Sleeping Beauty Retellings

I’m not going to lie, putting together this blog post made me a little nervous. Because let’s be real for a second and admit that some of the original Sleeping Beauty stories are really, really dark and definitely not safe for you to read to your kids (or to read at work).

Most modern writers tend to skip over those aspects of the original story (thank goodness!) and I did work extra hard to scrub the list of books below. Luckily, Sleeping Beauty has been blessed with a Disney movie retelling so it has inspired plenty of stories that focus on the lighter aspects of the original fairy tales!

Let's start things out with some special call outs for my favorite retellings of this fairy tale:

Spindle’s End – by Robin McKinley – I’m assuming you’ve read one of Robin McKinley’s retellings of Beauty and the Beast, but did you know she has written a Sleeping Beauty retelling as well? It has McKinley’s trademark beautiful world building and descriptions combined with some fun twits. I think the best part is the fact that the main heroine is not some passive princess waiting for everything to get solved – she’s a woman of action!

The Healer’s Apprentice – by Melanie Dickerson – Melanie Dickerson has written a whole series of fairy tale retellings mixed with historical fiction, and this book is the first one in her series. I personally like books I read to have a touch of magic in them (which these do not) but I have to admire how seamlessly Dickerson can blend the historical aspects with the original fairy tales to come up with a story that is both entertaining and realistic!

The Castle Behind Thorns – by Merrie Haskell – Ok, I did not like this book as much as Haskell’s other book, The Princess Curse. But this is still a great book with an interesting spin on the Sleeping Beauty tale (both how she ends up in the situation and what she and the main male character do to fix things).

Sleeping Beauty  – by K.M. Shea – For my retelling of Sleeping Beauty I knew I wanted Briar Rose to be a bit more fiery (she had to be to go through what I had planned for her)! Sometimes she gets a little carried away with herself but that is why Isaia is there to steady her and hold her back when necessary.

A big shout-out to everyone who commented on my Facebook post with extra book ideas! These are all reader recommendations so think of them as a friend rec! (I asked for no spice and low language but if that is a concern for you be sure to check the reviews.)

Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross

Sleeping Beauty’s Daughters by Diane Zahler

Rose & Thorn by Sarah Prineas

The Wide-Awake Princess by E.D. Baker

Princess of Thorns by Stacey Jay

Curse of the Thirteenth Fey by Jane Yolen

Awaken by Camille Peters

Once Upon a Dream by Liz Braswell

The Princess Game by Melanie Cellier

Princess Sonora and the Long Sleep by Gail Carson Levine

Alora by Morgan Dawson

Sleeping Beauty by Jenni James

Beauty Sleep by Cameron Dokey

Kingdom of Slumber Deborah Grace White

Cursed by Kaylin Lee

Mistress of All Evil by Serena Valentino

The Awakened Prince by Alora Carter

Ice and the Elves by Anabelle Raven

Thorns at Sunrise by Janeen Ippolito

A Gracious Hope by Robyn Sarty

Sleeping Dragon by Amberlyn Holland

A Lady Most Engaged by Audrey Glenn

A Kiss in Time by Alex Flinn

Dagger's Sleep by Tricia Mingerink

The Silent Night by Sarah Beran

Spindled Slumber by Kayla Eshbaugh

Bria & the Billionaire's Kiss by Catelyn Meadows

Upon a Dream by Laura Burton and Jessie Cal

Did you find a book you want to read? The list includes everything from middle grade, YA, Fantasy, historical, and contemporary. So it has a bit of everything and I hope you found your next great book!

If you are looking for more, 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.

Happy Valentine’s Day 2023

Happy Valentine’s Day, Champions! Valentine’s Day continues to be one of my favorite holidays–an entire day dedicated to sweets and showing everyone I love how thankful I am? Sign me up!

In previous years I used to do a free book to mark the day, but we’re kind of in the middle of Magiford stuff, so I’m shifting my annual Newsletter-Champion-Picked book to the summer so we can properly mark it. But! I still want to give you Champions a valentine, so here we have it, a new coloring page!

Above is the JPEG version, but you can also download the PDF version and print it out–here’s the link!

This coloring page is for Cinderella and the Colonel, my stand alone, fantasy retelling of the traditional fairy tale, without the insta-love. Cinderella is closer to Leila of Court of Midnight and Deception with both her sarcasm, and her obsession with money (Cinderella is also destitute, and has something of an enemies-to-lovers romance.) but her spit fire temperament is accompanied by the kindness that is so key to the Cinderella fairy tale. (Though her spend thrift ways make this book one of my favorite fairy tales. I can’t help it, I love budgets!)

If you want to check out Cinderella’s story, you can find it in Kindle Unlimited/on Amazon here, but feel free to share the coloring book with friends/family! I asked @olena_shkavron to make this page specifically for you, Champions, so have fun with it!

I hope you have a wonderful day, Champions, filled with love from all the people you hold dear! (And maybe a few sweets and good books, too!) Thanks for reading!

Audio Books: Snow Queen and Queen’s Crown

SO MANY exciting audio book updates today!

First of all, after a very looong wait, The Queen’s Crown is finally available on Audible! Once again this book was narrated by the combined talent of Avery Caris and Charlie Thurston. I hope you enjoy it!

I do want to acknowledge that this book was significantly delayed compared to the first two books, but unfortunately there wasn’t anything I could do about it. The first two books of the Court of Midnight and Deception series have been available for weeks but I can’t control how quickly Audible’s review process finishes, and they told me they were extra busy right now when I reached out to them. 🙁 But I’m glad it’s finally ready! If you were waiting for the final book go and get it!

The other update for the Court of Midnight and Deception series is that the issue with Crown of Shadows chapter eight (5 minutes of junk audio at the end) has been resolved, and you can now get the clean version on Amazon. If you delete the book from your device and redownload it from the store you will get the correct version. Special thanks to the Champions who helped me test this out to confirm we could get the new version!

Last, but definitely not least, I am happy to announce that you can also get the complete Snow Queen series as one single audio book download! All three books are narrated by the wonderful Courtney Patterson and Nick Thurston. Get The Snow Queen: The Complete Saga audio book.

This is the first audio boxset I’m releasing so I’m interested in what you think (please comment below if you liked this!). If this is well received there might be more audio boxsets coming in the future!

I’m also interested in hearing about what you think of the narrators! I’ve selected different narrators for each of my audio book projects so far – do you have a favorite? Do you like the two narrator style I’ve been using or do you prefer a single narrator through the whole book?