Fairy tale retellings are a divisive topic in the book world. Some people love them, some people loathe them, and many people land where I am—I like them, but only when they’re done well.
Of course, what ‘done well’ means varies from person to person. For me, a good fairy tale retelling is well-written, as any good book should be, and balances recognizable elements from a classic story with a new take or twist that keeps things fresh and interesting.
So that’s what you’ll find from the books on this list, all of which I have read and enjoyed. Each one is based off of a popular fairy tale and kept me turning the pages throughout the story.
I tried to represent a variety of fairy tales, not just the Beauty and the Beast or Cinderella narratives that are ubiquitous in the romance world, though I do enjoy those as much as the next reader. Some fairy tales only have one representative book, but others have two, so I grouped them together to help keep things organized.
Let me know if I missed any good ones!
**One final note about content—all these books are low/no spice and low/no cursing. Hopefully that helps you know if any of them will be right for you!**
This post contains affiliate links, which means I might make some extra coffee money at no extra expense to you if you buy something through one of my links. Read more about that here.
19 Fantastic Fairy Tale Retellings
The Shadow Queen
Snow White
Back Cover Description: Lorelai Diederich, crown princess and fugitive at large, has one mission: kill the wicked queen who took both the Ravenspire throne and the life of her father. To do that, Lorelai needs to use the one weapon she and Queen Irina have in common—magic. She’ll have to be stronger, faster, and more powerful than Irina, the most dangerous sorceress Ravenspire has ever seen.
In the neighboring kingdom of Eldr, when Prince Kol’s father and older brother are killed by an invading army of magic-wielding ogres, the second-born prince is suddenly given the responsibility of saving his kingdom. To do that, Kol needs magic of his own—and the only way to get it is to make a deal with the queen of Ravenspire, promise to become her personal huntsman—and bring her Lorelai’s heart.
But Lorelai is nothing like Kol expected—beautiful, fierce, and unstoppable—and despite dark magic, Lorelai is drawn in by the passionate and troubled king. Fighting to stay one step ahead of the dragon huntsman—who she likes far more than she should—Lorelai does everything in her power to ruin the wicked queen. But Irina isn’t going down without a fight, and her final move may cost the princess the one thing she still has left to lose.
For readers who like: Fantasy with lots of magic, dragon shapeshifters, extremely evil villain
The Wonderland Trials
Alice in Wonderland
Solve the clues. Face your fears. Survive the Trials.
Back Cover Description: All Alice Liddell wants is to escape her Normal life in Oxford and find the parents who abandoned her ten years ago. But she gets more than she bargained for when her older sister Charlotte is arrested for having the infamous Wonder Gene—the key to unlocking the curious Wonderland Reality.
Soon, Alice receives a rather cryptic invitation to play for Team Heart in this year’s annual—and often deadly—Wonderland Trials. Now she has less than twenty-four hours to find her way into Wonderland where nothing is impossible . . . or what it seems.
The stakes are raised when she discovers players go missing during the Trials each year. Will she and her team solve the clues and find the missing players? Or will betrayal and distrust win, leaving Alice alone in a world of her own? Follow the White Rabbit into this topsy-turvy fantasy where players become prey, a sip of the wrong tea might as well be poison, and a queen’s ways do not always lead one where they ought to go.
For readers who like: Chosen one trope, Inception-like confusion about what is real, clever riddles, cliff-hanger ending (you’ll want to read the duology to get the whole story)
House of Salt and Sorrow
The Twelve Dancing Princesses
Back Cover Description: In a manor by the sea, twelve sisters are cursed.
Annaleigh lives a sheltered life at Highmoor with her sisters and their father and stepmother. Once there were twelve, but loneliness fills the grand halls now that four of the girls’ lives have been cut short. Each death was more tragic than the last–the plague, a plummeting fall, a drowning, a slippery plunge–and there are whispers throughout the surrounding villages that the family is cursed by the gods.
