What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

I'm looking for fairy tale retellings similar to what are found in these two threads: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... and https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/..., but they don't have to be for YA as I'm an adult (most of the time! LOL.) If it was previously posted in these threads, y'all can post it again. Mythology is okay too, but mostly I want fairy tales.
I've already read most of the books in the Once Upon a Time series and Beauty, Rose Daughter, and Beast are among my favorite books. Thanks for all y'alls help!

These are YA but I liked them Beastly and A Kiss in Time

Beastly is another favorite! Lol. I'll have to check out the other. Thank you.

This is a lot denser and darker than most of those recommended books, but I absolutely loved The Storyteller by Antonia Michaelis. Not quite a fairy tale retelling, but has most of the marks of a fairy tale. The Storyteller

Don't think I saw Heart's Blood by Juliet Marrillier on that list either. So just in case! Retelling of Beauty in the Beast done in a realistic, but still fantastic way. Heart's Blood

Chalice by Robin McKinley. I saw a lot her books on the recommended list, but I think this one is not as known. Dreamy, soft. Retelling of Beauty and the Beast, kind of. Chalice

YA retelling of the goose girl. Easy and light-hearted, slightly sarcastic and witty. Goose Chase by Patrice KindlGoose Chase

Princess Academy by Shannon Hale. YA retelling of Cinderella. More for the younger crowd, but still a good read. Princess Academy

Rowan Hood by Nancy Springer. Not sure if you consider Robin Hood to be "fairy tale" enough, but Rowan Hood is a short spin off of the legend. Also decidedly YA, very very quick read. Rowan Hood: Outlaw Girl of Sherwood Forest

Goddess of Yesterday by Caroline Cooney. Mythology. It's a little different than most mythology books because the main character isn't a known mythological character. Also YA. Worth a try if you have the time. Goddess of Yesterday: A Tale of Troy

For something a lot darker with a male protagonist and less romance: The Last Wish. Darker retelling of a lot of fairy tales. Quite good though. The Last Wish

tbh those threads you posted are very comprehensive of all the books I would have recommended too haha. Sorry this is all I got.

And I knowwww this is published book site, obviously, but (to my eternal guilty pleasure and shame) here's a recommendation for a fanfiction because it is done so well (no I didn't write it, I wish I could write that well): https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3805089/...
(if it's not allowed, my apologies, I'll edit the post).

Awesome! Thank you. I guess I should have mentioned that if it has the name Robin McKinley on it it's an instant read. She's my favorite author. (Though I had a little trouble with her last book, Pegasus. By the time I got into the book it was over! And the ending? It's the first time in her career that she's writing a direct sequel to a book.)

A fun site for any fairy tale lover is http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/ They have lists of modern retellings for most of the major fairy tales, along with the history.

Someone's created a Listopia from Endicott's Fairy Tales recommended reading list. These ladies have excellent taste and nearly everything they recommend gets a 4 or 5 stars out of me. The listopia is here: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3...
(Though looking at it, it seems someone may have snuck some non-Endicott books onto the list. I'll get it cleaned up when I have some free time.)

I recently read The Book of Lost Things: A Novel, which was excellent.

My favorite Robin McKinley book (in case you haven't read it yet) is Deerskin though it's very dark.
Briar Rose is another darker favorite.

The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories is a classic of the genre.

You might like the Egerton Hall trilogy by Adele Geras. They are YA books, but very well written. They are about a group of 3 girls at boarding school, and each book is based on a different fairytale (Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White if I remember correctly).

You could also try Human Croquet by Kate Atkinson which is sort of "magic realism" and uses a lot of fairytale imagery - this one is not a YA book.

White as Snow by Tanith Lee is a dark retelling of Snow White. Definately an adult book.

Tanith Lee has a bunch of "retellings" that are adult and dark. You might want to just add her to your list.

Definitely read The Goose Girl if you haven't.

Entwined was my favorite 12 Dancing Princesses read until I read The Princess Curse (don't let the silly cover fool you.)

I loved The Princess Curse, by Merrie Haskell, too, and agreee with Lee Anne about the cover.

The Perilous Gard, by Elizabeth Marie Pope, is another retelling of the ballad of Tam Lin.

Till We Have Faces, by C.S. Lewis, is a retelling for adults of the myth of Cupid and Psyche.

The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom, by Christopher Healy, is a middle grade mashup of a bunch of fairy tales. Very silly and fun.

The Dark Lord of Derkholm, by Diana Wynne Jones. Not a retelling per se, but rather a send up of a bunch of fantasy tropes.

