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fmcfranny's review
4.0
I have started reading to review once upon a happy ending an anthology of fairy tale retellings that comes out NOVEMBER 2nd. I will be updating this post as I get through the stories.
TWELVE DANCING ANGELS BY ELLA SUMMERS This was great. I am not normally a fan of short stories because they so little time to develop but i really enjoyed this one. It kept me guessing. ‘what is going on, where is this leading, how is it going to end’. round and round in my head the questions went. which means it kept me interested. usually a short story is very predictable and thus boring. but this wasn’t. I liked Nyx and it is by far the most unique version of the 12 dancing princesses I have ever read.
THE GOOSE GIRL BY BRITTANY FICHTER
I enjoyed this one. It was sweet. A bit short but adorable all the same. I loved the letters that Max and Evony wrote to one another. They seemed to make an arranged marriage work and made themselves friends even before meeting in person. The letters made me gush. Definitely good for a quick and cute fix.
THE PRINCESS WHO CHASED SHEEP BY KM SHEA I loved this. the beginning seemed a bit rushed to me but the story over all was a wonderful mix of clever and cute. Collette is definitely a spunky girl very much ahead of her time and Ranier is a wonderful mix of charming an the very lovable type of annoyingly clever you making you want to shake him and hug him at the same time.
CHAINS OF GOLD BY SHARI L TAPSCOTT
RAPUNZEL’S BEAUTY BY CASEY LANE
HANSEL AND GRETEL DEVIL CHILDREN BY JAMIE CAMPBELL
ELLORA’S TAIL BY RASHELLE WORKMAN
THE WOODS BY REBECCA HAMILTON & CONNOR KRESSLEY
A FISTFUL OF STARS BY CAMERON JACE
THAT DAMN PEA BY MAY SAGE
I love all may sage fairy tales and this is no different. Its witty, funny, slightly sarcastic with a strong female lead and the perfect guy. I don't know how she manages to write the perfect guy every single time when all the men are different in her stories but she does. The characters interactions made me laugh. I hope she makes this into a full length book. I need more of the prince and Anya!
BEASTLY BEAUTY BY T. RAE MITCHELL It was interesting. Not god but not bad. The writing was good, the plot had a solid base but I think to make it better it needed more. More character development, more plot, more chapters. The characters had a good start but didn’t seem very developed because it was to short. The plot was intriguing but I think they could have done more with it. Heather had the makings of a good heroine with a evil side and Tristan had the makings of a good hero of justice but none of it came to be. It was over to quick.
SLEEPING CYBORG BY AYA LING
VINCENT BY AW EXLEY
THE PASTRY CHEF’S APPRENTICE BY MELANIE CELLIER
THROUGH THE MIRROR BY RACHEL MORGAN
TWELVE DANCING ANGELS BY ELLA SUMMERS This was great. I am not normally a fan of short stories because they so little time to develop but i really enjoyed this one. It kept me guessing. ‘what is going on, where is this leading, how is it going to end’. round and round in my head the questions went. which means it kept me interested. usually a short story is very predictable and thus boring. but this wasn’t. I liked Nyx and it is by far the most unique version of the 12 dancing princesses I have ever read.
THE GOOSE GIRL BY BRITTANY FICHTER
I enjoyed this one. It was sweet. A bit short but adorable all the same. I loved the letters that Max and Evony wrote to one another. They seemed to make an arranged marriage work and made themselves friends even before meeting in person. The letters made me gush. Definitely good for a quick and cute fix.
THE PRINCESS WHO CHASED SHEEP BY KM SHEA I loved this. the beginning seemed a bit rushed to me but the story over all was a wonderful mix of clever and cute. Collette is definitely a spunky girl very much ahead of her time and Ranier is a wonderful mix of charming an the very lovable type of annoyingly clever you making you want to shake him and hug him at the same time.