Disturbed by a series of ghostly visions, Annaleigh becomes increasingly suspicious that her sister’s deaths were no accidents. The girls have been sneaking out every night to attend glittering balls, dancing until dawn in silk gowns and shimmering slippers, and Annaleigh isn’t sure whether to try to stop them or to join their forbidden trysts. Because who–or what–are they really dancing with?
When Annaleigh’s involvement with a mysterious stranger who has secrets of his own intensifies, it’s a race to unravel the darkness that has fallen over her family–before it claims her next. House of Salt and Sorrows is a spellbinding novel filled with magic and the rustle of gossamer skirts down long, dark hallways. Be careful who you dance with…
For readers who like: Ghost stories, family drama, scary old houses, dark fantasy
The Forbidden Wish
Aladdin
Back Cover Description: She is the most powerful Jinni of all. He is a boy from the streets. Their love will shake the world. . . .
When Aladdin discovers Zahra’s jinni lamp, Zahra is thrust back into a world she hasn’t seen in hundreds of years—a world where magic is forbidden and Zahra’s very existence is illegal. She must disguise herself to stay alive, using ancient shape-shifting magic, until her new master has selected his three wishes.
But when the King of the Jinn offers Zahra a chance to be free of her lamp forever, she seizes the opportunity—only to discover she is falling in love with Aladdin. When saving herself means betraying him, Zahra must decide once and for all: is winning her freedom worth losing her heart?
As time unravels and her enemies close in, Zahra finds herself suspended between danger and desire in this dazzling retelling of the Aladdin story
For readers who like: Gender-flipped genie (jinni), forbidden love, love conquers all, strong sense of place
Hunted
Beauty and the Beast
Back Cover Description: Beauty knows the Beast’s forest in her bones—and in her blood. After all, her father is the only hunter who’s ever come close to discovering its secrets.
So when her father loses his fortune and moves Yeva and her sisters out of their comfortable home among the aristocracy and back to the outskirts of town, Yeva is secretly relieved. Out in the wilderness, there’s no pressure to make idle chatter with vapid baronessas…or to submit to marrying a wealthy gentleman.
But Yeva’s father’s misfortune may have cost him his mind, and when he goes missing in the woods, Yeva sets her sights on one prey: the creature he’d been obsessively tracking just before his disappearance. The Beast.
Deaf to her sisters’ protests, Yeva hunts this strange creature back into his own territory—a cursed valley, a ruined castle, and a world of magical creatures that Yeva’s only heard about in fairy tales. A world that can bring her ruin, or salvation.
Who will survive: the Beauty, or the Beast?
For readers who like: Unique story structure, Russian folklore vibes (see Tsarevich Ivan, the Firebird and the Gray Wolf)
A Curse So Dark and Lonely
Beauty and the Beast
Back Cover Description:
Fall in love, break the curse.
It once seemed so easy to Prince Rhen, the heir to Emberfall. Cursed by a powerful enchantress to repeat the autumn of his eighteenth year over and over, he knew he could be saved if a girl fell for him. But that was before he learned that at the end of each autumn, he would turn into a vicious beast hell-bent on destruction. That was before he destroyed his castle, his family, and every last shred of hope.
Nothing has ever been easy for Harper. With her father long gone, her mother dying, and her brother barely holding their family together while constantly underestimating her because of her cerebral palsy, she learned to be tough enough to survive. But when she tries to save someone else on the streets of Washington, DC, she’s instead somehow sucked into Rhen’s cursed world.
Break the curse, save the kingdom.
A prince? A monster? A curse? Harper doesn’t know where she is or what to believe. But as she spends time with Rhen in this enchanted land, she begins to understand what’s at stake. And as Rhen realizes Harper is not just another girl to charm, his hope comes flooding back. But powerful forces are standing against Emberfall . . . and it will take more than a broken curse to save Harper, Rhen, and his people from utter ruin.
