Unseen Beauty by Amity Thompson, 2019

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Claudette polishes furniture and scrubs floors. She doesn't do hearts.

When a stranger happens upon the cursed castle, parlormaid Claudette leaves her post to take a peek. After all, he won't see her. She's invisible.
Curiosity lands her as witness to Beast raging at the housekeeper over the stranger's fate. Now the monster knows Claudette's name... And the housekeeper knows her pawn.
Unable to resist magical commands, Claudette must end the curse. By any means. No matter who it hurts.

(352 pages)

You may or may not have been able to tell from the content of my recent reviews that I'm on a bit of a fairytale retelling streak right now. To be honest, this streak has been going for about a year ever since I fell down a very deep rabbit hole on Kindle Unlimited in lockdown. By the time I found Unseen Beauty I'd grown heartily tired of the Beauty and the Beast retellings that I swear take up a good 25% chunk of the genre.

So when I found this book, it was a breath of fresh air. The premise - making the main character one of the invisible servants cursed to serve the prince - is a genius innovation on a very well-trodden story. By sticking to the skeleton of the classic tale, and having Claudette act as Belle's handmaid, Thompson manages the seemingly impossible task of paying homage to the original tale while also completely breaking it apart from its core.

This innovation only works if the story is well-told, and that it is here. It's not hard for the reader to fall in love with Claudette, whose practicality and sense of humour combine to make her a very endearing character I enjoyed following. The worldbuilding is detailed and intriguing, as we learn about the lives of the invisible servants from the original story. We see how the servants are magically forced to obey any direct order from a superior, and how they are made immortal for the life of the curse (to the point where someone is mentioned having failed off-screen self-harm attempts). Belle is pretty much the character from the original tale, who I already loved, and the added personality given to her sisters adds an extra layer to the tale.

My biggest pet peeve with fairytale retellings is the insta-love that seems to permeate the genre. That's the other reason I had such a good time with the book: the characters' interactions are so genuine and organic that nothing ever feels cloying. And everyone stays consistent throughout the story, never doing something stupid just for the sake of keeping the story going.

All in all, this is a very fun Beauty and the Beast retelling that I'm glad I had the chance to read and which I'll definitely be revisiting again in the future. I highly recommend it if you're in the mood for this sort of book.

The Little Selkie by K.M. Shea, 2015

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Dylan—a selkie—makes a terrible mistake when she brashly chases an evil sea witch onto land. Captured and stripped of her pelt—leaving her unable to return to the sea in her sea lion body—Dylan’s only chance of survival is to serve as the sea witch’s tool. Instead of allowing the sea witch to use her selkie ability to control water, Dylan asks a wandering enchantress to seal her voice, rendering her unable to use her selkie magic. Stranded—with no allies and no way to contact her family—Dylan fears she will never successfully steal her pelt back.
Luckily, Dylan is not alone. She is befriended by Prince Callan, a kind, human prince whose country is being pulverized by the sea witch. Combining the strength of humans and the intelligence of the selkies, the pair unites to save their people.
But when the storm is over will Dylan choose to stay with Callan, or return to the sea and leave him behind…forever?

(274 pages)

Despite my love for fairytale retellings, and my penchant for devouring Shea's books, it's taken me a while to get through this series. It's probably because I've read so many retellings by this point that I've gotten pretty picky, and I got frustrated by a couple books feeling a bit too predictable and cheesy. Whatever the reason, I seem to have mostly gotten over it: I downloaded a bunch of these books onto my phone with Kindle Unlimited and have been gobbling them up like potato chips all week.

Why am I reviewing The Little Selkie, out of all of the books in this series? Simple: because I love Dylan. I love how foreign she feels throughout the book, the way it's impossible to ever forget that she's a magical, inhuman sea being. She has no frame of reference for human behaviour, and even when she's been on land for a while she still holds onto this unique essence. I loved the way she genuinely didn't care about fancy clothes, and completely ignored the catty remarks from the mean girls at court. Her obsession with food is endearing, and I chuckled every time Callan held his hand out to her and she frantically searched her surroundings for a present to put into it. Overall, she's just a really fun character to follow around.

