Fairy Tale Retellings! discussion

Happy April Fools Day everyone. Make sure to try and pull a good prank at least one person today just for fun. Why not? :)

This month's book of the month is Princess of Glass by Jessica Day George. Hope you have fun reading it! I know I did when I first started reading this one. Poppy's so spirited and sassy.

Oh, I loved this one! I read it after the book of the month in February because I had to finish the series. I'll wait a bit to comment on this one and probably will reread it 😅 I loved contrasting and comparing this one against the first one and helped me realize what I love in a fairy tale book versus what I don't.

I love Poppy, she's a wonderful protagonist!

So one thing I disliked about this book, though I recognize it was completely intentional, is Breton. I believe Breton is based on Britain (though if it was an actual country in the past please let me know) with its stuffiness and preoccupation with titles, parties, and royal lineage. I hadn't realized how important it was to me until I read the second book but in the first one, I absolutely adored Westfalin's charm. I enjoyed learning some German and it had a much more fairytale-like feel.

The contrast felt important to highlight how Prince Christian of Danwlaw would more likely fall for someone like Poppy who's not as stuffy and worried about complying with social norms.

I'd love to hear about things people loved in this book, or hear of any comparisons they noticed.

This is one of my favorite Cinderella retellings!

Tiffany wrote: "I love Poppy, she's a wonderful protagonist!

So one thing I disliked about this book, though I recognize it was completely intentional, is Breton. I believe Breton is based on Britain (though if ..."

You're absolutely right about Britain being Breton and about how it highlights how Christian found Poppy a breath of fresh air. I also found the contrast between the countries interesting. I even made a list of all the countries mentioned and which one they would be in real life a while ago haha. Invested much.

I also liked the comparison between Poppy and Elenor. It was interesting to see how different their lives, personalities and circumstances was. While I was reading, I kept thinking is this what Poppy/Elenor would do in this circumstance? And then I realized how much the two girls are polar opposites.

The Spanish empire during that the period was also obsessed with lace so I found the little details about the lace dripping from the Spaniard prince's cuffs interesting. All the little details were great!

Wysteria wrote: "This is one of my favorite Cinderella retellings!"

Mine as well!

Anyone else just love how Mrs. George put in the glass slipper part in the story.

I mean it was melted on to her foot and the woman had a whole castle made of glass!

I think she did a great job of taking a small part of the story and making it bigger.

☝️☝️☝️

Wysteria wrote: "Anyone else just love how Mrs. George put in the glass slipper part in the story.

I mean it was melted on to her foot and the woman had a whole castle made of glass!

I think she did a great job ..."

That is so true. The authoress really did an amazing job turning it into a major plot point and I just love how seamlessly she did it. I also loved how different the glass slipper is in this one. Usually the glass slipper is always super cushiony and soft, but in this one oof-

Noonecansinkmyship wrote: "Wysteria wrote: "Anyone else just love how Mrs. George put in the glass slipper part in the story.

I mean it was melted on to her foot and the woman had a whole castle made of glass!

I think she..."

Yea!

I like the name authoress! LOL

Me too! I like the way it sounds.

Thanks, everyone! I joined the group so I could dive in!

But please, don't let this hinder your discussion! If you didn't like the book or something, I won't hold it against you! I swear!

I also appreciate being called an authoress! So fancy!

I set this one in Breton (which is actually the old, OLD word for Britain, just like Westfalen is a state in Germany that used to be an independent nation), because I thought it would hilarious to put the wild, sarcastic Poppy into a Regency Romance setting.

Jessica wrote: "Thanks, everyone! I joined the group so I could dive in!

But please, don't let this hinder your discussion! If you didn't like the book or something, I won't hold it against you! I swear!

I also ..."

Hi Jessica! Thanks for joining us! I really like this whole series you did a great job writing it!

Jessica wrote: "Thanks, everyone! I joined the group so I could dive in!

But please, don't let this hinder your discussion! If you didn't like the book or something, I won't hold it against you! I swear!

I also ..."

Welcome to the group Jessica! It's so nice that you've joined us.

Jessica wrote: "Thanks, everyone! I joined the group so I could dive in!

But please, don't let this hinder your discussion! If you didn't like the book or something, I won't hold it against you! I swear!

I also ..."

That is so cool! I didn't know that about the countries. I love history, so this little bit of historical detail is fascinating.

