The Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly challenge post previously hosted by The Broke and Bookish and now hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl. You can follow along for each weekly post here. This week’s post was a little open-ended – “books to read if you love/loved ______”. I decided to go with fairy tales because I absolutely love fairy tales of all varieties, the originals, the Disney versions and the many, many retellings. I thought I’d share some books today that you should read if you like fairy tales!

Heartless by Marissa Meyer

Of course, Marissa is the queen at fairy tale retellings and Heartless is one of her best for sure. I had no idea that anyone could make the Queen of Hearts relatable but she did. I loved every moment of this book, even knowing what direction it was going in. It was dark, romantic and heartbreaking and exactly like a tragic fairy tale.

If The Shoe Fits by Julie Murphy

I love a good fairy tale retelling and I love a good contemporary romance and this book puts both of those together. Add in the fact that Cindy is plus size and I thought this book was so, so good. It was lighthearted, funny, had the unconventional princess and the handsome prince charming and it gave me a happily ever after that I super crave sometimes.

An Offer from a Gentleman by Julia Quinn

While technically not a fairy tale retelling, the third book in the Bridgerton series is absolutely inspired by the story of Cinderella. When I first started reading, I actually was kind of turned off by the fact that it was so obviously Cinderella but the more I read, the more that I realized that it was an interestingly different version and it became one of my favorites of the series.

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

Neil wrote what I think is one of the most fun fairy tales and I’m not just saying that because it’s one of my favorite books and one of my favorite movies. I love this book because it takes a little bit from everything we know from fairy tales, the whimsy, the magic, the darkness, the love, the happily ever after and makes for such a great story.

Lost in the Never Woods by Aiden Thomas

I love Peter Pan, the original fairy tale and the Disney movie, and I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book because I’ve seen so many different versions of this story. I was blown away at how dark and gothic and magical and amazing it was. I feel like Peter Pan has always had darker undertones and this book takes that and just RUNS with it. It’s SUCH a beautiful book.

American Royals by Katharine McGee

This book isn’t technically a fairy tale. But I think it fits in this list because its such a fun idea that instead of becoming a democracy, the United States was born as a crown, started with George Washington. I think its SO interesting and it brings about a fairy tale feeling to American history that is kind of fun and whimsical. I think if people love tales of kings and queens, princesses and happily ever afters, this two part series is absolutely for you.

The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

Of course, Marissa would be on the list a second time because again, the total queen of fairy tale retellings. She manages to weave Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and Snow White all together in this fun, science fiction, futuristic world and she absolutely rocks it. It’s the reason Heartless is so good and the reason that I can’t wait to read her new book, Gilded. The stories in this series are so recognizable but twisted in such a great way that its a necessary read for ALL fairy tale lovers.

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory McGuire

This is one of my absolute favorite fairy tale books and probably one of the first retellings I can remember reading. I love that we get the opportunity to get such a classic story as Cinderella told from one of the stepsisters points of view and that she is so sympathetic and she’s so relatable and they make Cinderella so dark and twisted and the character herself is not the perfect princess we normally see and I just love it so much. I’ve reread this book a million times and I’ll continue to do so because its so great.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

What are some of your favorite fairy tale retelling books? Share them in the comments!