As for Callan, he's a pretty bog-standard fairytale prince. I liked his sense of humour, and the way he delights in Dylan exactly the way she is. It was cute watching him trick her into wardrobe fittings by feeding her a steady stream of new human foods which kept her utterly distracted. I didn't get much out of the scenes told from his point of view, though, and to be honest I kind of felt like most of his feelings and decisions were just whatever was best from a plot perspective.

The other two main characters are Callan's best friends: a flamboyant member of the nobility and his very beleaguered assistant. I already returned the book so I can't look up their names, which is a shame because they were a really fun part of the story. They're not-so-secretly in love with each other, but class differences make the assistant hesitant to admit her feelings for him. So he spends the entire story making over-dramatic romantic gestures, which are invariably met with an admonishment about his irresponsible spending habits. They make a cute couple and I hope I get to see more of them in another book.

All in all, it's a cute book which definitely has its flaws but is a fun read nonetheless. I'm a sucker for Little Mermaid retellings, and this one is no exception. What is your favourite retelling of The Little Mermaid?

The Wolf Gate by Hanna Sandvig, 2021

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My...what big teeth you have…
Have you ever wondered if something was up with your boyfriend? Distant. Moody. Never texts you back. Turns into a wolf at nightfall?
No, just me?
When a wolf chased me through a faerie portal in the forest, the last person I expected to see on the other side was my ex-boyfriend Gavin. Turns out, he’s a fae, and everything I thought I knew about him was a lie. Now we’re on the run from his Alpha, the minion of the Unseelie Queen, through the mountains and forests of Faerie.
But our deadly pursuers may be the least of my worries.
Because the longer I stay in Faerie with Gavin, the harder it is to remember why I’m so mad. I can feel my defenses crumbling, but how can I give him another chance when he’s proven he can break my heart? Am I strong enough to discover if this is true love? And will I survive long enough to find out?

(125 pages)

I read the first book in this series, The Rose Gate, during a reading phase where I was reading nothing but fairytale retellings. I had gotten pretty sick of Beauty & the Beast retellings by that point, but I was glad I tried The Rose Gate because it was a lot of fun and an interesting new take on the story.

That's why I was recently excited to learn that there were a couple other books in the series. My excitement dimmed a bit when I learned they were novellas, but I decided to give them a go anyway. I started with The Wolf Gate because it's the most recent release, and I just finished it. And I have to say that it stays pretty true to form: just like The Rose Gate it's a fun, unique take on a traditional fairytale. I love how modern and independent the protagonist is without being obnoxiously so. She's a teenager who knows her own worth, respects herself and her emotions, and refuses to let anyone treat her poorly. I love how snarky she is throughout the book, too. I also love that she's so assertive about the fact that she won't sleep with anyone before she's married, which is a decision that you don't often see treated so respectfully in novels, though I should put in a content warning that there are a couple conversations about sex and whether or not people had/will have it. So parents might want to keep that in mind if considering this for younger kids.

Obviously things aren't as fleshed out as they would be in a full-length novel. Things move a bit quickly toward the second half of the story, and honestly feel a bit rushed in places. But that's to be expected. I liked seeing the lore of the series being built out, and I was able to follow along with all of the fantasy elements reasonably well despite having forgotten most of it from The Rose Gate. I was disappointed not to catch more glimpses at how the characters from The Rose Gate were doing after that book's events, but since this story is basically taking place at the same time as that one I guess that's kind of inevitable. I did have some issues with the ending (for a pretty sensible girl, Audrey's decision seem very much not thought through). And some unexplained magic convenience. But to be honest I didn't let it get me too frustrated.

All in all this was a fun couple of hours and a great addition to the series. I'll definitely be checking out The Lily Gate very soon, and keeping my eye out for another full-length novel in the future.

Pearl of Magic: A Little Mermaid Romance by Emily Deady, 2020

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 Life in captivity is horrible.

 But pretending to be a prisoner is worse.

 Aizel is a Majis and, against her will, a spy. She is supposed to be uncovering secrets for a cruel king, but spends most of her time listening to the haughty, self-absorbed musings of her captor, Prince Erich.

 It would be much less frustrating if she could at least complain about it, but the king has silenced her, taking away her voice so that she cannot wield her magic.