Stephen R. Lawhead's "The Pendragon Cycle" series is an Arthurian retelling. Taliesin is the first book. He also has a retelling of Robin Hood, the "King Raven" series: https://www.goodreads.com/series/4377.... He writes for adults.

Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow, by Jessica Day George, is a retelling of "East o' the Sun, and West o' the Moon."

Carolyn Turgeon has written a few beautiful adult fairy tale retellings. Mermaid: A Twist on the Classic Tale, The Fairest of Them All, and Godmother: The Secret Cinderella Story. They are all really good!

The Princess series by Jim C. Hines.

Mira, Mirror is a good Snow White retelling from the enchanted Mirror's point of view.

Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins

Transformations by Anne Sexton

There's a series of books edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling: Snow White, Blood Red, Black Thorn, White Rose, etc.

Briar Rose by Jane Yolen

Red as Blood, or Tales from the Sisters Grimmer

You might also want to check out the Goodreads group "Into the Forest" -- myths and fairy tales are their entire focus.

Melanie Dickerson writes realistic, historical, fairy-tale retellings:
- Sleeping Beauty
- Snow White
- Cinderella
- The Frog Princess
- Beauty & the Beast

Sisters Grimm series... lots of the old characters together in a new setting.

Cruel Beauty greek mythology meets beauty and the beast and rumplesiltskin (sp?)

Oh, some of these look outstanding. Thanks everyone for the great suggestions! One I don't think has been mentioned yet, and it reads very much like a dark fairytale, is Anne Bishop's 'The Black Jewels' series. Absolutely incredible. I've read the series again and again, and to this day its one of my favorite 'fairy tale' fixes. Here's the omnibus that is the first 3 books, and then there are other books after this. The Black Jewels Trilogy: Daughter of the Blood, Heir to the Shadows, Queen of the Darkness.

You might check out this thread also, which has the same request.

Ok, so I haven't read this, but Megan here at GR just recommended Kate Morton's novels to me, and they look amazing... I can't wait to get into The Forgotten Garden This is from the blurb...
"A foundling, an old book of dark fairy tales, a secret garden, an aristocratic family, a love denied, and a mystery. The Forgotten Garden is a captivating, atmospheric and compulsively readable story of the past, secrets, family and memory from the international best-selling author Kate Morton. "
And its rated ovre 4stars with over 100k ratings, so you know its astoundingly good. ;)

Vassa in the Night is a new retelling of the Russian folktale Vassilissa the Beautiful.

OddModicum Rachel wrote: "Ok, so I haven't read this, but Megan here at GR just recommended Kate Morton's novels to me, and they look amazing... I can't wait to get into The Forgotten Garden This is from the ..."

This has been on my TBR list for quite a while. Looks intriguing.

Intisar Khanani is an absolutely fabulous author. Her retellings are absolutely amazing!

Check out "the Goose Girl" retelling: Thorn. Truly a gem!

And then The Bone Knife has a fairy-tale feel. This is stunning.

And then Sunbolt and its even more amazing sequel Memories of Ash is great. The second is hands down my favorite book.

I also really enjoy this: The Keymaker is wondrous.

I recently read Peter S. Beagle's Summerlong -- predictable (what fairy tale/mythic retelling isn't?) but beautifuly written, and with an interesting emphasis on the secondary characters. That is, what effect does an encounter with the numinous have on the average human?

Depravity by M.J. Haag. Similar to beauty and the beast. I really enjoyed it. It's a 3-book series, though, so the first 2 are cliff hangers.
Her Mad Hatter is a twist on Alice in wonderland. I can't remember how much I liked it, though.

The Little Mermaid/Ursula
Cloaked]
The Looking Glass Wars Alice in wonderland story
Dorothy Must Die Collection Wizard of oz
Marissa Meyer Lunar Chronicles Series Collection 4 Books Set- Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, Winter
The Enchanted Forest Chronicles
Midnight Pearls: A Retelling of The Little Mermaid
or any of the once upon a time series
Towering
Sisters Red
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister
Kilala Princess, Vol. 01
The School for Good and Evil
A Frozen Heart Told in alternating chapters from both Anna's and Hans' perspectives
A Whole New World series
Fairest of All
Betty & Veronica's Princess Storybook
Poor Unfortunate Soul: A Tale of the Sea Witch
Fables, Volume 1: Legends in Exile
The Princess and the Packet of Frozen Peas
Cinderella's Big Foot
Cinderella
A Nutty Nutcracker Christmas
Rapunzel: The One with All the Hair
No Kidding, Mermaids Are a Joke!: The Story of the Little Mermaid as Told by the Prince
Hook's Little Mermaid
Rapunzel Untangled
Spilt Milk: A Collection of Stories
Cinder and Ella

you seem to be looking for the same as these two, check their lists
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Try the Elemental Masters series by Mercedes Lackey

There is a book that I've read recently that was what I thought to be a really interesting take on fairytale retellings, and I hope that it can be similar to what you want. The title is Ash & Bramble, it contains several fairytale characters, but it centers on Cinderella. This next bit is a bit spoilery, so read at our own risk. It's really interesting because it's about making objects to feed the fairytales, and breaking the mold of the fairytales.

