The Forbidden Wish by Jessica Khoury

Genre: YA Fantasy Fairy Tale

Jessica Khoury's website

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Description (taken from Jessica Khoury's website):

When Aladdin discovers Zahra's jinni lamp, Zahra is thrust back into a world she hasn't seen in hundreds of years -- a world where magic is forbidden and Zahra's very existence is illegal. She must disguise herself to stay alive, using ancient shape-shifting magic, until her new master has selected his three wishes.

But when the King of the Jinn offers Zahra a chance to be free of her lamp forever, she seizes the opportunity—only to discover she is falling in love with Aladdin. When saving herself means betraying him, Zahra must decide once and for all: is winning her freedom worth losing her heart?

Aladdin, the thief, has entered a city of diamonds in search of something.  He doesn't know it until he sees it, but it calls to him.  And Zahra, the jinni in the lamp, can hear his arrival.  When he finds the lamp, he knows he has found something important.  He doesn't realize what it is until he rubs the lamp.

Zahra has been tied to her lamp for thousands of years.  But when she's offered the chance for freedom, all she must do is trick Aladdin into helping her.  And Aladdin does exactly that all in the name of revenge.  But the closer Zahra gets to getting what she wants, the further Aladdin is from what he wants.  In the end, can Aladdin's wish be enough for happiness?  And will Zahra's power be enough to satisfy the thief and herself?

This is a beautiful fairy tale retelling.  And the romance starts very small until it releases at the right moment.  So it's not as annoying to read.  And the past that Zahra kept running away from?  I was so curious to know what happened until I finally knew.  But it still goes full circle to explain everything beautifully.

This is such a sweet standalone novel.  If you're a fan of Aladdin or fantasy novels, give this a try.

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

Genre:  YA Fantasy Fairy Tale

The Wrath and the Dawn Series, Book 1

Renee Ahdieh's website

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Description (taken from Renee Ahdieh's website):

A sumptuous and epically told love story inspired by A Thousand and One Nights.

Every dawn brings horror to a different family in a land ruled by a killer. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, takes a new bride each night only to have her executed at sunrise. So it is a suspicious surprise when sixteen-year-old Shahrzad volunteers to marry Khalid. But she does so with a clever plan to stay alive and exact revenge on the Caliph for the murder of her best friend and countless other girls. Shazi’s wit and will get her through to the dawn that no others have seen, but with a catch . . . she’s falling in love with the very boy who killed her dearest friend.

She discovers that the murderous boy-king is not all that he seems and neither are the deaths of so many girls. Shazi is determined to uncover the reason for the murders and break the cycle once and for all.

Shahrzad is mourning the loss of her best friend when she volunteers to become the next calpiha of Khorasan.  She will get revenge for what he has done to all of his brides.  But when she survives through the next sunrise, she finds not everything is in blacks and whites.

Before killing Khalid, Shahrzad is determined to figure out why he is killing so many girls.  His cool exterior refuses to let her in, but something must have happened because she's still alive.  So she uses her silver tongue and wits to stay alive and charm the prince.  Soon she finds herself charmed by him and willing to die for him.  And when Shahrzad's past clashes with her future, will their love be enough for their kingdom?

This is a well-told story that I wanted to stay engrossed in.  But as much as I wanted to love it, I couldn't really see the love connection between Khalid and Shahrzad.  Sure, I saw the mysteriousness, aloofness, and stubbornness while they were getting to know each other.  But going from extreme hatred to love?  I missed that in-between.  And then I realized this book was a series as I was almost done with it, and I wasn't going to get an ending.  I actually finished this book on a plane and wanted to through it out the window due to the non-ending I got.  So dissatisfied right now.

As much as I didn't see the love connection, I still feel vested to the story and the fairy tale.  I will be reading the next one in hopes of an actual ending....

Ash & Bramble by Sarah Prineas

Genre:  YA Fairy Tale Fantasy

Sarah Prineas' website

Expected publication date:  September 15, 2015

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Description (taken from Sarah Prineas' website:

When the glass slipper just doesn’t fit…

The tale of Cinderella has been retold countless times. But what you know is not the true story.