For readers who like: Alternate worlds, complicated hero, disability rep in the heroine
Cinder Luna
Cinderella
Back Cover Description: Is Luna destined for a happily ever after, or is it “game over” for her love life?
Move to the adorable town of Brookhaven? Check.
Get bumped to first class on the train and meet the most gorgeous, considerate man of my life? Check.
Find a job in video game animation and a cozy apartment of my own? Not so much.
So maybe things in Brookhaven aren’t quite as idyllic as my friend promised. My one saving grace is playing video games every evening with my best online friend, MidKnight. Plus, helping him create his own video game helps me escape the drudgery of my demanding twin bosses and a dusty, cramped apartment. It’s not long before our relationship turns from friendly to…a lot more personal.
Things get complicated when I run into the man from the train again. He couldn’t forget about me either, and he’s been searching for me. I can’t deny the intense physical attraction we have, but I feel like my heart is being pulled in two directions. But there are things that both guys don’t know about me. Being brave isn’t my strong suit, but maybe it’s time to find some courage.
For readers who like: Contemporary rom-com, female gamer, mistaken identity, small towns and girl next door
Cinder
Cinderella
Back Cover Description: Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .
Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.
For readers who like: Sci-fi, exploration of what it means to be human, friendship/found family
Becoming Hook
Peter Pan
Back Cover Description: A pirate, a pixie, and a plot to foil Peter Pan…
James Hook never meant to become a pirate, and never dreamed that he would turn against his best friend, Peter Pan. Every adventure and eternal youth awaited them… until a pixie exposes a shocking revelation. Tinkerbell’s information forces James into acknowledging that, far from being the benevolent hero he painted himself to be, Peter Pan was kidnapping innocent children.
After accepting the traumatic loss of his hand and of the family he can barely remember, James deserts Pan. In the fight to rescue the Lost Boys, Hook will risk everything, even if that means becoming the most notorious villain in Neverland… or losing the fiery pixie who is stealing his heart.
Can the original Lost Boy vanquish Neverland’s greatest threat?
For readers who like: Coming of age, friends to more romance, themes of loyalty and protecting the vulnerable, honorable pirates
Dust
Peter Pan
Back Cover Description: The truth about Neverland is far more dangerous than a fairy tale.
Claire Kenton believes the world is too dark for magic to be real—since her twin brother was stolen away as a child. Now Claire’s desperate search points to London… and a boy who shouldn’t exist.
Peter Pan is having a beastly time getting back to Neverland. Grounded in London and hunted by his own Lost Boys, Peter searches for the last hope of restoring his crumbling island: a lass with magic in her veins.
The girl who fears her own destiny is on a collision course with the boy who never wanted to grow up. The truth behind this fairy tale is about to unravel everything Claire thought she knew about Peter Pan—and herself.
For readers who like: Unreliable narrators, cliff-hangers, light overcoming darkness
The Warrior Maiden
Mulan
Back Cover Description: She is expected to marry, cook, and have children—and instead she’s sneaking off to war. Can she manage to stay alive, save her mother, and keep the handsome son of a duke from discovering her secret? The Warrior Maiden is a reimagining of the classic Mulan tale in medieval Europe.
When Mulan takes her father’s place in battle against the besieging Teutonic Knights, she realizes she has been preparing for this journey her whole life—and that her life, and her mother’s, depends on her success. As the adopted daughter of poor parents, Mulan has little power in the world. If she can’t prove herself on the battlefield, she could face death—or, perhaps worse, marriage to the village butcher.
Disguised as a young man, Mulan meets the German duke’s son, Wolfgang, who is determined to save his people even if it means fighting against his own brother. Wolfgang is exasperated by the new soldier who always seems to be one step away from disaster—or showing him up in embarrassing ways.