 If she fails to gather information from Erich, her family will be killed. But if she reports back to the king, her people's only hope for freedom will be exterminated. Can she find a way to communicate with her captor and convince him of the truth about the Majis?

(259 pages)

    I've been on a huge fairytale retelling kick lately, and I really enjoyed Deady's take on Cinderella and Beauty & the Beast in the first two books in this series. I was excited for Pearl of Magic because it can be taken in so many interesting directions.

    The first couple pages were very confusing to get into, because there was no recap to bring us back up to speed. I actually had to flip back to the earlier books to remind myself of the countries and characters that have already been established, and to verify that Erich is a younger siblings of the two princes in the earlier books. I also got muddled between the two countries on the mainland.

    Once I got all that straightened out, though, I really enjoyed this interesting take on the Little Mermaid story. It was interesting to explore a scenario where the prince knows she's being forced not to talk, and her voice has been taken from her as a way to take away her magic. I'm also really glad Deady didn't go with the Ursula plotline of an imposter almost stealing the little mermaid's man, because you really have to bend over backward to make it plausible.

    Both Erich and Aizel are fun characters to follow. Erich sometimes felt a bit tropey to me, like a carefully selected collection of personality traits rather than a fully-fleshed person. I thought the shift in his attitude toward Aizel and the Majis was pretty realistic, as he spent more and more time learning who she was through daily interactions. Their growing relationship is a cute thing to watch, and I enjoyed their interactions and wished there were more of them. I did feel like the climax was a bit rushed, though.

    As for Aizel, her development was much more fleshed out than Erich's - which makes sense, since most of the book is told from her perspective. There is a decent amount of nuance to her, especially around her ethical struggles. The king is holding her little sister's life hostage, and says he'll only spare her if Aizel kills Erich. I liked watching her really wrestle with this challenge, questioning whether she's the sort of person who could kill anyone - even to save a loved one - but also desperate to do whatever it takes to save her sister. My only qualm about Aizel is that I didn't necessarily see how her personality was especially suited to Erich's; she spends most of the book stressed out, terrified, and/or furious. She doesn't have much of a chance to discuss hobbies or life philosophies or anything with him, because she's literally muted.

    Overall, this was a cute book which I enjoyed reading. I think my favorite book in the series must still be Thorn of Rose, the Beauty & the Beast retelling. And my all-time favorite Little Mermaid retelling is definitely still A.G. Marshall's Princess of Mermaids. But this is a fun read that I do recommend to anyone looking for a nice fairytale retelling.

Brave Red, Smart Frog by Emily Jenkins, 2017

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Step into a wintry forest where seven iconic fairy tales unfold, retold with keen insight and touches of humor.
There once was a frozen forest so cold, you could feel it through the soles of your boots. It was a strange place where some kisses broke enchantments and others began them. Many said witches lived there -- some with cold hearts, others with hot ovens and ugly appetites -- and also dwarves in tiny houses made of stones. In this icy wood, a stepmother might eat a girl's heart to restore her own beauty, while a woodcutter might become stupid with grief at the death of his donkey. Here a princess with too many dresses grows spiteful out of loneliness, while a mistreated girl who is kind to a crone finds pearls dropping from her mouth whenever she speaks. With empathy and an ear for emotion, Emily Jenkins retells seven fairy tales in contemporary language that reveals both the pathos and humor of some of our most beloved stories. Charming illustrations by Rohan Daniel Eason add whimsical details that enhance every new reading.

(104 pages)

Like most people, I've always loved fairy tales. There's something really magical about reading the stories that have been honed through generations of telling and retelling, where magic exists and it usually teaches a lesson and bad people/decisions wind up in terrible trouble. I haven't read all the original tales, but I had a storybook when I was little that told the "true" stories in a pretty way without putting too much emphasis on the gore. I always liked those versions more than the Disney ones.

That's why I chose to review Brave Red, Smart Frog. I did indeed know six of them in some form or another (though my version of the woodcutter who gets three wishes involved a river spirit throwing increasingly-ornate axes onto the bank); the only one that was completely unfamiliar was "The Three Great Noodles," which was actually a really cool story. It may well have been my favorite from the collection, and not just because it was the only new one for me!