Pin has no recollection of who she is or how she got to the Godmother’s fortress. She only knows that she is a Seamstress, working day in and out to make ball gowns fit for fairy tales. But she longs to forsake her backbreaking servitude and dares to escape with the brave young Shoemaker.

Pin isn’t free for long before she’s captured again and forced to live the new life the Godmother chooses for her—a fairy tale story, complete with a charming prince—instead of finding her own happily ever after.

Sarah Prineas’s bold fairy tale retelling is a dark and captivating world where swords are more fitting than slippers, young shoemakers are just as striking as princes, and a heroine is more than ready to rescue herself before the clock strikes midnight.

She wakes up and is given a plain, itchy dress.  She's brought to a room filled with women, fabric, thread, and needles.  She is a seamstress and she will sew.  In between sewing she is given meager portions to eat, a little bit of time to rest, and cold showers to keep herself clean.  The only thing that makes the days interesting is when punishment is being doled out at the post.  But when she meets a shoemaker, she decides this life of servitude isn't enough for her.  She calls herself Pin and the boy Shoe, and she dares to escape the Godmother's fortress.

After finally getting a glimpse of freedom, Pin is caught.  And the Godmother has special plans for her.  She forces her into a story where there's a prince and a guaranteed happily ever after.  But Pin notices cracks along the edges and isn't sure if it is her own happy ending that she's trying to achieve.  And when the mysterious Shoe appears in the city, she's not so sure who she can trust.

This is the perfect fairy tale retelling, however I will admit the beginning was a little disorienting.  It follows the Cinderella story but with some twists.  Pin isn't your typical girl who swoons over any Prince.  Instead, she thinks for herself and realizes not all endings need a Prince.  I loved this about her.  While I agree that finding true love is one of the best things out there, I can certainly say it is never perfect and almost always involves a little bit of pain.  This story just feels so real even though it;s interwoven into a fantasy world involving magic and fairy tales.

I would say anyone looking for a good fairy tale retelling needs to pick up this one.  It doesn't disappoint and leaves you feeling happy...

Thanks goes to Around the World ARC Tours for providing me a review copy.

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas

Genre:  New Adult Fantasy

A Court of Thorns and Roses Series, Book 1

Sarah J Maas' website

Expected publication date:  May 5, 2015

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Description (taken from Sarah J Maas' website):

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin-one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she’s been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow over the faerie lands is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it . . . or doom Tamlin-and his world-forever.

When I first picked up this book, my immediate thoughts were why did I want to read this again?  I was not the biggest fan of Sarah J Maas' other book, so why would I want to read this one?  Quite honestly, it was the description that caught my eye.  We're in a world of faeries and magic.  What more could a girl ask for?  How about a Beauty and the Beast retelling?  Score!!

Feyre promised her dying mother that she would look after her older sisters and father.  So she's off hunting for food in the middle of winter in the woods where wolves have been known to prowl.  Due to her need for survival, actions occur that bring home food as well as a certain faerie's wrath.  In order to pay for her actions, Feyre ends up on the other side of the wall in the Spring court.  While she tries to figure out how to get home, she finds she needs to learn more about her captor, Tamlin.  And the more she learns, the more Feyre seems to blur the lines between fae and human.

I feel like this is one of those books that ripped the Y from YA (young adult) and replaced it for an NA (new adult).  But I can't really complain about that because I felt like the story had a little more depth.  In the beginning, I thought Feyre (and her older sisters) were setting me up for disappointment.  I mean, what mother in her right mind demands her youngest kid to take care of her elders?  But once I got out of the human world and into the fae world, the fantasy part of mind quickly over-ruled that doubtful one.  This story is a beautifully laid out Beauty and the Beast retelling that doesn't take a lot of thought to get through.  There were parts of the story where I was  absolutely swooning over the characters.

I think Sarah J Maas fans are going to enjoy this one.  And for those who despised Throne of Glass, you might enjoy this one.  Yes, I will say the characters can be a little one-dimensional, but the story pulled me in and forced the characters to grow on me.  I will be reading the second one...

Thanks goes to Around the World ARC Tours for providing me a review copy.

Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

Genre:  YA Fairy Tale

Dorothy Must Die Series, Book 1

Danielle Paige's website

Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads

Description (taken from Goodreads):

I didn't ask for any of this. I didn't ask to be some kind of hero.