CHAINS OF GOLD BY SHARI L TAPSCOTT
RAPUNZEL’S BEAUTY BY CASEY LANE
HANSEL AND GRETEL DEVIL CHILDREN BY JAMIE CAMPBELL
ELLORA’S TAIL BY RASHELLE WORKMAN
THE WOODS BY REBECCA HAMILTON & CONNOR KRESSLEY
A FISTFUL OF STARS BY CAMERON JACE
THAT DAMN PEA BY MAY SAGE
I love all may sage fairy tales and this is no different. Its witty, funny, slightly sarcastic with a strong female lead and the perfect guy. I don't know how she manages to write the perfect guy every single time when all the men are different in her stories but she does. The characters interactions made me laugh. I hope she makes this into a full length book. I need more of the prince and Anya!
BEASTLY BEAUTY BY T. RAE MITCHELL It was interesting. Not god but not bad. The writing was good, the plot had a solid base but I think to make it better it needed more. More character development, more plot, more chapters. The characters had a good start but didn’t seem very developed because it was to short. The plot was intriguing but I think they could have done more with it. Heather had the makings of a good heroine with a evil side and Tristan had the makings of a good hero of justice but none of it came to be. It was over to quick.
SLEEPING CYBORG BY AYA LING
VINCENT BY AW EXLEY
THE PASTRY CHEF’S APPRENTICE BY MELANIE CELLIER
THROUGH THE MIRROR BY RACHEL MORGAN
breannekegel's review
5.0
love love love. now I have to get the books that correspond to the stories. I need to know everything.
rankkaapina's review
4.0
I really liked these re-tellings. Some more than others. It took me a long time to read the book, but not because I didn't like it, but because every story was it's own "whole story", so I didn't have the urgency from one story to the next. I think my favorite was the Oz story. I kind of wanted to read more of it. I will try other books from the author, but at least for now there's no more Oz...
marget_orange's review
4.0
May Sage's story was lovely.
I will admit that I only borrowed this book from KU because it contained a story by an author I quite like, May Sage. Her story was short, sweet, and a fun read. I recommend it.
I will admit that I only borrowed this book from KU because it contained a story by an author I quite like, May Sage. Her story was short, sweet, and a fun read. I recommend it.
tyrean's review
5.0
I loved this collection of stories and I enjoyed becoming familiar with several more authors whose books I've started to read.
ghostlywater's review
5.0
I received a free download of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this anthology. Many of the stories I loved and would happily reread or recommend to anyone. For example my favorite would probably have to be Sleeping Cyborg which was the sleeping beauty retelling.
While all of the stories are fairy tale retelling they are all vastly different. Some were more true to the original tales while others had a little more fun in how they retold the stories. There were many different genres represented from straight up fantasy to sci-fi to urban fantasy.
There are so many authors in this anthology that you already know and love. And many more that you didn't know you were waiting to find. I might be waxing a little poetic here but I started reading this not expecting to be able to get through all of the stories but I was blown away by all of these great new takes on classic tales.
honestly a couple of them I didn't enjoy as much as the others but I still had fun reading them.
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this anthology. Many of the stories I loved and would happily reread or recommend to anyone. For example my favorite would probably have to be Sleeping Cyborg which was the sleeping beauty retelling.
While all of the stories are fairy tale retelling they are all vastly different. Some were more true to the original tales while others had a little more fun in how they retold the stories. There were many different genres represented from straight up fantasy to sci-fi to urban fantasy.
There are so many authors in this anthology that you already know and love. And many more that you didn't know you were waiting to find. I might be waxing a little poetic here but I started reading this not expecting to be able to get through all of the stories but I was blown away by all of these great new takes on classic tales.
honestly a couple of them I didn't enjoy as much as the others but I still had fun reading them.
laliya's review
2.0
Are we done yet?
I'm not usually a harsh reviewer, but each time I reached the end of a story in this anthology, I thought, "Crap! Another one?!" Plots are weak and sometimes rather contrived, characters are often painfully tropey, and I struggled with not abandoning it less than halfway through but I can't handle the taunt of seeing a progress percentage less than 95% on my Kindle.
