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Unfinished Fairy Tales #1-4.5
The Unfinished Fairy Tales: The Complete Series
This box set includes all five books in the Unfinished Fairy Tales series—including four novels and one novella, for a total of nearly 400k words!
What happens when a modern girl tumbles into a storybook? What if the only way home was to create the happy ending; i.e., bring Cinderella and the prince together? What if the prince falls in love with the modern girl instead?
Join Kat and her tumultuous journey in the fairy-tale world of Cinderella, as she tries to survive in a Victorian-esque high society complete with balls and ball gowns, as the ugly stepsister.
What happens when a modern girl tumbles into a storybook? What if the only way home was to create the happy ending; i.e., bring Cinderella and the prince together? What if the prince falls in love with the modern girl instead?
Join Kat and her tumultuous journey in the fairy-tale world of Cinderella, as she tries to survive in a Victorian-esque high society complete with balls and ball gowns, as the ugly stepsister.
- GenresRetellings
1402 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 9, 2018
97 people are currently reading
82 people want to read
About the author
Arisa May
20 books14 followersArisa writes stories with a touch of magic, and is especially interested in portal fantasies (isekai) and the villainess trope. She has written over fifteen novels; several have been translated into French and Italian. She hails from Taiwan, where she can’t survive without air-conditioning, and when she’s not reading or writing, she enjoys baking desserts and dancing to Kpop.
*formerly published under the name of Aya Ling.
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
*formerly published under the name of Aya Ling.
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 23, 2021
a fun entertaining series
I really enjoyed this series. There were some inconsistencies with the story but to the most part I think hunk the author did a great job with the plot of each of the stories. Edward is the perfect prince and Kat is quite entertaining with her modern views and antics.
I really enjoyed this series. There were some inconsistencies with the story but to the most part I think hunk the author did a great job with the plot of each of the stories. Edward is the perfect prince and Kat is quite entertaining with her modern views and antics.
July 26, 2018
When Aya Ling, the author of A Little Mermaid from the Entwined Tales series, placed her novel The Ugly Stepsister on sale, I was hoping not to get too carried away. After all, the book looks like it could easily be a watered down Gregory Maguire wannabe. However, as soon as I began to read the first paragraph, I was instantly hooked on this wish-fulfillment fantasy. Instead of another fairy tale retelling from an alternate perspective, the Unfinished Fairy Tales series is more like a live-action princess movie, in which an ordinary girl travels to another world and transforms into a princess. Even though the series is called Unfinished Fairy Tales, the books do not tell different stories like the Four Kingdoms or Timeless Fairy Tales series. Instead, all of the books are direct sequels about the same character and the same fully fleshed out "Cinderella" world, meaning that if you got hooked on the story from the beginning like me, you will be frantically jumping from one book to the next, determined to find out if Kat will get her happy ending.
I'm mainly just going to talk about The Ugly Stepsister in this review because discussing any of the subsequent books would mean spoiling the others. Katherine Wilson is your average modern-day girl who loves to read. One day, she discovers an old copy of "Cinderella" in her attic and accidentally drops it, causing the cover to rip. The next thing she knows, she is transported into the story, finding herself in the body of one of the ugly stepsisters! The kingdom of Athelia has a surprising amount of depth, with more characters, laws, and locations than an illustrated "Cinderella" storybook would have had. The explanation for this is that the goblin king created the entire fully-fleshed out world inside the book for his own entertainment. Even though the logistics can be rather hard to swallow, once you get fully immersed in Kat's story, you tend to stop worrying about them.
The closest story I could compare this to is actually a cell phone app called Lovestruck. In "Love & Legends," one of the app's visual novels, you play a girl from Chicago who gets swallowed up into a fairy tale kingdom and fall in love with someone from the game's diverse cast of fantasy characters. What princess fan has never dreamed of being magically transported to a fairy tale world and winning the heart of a prince? Twilight is another well-known self-insertion wish-fulfillment story, but Kat has a lot more going for her than Bella does. Even though they are both clumsy and fall irrevocably in love with the male lead, whose name also happens to be Edward, Kat is a leader who wishes to change the old-fashioned customs of Athelia and make life better for its citizens. Throughout the series, she uses her advantages to create movements that end child labor, educate young girls, and tax the wealthy. Unlike characters from similar stories, she doesn't just forget about her world's customs when she enters fantasyland but fully embraces them instead. This is what attracts the attention of Prince Edward.
