Recommended Fairy Tale Retellings

A friend recently asked me if I had any fairy tale retelling books I could recommend. So since I worked on the list for her, I thought I'd share it with you too.


I've included popular "classic" story retellings as well, like Alice in Wonderland and Wizard of Oz.

You'll see some books have a *, this is to indicate books I've given 2 or less stars to in my reviews. I've included the covers of some of my FAVORITES.

What have you read that you would add to this list? Let me know!

Alice in Wonderland
After Alice by Gregory Maguire
Heartless by Melissa Meyer
Queen of Hearts by Colleen Oakes
Splintered by A. G. Howard

Arabian Nights/Aladin
Flame in the Mist by Renee Ahdieh
A Whole New World by Liz Braswell
We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal
The Wraith and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

Beauty and the Beast
Beastly by Alex Finn*
Beauty and the Beast: Lost in a Book by Jennifer Donnelley
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas
Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge*
Echo North by Joanna Ruth Meyer
Hunted by Meagan Spooner
Of Beast and Beauty by Stacey Jay
Tale as Old as Time by Liz Braswell

Cinderella
Cinder by Melissa Meyer (book 1 in the Lunar Chronicles series)
Cinder and Ella by Kelly Oram
The Selection by Kiera Cass

Goose Girl/Swan Princess

Blanca and Roja by Anna-Marie McLemore
Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

Hansel and Gretel 
Sweetly by Jackson Pierce*

Little Red Riding Hood
Scarlet by Melissa Meyer (book 2 in the Lunar Chronicles series)
Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge*
Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce

Little Mermaid
To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo

Peter Pan
Everland by Wendy Spinale














Rapunzel 
Cress by Melissa Meyer (book 3 in the Lunar Chronicles series)
Reign of Shadows by Sophie Jordan

Robin Hood
Scarlet by A. C. Gaughen*

Rumpelstiltskin 
Rump by Liesl Shurtliff
Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
Wish Granter by C. J. Redwine

The Singing Bone
The Great Hunt by Windy Higgins

Sleeping Beauty
Princess of Thorns by Stacey Jay
The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell
Spindle Fire by Lexa Hillyer

Snow White
Winter by Melissa Meyer (book 4 in the Lunar Chronicles series)
Fairest by Gail Carson Levine
Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust
Mirror Mirror by Gregory Maguire
Snow and Rose by Emily Winfield Martin

Twelve Dancing Princesses
Entwined by Heather Dixon Wallwork

Wicked Witch POV (all of them)
Fairest by Melissa Meyer (3.5 in the Lunar Chronicles series)
Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie Dao
Wicked by Gregory Maguire

Wizard of Oz
Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige
Flunked by Jen Calonita
Wicked by Gregory Maguire

Books that *FEEL* like Fairy Tales
The Beholder by Anna Bright
Damsel by Elana K Arnold* ... side note, this is the actual worst book I've ever read. ALL the trigger warnings for this one if you do try it.
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M Valente
The Grimm Legacy by Polly Schulman
The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
Pan's Labyrinth by Cornelia Funke
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Reckless by Cornelia Funke
Stardust by Neil Gaiman
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern 
The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer