
STRANDS OF GOLD
SOMEONE’S BEEN SLEEPING IN MY BED
DEBUTY & THE BEAST
THE WILD SWANS
THE GENTLE BEAST
LET DOWN YOUR HAIR
ROSE RED
I hope this fits.
Cait
The biopunk elements really give them a unique flavor and I liked how the author meshed them. Hope you enjoy!
You had me at “biopunk” – I’ve already added them to my wishlist.
In addition to Beauty and the other Robin McKinley books already mentioned, I would recommend Door through the Hedge—a compilation of shorter works, one of which is her retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses, and the others are original fairy tales.
I know this has been mentioned, but Teresa Mederios did fairy tales: A Kiss to Remember, Bride and the Beast, and Charming the Prince. I liked all of them 🙂
I know you didn’t ask for YA but there is a trend right now on re-worked fairy tales that I have seen. First was Cinder by Marissa Meyer, Cinderella as a cyborg. Apparently the next 4 books in the series will highlight other fairy tales heroines.
Second I loved Beastly by Alex Flynn. The book is told from the “Beast’s” perspective. I liked it. A quick read.
Currently I am reading Scarlet by AC Gaughen which is a retelling of Robin Hood with Will Scarlet really being a girl in disguise. I’m not too far in yet but the premise is promising.
Hmm. I need to jot some of these down so I can boost my romance novel fairy tale reading, too.
Harlequin’s Blaze line did a series of anthologies all fairy-tale based. Those that come to mind are ONCE UPON A VALENTINE, and BLAZING BEDTIME STORIES – Volumes 1 – 5. They were fun reads.
Love Beauty and Tam Lin. Also Jack of Kinrowan: Jack the Giant-Killer and Drink Down the Moon by Charles de Lint
It’s sort of Jack (Jackie) and the Beanstalk.
Thanks, Bitches, for all the great suggestions. I’ve got a bunch of the Medeiros novels on order. Unfortunately (or fortunately, as the case may be), I’ve already devoured most of the YA and Fantasy recommendations.
I’ve long-since read every book that Robin McKinley has published (and am impatiently awaiting the sequel to ‘Pegasus’), as well as the entire line of fairy-tale re-tellings edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, of which Pamela Dean’s ‘Tam Lin’ was one. Jane Yolen’s ‘Briar Rose’ was also part of this series and I cannot recommend it highly enough. I’m also going to take this opportunity to recommend Diana Wynne Jones’s Tam Lin re-telling, ‘Fire and Hemlock’, which straddles the line between YA and Adult quite nicely and has recently been re-released with a new cover and an introduction by Ursula K. LeGuin. I will second Jules’s recommendation of ‘Cinder’ by Marissa Meyer and cannot wait for the next volume in the series. The Jim C. Hines Princess novels also get a big thumbs up.
I’m afraid that Orson Scott Card’s personal beliefs have put him on a permanent “do not buy” list in my head, so I’ll just have to take Bibliophile and Shawnyj’s word for how good it is.
On the Romance side, my thanks to Mel M. for reminding me that I have a galley of the new Kristine Grayson at home. And to Sycorax for reminding me that there should be a new Elizabeth Hoyt soon, right? I’m still hoping for Hachette to publish the original fairy tales she uses as chapter headings as an original chapbook or e-book.
I was going to mention SurLaLune, but you beat me to it. 🙂
Fairy tale retellings are one of my favorite themes. I haven’t come across many really good ones, though. I like them to have a strong connection to the tale they’re retelling and not just a vague resemblance.
I can’t wait to see what recs come from this post.
Before her 500 Kingdom series Mercedes Lackey already wrote a few Fairytale books. The Fire Rose (1995) – Beauty and Beast
Firebird (1996)
The Black Swan (1999) – where women turn into swans
The first time I read Deerskin, (at about thirteen or fourteen) I was so shaken up that I didn’t return to the book for years, and I adore Robin McKinley with a slightly fearsome love. I did return to it eventually, and it’s a beautiful book, but to me it’s still not so much the love story like Spindle’s End or Beauty as it is a recovery story, and loving Ossin is a part of that recovery.
I think the other part is that in my amazing teenage shallowness, I was a little offended that he wasn’t a *handsome* prince. A little doughy round the middle, a little weak around the chin, very awkward in company, but sweet as hell with the puppies and with Lissar. Which by the way, Bitchery, has there been a thread where we’ve discussed physically un-ideal heroes before?
There are some great YA retellings out there. Beastly and East have both been mentioned, plus there’s Juliet Marillier’s Wildwood Dancing (12 Dancing Princesses), a graphic novel by Shannon Hale called Rapunzel’s Revenge (Wild West Rapunzel who uses her loooooong braids like lassos!), and Elizabeth Bunce’s A Curse Dark as Gold (Rumpelstiltskin).
