Back in 2021 I was on the blog tour for Malice, the first book in a sapphic duology retelling Sleeping Beauty from the point of view of the villain – well, the second half of the series is here, and it’s a fantastic and surprising end to the story! Book: Misrule by Heather Walter Publication date: 10th May 2022 Ownership: Proof and finished copy sent free of charge by Del Rey Books. All opinions my own. Content warnings: violence, injury, and death; some mild gore; death of family members (in past) and grief; mention of child/baby death; toxic relationship dynamics; oppression of magical rac ..read more

A lyrical, original, queer take on Beauty and the Beast, perfect for those who love historical retellings and thought-provoking emotional journeys. Book: The Language of Roses by Heather Rose Jones Publication date: 14th April 2022 Ownership: E-ARC sent free of charge by Queen of Swords Press. All opinions my own. Content warnings: Parental abuse, sibling abuse and various other emotional abuse, much of it (not all of it) from men towards women. A Beauty. A Beast. A Curse. This is not the story you know. Join author Heather Rose Jones on a new and magical journey into the heart of a familiar ..read more

A double review today, for a pair of novellas that are so good, I’m almost angry I didn’t write them… Books: A Spindle Splintered and A Mirror Mended by Alix E Harrow Publication dates: 5th October 2021 and 14th June 2022 Ownership: I bought my own hardback copy of A Spindle Splintered; e-ARC of A Mirror Mended sent free of charge via NetGalley. All opinions my own. Content warnings: Prominent themes of death and terminal illness; medical trauma; minor violence and injury; mentions of cannibalism; brief mentions of suicide; societal misogyny and homophobia (though overall very queer-positive ..read more

This YA fantasy sounded so promising, pitched as Sleeping Beauty meets Indiana Jones, but let me down so badly! Book: The Bone Spindle by Leslie Vedder Publication date: 3rd February 2022 Ownership: E-ARC provided free of charge via NetGalley. All opinions my own. Content warnings: minor violence and injury; mention of house-fire; discussion of abusive relationships. Sleeping Beauty meets Indiana Jones in this thrilling fairytale retelling for fans of Sorcery of Thorns and All the Stars and Teeth. Fi is a bookish treasure hunter with a knack for ruins and riddles, who definitely doesn’t beli ..read more

This YA fantasy retelling of the Tale of Shim Cheong is as gorgeous as its cover! Book: The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh Publication date: 22nd February 2022 Ownership: Proof copy sent free of charge by Hodderscape. All opinions my own. Content warnings: Death is a central subject, with most of the book taking place in a land populated by spirits; minor violence and injury; mentions of suicide and suicidal ideation (not graphic); discussion of miscarriage and child loss. Deadly storms have ravaged Mina’s homeland for generations. Floods sweep away entire villages, while bloody war ..read more

I really enjoyed The School for Good and Evil, Soman Chainani’s middle grade series that takes on fairy tale tropes, so I was looking forward to his collection of reinvented fairy tales – and this certainly is a gorgeous book! Book: Beasts and Beauty: Dangerous Tales by Soman Chainani Publication date: 21st September 2021 Ownership: Review copy sent free of charge by Harper Collins. All opinions my own. Content warnings: Traditional fairy tale grimness, including violence, death and murder, child abuse, forced marriage, and so on; racism and colourism. Nothing is graphically described. You th ..read more

I’ve had the hardest time putting my thoughts about this Rumplestiltskin retelling into some kind of order – there’s a lot to love, but also some very strange aspects… Book: Gilded by Marissa Meyer Publication date: 2nd November 2021 Ownership: Proof copy provided free of charge by Faber & Faber. All opinions my own. Content warnings: Violence, murder and death, including of children and major characters; gore/body horror (also sometimes involving children); grieving a parent; strange depiction of pregnancy, and discussion of selling babies. All magic comes at a price, but love was never ..read more

Monday’s rolled round again, and the random number generator this week picked book #214, The Fairy’s Tale by FD Lee! Whoever said fairy tales were easy has never been a wannabe fairy godmother. The truth is, making dreams come true can be a total nightmare. Bea is a lowly cabbage fairy, but she dreams of being an official Fairy Godmother. So when Bea is finally given a chance to prove her worth she is determined to make a success of it. Besides, how hard can a Happy Ever After story be? Every girl wants to be rescued by a handsome man, don’t they? Apparently not. Bea’s heroine doesn’t want ..read more

Today’s random number pick is book #284, Poisoned by Jennifer Donnelly! Once upon a time, a girl named Sophie rode into the forest with the queen’s huntsman. Her lips were the color of ripe cherries, her skin as soft as new-fallen snow, her hair as dark as midnight. When they stopped to rest, the huntsman pulled out his knife . . . and took Sophie’s heart. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Sophie had heard the rumors, the whispers. They said she was too kind and foolish to rule — a waste of a princess. A disaster of a future queen. And Sophie believed them. She believed everything she’d ..read more

I’d be impressed if you’ve managed to spend the last couple of months in the fantasy community without hearing a lot of hype for this book – unfortunately for me, I think all the buzz raised my expectations for this atmospheric fantasy romance a little too high. Book: For the Wolf by Hannah Whitten Publication date: 1st June 2021 Ownership: Proof sent free of charge by Orbit Books. All opinions my own. Content warnings: Body horror; blood magic including a lot of self-harm; mentions of previous attempted suicide. The author has a more detailed list here. As the only Second Dau ..read more