When you put it like that, imagining Poppy in a stiff Regency setting is so funny. She'd run them ragged haha. Thanks for dropping in!

Noonecansinkmyship wrote: "Tiffany wrote: "I love Poppy, she's a wonderful protagonist!

So one thing I disliked about this book, though I recognize it was completely intentional, is Breton. I believe Breton is based on Bri..."

Oooh! I didn't know that about Spain so that's a cool little detail. I did that with the countries too. I googled so many random questions while I was reading like "Is Ionia real?" I was certain it was Britain but Wikipedia can lie so I couldn't be too sure.

Poppy and Ella really couldn't have been more opposite. It was really hard for me to like Ella, even after the end, but I think that said a lot about me more than Ella. Sometimes we want a person to still be enchanting, kind, and humble even when they are in such a difficult situation, but Ella was whiny, resentful and at times seemed happy to play the victim. While I was writing my review I realized that I was being unfairly harsh because I couldn't imagine losing my entire home and then never knowing why you can't be good at even the smallest tasks not knowing you're literally cursed to fail. It would be enough to make anyone act like her. So I enjoyed that moment of introspection.

Wysteria wrote: "Anyone else just love how Mrs. George put in the glass slipper part in the story.

I mean it was melted on to her foot and the woman had a whole castle made of glass!

I think she did a great job ..."

I literally had a nightmare about this. I tried to visualize a foot turning into glass and it was awful. I struggle to walk in heels as it is, but now you turn my feet into glass? Up there now as one of my greatest fears. Best way I've seen the glass slipper interpreted.

The castle was realy cool! Stained glass is my favorite so to imagine just seeing glass everywhere 😍 Plus Ella's outfits sounded beautiful.

Tiffany wrote: "Wysteria wrote: "Anyone else just love how Mrs. George put in the glass slipper part in the story.

I mean it was melted on to her foot and the woman had a whole castle made of glass!

I think she..."

LOL

Tiffany wrote: "Noonecansinkmyship wrote: "Tiffany wrote: "I love Poppy, she's a wonderful protagonist!

So one thing I disliked about this book, though I recognize it was completely intentional, is Breton. I bel..."

Yes, I definitely felt that way too about Ella! I thought she was so happy to play the victim but it was hard that she was literally cursed to not do anything right and she kept losing job after job. I mean that would take a toll on my self confidence too. Why try anymore if it doesn't matter?

Jessica wrote: "Thanks, everyone! I joined the group so I could dive in!

But please, don't let this hinder your discussion! If you didn't like the book or something, I won't hold it against you! I swear!

I also ..."

Hi! Thanks for joining in! I loved this series so much. Great work.

And thanks for giving me more background on Breton and about Westfalen. I didn't realize how interested in European history I was going to be b/c of the books. Poppy was a breath of fresh air in a regency setting.

Tiffany wrote: "Noonecansinkmyship wrote: "Tiffany wrote: "I love Poppy, she's a wonderful protagonist!

So one thing I disliked about this book, though I recognize it was completely intentional, is Breton. I bel..."

I did the exact same thing with Ella when I first read the book! You aren't alone :)

I think the important part is that we realized how easy it is to judge if you don't look at the bigger picture like Tiffany mentioned. I know I wouldn't have been Cinderellaesc if all my hard work was magically unraveled no matter what I tried and everyone thought I was just lazy and ungrateful.

Also, I wonder if Ella should've still be addressed as Lady Ella. Her father was poor when he died yes, but he was still titled which means Ella never really lost her title. Poppy and her cousins should've been addressing their maid as Lady Ella lol. AkwArD

I wonder what would have happened if the first chat Poppy had with Ella wasn't about trying to convince her that the first good thing that happened to her was evil. Would the story be different if Ella and Poppy had conversations and built a rapport before the glass witch showed up? Maybe if they were friends and Ella felt like she finally had someone she could trust by her side as a friend (Poppy), the story might've gone differently? The story might've been the two fought the witch together instead of Poppy saving Ella from the witch? Food for thought.

I find Ella's thought process interesting. Ella wants to marry Christen because 1. he's a prince and 2. he doesn't know about her background. So she just wants him for his title. It's rather sad that she doesn't realize that he already know about her past lol. All that hard work down the drain. But like even if he didn't, he's bound to find out. It's obvious that the news would spread like wildfire who the next queen of a country is and that includes her background. I have no idea how that escaped her notice but everyone's different and so is the way they think.