There’s also Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan, which is . . . hmmm. Hard to describe. Not precisely what I would call a romance, though. It’s Snow White and Rose Red. Didn’t love it myself but I know people who can’t stop gushing. Another obscure fairy tale that got retold was Frost by Wendy Delsol, which is a Snow Queen story.
@ Sarah L, thanks for mentioning my grimm… 🙂
My Grimm series does twist the stories up a bit…I call it my bastardized fairy tale series. They aren’t just the fairy tales… it’s part of the fairy tale and what happens after. It was something that happened after I watched BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, the episode about the hansel and gretel demon… basically, the fairy tales were created to hide what really happened. Which is demons and stuff like that.
I do have a Rapunzel story, but it’s an earlier version-Percinette. That one is Tarnished Knight.
i immediately thought of the brandy/monica song “the boy is mine”
I’ll heartily recommend Mercedes Lackey’s Elemental series.
The Fire Rose (1995, ISBN 0-671-87750-X) based on Beauty and the Beast
The Serpent’s Shadow (2001, ISBN 0-7564-0061-9) based on Snow White
The Gates of Sleep (2002, ISBN 0-7564-0101-1) based on Sleeping Beauty
Phoenix And Ashes (2004, ISBN 0-7564-0272-7) based on Cinderella
The Wizard of London (October 2005, ISBN 0-7564-0174-7) based on The Snow Queen
Reserved for the Cat (October 2007,ISBN 978-0-7564-0362-1) based on Puss in Boots
Unnatural Issue (June 2011) based on Donkeyskin or similar tale
Home from the Sea (June 2012) based on East of the Sun and West of the Moon, Tam Lin, and The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry
My favorites are The Serpent’s Shadow, Phoenix and Ashes, and The Gates of Sleep. The latest one, Home from the Sea, is due out soon. I’m not as familiar with that fairytale, though.
An erotic romance about *ahem* Puss in Boots? Yeah, that made me snort. (I’m so immature. Sigh.) I’m tempted to read it just to see if the obvious play on words makes it into the novel.
The Five Hundred Kingdoms books are up to book 6.
1. The Fairy Godmother- described above
2. One Good Knight- which is kind of George and The Dragon, and kind of not
3. Fortune’s Fool- The Little Mermaid + a Jin
4. The Snow Queen- a mash up of a variety of Scandinavian folk tales
5. The Sleeping Beauty- The Snow White story with a twist (this is my favorite book in the series)
6. Beauty and the Werewolf- a mix of Red Riding Hood and Beauty and the Beast
Has anyone already mentioned Sheri Tepper’s Beauty? Whilst based around Sleeping Beauty, it includes bits of other fairy-tales – there are seven league boots and a Snow White retelling, and if I remember (and it’s been a while since I read it) references to Jack and the Giant Killer.
What is biopunk?
Second I had never heard of Deerskin (the fairy tale its based on) prior to DA post on Monday. I think a lot of the more obsecure fairy tales get lost.
Tanith Lee’s Silver Metal Lover reads sort of like Beauty and the Beast, also her White as Snow (Snow White); another: Red as Blood—tales of the sisters Grimmer—great great retellings esp. of Beauty and the Beast (very sweet) and of Sleeping Beauty where everything goes wrong until they are granted the favor of ‘let us begin again’ at the end lol.
Love Robin McKinley, Sheri Tepper, and Patricia McKillip.
Goddess series by PC Cast.
Stephanie
I don’t think anyone has yet mentioned the series of novels from the 1980’s based on classic fairy tales—Terri Windling was the editor. I still have Thomas the Rhymer and Tam Lin—both based on ballads rather than fairy tales, but there were a whole bunch of them, by different fantasy writers of the time.
kkw –
Regarding Deerskin, it kinda depends on your “awful stuff the heroine must put up with” threshhold. I can handle (and love!) the book, but my hubby had difficulty with it. The heroine is raped by her father, and while McKinley doesn’t give us details (thank goodness!), it’s an emotionally traumatizing event that the heroine has to deal with throughout the novel. And the author is capable of crafting such amazingly real characters that it’s pretty gut-wrenching. I still love the book… but depending on your sensitivity, it can be rough.
A beautiful book based on an old Irish fairty tale is “Daughter of the Forest” by Juliet Marillier. It’s about the youngest sister to seven brothers who are cursed to be swans until she completes a task. More fantasy than romance, but it’s a pretty love story.
Rapunzel in New York, Nikki Logan (Rapunzel)
If the Red Slipper Fits, Shirley Jump (Cinderella)
The Princess Test, Shirley Jump (Princess and the Pea)
Sycorax,
A retelling of “Prince Lindworm” has been written, titled “The Lindworm’s Twin” by Tracey Pennington, as part of a GLBT anthology in support of marriage equality.
http://www.amazon.com/antholog…
Colette Gale and Cathy Yardley also have erotica fairy tales.