A couplefew stories rise a bit above the chaff, but I'm not sure they're worth the bother for a completionist like me. The two stars are for those few stories and for all the fodder for my What Not To Do list.
I'm not usually a harsh reviewer, but each time I reached the end of a story in this anthology, I thought, "Crap! Another one?!" Plots are weak and sometimes rather contrived, characters are often painfully tropey, and I struggled with not abandoning it less than halfway through but I can't handle the taunt of seeing a progress percentage less than 95% on my Kindle.
A couplefew stories rise a bit above the chaff, but I'm not sure they're worth the bother for a completionist like me. The two stars are for those few stories and for all the fodder for my What Not To Do list.
gerd_d's review
3.0
A few enjoyable stories mixed in an otherwise haphazardly thrown together collection of mideocre storytelling.
Didn't like the opener, which stereoptypically plays out like every other Urban Fantasy / Paranormal Romance out there.
Most disappointing reading experience was "Ellora's Tail" which is actually only a preview for a (then) upcoming novel, just there to set the stage and then leaving everything open ended.
"A Fistful of Stars" however was a down right disgusting annoyance, IMO.
Going from an overlong prologue, which takes up twice as much space as any of the following chapters, it went straight into rape and victim fetishization - just what you expect to find in an anthology called "Once Upon a Happy Ending", not!
However there are some stories included I really enjoyed reading.
Following the weak opener we have some truly fun fairy tale retellings, like
"The Goose Girl" by Brittany Fitcher
"The Princess who chased Sheep" by K.M. Shea
"Chains of Gold" by Shari L. Tapscott
and most noteable
"Rapunzel's Beauty" by Casey Lane.
A most charming adventure tale mixing classic sword and sorcery elements with disneyesque characters to create the most original and witty entry in the set.
With Aya Ling's version of "Cinderella" the collection left on a high enough note to redeem the inclusion of a "Fistful of Stars" somewhat.
Therefore it manages a bare three Star rating in all from me.
Didn't like the opener, which stereoptypically plays out like every other Urban Fantasy / Paranormal Romance out there.
Most disappointing reading experience was "Ellora's Tail" which is actually only a preview for a (then) upcoming novel, just there to set the stage and then leaving everything open ended.
"A Fistful of Stars" however was a down right disgusting annoyance, IMO.
Going from an overlong prologue, which takes up twice as much space as any of the following chapters, it went straight into rape and victim fetishization - just what you expect to find in an anthology called "Once Upon a Happy Ending", not!
However there are some stories included I really enjoyed reading.
Following the weak opener we have some truly fun fairy tale retellings, like
"The Goose Girl" by Brittany Fitcher
"The Princess who chased Sheep" by K.M. Shea
"Chains of Gold" by Shari L. Tapscott
and most noteable
"Rapunzel's Beauty" by Casey Lane.
A most charming adventure tale mixing classic sword and sorcery elements with disneyesque characters to create the most original and witty entry in the set.
With Aya Ling's version of "Cinderella" the collection left on a high enough note to redeem the inclusion of a "Fistful of Stars" somewhat.
Therefore it manages a bare three Star rating in all from me.
theknightswhosaybook's review
3.0
As with any anthology, there was a lot of variety here between how much I enjoyed each story. Some were fun and clever retellings. Others didn't even feel like self-contained stories. While I understand that many of these authors told stories set within the world of a different series they've written, if you're going to put it in an anthology these stories need to be self-contained and self-explanatory for readers who haven't read the main series. Some authors managed that. Others didn't so well. Anthologies are tricky like that.
silver_valkyrie_reads's review
4.0
An impressively good anthology in that there was only one story I disliked. The others were all 3 or 4 star reads, and the one I disliked was still intriguing, just harsher and bleaker than I prefer. (It was also the only one that noticeably needed a content warning, with brief nudity and reference to rape .
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