BOOKS

When it comes to our beloved BookTok tropes, we can trace many of their origins back to old-school fairy tales. But eventually, we grow out of our childhood storybooks and look for longer, more complex stories that capture the magic of familiar folklore in an all-new format. Luckily, fairy tale retellings that imagine a well-known story from a fresh angle exist. So without further ado, here's the book you should slate next on your TBR, based on your fave fairy tale.

If you love: Snow White

Read: Fairest by Gail Carson Levine

Fairest, $10

Fairest is sort of a reverse Snow White story: our main character Aza, rather than being strikingly beautiful, has been told all her life that she's unattractive. However, she has an incredibly beautiful voice that sounds like magic to anyone who hears her sing.

Aza finds herself as a lady-in-waiting to the insecure new queen, who wants Aza's beautiful voice for her own. Fairest is a thought-provoking book about jealousy, companionship and the true meaning of beauty from the author of Ella Enchanted. Trust us, you'll be rooting for Aza all the way through!

If you love: Beauty and the Beast

Read: Violet Made of Thorns by Gina Che

Violet Made of Thorns, $13

Violet is a seer at the royal court who serves the king with her prophecies. Prince Cyrus is heir to the throne—and Violet's least favorite person ev-er. But when Cyrus finds himself tangled in a dark curse, he and Violet must work together to keep the kingdom safe, and that means putting their bickering aside.

This is a book where you never see the twists coming (aka every turn of the plot feels like a punch to the gut). So, what's the connection with the tale of Beauty and the Beast, you might ask? Well, that would be a major spoiler, so you'll just have to read Violet Made of Thorns and find out for yourself.

If you love: Cinderella

Read: Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Just Ella, $11

Just Ella is a book that answers the question, "What happened to Cinderella once Prince Charming put the slipper on her foot and whisked her away?"

Ella, now engaged to the prince and preparing to be a princess, is realizing that royal life may not be everything she imagined and makes it her mission to break off her engagement. This Cinderella has a lot more spunk than the Disney version—in fact, she meets the prince in the first place by her own sheer determination, not with the help of a fairy godmother. Margaret Peterson Haddix's Cinderella is bright, resourceful and in control of her own destiny. If you enjoy reading stories where the princess saves herself, you'll heart Just Ella.

If you love: The Twelve Dancing Princesses 

Read: Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George

Princess of the Midnight Ball, $12

Rose is the eldest of twelve princesses cursed to dance until dawn each night for the King Under Stone as payment for a bargain made by their mother. Galen is a brave, upright soldier who makes it his mission to solve the kingdom's great mystery: why the princesses fall asleep in worn-out dance slippers.

If you adore the original story of The Twelve Dancing Princesses, buckle up for Jessica Day George's version, which expands the OG it into a detailed, simultaneously dark-but-uplifting retelling. This is really a book that Has. It. All.

If you love: Sleeping Beauty

Read: The Wide-Awake Princess by E.D. Baker

The Wide-Awake Princess, $9

The Wide-Awake Princess tells the story of Sleeping Beauty from the perspective of Annie, whose older sister Gwen is the princess cursed to fall into a magical sleep. Annie, accompanied by her father's guard Liam, sets out on a quest to find the prince destined to wake Gwen with true love's kiss. 

This story is full of twists and turns as Annie and Liam traverse across the land (and learn a thing or two about true love in the process!). If you like lighthearted, sweet stories with satisfying conclusions, this is def the title for you.

If you love: The Frog Prince

Read: The Frog Princess by E.D. Baker

The Frog Princess, $10

Fun fact — E.D. Baker's The Frog Princess was Disney's inspiration for The Princess and the Frog (but we feel obligated to say that it's not about a waitress from 1920s New Orleans). Instead, the book is about an awkward-but-endearing princess named Emma who kisses a cursed frog to turn him back into a prince, only for the kiss to backfire and turn her into a frog, too. So begins their magic-filled quest to break their curse and become human again.

The Frog Princess is the first installment of a huge series with lush worldbuilding and adorable romance, so if you like this one, check out the many sequels!

If you love: Alice in Wonderland

Read: Heartless by Marissa Meyer

Heartless, $12

Ok, this one *technically* isn't a fairy tale, but the story is so famous that it might as well be. Don't be fooled—this isn't the traditional "Alice in Wonderland" story. Instead, Heartless is the origin story of the Queen of Hearts.

We meet her as a young woman named Catherine who begins a secret romance with a court joker even though she's sorta...kinda...betrothed to the king. This story is compelling whether or not you're familiar with the Queen of Hearts and takes a sympathetic view of one of literature's most famous villanesses. If you love rooting for anti-heroes and misunderstood protagonists (calling all Descendants stans!), you'll love reading Heartless.

If you love: All of them

Read: The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani

The School for Good and Evil, $9

If you can't decide which fairy tale you prefer and wish you could read a combination of all of them, you're in luck: Soman Chainani wrote the perfect book for you!

The School for Good and Evil tells the story of two friends, Agatha and Sophie, who are whisked off from their village to a magical school that turns students into the future heroes and villains of their own fairy tales. But when grouchy Agatha is thrown in with the heroes and lovely Sophie is cast as a villain, the friends are sure there's been a huge mistake and set off to correct the school's blunder—and by doing so, they completely transform the fate of the School for Good and Evil.

This book is a personal favorite because of how radically it changed my understanding of fairy tales when I first read it. Somehow, Chainani takes character tropes we've all heard of—the charming prince, the fairy godmother, the dark witch—and turns them all on their head. At its core, The School for Good and Evil asks this question: What makes a villain a villain, and a hero a hero?

Tell us what you're reading next for a chance to be featured @girlslifemag!

Top image: @beautyandthebeast
Slider image: @alwaysperioddramas

by Hana Tilksew | 3/18/2024