I do like these retellings; they stick with the original material but cut out the worst parts and very cleverly fill in some of the logic gaps left by the originals. They also feature familial relationships that are much more realistic than the ones usually described in the fairy tales (full of dysfunction, yes, but also love). However, I wish the stories were longer–they each take up about 13 pages or so, a shortness that I'm just not used to anymore. I suppose this is good for kids listening to the stories at bedtime, but it leaves me wishing for more!

If you like fairy tale retellings, then Brave Red, Smart Frog might be what you're looking for. I can't say that it stands head and shoulders above all the other fairy tale retellings out there, because it doesn't really, but I can say that I enjoyed it and I'm sure others will as well. It doesn't have many illustrations, which is a pity, but the stories are told very well. Jenkins put together a very nice collection!

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Fairest by Gail Carson Levine, 2006

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In the kingdom of Ayortha, who is the fairest of them all? Certainly not Aza. She is thoroughly convinced that she is ugly. What she may lack in looks, though, she makes up for with a kind heart, and with something no one else has-a magical voice. Her vocal talents captivate all who hear them, and in Ontio Castle they attract the attention of a handsome prince - and a dangerous new queen. In this masterful novel filled with humour, adventure, romance, and song, Newbery Honor author Gail Carson Levine invites you to join Aza as she discovers how exquisite she truly is.

(326 pages)

When I was younger, I absolutely adored Fairest. I liked it even more than I did Ella Enchanted, its more successful older sister, and I read it several times out of sheer love of the story.

Now that I'm older, I'm sad to see that this is yet another book that doesn't captivate me the way it used to. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's still good. I love the way Aza ruminates on beauty, inside and out. The juxtaposition of Aza and Ivi (both beautiful, but in different ways) is very striking, and I still love watching Aza interact with the gnome ZhamM, who is the mentor and friend that I wish every protagonist had. But the romance with Ijori, while sweet, is kind of cloying and almost rushed to me now (I guess because they don't have as many scenes together as I would have liked).

Really, I think now that I'm older I mainly just want the entire book to be longer. I want to delve further into the intricacies of court; I want a closer look at Aza's feelings of inadequacy and hideousness; I want a more subtle, beautiful relationship between Aza and Ijori that grows up over time; I want all this, plus more time with the fascinating and kind gnomes. I could happily have spent an entire book just in their underground home, exploring the lifestyle and political system that's so different from our own.

It's still a really good book, though, and I highly recommend it to any and all. If you liked Ella Enchanted, then you need to read Fairest; if you haven't read either book, then you definitely need to read both of them as soon as possible!

Which book do you like better, Ella Enchanted or Fairest? Let me know in the comments below.

Snow in Summer by Jane Yolen, 2011

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With her black hair, red lips, and lily-white skin, Summer is as beautiful as her father's garden. And her life in the mountains of West Virginia seems like a fairy tale; her parents sing and dance with her, Cousin Nancy dotes on her, and she is about to get a new baby brother. But when the baby dies soon after he's born, taking Summer's mama with him, Summer's fairy-tale life turns grim. Things get even worse when her father marries a woman who brings poisons and magical mirrors into Summer's world. Stepmama puts up a pretty face, but Summer suspects she's up to no good - and is afraid she's powerless to stop her.
This Snow White tale filled with magic and intrigue during the early twentieth century in Appalachia will be hard to forget.

(256 pages)


Snow in Summer is a Snow White retelling moved to a 1930's small-town setting, and while going in I was really excited about all the potential (especially because it's written by Jane Yolen!), I finished the book with a wrinkle on my brow and a "what in the world did I just read?" look in my eye. Because this book was weird. Just flat-out, honest-to-goodness weird.

For one thing, I wasn't really comfortable with the Satanic vs. Christian themes throughout the book. I think Stepmama is supposed to be some sort of Satanic something-or-other, i.e. a witch, and that alone is really creepy. When you add in the horribly scary church she takes Summer to later in the book and the disgusting caul Summer's Christian aunt/godmother gives her for protection (the caul=a piece of membrane that covered Summer's face when she was born), I was supremely uncomfortable. And grossed out. I mean, can it get much more disgusting than a salted, dried piece of old membrane? The answer is an emphatic no!