But when your whole life gets swept up by a tornado—taking you with it—you have no choice but to go along, you know?

Sure, I've read the books. I've seen the movies. I know the song about the rainbow and the happy little blue birds. But I never expected Oz to look like this. To be a place where Good Witches can't be trusted, Wicked Witches may just be the good guys, and winged monkeys can be executed for acts of rebellion. There's still the yellow brick road, though—but even that's crumbling.

What happened? Dorothy.

They say she found a way to come back to Oz. They say she seized power and the power went to her head. And now no one is safe.

My name is Amy Gumm—and I'm the other girl from Kansas.

I've been recruited by the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked.

I've been trained to fight.

And I have a mission.

The Land of Oz.  Where everything is exactly as it seems: the good are good and the wicked are wicked.  But that's not the case anymore.  When Amy enters Oz, she finds the good have become wicked and the wicked are doing some good by trying to save Oz.

Amy has lived a lot of her life in a trailer park in Kansas.  While trying to help her mother with her midlife crisis, she's also trying to pass high school.  But Amy can't seem to get past her 'Salvation Amy' nickname.  Then the tornado of a lifetime comes in and sweeps Amy to Oz.  And while the wicked seem to think she is the prophecy that will help rid their land of Dorothy, Amy's just trying to keep a level head and not let the magic get to her.  But in the end, will she be able to kill Dorothy?

I seem to be on a Wizard of Oz fix right now.  This book just puts everything backwards.  I'm not sure I can look at Dorothy's clothing in the same way anymore.  I kind of cringe every time I see Dorothy and Glinda in other Oz tellings after reading this one.  This book has forever changed my outlook on all things good in this world.  I enjoyed the warped retelling and am looking forward to the next one.

This one is a definite read for Oz fans.  My only drawback is that this isn't a standalone novel, but I'll definitely be picking up the next one.

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

Genre:  YA Fairy Tale Mythology

Cruel Beauty Universe, Book 1

Rosamund Hodge's website

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Description (taken from Rosamund Hodge's website):

Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom—all because of a reckless bargain her father struck. And since birth, she has been training to kill him.

Betrayed by her family yet bound to obey, Nyx rails against her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, she abandons everything she’s ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, disarm him, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.

But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle—a shifting maze of magical rooms—enthralls her. As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex’s secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. But even if she can bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him?

Based on the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Cruel Beauty is a dazzling love story about our deepest desires and their power to change our destiny.

Nyx despises the people around her because they all have what she doesn't: a future full of life.  She has been promised to the Gentle Lord, the ruler of demons, by her father who struck a foolish deal with him.  As she is trained in the arts of seduction and the Hermetic teachings to destroy the demon ruler, she discovers that all she wants is a normal life and a future.  But because she can have neither, she grows up despising everyone she should love.  And with this warped view of her people, she somehow is able to relate to the Gentle Lord.

After Nyx's mock wedding to the Gentle Lord (she married a rock in his place), she is transported to the castle.  While her father never shows her any love or appreciation, she finds she is able to relax a little in the castle, until Ignifex, the Gentle Lord, shows up.  Somehow he is nothing she ever expected.  Eccentric, honest, and playful are not the attributes to be associated with someone so evil.  There is another prisoner in the household, a shadow named Shade who Nyx is able to befriend.  He obeys Ignifex, but we all know he has ulterior motives.  As Nyx has someone else pulling her strings, she finds out so does Ignifex, and it gives her a chance to bond with him.  But will this bond be big enough to forget that the fate of her people rest on her destroying the very man she is falling in love with?

I guess I am always doomed to not enjoy fairy tale retellings.  This book started out super slow for me as it explained the background of the world.  They're people who worship the Greek gods, so we get a lot of mythology in here mixed with the Beauty and the Beast retelling.  But I don't feel like they did a good job of explaining the magic: the Hermetic teachings or all the quirky things that tend to happen in this world.  It's kind of like someone trying to spoon-feed you the process of destroying the evil one, but it doesn't taste good and it makes no sense.  And once she did break the curse, what happens next happens quickly and messily.  And I was super annoyed with Nyx's character, I don't like characters who try to make you feel bad for them because something bad happened to them (I'd rather see characters who thrive even through the badness).