From rivals to reluctant friends, Mulan and Wolfgang begin to share secrets. But war is an uncertain time and dreams can die as quickly as they are born. When Mulan receives word of danger back home, she must make the ultimate choice. Can she be the son her bitter father never had? Or will she become the strong young woman she was created to be? This fresh twist on the classic tale takes us to fifteenth-century Lithuania where both love and war challenge the strongest of heroes.
For readers who like: Mistaken identity, historical romance set in medieval Europe, no fantasy elements
Back Cover Description: The Three Kingdoms are at war, but Meilin’s father refuses to answer the imperial draft. Trapped by his opium addiction, he plans to sell Meilin for her dowry. But when Meilin discovers her husband-to-be is another violent, ill-tempered man, she realizes that nothing will change for her unless she takes matters into her own hands. The very next day, she disguises herself as a boy and enlists in her father’s place.
In the army, Meilin’s relentless hard work brings her recognition, friendship—and a growing closeness with Sky, a prince turned training partner. But has she simply exchanged one prison for another? As her kingdom barrels toward destruction, Meilin begins to have visions of a sea dragon spirit that offers her true power and freedom, but with a deadly price.
With the future of the Three Kingdoms hanging in the balance, Meilin will need to decide whom to trust—Sky, who inspires her loyalty and love; the sea dragon spirit, who has his own murky agenda; or an infuriating enemy prince who makes her question everything she once knew—about her kingdom and about her own heart.
For readers who like: Heavy magic/fantsay elements, courage and loyalty, camaraderie, overcoming odds
The Girl In Red
Little Red Riding Hood
It’s not safe for anyone alone in the woods. There are predators that come out at night: critters and coyotes, snakes and wolves. But the woman in the red jacket has no choice. Not since the Crisis came, decimated the population, and sent those who survived fleeing into quarantine camps that serve as breeding grounds for death, destruction, and disease. She is just a woman trying not to get killed in a world that doesn’t look anything like the one she grew up in, the one that was perfectly sane and normal and boring until three months ago.
There are worse threats in the woods than the things that stalk their prey at night. Sometimes, there are men. Men with dark desires, weak wills, and evil intents. Men in uniform with classified information, deadly secrets, and unforgiving orders. And sometimes, just sometimes, there’s something worse than all of the horrible people and vicious beasts combined.
Red doesn’t like to think of herself as a killer, but she isn’t about to let herself get eaten up just because she is a woman alone in the woods….
For readers who like: Post-apocolyptic story, dark with a little bit of gore, pandemic, fearless heroine
Cloaked in Beauty
Little Red Riding Hood + Sleeping Beauty
Back Cover Description: Trust no one in the shadows of the piney woods . . .
Letty Hood has spent the last fifteen years of her life hidden away with her grandmother in the backwoods of east Texas to escape the deadly schemes of an uncle who wants her dead. Now, with her twenty-first birthday on the horizon, she is forced to accept the escort of a stranger and return to Houston in secret so she can claim a birthright that will make her one of the wealthiest women in Texas. If she lives long enough to inherit.
Pinkerton agent Philip Carmichael has one duty: get the Radcliffe heiress home alive. Expecting a spoiled girl, Philip is surprised to encounter a woman of rare strength with a kind soul and keen wit. As they journey together, Letty’s resilience wins his admiration, breaking through his hardened cynicism. Yet the threat to her survival grows more menacing with every mile, and Philip fears that keeping Letty out of harm’s way may be just as impossible as keeping her out of his heart.
For readers who like: Sweet historical romance, no fantasy elements, extemely honorable hero, wolf as a pet
Of Dreams and Shadows
Sleeping Beauty
Back Cover Description: She is forced to dream while awake. He must face his nightmare—her.
Princess Aroreh Rosen is stuck in a beautiful dream. Except . . . she hasn’t slept since she was a small child. And to do so now may end her life.
For years, Aroreh has lived under a spell to see sunny illusions of beauty and contentment. A programmed glamour to blind her from seeing how her mother’s cruelty and magic are amplified only when Aroreh is awake.