I do like the way Yolen took so many different aspects from the original story and twisted them around (like the way the main character's name is "Snow in Summer," and her mother called her "Summer" but her step-mother calls her "Snow"), and I've never read a Snow White story like Snow in Summer. But whereas Yolen's Sleeping Beauty retelling Curse of the Thirteenth Fey (my review) twisted everything in really cool ways that made an awesome new story, Snow in Summer twists things in ways that are . . . well, they're twisted. And repelling. And I really didn't like it.

I don't know, maybe other people would like this book better. I can't really think of any situation in which I would recommend this book, but I suppose if anyone asked me for a really funky/creepy retelling of Snow White with weird religious undertones, this would be my go-to suggestion. Because I don't think any other book fits the bill.

Curse of the Thirteenth Fey by Jane Yolen, 2012

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Gorse is the thirteenth and youngest in a family of fairies tied to the evil king's land and made to do his bidding. Because of an oath made to the king's great-great-ever-so-many-times-great-grandfather, if they try to leave or disobey the royals, they will burst into a thousand stars.
When accident-prone Gorse falls ill just as the family is bid to bless the new princess, a fairytale starts to unfold. Sick as she is, Gorse races to the castle with the last piece of magic the family has left--a piece of the Thread of Life. But that is when accident, mayhem, and magic combine to drive Gorse's story into the unthinkable, threatening the baby, the kingdom, and all.

(304 pages)

Isn't the cover just gorgeous? That's why I picked it up in the first place - well, that and the fact that it's written by Jane Yolen. I was interested to read a longer book by Yolen, because while I enjoyed her book A Plague of Unicorns, my big complaint was that it had a very rushed ending. The writing had been great, though, and the story a fun idea, so I thought a 300 page book by Yolen would have a lot of potential.

And boy, did it! Yolen took the entire story of Sleeping Beauty in a direction utterly different from every other version I've ever read (and let me tell you: I've read quite a few). For one thing, the very reason the fairies are at the christening is really neat - a complete change from the usual "this is just what fairies do" shtick. I don't want to describe it too much because it isn't completely explained until pretty far into the book, but basically they aren't coming by choice; they have to obey the royal family, including by blessing new children, or they will literally burst into a thousand stars.

The other big issue in A Plague of Unicorns (a ton of world-building before the action actually begins) shows up a little bit in Curse of the Thirteenth Fey as well: all of Part One (the first seventy pages) is basically just setting the stage for what happens in Parts Two and Three. However, this time around it works a lot better. For one thing, the world that Yolen builds is pretty breathtaking. I mean, it's so unique everything literally has to be laid out for the reader to understand; there's no "and you know the rules of the fey, yada-yada-yada." Instead, we're starting on square one with "this is where the fey live, this is who they are, this is how their magic works," and on and on. It's really fascinating, if perhaps a little dry for the beginning of an adventure novel.

The story itself, once it gets going, is a very interesting mix of the traditional and the new. Everything feels like it comes straight from a storybook, and yet it's a little . . . different. Gorse makes quite a few discoveries that feed into what she knew of her Family's past (again, going back to the long backstory in Part One), while also struggling to get an understanding of the men who seek her help.

I really enjoyed reading Curse of the Thirteenth Fey, and I'm already looking forward to re-reading it. It's a great book, but I wouldn't call it amazing because I don't think everyone would enjoy it as much as I did. It's full of a lot of talking, a lot of complicated Family history, a lot of danger covered by talking and sitting and doing (apparently) nothing. A fast-paced adventure novel it is not, and while I liked it, I wonder if less patient readers might find it rather dry. If you've read it, I'd love to hear whether you enjoyed it as I did or if you had a harder time getting through it.

Also, I think I'm officially in love with Yolen's books. Does anyone have any recommendations for which I should read next?