Being one of my most highly anticipated books of the year, this one definitely fell short.  I hope there are other readers out there who like it and don't have the same opinions as myself.

Thanks goes to Around the World ARC Tours for providing me a copy.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Genre:  YA Fairy Tale Fantasy

Lunar Chronicles, Book 1

Marissa Meyer's website

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Description (taken from Marissa Meyer's website):

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless Lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

We meet Cinder, a cyborg human, who's just trying to survive under her step-mother's watchful eye.  Her world is set in the future where people live on the moon and some people have robotic limbs.  And now a plague is beginning to ravage the town.  When Cinder's sister gets sick, she does everything she can to find a cure and save her sister.  And she happens to cross paths with powerful people, including the prince.  And when the Lunar princess comes to Earth, we see Cinder's world as she knew it begin to shatter and rebuild itself.

To put it simply, this book is a really cute story.  It's a happy retelling of Cinderella.  But I felt like there wasn't enough explanations to the whole cyborg concept.  It was excellent on building the story around a beautiful fantasy.  But I kind of felt torn.  It was too nice...

I found myself constantly rooting for Cinder when I was interested.  But the problem was keeping me interested throughout the whole book.  I might pick up the second, but I'm not sure.  I guess I feel like this book was a little too sweet for me.  I'd definitely hand this off to my little sister to read.

Challenges:  TBR Pile Challenge

Glass Frost by Liz DeJesus

Genre:  YA Fantasy

First Frost Series, Book 2

Liz DeJesus' website

Amazon | Goodreads

Description (taken from Liz DeJesus' website):

When joined together, Cinderella's slippers grant the wearer her heart's desire. But whose wish will be granted? 

When Cinderella’s glass slipper is stolen, Queen Felicia sends her faithful steward Terrance to the real world to retrieve his love and witch-in-training, Bianca Frost. The power of the glass slipper, when paired with its mate, and in the wrong hands, could ruin the peace of Everafter. Bianca must gather every bit of magic she has learned in the past few weeks to find the slipper and protect her new love. Together, Bianca, Ming, Prince Ferdinand, and Terrance venture deep into the heart of Everafter to seek clues as to who has stolen the slipper and why. Along the way, they uncover what happened to the Seven Dwarves after Snow White married the prince, but also learn the awful risk of tampering with black magic and the high price that must be paid for magic, even when used for good.

Bianca and Terrance’s relationship is put to the test. Through the pain of suffering and loss, Bianca must determine if following her gallant boyfriend into his faraway world is in fact her heart's desire.

First, we followed Bianca into Everafter as she unwrapped the secrets of her family history, the history of Snow White that is.  And now we get to enter another fairy tale: Cinderella.  Although we still get to see other fairy tales woven into the story, and we're still a little bit focused on Snow White's fairy tale.

When Bianca is requested to appear before Queen Felicia, Prince Ferdinand's mother, she is allowed to go to Everafter as long as her sidekick, Ming, goes with her.  And we trust Ming to not let adventure get the best of her because she'd rather be alive to see the world instead of dive headfirst into danger.  And we've got the gorgeous Terrance; is loving him enough to leave your life behind you?  Bianca begins to try to answer this question as she looks to the future, will it involve him and Everafter?  And of course we've got the quirky Prince Ferdinand, who sometimes has the least sense of all until you really need it.

This series is a happy-go-lucky fairy tale adventure, from the big bad wolf to fairies to Cinderella's slipper.  The first book had to take some time setting up the characters and the setting.  And now that that was taken care of, this story was able to begin right from the start.  So I seemed to enjoy it more.  There are some dark things that happen on Bianca's quest, but good tends to prevail all in the end.  And sometimes you need a good story with a good ending; it gives us hope in our own lives (or just makes us feel good).

I'd recommend this series to those looking for a happy fairy tale adventure.  Those who swoon over true love's kiss.  And tend to like quirky characters.

Thanks goes to Liz DeJesus for providing me a review copy.

