More Swans, Less Woodcutters, Please – Dearest Review

February 18, 2015 by Erin

Title: Dearest (Woodcutter Sisters #3) Author: Alethea Kontis Genre: Young Adult (maybe middle grade) fantasy/fairy tale Published: February 3, 2015 Rating: ★★★☆☆ In the third book of the Woodcutter Sisters series, magically gifted young seamstress Friday Woodcutter is caught in the middle of a retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Wild Swans.” This is labeled a companion book to the series, and should stand alone, but it is best if you read Enchanted and Hero first. After a series of […]

Categories: Book Review • Tags: alethea kontis, book review, dearest, fairy tales, swans, three star review, YA, young adult literature

Beyond Disney

July 21, 2014 by Ladies On The Shelf

Sometimes, you get a little sick of the iconic Disney princesses. Just a little (and then maybe you go to Disneyland and wish your whole wardrobe could be swathed in Princess Aurora pink). We love ourselves some fairy tales and folklore – especially different adaptations and artwork inspired by tales as old as… well, time. Check out our pins.

Categories: Literary Style • Tags: fairy tales, folklore, Pinterest, princesses

No Blue or Pink Here – Literary Happy Hour

May 29, 2014 by Caitlin

What to read: The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman (for a new take on an old classic); TheSleeping Beauty by Trina Schart Hyman (for a gorgeously illustrated bedtime story), Anne Rice’s The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty (for erotic and weird), or La Belle au bois dormant by Charles Perault or Little Briar Rose by the Brothers Grimm (for the straight up classics) What to drink: a Stinger Disney has done it again and is releasing yet another live […]

Categories: Happy Hour • Tags: Charles Perault, classics, cocktails, Disney, fairy tales, Neil Gaiman, Sleeping Beauty, Trina Schart Hyman

Don’t Let the Ancient Demon Curses Grind You Down – Bingo Update

February 18, 2014 by Erin

Erin gives us our first update to our Literary Bingo challenge! What’s Literary Bingo? Check it out. Bingo Square: YA Based on a Fairy Tale Title: Cruel Beauty Author: Rosamund Hodge I tried to make my literary bingo board more challenging by including squares with unfamiliar book categories in an effort to broaden my reading scope. This is not one of those squares. Maybe I cheated a bit by including a sub genre that I already know and love, but […]

Categories: Book Review • Tags: fairy tales, literary bingo, romance, YA