Bella At Midnight by Diane Stanley

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In the little village of Castle Down, in a kingdom plagued by war, lives a peasant girl called Bella. Blessed with a kind family and a loving friend, she manages to create her own small patch of sunlight in a dark and dangerous world. Bella is a blacksmith's daughter; her friend Julian is a prince -- yet neither seems to notice the great gulf that divides his world from hers.
Suddenly Bella's world collapses. First Julian betrays her. Then it is revealed that she is not the peasant she believed herself to be: She is Isabel, the daughter of a knight who abandoned her in infancy. Now he wants her back, so Bella is torn from her beloved foster family and sent to live with her deranged father and his resentful new wife. Soon Bella is caught up in a terrible plot that will change her life -- and the kingdom -- forever. With the help of her godmother and three enchanted gifts, she sets out on a journey in disguise that will lead her to a destiny far greater than any she could have imagined.

(278 pages)

So, I love The Silver Bowl books (link goes to my review of The Silver Bowl). I've had this earlier book by Stanley on my radar for a while, but it got buried under all the other books that were on my radar (i.e. it fell to somewhere in the middle of the infamous Goodreads "to read" pile). A month ago I made a Top Ten post listing ten books I can't believe I haven't read, and this was right near the top. I requested it right after posting the article, and read it in one day - as soon as I could wrestle it away from my mother, another Diane Stanley fan!

As an earlier work than the Silver Bowl series, you can see that Stanley's writing skills were still developing; the writing isn't quite a crisp as in her later series. However, considering how amazing those books are this really doesn't hurt Bella at Midnight very much. I initially thought the technique of telling the story from so many different POVs, switching every chapter between everyone from Bella to seemingly random people off the street, was clumsy and distracting. I soon realized, though, that the technique fit the story perfectly as all the threads began to weave together into one big, tightly knitted story.

Bella is a very interesting character, especially in comparison with the original Cinderella. Where Cinderella began life with a loving father but no real family outside of that, Bella grew up believing herself to be the peasant daughter of a loving couple. She has two siblings, village friends, and of course her best friend Prince Julian right by her side. When she is brought to her birth father's home to be lonely, abused, and neglected (not to a truly abusive state, but still pretty cruelly), she is homesick more than anything else. She doesn't dream of marrying a prince and riding off into the sunset; all she wants is to be back with the family who loves her. I love this, because at the end of the day it isn't wealth that matters to her: it's people. How can you not love a character with priorities like that? I won't pretend she's going on my list of "most memorable heroines" (if I were making that list, which I'm not), but she's definitely a engaging and sympathetic main character.

This is a fun, humorous twist of a classic fairy tale, one that I'm glad I read but I probably won't be in a huge hurry to reread. If you're looking for a well-written fairy-tale spinoff that messes everything up the time period and the happy ending, then this is most definitely the book for you!

Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George, 2008

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When a great white bear promises untold riches to her family, the Lass (as she's known) agrees to go away with him. But the bear is not what he seems, nor is his castle. To unravel the mystery, the Lass sets out on a windswept journey beyond the edge of the world. Based on the Nordic legend East of the Sun, West of the Moon, with romantic echoes of Beauty and the Beast, this re-imagined story will leave fans of fantasy and fairytale enchanted.

(352 pages)

I won a giveaway over at Bookshop Talk for two books of my choice. How awesome is that, right? I know how awesome: very! I had read Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow many years before and loved it, so I knew this was the perfect time to re-read it and add the gorgeous book (seriously, look at that cover!) to my collection.

Jessica Day George is one of my favorite authors. I have read all of her books, and never met one I didn't like! She's a master at fairytale retellings and knows how to create some serious ambiance. Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow differs from her amazing Princess books in that it isn't so much a complete retelling of the original tale as it is an imaginative fleshing out. What kind of family would give up their daughter to a talking bear? Why would a troll princess be so determined to marry a human prince? And why would she be so enchanted by the heroine's skills with a carding comb that she would let her into the palace? George fills in the answers to these questions and more in a way that creates a rich story that still reads like a fairytale - but a fairytale with far more detail and logic than any original version of "East o' the Sun, West o' the Moon" has to offer.

This isn't really a book that can be analyzed too much. It's a fleshed-out fairytale, not a regular story where realistic characters and plausible motives are required. The beauty of this book, though, is that it stays perfectly true to its magical foundations while at the same time managing to feature a lovable and realistic heroine, and logical reasons for everything that happens (logical in a world containing magic and trolls, anyway). The book's fantastical beginning may leave you with a lot of questions, but I guarantee that by the end everything will be explained.

