Top Ten Tuesday: When You’re In the Mood for Folk and Fairytales

Top Ten Tuesday is a Weekly Meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s theme is about finding books to fit our moods. Recently I read a post about some fairytales with a new twist, and it made me think of a few that I’m excited about. I’ve posted a list of books based on Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, and stories about Merlin before, because I LOVE folk tales and fairytales retold. But this will be a fresh new list. Most of these books I’ve already read and reviewed, but there are a few I haven’t gotten to yet but am super excited to read.

Top Ten Folk or Fairytales Re-imagined

A Thousand Nights by E K Johnston

A Thousand Nights by E. K. Johnston – In this stunning retelling of the story of Scheherazade, a girl uses her ability to tell stories to battle a dark force controlling the king, her husband. Read my review.

Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale – I stayed up all night reading this book during the final days of my grandmother’s life. Hale crafts an incredible story world in this heartwarming tale of friendship and love based on the Grimm Brother’s tale Maid Maleen. My review here.

Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy by Karen Foxlee – This tale inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen was one of those books that completely took me by surprise. I loved that Foxlee set the story in a museum. My review.

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer – Okay, you knew there was going to be at least some mention of the Lunar Chronicles on this list. I was really hesitant to pick up an entire novel with themes from the story of Red Riding Hood. And then Scarlet and Wolf pretty much became my favorite TLC characters. Read my review.

Across a Star-Swept Sea by Diana Peterfreund – This was a recent read for me, though I’d been meaning to get to it for the longest time. I’m a huge fan of The Scarlet Pimpernel, so I was nervous to read a new interpretation or story inspired by this great tale, but I’m so glad I did. I loved the sci-fi elements and how Peterfreund grafted them into the story. Here’s my review.

The Door by the Staircase by Katherine Marsh – Themes from Russian folklore, anyone? I’m so in. I haven’t read this one yet, but you’ll soon be seeing more about it here on The Story Sanctuary as I’ll be participating in a blog tour here in a few weeks.

Nightingale’s Nest by Nikki Loftin – I enjoyed this sweet middle grade story inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Nightingale.” My review.

Traitor’s Masque by Kenley Davidson – I haven’t read this one yet, either, but it looks really good, and I’ll be reviewing it soon. It’s a tale inspired by Cinderella. I’m really excited to read it.

The Outlaws of Sherwood by Robin McKinley – This is kind of an oldie but definitely a goodie. It’s a retelling of Robin Hood with a wee bit of a feminist slant. (Seriously… do the men actually do anything in this story? I guess they do, but the women are usually behind them making it actually work…) Still, it was a nice read.

The Forbidden Wish by Jessica Khoury – This is a re-imagining of Aladdin in which the genie is a girl and falls in love with Aladdin. So a bit of a twist there. I’ve read the first several chapters in a sample from NetGalley, and I’m desperate to read the rest.

What’s on your list of mood-related reads?

About Kasey

Reads things. Writes things. Fluent in sarcasm. Willful optimist. Cat companion, chocolate connoisseur, coffee drinker. There are some who call me Mom.

16 thoughts on “Top Ten Tuesday: When You’re In the Mood for Folk and Fairytales

  1. Great topic! More than a couple of these are on my TBR! I’m one of the few people that have yet to read the Lunar Chronicles, but I’ve heard so many good things about it and I can’t wait! I’m hoping to get the chance to start them soon!

    1. Thanks, Jen! I’ve really enjoyed the whole series. Hope you like them!

    1. Hey Genesee! Sorry it took me so long to get to your comment. I grew up on Robin McKinley, too! Beauty is one of my favorite books. I love the stories about Damar, too. 🙂

  2. I haven’t read any of this, but your topic makes me think of The Selection series by Kiera Cass. 🙂

    1. Thanks, Rose. I’ve only read the first two books in that series. I remember really liking where Cass was taking the political part of the story. Loved the prince, too. 🙂

    1. Right? Clearly you have good taste. 🙂 Thanks, Amy!

  3. Carrie – Georgia – Carrie Schmidt is an avid reader and book reviewer who loves Jesus and THE Story a whole lot. A former reviewer for RT Book Reviews, Carrie Schmidt is an avid reader, book reviewer, story addict, KissingBooks fan, book boyfriend collector, and cool aunt. She also loves Jesus and THE Story a whole lot. Carrie started the popular blog ReadingIsMySuperPower.org in 2015 and since then has had the honor of co-founding the Christian Fiction Readers’ Retreat and JustRead Publicity Tours. In addition to these endeavors, she is a regular contributor to Seekerville and has written for magazines such as RT Book Reviews and Christian Market. Carrie now lives in Georgia with her husband, though her roots range from East Tennessee to Central Kentucky and northern Illinois.
    Carrie says:

    you have some here that I haven’t heard of yet – definitely checking out Traitor’s Masque! I also would recommend Melanie Dickerson’s retellings – particularly The Merchant’s Daughter and The Healer’s Apprentice.

    1. Thanks, Carrie! I’ve read a few of Dickerson’s retellings, too. (Healer’s Apprentice and the Princess Spy and another one I can’t think of at the moment.) Those are good ones, too!

    1. Thanks, Lisa! Can’t wait to see what you’ve got. 🙂

  4. Hah! I too have only read the first few chapter of The Forbidden Wish… I’m desperate for it to come out so I can read the rest!
    (Also, yay for Lunar Chronicles!)

    1. Yay, Megz! I know it. I wasn’t sure I’d like it at first, but I’m a total sucker for re-imagined fairytales… (obviously.) 🙂

    1. Thanks, Anouk! Definitely check out Scarlet. It’s awesome. I hope you enjoy it. 🙂

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