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A review by savage_book_review
The Fairy Tale Collection: Contemporary MM Retellings by Helen Juliet
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A scarred and angry war veteran forced into an arranged marriage with the son of his father's business partner... a dashing prince and a working class Essex boy whose relationship could destabilise the monarchy, or restore its reputation... and an enby who dreams of the world finally gets to set foot into it, along with his bodyguard who must protect him from the inept assassins out to get him before he can claim his birthright. These contemporary retellings of Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella and Rapunzel tell the stories of handsome princes who don't need a princess to have a happy ending.
I'm in my Romance era... after a weekend at #RARE24Edinburgh, I'm all about the love, in whatever form it comes. So it felt like a good time to pick up this book, which has been on my Kindle Unlimited subscription for a while now. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed these - I went in with relatively low expectations, and found that both the BatB and Cinderella retellings far exceeded them. That's not to say I didn't enjoy the Rapunzel retelling; it was a very cute and fuzzy story, but it felt less 'real' than the others: while I'm very clear that none of the premises are particularly realistic, this one did stretch the bounds of believability just a little bit. For example, the completely useless assassins which just came across as badly written slapstick, playing to the peanut gallery. There was just no need - having "proper" assassins would probably have made the story more dramatic IMO!
That being said, each of the main characters were beautifully built upon, relying on your knowledge of the traditional fairytale for their base but then branching out and making them into something different. There's certainly familiar tropes involved in setting up the relationship and and power dynamic, but even with all of these familiar elements none of the characters were simply stock parts. Plus their chemistry is hot!
The author also manages to explore and enlighten on several facet of the LGBTQIA+ experience without it feeling forced. The relationship development feels totally natural (if expedited for the sake of pacing) - the characters' sexuality is what it is and there is no reason for the reader to question otherwise. Bringing to the foreground issues of gender identity, bisexuality, age differences, homophobia and social/moral expectations, every difficult moment that arises is dealt with with the utmost respect.
I'd probably say that Cinderella is the strongest of the three stories. It's certainly something that should be reflected upon; it's bound to happen one day that a person in the direct line of succession to a throne somewhere in the world identifies as something other than heterosexual and cisgender, and it will be interesting to see what the reaction is.
Very pleased to have read this, and I may go looking for some more of the author's work...
I'm in my Romance era... after a weekend at #RARE24Edinburgh, I'm all about the love, in whatever form it comes. So it felt like a good time to pick up this book, which has been on my Kindle Unlimited subscription for a while now. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed these - I went in with relatively low expectations, and found that both the BatB and Cinderella retellings far exceeded them. That's not to say I didn't enjoy the Rapunzel retelling; it was a very cute and fuzzy story, but it felt less 'real' than the others: while I'm very clear that none of the premises are particularly realistic, this one did stretch the bounds of believability just a little bit. For example, the completely useless assassins which just came across as badly written slapstick, playing to the peanut gallery. There was just no need - having "proper" assassins would probably have made the story more dramatic IMO!
That being said, each of the main characters were beautifully built upon, relying on your knowledge of the traditional fairytale for their base but then branching out and making them into something different. There's certainly familiar tropes involved in setting up the relationship and and power dynamic, but even with all of these familiar elements none of the characters were simply stock parts. Plus their chemistry is hot!
The author also manages to explore and enlighten on several facet of the LGBTQIA+ experience without it feeling forced. The relationship development feels totally natural (if expedited for the sake of pacing) - the characters' sexuality is what it is and there is no reason for the reader to question otherwise. Bringing to the foreground issues of gender identity, bisexuality, age differences, homophobia and social/moral expectations, every difficult moment that arises is dealt with with the utmost respect.
I'd probably say that Cinderella is the strongest of the three stories. It's certainly something that should be reflected upon; it's bound to happen one day that a person in the direct line of succession to a throne somewhere in the world identifies as something other than heterosexual and cisgender, and it will be interesting to see what the reaction is.
Very pleased to have read this, and I may go looking for some more of the author's work...
Content Warnings
Moderate: Biphobia, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Death, Gun violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol