Book Lists

King Arthur Retellings

Oct 15
2 min read

King Arthur is one of the most famous mythical characters of all time. There is just something timeless and awesome about a king who unites a country, leads his people into a new future, and embarks on over the top quests!

The basic story has been adapted and retold countless times using different media so lets take a look at some of the must read book versions of this well know tale!

But first, a quick note about my version of this story, since I take a very different approach to most other stories:

King Arthur and Her Knights - by K. M. Shea - When Britt, a modern young woman, is pulled by a magical summons back through time she finds herself smack in the middle of the schemes of the surprisingly young and handsome wizard Merlin. Britt has no interest in pretending she is the legendary King Arthur, but Merlin has some bad news. The real Arthur has run off, and the legendary sword in the stone has chosen Britt to take his place.

Now for the full list! I asked my reader community for their top suggestions for King Arthur stories(I asked for no spice and low language but check reviews if you have questions about the content). Since these are coming directly from readers you can think of them as a book rec from a friend!

List of The King Arthur Retellings/Adaptations:

King Arthur and Her Knights by K. M. Shea

Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory

King Arthur and His Kinghts by Howard Pyle

Sword of the Rightful King by Jane Yolen

The Sword in the Stone by T. H. White

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain

Black Horses for the King by Anne McCaffrey

The Squire's Tales by Gerald Morris

Avalon High by Meg Cabot

Avalon High Manga series by Meg Cabot

The Crystal Cave series by Mary Stewart

Camulod Chronicles by Jack Whyte

Pendragon's Heir series by Suzannah Rowntree

Of Chivalry and Revenge by Celeste Baxendell

The Knights of Brethren series by Jodi Hedlund

Silver in the Bone by Alexandra Bracken

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

Here Lies Arthur by Phillip Reeve

Summer of the Summoned Sword by Sarah Beran

My Kingdom for a Quest by Kendra E. Ardnek

The Rightful King by Laura Greenwood

The Arrow and the Sword by Sara Farnsworth

The Pendragon Cycle series by Steven Lawhead

The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White

I Am Morgan le Fay by Nancy Springer

The Lost Years of Merlin by T. A. Barron

The Eighth Day by Dianne K. Salerni

Under the Lake by Garth Nix

Space Lore series by Chris Dietzel

Star Legend series by J. J. Green

Did you know I have a whole series of these blog posts featuring book recommendations, popular retellings, and lists of books vetted by readers? Click here to start reading or use the Book Lists category to filter them.

Frog Prince Retellings

Aug 6
2 min read

Do you love The Frog Prince fairy tale? This well known fairy tale has it's own Disney adaptation! And one interesting twist that most modern takes on this fairy tale add is the prince/main male character going through a growth arc (or at least gets his well deserved comeuppance!)

Let's take a look at some fantastic retellings of this Brothers Grimm fairy tale.

The Frog Prince - by K. M. Shea - This is my version in which I heavily gutted the original story because in the original both of the main characters are pretty detestable (if you don't believe me read this other blog post). It features a romance between seemingly arrogant Prince Lucien and the maid assigned to protect the now-very-much-a-frog prince.

Now for the full list! I asked my reader community for their top suggestions (I asked for no spice and low language but check reviews if you have questions about the content). Since these are coming directly from readers you can think of them as a book rec from a friend!

List of Frog Prince Retellings:

The Frog Prince by K. M. Shea

The Unlucky Prince by Deborah Grace White

The Green-Eyed Prince by Brittany Fichter

Frogkisser! by Garth Nix

The Frog Prince Continued by Jon Scieszka

Frogged by Vivian Vande Velde

The Princess Spy by Melanie Dickerson

The Frog Princess by E. D. Baker

The Frog Prince by Jenni James

Water Song by Suzanne Weyn

Enchanted by Alethea Kontis

Princess of Secrets by A. G. Marshall

A Midwinter's Wedding by Melanie Cellier

Prince of Frogs by Amberlyn Holland

The Frog Duke by Chelsey Noelle

To Betray a King by Annette K. Larsen

The Door in the Hedge by Robin McKinley

Chords of Green and Gold by Sarah Beran

Charmed by Camille Peters

The Prince of Gulbrania series by Lauren M. Flauding

Amphibian's Kiss by Lichelle Slater

Transformed: The Perils of the Frog Prince by Megan Morrison

Cloaked by Alex Flinn

Wildwood Dancing by Juliette Marillier

Almost There by Farrah Rochon

The Lily Gate by Hanna Sanvig

Cursed for Keeps by E. J. Kitchens

Her Accidental Frog by Eliza Prokopovits

A Charming Hope by Ashley Evercott

Midnight Prince by Aisha Urooj

Fate of a Frog by Kassidy Kameron

Books Set in the Midwest

Jul 16
5 min read

I've written a series of interconnected urban fantasy books based in the United States Midwest (Wisconsin specifically). A common comment from readers is that it is so refreshing to read these books because they aren't based in one of the oh-so-popular East Coast or West Coast cities.

And it's true that the Midwest is not a popular setting for most type of fiction. If you take a look at this infographic you'll see where the most popular locations are:

(Side note: I think this graphic only includes books published by the top commercial publishers, because I swear there is at least 10,000+ cowboy books that should be making those numbers in Montana, Wyoming, and the Dakotas much higher!)

To solve this issue I asked the readers in my community for recommendations of their favorite fiction books based in the Midwest. So if you too would like to read a book based in Wisconsin or one of the other surrounding States check out this list!

Note: We limited out list to just some of the Great Lakes States (see map above) because otherwise this list would have gotten too large. I asked the reader community for no spice and low language but check the book reviews if you have questions about the content.