Snow White Sorrow by Cameron Jace

Genre:  YA Fairy Tale Fantasy

The Grimm Diaries Series, Book 1

Cameron Jace' website

Amazon | Goodreads

Description (taken from Goodreads):

What if all you knew about fairy tales was wrong?

Sixteen year old Loki Blackstar is no Prince Charming. His mother is a ghost. His only friend is a red Cadillac that sings to him through the radio. He looks like an Angel but acts like jerk. No wonder he has been banned from Heaven, which is the least of his troubles. Loki needs a job to pay for school and support himself.

Still, Loki has a rare gift: He is a Dreamhunter. One of the few in the world who can hunt and kill immortal demons in their dreams so they never wake up again.

When Loki is sent to kill a sixteen-year-old vampire girl the locals call Snow White Sorrow, he is pulled into a magical but dangerous world. The locals believe the monster to be Snow White.

The real Snow White... living in the ruins of an ancient castle in a small town. She is described as horribly beautiful, terrifyingly enchanting, and wickedly lovely.

What he finds instead is a beautiful monster girl filled with rage and hurt, who has an epic untold story to tell of things such like why the Brothers Grimm altered the fairy tale, who the Evil Queen really is, where the mirror came from, and who possessed it.

Snow White has killed every person who has dared come near the castle where she once lived with the queen. Mysteriously, she lets Loki live, and whispers two words in his ears; two words that will change his life forever.

Another fairy tale retelling, right?  Only, I've never seen so much weird imagination.  I mean, there's imagination, and then there's the weird, eccentric imagination that Cameron Jace has.  He melds our world into the city of Sorrow which melds fairy tale characters into real life people.  And they all have a different paranormal aspect to them.

Loki is almost like your average teen, except for the fact that he's a fallen angel who's forgotten his past.  But he's trying to get in everyone's good graces even though he has an attitude and doesn't need anyone's help.  We kind of get to see him grow throughout the novel.  And there's Snow White.  She's beautiful, mysterious, and a vampire.  Yep, everything I need to make my book complete.

For me, this book started out really slow.  Watching Loki journey into Sorrow and meeting new characters was difficult for me.  I wanted the fairy tales.  But once we got into the dreamworld, I was hooked.  I loved the retelling of Snow White and how things began to unravel together so well.

Now that I've read the beginning, I'm hoping the next few books will go straight into the dream world and fairy tale retelling (you can tell I'm straight to the point).  It's a fun read.

Thanks goes to Cameron Jace for providing me a review copy.

The Grimm Diaries Prequels Volume 1-6 by Cameron Jace

Genre:  YA Fairy Tale Fantasy

Cameron Jace' website

Amazon | Goodreads

Description (taken from Goodreads):

What if all you knew about fairy tales was wrong?

Warning: these Grimm Prequels are like snap shots of a magical land you're about to visit soon. I like to think of them as poisoned apples. Once you taste them, you will never see fairy tales in the same light again.

This Grimm Diaries Prequels are a number of short books in the form of epistolary diary entries. The diaries are more of teasers for the upcoming series: The Grimm Diaries, allowing you to get a glimpse of what to expect of the series. The 6 diaries are told by The Evil Queen, Peter Pan, Little Red Riding Hood, the Devil, Prince Charming, and Alice Grimm.

Have you ever imagined a world where ours collides with the fairy tales we've been told since we were kids?  And then add a little warped fantasy (you know, the kind I tend to read and love), and you've got a really weird story where fantasy collides with fairy tales in our world.  These six stories are just a taste of what we'll find from Cameron Jace.

We have six different stories from varying characters.  We hear the evil queen's take on her story and almost feel sorry for her.  We get a glimpse of Cinderella's world.  We see Peter Pan con Dracula into helping him all in the name of resurrecting his love.  We also get to hear from other characters.  And as much as their worlds are set in the fairy tale world, they're still in our world.  So we see some history lessons collide with nursery rhymes and tales of wonder.  It's so weird it's good.

With these prequels, we get a glimpse of this world.  We're introduced to the dream world and the immortals.  And we're left wondering what's going to happen in the actual diaries?  I'll be picking up Snow White's story soon...

Sidenote:  I wouldn't recommend these stories for younger kids.  They may be fairy tales, but they're warped with fantasy that can involve slightly darker themes.