Elena Rose (The Bookish Queen) asked Jessica Day George:

Your Princesses of Westfalin trilogy are some of my favorite romances of all time. What made you choose to retell those specific fairy tales?

Jessica Day George The Twelve Dancing Princesses has always been one of my favorites, and the original story raises so many questions! If they dance all night until their shoes wear out . . . doesn't that hurt?! How are they okay with their dad executing the suitors who "fail" (because they've drugged them!). Yes, in the original story every prince who fails to find out their secret is EXECUTED. IN FRONT OF THEM. So many questions! And the last line of the story is usually: And they never danced again, and they lived happily ever after! WHAT?! So that led me to Cinderella, because it's a fairy tale that calls for dancing! And then Little Red Riding Hood is another WHAT?! How do you not know your grandmother has been replaced by a wolf? and in the original there's no huntsman, she and grandma are eaten to teach children a lesson! I had to fix it! HAD TO.

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