The only (very slight) quibble I have is with the lass's wolf Rollo. He behaves much too much like a regular human for my taste. However, I know that George can write a realistic canine character (just look Pippin in the Dragon trilogy!), so I realize this must have been a conscious choice. It fits in well with the fairytale tone of the story. If the lass can speak to animals, then why shouldn't her best friend be a wolf?

All in all, this is just such a beautiful book - starting with the gorgeous cover, and lasting all the way through to the end! I love how everything is explained away with at least fairly logical reasoning, but the magical feel of the story is never lost. George expanded the tale, instead of cutting it up and pasting it back together, and I really love the result. The old adage "if it's not broken, don't fix it" comes to mind. The story "East o' the Sun, West o' the Moon" was not broken, and it didn't need fixing. What it needed was for someone to color in the lines and fill it out. This is what George did, and she did a fantastic job!

Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George, 2009

Galen is a young soldier returning from war; Rose is one of twelve princesses condemned to dance each night for the King Under Stone. Together Galen and Rose will search for a way to break the curse that forces the princesses to dance at the midnight balls. All they need is one invisibility cloak, a black wool chain knit with enchanted silver needles, and that most critical ingredient of all—true love—to conquer their foes in the dark halls below. But malevolent forces are working against them above ground as well, and as cruel as the King Under Stone has seemed, his wrath is mere irritation compared to the evil that awaits Galen and Rose in the brighter world above. 

Galen is a returning soldier without a true family to come home to. His mother, father, and sister all died during the endless war. He lives with the aunt, uncle and cousin he'd never known, working in the king's garden under his uncle (the head gardener)'s careful, grouchy eye.

Rose is a princess, the oldest of twelve girls (all named after flowers), and destined to rule the kingdom one day. She has sisters, and more sisters, and a few more over there in the corner. Sisters coming out her ears, and no mother to take care of them. That duty has fallen squarely on Rose's shoulders, and is a duty more difficult than anyone knows. Because every third night, when midnight strikes, the princesses must travel down into a land of darkness, and dance until dawn with the shadowy figures of dark princes. It is a curse, one handed down to them by the mother who made a foolish bargain with a man of evil.

Now the curse grows worse, because the princesses were deathly sick and missed a day. Every time they miss a night of dancing, they have to dance more often. Now they dance every night, and their father the king is frantic to find out what is happening to them. If he asks his daughters, all they can speak is gibberish. So he offers his crown and one of his princesses in marriage to any prince who can discover what ails the girls. The only problem? Every prince who tries and fails to learn their secret winds up dead from some accident within a month. Soon all the other kingdoms are mad, and they are on the brink of war once more.

But Galen, the clever soldier turned gardener, is smarter than he looks, and driven by something the princes never had: the unspoken love for a certain eldest princess. He is worried by how tired she looks, and wants nothing more than to bring her peace.

So, this is a retelling of the famous Twelve Dancing Princesses, which I obviously knew going into it. Fairy tale retellings are one of my favorite genres, and I just read Jessica Day George's Dragon series, so I had extremely high hopes going into the book. And it did not disappoint.

The characters weren't caricatures, but they weren't so finely developed it distracted from the story. Rose wasn't the only princess to get at turn in the spotlight, and each of the sisters had their own distinct personality. From Lily, Rose's right hand sister, to Hyacinth the devout, to Poppy the tomboy, and Pansy the darling youngest, each girl had a unique view of the curse that troubled them, and each dealt with the pressure in different ways (which was sometimes quite amusing). Galen's uncle was - argh, I have to either give a big plot summary, or a short (but rather big) spoiler to talk about the people on Galen's side of the book. Well, let's just say that the rarely seen weren't just given a stick-on that read "bland." Even the women who helped Galen find his aunt and uncle's house were unique.

Read it? Yes. Stay up till dawn with it? Um, *sheepish grin* I just reread it last week, for maybe the fourth time. And I still stayed up to finish it.

10/14 note: This is actually the first book in a trilogy, and I just wanted to stick on here that the other books are really good too.