I love and adore a good fairy tale retelling, it gets me back to all those good feels. I grew up loving fairy tales, one of my most memorable books as a kid was one of those thick volumes of fairy tales and it had pictures hehe so that was always a plus. I do like the way that they are written, seeing strong characters overcome some tough challenges and find their own happy ending and you can easily relate with them in real life at times. So when I see authors write romances based on a fairy tale I have a blast with it. Or even books based on classic themes from plays from Shakespeare I am all for as well. You don’t see too many of those though. You can also have a chance on mythology tales which I need to explore way more than I have recently. But the most well known fairy tales just give me all those good feels. Listed below are some of my personal favorites and the romances that made the biggest impression on me and you are guaranteed a happy ending.
Beauty and the Beast
The Little Mermaid
The Ugly Duckling
Cinderella
Robin Hood
Snow White
Red Riding Hood
The Princess and the Pea
Sleeping Beauty
Questions For My Readers
Do you enjoy reading fairy tale retellings?
What are some of your favorites?
I have not read any fairy tale retelling. Well I did read Lair of The Lion by Christine Feehan and loved it. I do want to see Beauty and the Beast movie with Emma Watson. The previews look good and loved how the teapot and cups are active and real and do not look cheesy.
Lair of The Lion was fantastic, and has such a gothic spooky feel to it. She did great with that one. I am super super excited for the movie with Emma Watson. And I have a feeling it will be fantastic, especially since they have worked pretty hard to make it fantastic.
I also adore fairytale retellings. Fairytales were my favorite as a child, and I still love them today. I’ve read a ton of YA retellings but also some romance ones, too. I really want to read Eloisa James’s When Beauty Tamed the Beast.
I haven’t read any YA retellings but I know there are a ton of them out there that have been super tempting to try out. You would love Eloisa James book, she did a great job with her fairy tale retellings.
I do adore them π they are so fun to read
Fairy Tales are a blast and have such a magical feel to them.
This list is amazing!!!! I will have to check some of these out! I did just finish How to Tame a Beast in 7 days and I loved it.
oh thank you!! I did have a blast putting these all together, and yeah I loved Sparks new book as well. So fun to read. I am excited to see what she does with the series.
Wait….Lord of Scoundrels is a Beauty and the Beast retelling? I have that book sitting on my kindle unread. I must read that one soon. I never thought of Sugar Daddy as a Cinderella story.
Yeah Lord of Scoundrels is a retelling and LOVE that book so much. So dang good. Highly recommend you pick that one up. Its definitely one of my top favorites. My first time reading Sugar Daddy I never thought of it as a retelling, but then I recently re read it and definitely has some similarities.
I have read some of the books here but there are a few that are still on my radar! Lord of Scoundrels needs to be read ASAP by me!
I also love fairy tale retellings. With historical romance, I love that they aren’t as obvious in the retellings! π I also recently reread The Ugly Duchess…. it was okay…I am actually planning on rereading Eloisa James’ fairy tale retellings series π
I do enjoy fairy tale retellings, but I’m a bit particular with them… Like, I don’t want my favorite fairy tale heroines to be twisted into something else, her character has to be somewhat similar to what I remember from the original fairy tale. Does that make sense?
I want to read some of the Robin Hood re-tellings! I loved all things Robin Hood when I was a child.
As for Shakespeare themed novels, have you tried Michelle Mankin’s Brutal Strength / Black Cat and her Tempest series? They are all loosely based on Shakespeare π
Thanks for sharing some good fairy tale retellings, Renee.
Lexxie @ (un)Conventional Bookviews
I think I have only read retellings in the YA genre but enjoyed them. I will have to look through some of these and give the a try! Thanks for sharing!
I love fairytale retellings, too. I don’t really have favorites so far. I do tend to snag the Beauty and the Beast ones rather quickly. I want to read the Lila Pasquale ones and the Maya Rodale retellings and there is a sci-fi series that Lola is reading that I want to try.
Ah, I love them too. I actually have How to Tame a Beast in Seven Days, and set it down for now. I needed light and the heavy fantasy aspects turned me off. However I know the mood will hit me and I will try it then π
I’m such a sucker for fairy tale retelling! And Shakespeare-esque ones too (: I love love Romancing Mr. Bridgerton! And basically all the Beauty and the Beast ones. I need to read How to Tame a Beast in 7 Days! Great list (and suggestions)!
You know so many! Wow.
And I assume you were referring to Miranda and Caliban in the opening paragraph? I’ve recently reviewed that one.
Out of retellings, I would probably choose Deathless by Catherine Valente. So dark, so strong and just utterly fantastic.
I didn’t even realize there are so many historical romances that are fairytale retellings. To be honest fairytale retellings are a bit of a hit or miss for me. I struggle finding books that have the right balance of being similar enough to see the similarities, but not too similar either as I do want a different story. I might give one of these a try as they look good.