The Storybook Bride: A Red Shoes Retelling

Borderland Brides Fairytale Retellings #1.5

by Jacque Stevens

A magical dance. A storybook prince. The slipper fits, but will it ever come off?

Nora Nilsdotter might be a daughter of a lowly cobbler and a castle stitch-girl, but once she’s invited to the prince’s Selection Ball, she’s certain how the rest of her story should go. Afterall, she has the occasionally-irritable-and-quite-possibly-evil stepsisters. She even has a mysterious and glamourous pair of ruby dance-slippers. She might not love the prince, but what does that matter? This is her chance to make things in the kingdom better for all the other peasant girls just like her.

But when a handsome guard from her past seems determined to set her heart racing and expose all her secrets, can she still rewrite her story to become the prince’s bride? Or are all her dreams as cursed as a certain pair of red shoes?

The Storybook Bride is a clean romantic and comedic fantasy inspired by the Red Shoes and other fairytales. This story takes place at the same time as The Swan Bride and can be read in any order.

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Genres: Cinderella

109 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 21, 2025

About the author

Jacque Stevens wrote her first novel as a stress relief activity during nursing school. Now, as a USA-Today Bestselling Author, she has taken a step back from nursing so she can spend all her time writing stories filled with elves, fairies, and all things awesome. She also is a freelance editor.

Jacque lives in Arizona. New friends, enemies, and wandering visitors from cyberspace can contact Jacque here: sjacquebooks.com or sjacquebooks(at)gmail.com.

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Reviews

[Ranee · Rating 5 out of 5]

So excited for more books by this author! A very fun spin on some classical fairytales.

[The Swoony Awards]

This book has been nominated for a 2025 Swoony Award, to vote for it click here: Swoony Awards.

[Adrianja · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun novella retelling of Cinderella! It is set in the same time as the Swan Bride by Jacque Stevens. It covers the story and happily ever after of Nora who is one of the contestants for the prince's hand. I am so glad we got to see her story play out as she realizes she is not a storybook princess and there is so much more to a happily ever after than making yourself fit some ideal.

[Chelsea · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first real Retelling of Red Shoes that I have read and I thought it was a very enjoyable story. I loved the character Jarl and enjoyed seeing him and Nora together. This story takes place during the same timeframe as The Swan Bride: A Swan Lake Retelling and is more enjoyable when they are read together however they can each be read as standalone stories since they focus on different characters. I look forward to reading more of this series and other Fairy Tale Retellings by this author in the future.

I received a free copy of this book from the author and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[The Book Dragon's Hoard by A.V. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was curious about Nora's story after readin The Swan Bride and was so glad to see the author has this novella following the "not-Cinderella" story. Inspired by the Red Shoes fairytale, this story sees Nora come to terms with what she really wants instead of just going along with what might be exciting for others. It's a wonderful exploration of the idea that you can't really achieve success if you aren't absolutely certain of what you want and that what some might consider "success" is nothing like what you would expect from the idea. I also liked the wonderful metaphor that when we don't adapt what we want to the changes we experiences as we grow and mature, then the riptide of life is likely to just sweep us along and it's hard to get out of that flow until you take stock and truly examine what it is you want in life.

In addition to the wonderful insight into life's greater mysteries, this novella also adds a sweet romance for Nora that made for a nice change when compared to all the other prince-centric fairytale retellings out there. It's nice to have a love interest who is not a prince.

[Mary Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great companion read to The Swan Bride. I read The Swan Bride first and it seems to make more sense to do so, as there are key characters and plot components that make this book more clear. The character of Nora in the first part of this book doesn't endear her to the readers. She's not true to herself and tries to make her story fit the Cinderella tale, abandoning the truth of what she believes and who she really is, putting marrying the prince as her priority. It takes a while for her to see that Jarl is really a prince in character. Although a guard, he is her constant childhood friend, devoted to Nora, and struggling to understand the changes he sees. Leda plays a role in bringing Nora back to reality. I really liked how Jacque incorporates characters from other familiar fairy stories seamlessly. And as in the tales we have known since children, the ending is the appropriate one!