But when Félip MacKinley, a shadow walker and surviving heir of faerie, helps a rebel sect of fae kidnap her, Aroreh’s true magic is set free—an ability to weave new realities while dreaming. A powerful magic that could stop her mother’s vowed revenge to annihilate Félip’s throne and destroy the Kingdom of Ealdspell.
Quickly, the world around Aroreh unspools into fraying threads of danger and deception. A position that forces her to trust only herself. Not the faeries who are using her as a pawn in their war against her mother. Not the handsome prince who also fears her, the young woman connected to his every nightmare. And she knows what she must do to save her people—sleep. Even if it kills her.
For readers who like: Historical sci-fi/fantasy mashup (think steampunk with elves), dystopian vibes, coming of age, Scottish folklore influences, fated mates
The Siren
Little Mermaid
Back Cover Description: Kahlen is a Siren—bound to serve the Ocean by luring humans to their watery graves with her voice, which is deadly to any human who hears it. Akinli is human—a kind, handsome boy who’s everything Kahlen ever dreamed of. Falling in love puts them both in danger… but will Kahlen risk everything to follow her heart?
This star-crossed YA romance is sure to captivate readers who grew up loving The Little Mermaid or fans of Jennifer Donnelly’s Waterfire Saga.
For readers who like: Teenage angst, ocean magic, female friendships, the power of true love
To Kill a Kingdom
Little Mermaid
Back Cover Description: Princess Lira is siren royalty and the most lethal of them all. With the hearts of seventeen princes in her collection, she is revered across the sea. Until a twist of fate forces her to kill one of her own. To punish her daughter, the Sea Queen transforms Lira into the one thing they loathe most―a human. Robbed of her song, Lira has until the winter solstice to deliver Prince Elian’s heart to the Sea Queen and or remain a human forever.
The ocean is the only place Prince Elian calls home, even though he is heir to the most powerful kingdom in the world. Hunting sirens is more than an unsavory hobby―it’s his calling. When he rescues a drowning woman in the ocean, she’s more than what she appears. She promises to help him find the key to destroying all of sirenkind for good―but can he trust her? And just how many deals will Elian have to barter to eliminate mankind’s greatest enemy?
For readers who like: Morally gray heroine, dark mermaid story, enemies to more
Gilded
Rumplestiltskin
Back Cover Description: Long ago cursed by the god of lies, a poor miller’s daughter has developed a talent for spinning stories that are fantastical and spellbinding and entirely untrue.
Or so everyone believes.
When one of Serilda’s outlandish tales draws the attention of the sinister Erlking and his undead hunters, she finds herself swept away into a grim world where ghouls and phantoms prowl the earth and hollow-eyed ravens track her every move. The king orders Serilda to complete the impossible task of spinning straw into gold, or be killed for telling falsehoods. In her desperation, Serilda unwittingly summons a mysterious boy to her aid. He agrees to help her… for a price. Love isn’t meant to be part of the bargain.
Soon Serilda realizes that there is more than one secret hidden in the castle walls, including an ancient curse that must be broken if she hopes to end the tyranny of the king and his wild hunt forever.
For readers who like: Ghosts, haunted castles, forbidden love, unexpected allies
Sherwood
Robin Hood
Back Cover Description: Robin of Locksley is dead.
Maid Marian doesn’t know how she’ll go on, but the people of Locksley town, persecuted by the Sheriff of Nottingham, need a protector. And the dreadful Guy of Gisborne, the Sheriff’s right hand, wishes to step into Robin’s shoes as Lord of Locksley and Marian’s fiancé.
Who is there to stop them?
Marian never meant to tread in Robin’s footsteps—never intended to stand as a beacon of hope to those awaiting his triumphant return. But with a sweep of his green cloak and the flash of her sword, Marian makes the choice to become her own hero: Robin Hood.
For readers who like: An unexpected hero, gender-flip, historical romance with no fantasy elements
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