For the majority of The Ugly Stepsister, Kat tries to deny her feelings for Edward because the goblin tells her that she must complete the story of "Cinderella" in order to return to her own world. Therefore, she does whatever she can to try to push the prince together with her serving girl, Elle. However, it turns out to all be in vain because Edward has never met anyone like Kat before and falls stubbornly head over heels for her. Eventually, Kat accepts that she can't fight true love. However, further complications arrive in the later books that challenge their happy ending together. Even though the goblins who trap Kat in Athelia only pop up occasionally throughout the story, they have a lot of control over her fate and are basically gods in the world of Unfinished Fairy Tales. The goblin world was probably the least believable thing in the series, but I admit that it's difficult to come up with a plausible explanation for getting sucked into another world.
The subsequent books in the series are Princess of Athelia, Twice Upon a Time, and Ever After (not to be confused with another "Cinderella" story of the same name). These books are all about how Kat changes Athelia for the better by incorporating modern laws from her time period and how she and Edward are willing to sacrifice everything to be together. They also answer several questions formed by The Ugly Stepsister, such as "Will Kat's family back home ever find out what happened to her?" and "What happened to the real evil stepsister after Kat took over her body?" I highly recommend this series for lovers of princesses and romance, but I also feel inclined to warn you that it is highly addictive. Once you enter the world of Athelia, it is very hard to come back to realty until you are certain of Kat's happy ending.
I'm mainly just going to talk about The Ugly Stepsister in this review because discussing any of the subsequent books would mean spoiling the others. Katherine Wilson is your average modern-day girl who loves to read. One day, she discovers an old copy of "Cinderella" in her attic and accidentally drops it, causing the cover to rip. The next thing she knows, she is transported into the story, finding herself in the body of one of the ugly stepsisters! The kingdom of Athelia has a surprising amount of depth, with more characters, laws, and locations than an illustrated "Cinderella" storybook would have had. The explanation for this is that the goblin king created the entire fully-fleshed out world inside the book for his own entertainment. Even though the logistics can be rather hard to swallow, once you get fully immersed in Kat's story, you tend to stop worrying about them.
The closest story I could compare this to is actually a cell phone app called Lovestruck. In "Love & Legends," one of the app's visual novels, you play a girl from Chicago who gets swallowed up into a fairy tale kingdom and fall in love with someone from the game's diverse cast of fantasy characters. What princess fan has never dreamed of being magically transported to a fairy tale world and winning the heart of a prince? Twilight is another well-known self-insertion wish-fulfillment story, but Kat has a lot more going for her than Bella does. Even though they are both clumsy and fall irrevocably in love with the male lead, whose name also happens to be Edward, Kat is a leader who wishes to change the old-fashioned customs of Athelia and make life better for its citizens. Throughout the series, she uses her advantages to create movements that end child labor, educate young girls, and tax the wealthy. Unlike characters from similar stories, she doesn't just forget about her world's customs when she enters fantasyland but fully embraces them instead. This is what attracts the attention of Prince Edward.
For the majority of The Ugly Stepsister, Kat tries to deny her feelings for Edward because the goblin tells her that she must complete the story of "Cinderella" in order to return to her own world. Therefore, she does whatever she can to try to push the prince together with her serving girl, Elle. However, it turns out to all be in vain because Edward has never met anyone like Kat before and falls stubbornly head over heels for her. Eventually, Kat accepts that she can't fight true love. However, further complications arrive in the later books that challenge their happy ending together. Even though the goblins who trap Kat in Athelia only pop up occasionally throughout the story, they have a lot of control over her fate and are basically gods in the world of Unfinished Fairy Tales. The goblin world was probably the least believable thing in the series, but I admit that it's difficult to come up with a plausible explanation for getting sucked into another world.
The subsequent books in the series are Princess of Athelia, Twice Upon a Time, and Ever After (not to be confused with another "Cinderella" story of the same name). These books are all about how Kat changes Athelia for the better by incorporating modern laws from her time period and how she and Edward are willing to sacrifice everything to be together. They also answer several questions formed by The Ugly Stepsister, such as "Will Kat's family back home ever find out what happened to her?" and "What happened to the real evil stepsister after Kat took over her body?" I highly recommend this series for lovers of princesses and romance, but I also feel inclined to warn you that it is highly addictive. Once you enter the world of Athelia, it is very hard to come back to realty until you are certain of Kat's happy ending.