Judith Ivory: The Proposition (My Fair Lady, etc.), The Beast (Beauty and the Beast), Sleeping Beauty (well, duh!).
People have mentioned Pamela Dean’s “Tam Lin” before… and I can’t help but gush about how much I love that book. It’s my keeper shelf staple book, the one book that reigns supreme with “Bet Me” as my go to having-a-crap-week-need-to-spend-time-with-an-old-friend book.
Also, I’ve really liked (as others have mentioned) Mercedes Lackey’s Elementals series (especially Serpent and Shadow). Her Godmother series are fun reads too.
@SBSarah – No, you are not alone. Aaaaand now it’s stuck in my head. Thanks, I think. 😉
I really enjoyed Enchanted, an erotic anthology by Nancy Madore. The stories are all m/f except for one (my favorite!) The Goose Girl, which is f/f and f/f/m.
Sarah Diemer, who was reviewed here recently, writes lesbian fairy tales under the name Elora Bishop. I read one of hers about a blackbird shifter and didn’t like it, but YMMV.
Juliet Marillier (DAUGHTER OF THE FOREST) just did a two-part interview on Writer Unboxed with Kate Forsyth. It was primed by Forsyth’s release of BITTER GREENS, which is a historical retelling of the original Rapunzel. Looks fascinating. Part I is here, if you’re interested: http://writerunboxed.com/2012/…
Also, D.L. Snow did an erotic retelling of Princess and the Pea, and recently released a trilogy based on Robin Hood. I haven’t read the latter, but she has a wonderful voice.
Yeepers. Thanks for the heads up, Cleo, Maureen and Jenny (and a big gushing swoon for the bitchery en masse). I think I’ll still give it a go. I had an old fairy tale book with gorgeous illustrations as a kid, and the ones for Donkey Skin and The Blue Bird kept me mesmerized for hours. Off to see what DA has to say about it.
Red as Blood, or Tales from the Sisters Grimmer by Tanith Lee is an old favorite.
Tanith Lee is another author who can write an original fairy tale. Some of her stories seem like they must be retellings because they are so much like a really good fairy tale, but they are original. (Dark Castle, White Horse is two novellas that I particularly love.)
I also enjoyed the multi-book Fairy Tale Anthology edited by Ellen Datlow and Terry Windling. (Snow White, Blood Red is the first.)
They are mostly YA and sometimes the romances in the stories don’t end well but they provided me with many authors to try out. (I wouldn’t say they were romance but I did love them.)
Ellen Datlow’s website links to new ebook editions of her older books, but the links don’t work right and you get shunted to one of her newer more expensive books.
These are the types of paperbacks that have really increased from their cover price. Unfortunately, Red as Blood seems to be at $40 now instead of $2.50.
While you can’t go wrong with any of the 1990s-published Fairy Tale series featuring retellings of classic tales by noted fantasy authors, Jane Yolen’s “Briar Rose” is the most breathtakingly wonderful of the lot. A young woman begins to realize that her favorite story from childhood, “Briar Rose,” is her beloved grandmother’s way of telling them about the past she is otherwise too traumatized to discuss … and to say any more would ruin it. Like all the others in the series, this is not nominally a romance, but certainly has strong romantic elements.
Heather – Thank you! I will hunt that down asap.
Hands down, the best Tam Lin retelling is the late great Diana Wynne-Jones’ Fire and Hemlock, I still reread it 25 yrs after I first bought a copy ! And recently I’ve been reading Jessica Day George’s Princess of the Midnight Ball (the 12 dancing princesses) and Princess of Glass (Cinderella)… YA books both, but absolute page turners
Dear Billie~ I will be releasing my romantic adult e-book, DEWITCHED: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE EVIL QUEEN in June. The premise: What if the EQ went to rehab for her addiction to beauty and was given a second chance at a happily ever after life? I’m so excited about it as I’ve worked on it for three years. I’m already getting a wonderful response to it on kindle boards. Here’s a sneak peak at the cover. I hope you will read it! My best~ E.L. Sarnoff
I can’t believe I forgot to mention this: Leslie Kelly also does fairy tell retellings, and her next one is Blazing Midsummer Nights – an extension of the Harlequin Blaze fairy tale series, I think.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obi…
Shannon Hale also does a splendid YA romance retelling of The Goose Girl, my favorite obscure story from the Grimm’s collection. I’m pretty sure she keeps the severed prophetic talking horse head nailed to the city gate, too (poor Falada!).
This is the story I immediately thought of, but maybe because I just finished rereading it two days ago…
Lovespell had a series of novels that were re-tellings of fairy tales. Most of them are out of print but you can still get them used at Amazon or through eBay. I have the set and they’re definitely worth the trouble if you like fairytale romance.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr…
And of course, there is ‘Beastly’ by Alex Finn. She also has ‘Bewitching’, ‘Cloaked’, and ‘A Kiss in Time’. They are YA but I enjoyed them.
http://www.amazon.com/Alex-Fli…