There's also Entwined, which is a take on the twelve dancing princesses fairytale.

There's also the lunar chronicles by Marissa Meyer, which is Cinderella, Red Ridding Hood, Rapunzel, and Snow White.

I hope this was helpful.

The Singing Bones is retold Grimm fairy tales with sculptural illustrations, for ages 12 and up.

Snow White: A Graphic Novel is set in 1920s New York, for ages 10 and up.

Robin mckinley retellings are quite good , and the book the story teller unraveled me so If haven't yet read it, make sure you do!
I am going to say some of my favorites of beauty and the beast cuz i cant get enough of them :
cruel beauty
a court of thorns and roses
a court of mist and fury

'Mermaid' by Carolyn Turgeon is a novel retelling The Little Mermaid in an adult and fascinating novel. I loved it. 'The Snow Child' by Eowyn Ivey is also a brilliant adaptation for adults of a classic tale.

If you haven't read the Lunar Chronicles, you need to. Also The Beast by Lindsey Mead is a good retelling of Beauty and the Beast, with the second book in the series about to come out if it already hasn't.

Don't know if anyone else mentioned them but Alex Flynn does some good fairy-tell retellings I really liked:

A Kiss in Time

Cloaked

Beastly

Towering

Bewitching

I've read them all except for Cloaked and I enjoyed them all immensely.

Elizabeth♥️Everyone Else Has a Super Long Name With a Symbol So I Might as Well Do it Too♥️ wrote: "Don't know if anyone else mentioned them but Alex Flynn does some good fairy-tell retellings I really liked:

A Kiss in Time

Cloaked

Beastly

[book:To..."

Cloaked was brilliant I highly recommend it.

C wrote: "Elizabeth♥️Everyone Else Has a Super Long Name With a Symbol So I Might as Well Do it Too♥️ wrote: "Don't know if anyone else mentioned them but Alex Flynn does some good fairy-tell retellings I re..."

I bet it is, it's been on my to-read list for a while now.

Some books by Gail Carson Levine, Rosamund Hodge, Marissa Meyer, Stacey Jay, Shelby Bach, Alethea Kontis, James Riley, E.D. Baker, Jessica Day George, and Tracy Lynn are pretty good fairy tale retellings

Kate Forsyth's Bitter Greens (Rapunzel) and The Beast's Garden (Beauty and the Beast).

Wicked Ugly Bad
Beast in Shining Armor

UnEnchanted by Chanda Hahn - The main character is a descendant from the Grimm brothers, but she has a family curse where all the fairy tales try to kill her and she has to overcome them. Sorry if I'm wrong It's been years since I last read this book but It's a series.

Throne of Glass

A Court of Thorns and Roses

Cruel Beauty

I love this thread! Found so many recommendations!

I second Js700's recommendation - Intisar Khanani writes amazing stories!

This isn't really a retelling, but The Bear and the Nightingale feels a lot like a fairytale and it was amazing.

Natasha's suggestion of the Beast's Garden looks really interesting...but it's only an audible book in the US? No paper or e-book format???? Or do I keep missing it when I look on Amazon...

I believe Queen of Hearts might fit -- related to Alice in Wonderland.

Jenna wrote: "Natasha's suggestion of the Beast's Garden looks really interesting...but it's only an audible book in the US? No paper or e-book format???? Or do I keep missing it when I look on Amazon..."

Bitter Greens took about 3 years to be published here in the US, so maybe we'll see a US print edition for The Beast's Garden in a couple of years.

Thanks Melanti.
I don't want to wait a few years...=(

Saw a good interview today with Emma Watson, talking about whether Beauty and the Beast could be seen as an example of Stockholm Syndrome.

Please don't ruin my favorite Disney movie! =)
(Interesting idea...will pretend I didn't hear about it so I can enjoy the remake....)

Great Hunt by Wendy Wiggins. Just ran across a reference to it.