September 23, 2019
I fully enjoyed this series. It kept my interest from the first book until the end. I love fairy tales as a child. Growing older, I realize that there's more to fairy tales than just happily ever after. So I appreciate the details in this series that prove there's more to fairy tales than just happily ever after. It takes work.
While based in Athelia, which is nothing like the modern world, Kat and Edwards love story has the same realistic problems as a couple would in today's world...Jealousy, intimidation, gender favoritism, lack of communication, exhaustion from being a working mother, etc. I enjoyed reading how Kat and Edward overcame all these obstacles because they truly love each other and are willing to do whatever it took to be together. In the last book, I was so scared that Gwendolyn would have ruined it all. I'm so glad for happy and realistic endings.
I can totally see this series becoming a movie.
While based in Athelia, which is nothing like the modern world, Kat and Edwards love story has the same realistic problems as a couple would in today's world...Jealousy, intimidation, gender favoritism, lack of communication, exhaustion from being a working mother, etc. I enjoyed reading how Kat and Edward overcame all these obstacles because they truly love each other and are willing to do whatever it took to be together. In the last book, I was so scared that Gwendolyn would have ruined it all. I'm so glad for happy and realistic endings.
I can totally see this series becoming a movie.
January 6, 2018
I like the modern girl twist on this classic and appreciate that the next two books aren't more of the same fairy tale but just a continuation of Kat and Edwards story. I must admit I though that there seemed to be an inordinate amount of hurdles through all three books for them to get to their Happily Ever After. At times it seemed too drawn out. I did appreciated the politics in all three books, it showed that women can and should have a strong voice in politics, and that just one voice can make a difference. See full review here: https://bookconfessionsblog.wordpress...
September 28, 2019
A serious addiction problem
I gobbled down this series in less than 2 weeks and was a serious problem getting anything done other than reading! It really good spirited, the story has nice twists and one after the other book you just keep wishing for more! My only trouble was with the last book Queen of Athelia, when I thought the Prince Charming was depicted a bit out of character in the beginning... and kinda behaved like an a**, and plot wise I also found it a bit dull compared to the rest of the series, hence 4 starts, other than that, five stars all the way.
I gobbled down this series in less than 2 weeks and was a serious problem getting anything done other than reading! It really good spirited, the story has nice twists and one after the other book you just keep wishing for more! My only trouble was with the last book Queen of Athelia, when I thought the Prince Charming was depicted a bit out of character in the beginning... and kinda behaved like an a**, and plot wise I also found it a bit dull compared to the rest of the series, hence 4 starts, other than that, five stars all the way.
May 8, 2019
Cute
I enjoyed this collection of books. The Ugly Stepsister was great, except for the end. Princess of Athelia really should have been part of The Ugly Stepsister, as all of the events take place in the middle of the first book's timeline. Twice Upon a Time was my least favorite, especially the end, but still worth reading. Ever After was by far my favorite in this collection. Queen of Athelia was interesting, but a little anticlimactic after reading the Ever After.
I enjoyed this collection of books. The Ugly Stepsister was great, except for the end. Princess of Athelia really should have been part of The Ugly Stepsister, as all of the events take place in the middle of the first book's timeline. Twice Upon a Time was my least favorite, especially the end, but still worth reading. Ever After was by far my favorite in this collection. Queen of Athelia was interesting, but a little anticlimactic after reading the Ever After.
March 5, 2019
Fun
Fun fairytale retelling for older youth and adults. Enjoyed tremendously. Definitely an author to follow for future books. There is more than happily ever after.
Fun fairytale retelling for older youth and adults. Enjoyed tremendously. Definitely an author to follow for future books. There is more than happily ever after.
November 7, 2019
I love this series and the authors, she's one of my fav and I have enjoyed all of her books.
November 7, 2019
Love this series. Edward was such a gentleman yet he had bad ass side to him and Kate was funny, smart .. one of the best series ever
August 16, 2020
Started great.. but the books got worse as the series drug on.. dnf just after starting the last one.. enough was enough..kat is just too immature and impractical.
September 21, 2020
Ever wanted to step into a fairy tale? You might change your mind after this series. Then again, maybe not. A hilarious, but thoughtful take on a modern girl who falls into a fairy tale world, and figures out life is a lot harder than the stories make out. Moms with young kids will especially appreciate the last book.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews