Review: The Language of Roses by Heather Rose Jones

A lyrical, original, queer take on Beauty and the Beast, perfect for those who love historical retellings and thought-provoking emotional journeys.

Review: A Spindle Splintered and A Mirror Mended by Alix E Harrow

A double review today, for a pair of novellas that are so good, I’m almost angry I didn’t write them…

Review: The Bone Spindle by Leslie Vedder

This YA fantasy sounded so promising, pitched as Sleeping Beauty meets Indiana Jones, but let me down so badly!

Review: The Girl Who Fell Beneath The Sea by Axie Oh

This YA fantasy retelling of the Tale of Shim Cheong is as gorgeous as its cover!

Review: Beasts and Beauty – Dangerous Tales by Soman Chainani

I really enjoyed The School for Good and Evil, Soman Chainani’s middle grade series that takes on fairy tale tropes, so I was looking forward to his collection of reinvented fairy tales – and this certainly is a gorgeous book!

Review: Gilded by Marissa Meyer

I’ve had the hardest time putting my thoughts about this Rumplestiltskin retelling into some kind of order – there’s a lot to love, but also some very strange aspects…

TBR Spotlight: The Fairy’s Tale by FD Lee

Monday’s rolled round again, and the random number generator this week picked book #214, The Fairy’s Tale by FD Lee!

Whoever said fairy tales were easy has never been a wannabe fairy godmother. The truth is, making dreams come true can be a total nightmare.

Bea is a lowly cabbage fairy, but she dreams of being an official Fairy Godmother. So when Bea is finally given a chance to prove her worth she is determined to make a success of it. Besides, how hard can a Happy Ever After story be? Every girl wants to be rescued by a handsome man, don’t they?

Apparently not.

Bea’s heroine doesn’t want to be in her story, and her hero is much more interested in the ugly sister. The same ugly sister who is trying to overthrow the Kingdom.

Suddenly, Bea must confront the fact that her characters are as real as she is – and just like her, they are determined to go their own way. The problem is, if Bea fails to finish the story, she faces a fate much worse than being put to sleep for a hundred years. 

Now Bea must figure out what Happy Ever After really means – and whose Happy Every After she’s prepared to fight for…

I love a snarky take on fairy tale tropes, so this take on fairy godmothering as an industry seems like it will be right up my street! This is a self-published book I picked up at Worldcon 2019, where I met the author in person after following her on Twitter for ages – which means it’s sat on my shelf for nearly two years at this point, eek. It’s the beginning of a series, so I’m really hopeful that if I like it as much as I think I will, then there’s plenty more to dive into!

Have you read this one? I’d love to know your thoughts – or if you have any recommendations for other sideways looks at fairy tales!

Review: For the Wolf

I’d be impressed if you’ve managed to spend the last couple of months in the fantasy community without hearing a lot of hype for this book – unfortunately for me, I think all the buzz raised my expectations for this atmospheric fantasy romance a little too high.

Review: Otherland

After the excellent Kit series (see my reviews of The Dragon in the Library, The Monster in the Lake, and The Wizard in the Wood!) I’ll read anything Louie Stowell writes, and this Labyrinth-inspired tale of fairyland lives up to the hype!

Blog Tour: Malice

I’m so excited to be part of the blog tour for Malice, a fun fairytale-inspired fantasy that takes the well-known story of Sleeping Beauty and flips it on its head!