Book picks similar to
After the Ball by Sarah Cross


fantasy
young-adult
short-stories
fairy-tales

Snow White and Rose Red: The Curse of the Huntsman


Lilly Fang - 2012
    Every year during the festival each boy leaves a flower at the door of the girl he believes is the "fairest of them all." Naturally, Snow White gets dozens of flowers, while her younger sister Rose Red is ignored. This year, though, things are different. For the first time, Rose Red has a mysterious admirer, and this year she isn't the only one jealous of her sister's beauty. But even though it’s a time of celebration, when girls begin disappearing, the festival turns deadly. With mysterious strangers arriving every day, an ominous marriage proposal, and magic and danger everywhere, Snow White and Rose Red will need to work together to survive the festival and solve the mystery.

Damsel Distressed


Kelsey Macke - 2014
    No one cares about the stepsisters’ story. Those girls don’t get a sweet little ending; they get a lifetime of longing.Imogen Keegen has never had a happily ever after–in fact, she doesn’t think they are possible. Ever since her mother’s death seven years ago, Imogen has pulled herself in and out of therapy, struggled with an “emotionally disturbed” special ed. label, and loathed her perma-plus-sized status.When Imogen’s new stepsister, the evil and gorgeous Ella Cinder, moves in down the hall, Imogen begins losing grip on the pieces she’s been trying to hold together. The only things that gave her solace–the theatre, cheese fries, and her best friend, Grant–aren’t enough to save her from her pain this time.While Imogen is enjoying her moment in the spotlight after the high school musical, the journal pages containing her darkest thoughts get put on display. Now, Imogen must resign herself to be crushed under the ever-increasing weight of her pain, or finally accept the starring role in her own life story.And maybe even find herself a happily ever after.

Happily Ever Afters: A Reimagining of Snow White and Rose Red


Melanie Cellier - 2016
    But they soon learn that a coronation is a beginning, not an ending. Not everyone in Rangmere is happy to see the young queen on the throne, and intrigue and danger lurk all around. The cousins find themselves fighting not only for their new kingdom but also for their own survival in the royal court. When a new threat emerges, the two girls must defeat it to both save the crown and secure their own Happily Ever Afters.

Spindle Fire


Lexa Hillyer - 2017
    A princess sleeps. This is no fairy tale.It all started with the burning of the spindles.No.It all started with a curse…Half sisters Isabelle and Aurora are polar opposites: Isabelle is the king’s headstrong illegitimate daughter, whose sight was tithed by faeries; Aurora, beautiful and sheltered, was tithed her sense of touch and her voice on the same day. Despite their differences, the sisters have always been extremely close.And then everything changes, with a single drop of Aurora’s blood—and a sleep so deep it cannot be broken.As the faerie queen and her army of Vultures prepare to march, Isabelle must race to find a prince who can awaken her sister with the kiss of true love and seal their two kingdoms in an alliance against the queen.Isabelle crosses land and sea; unearthly, thorny vines rise up the palace walls; and whispers of revolt travel in the ashes on the wind. The kingdom falls to ruin under layers of snow. Meanwhile, Aurora wakes up in a strange and enchanted world, where a mysterious hunter may be the secret to her escape…or the reason for her to stay.

Little Knife


Leigh Bardugo - 2014
    It is a companion story to the third book of the Grisha Trilogy, Ruin and Rising, and the stories “The Witch of Duva” and “The Too-Clever Fox.”

Burnt Sugar


Lish McBride - 2014
    Faced with a gingerbread house, they're pretty sure that what's inside isn't nearly as sweet as the outside. It never is.

The Evil Queen


Gena Showalter - 2019
    Except, fairy tales aren’t based on myths and legends of the past—they are prophecies of the future.Raised in the mortal realm, Everly Morrow has no idea she’s a real-life fairy-tale princess—until she manifests an ability to commune with mirrors.Look. See… What will one peek hurt?Soon, a horrifying truth is revealed. She is fated to be Snow White’s greatest enemy, the Evil Queen.With powers beyond her imagination or control, Everly returns to the land of her birth. There, she meets Roth Charmaine, the supposed Prince Charming. Their attraction is undeniable, but their relationship is doomed. As the prophecy unfolds, Everly faces one betrayal after another, and giving in to her dark side proves more tempting every day. Can she resist, or will she become the queen—and villain—she was born to be?The battle between good and evil is on.

Ashlynn Ella's Story


Shannon Hale - 2013
    But what if she meets the woodsman of her dreams instead? Read all about it in this exclusive Ever After High short story by Newbery Honor author Shannon Hale.

Ember


Bettie Sharpe - 2007
    They have to—he’s cursed. Every man must respect him. Every woman must desire him. One look, and all is lost.Ember would rather carve out a piece of her soul than be enslaved by passions not her own. She turns to the dark arts to save her heart and becomes the one woman in the kingdom able to resist the Prince’s Charm.Poor girl. If Ember had spent less time studying magic and more time studying human nature, she might have guessed that a man who gets everything and everyone he wants will come to want the one woman he cannot have.Novella / 32,000 wordsWarning: This story contains sex, violence, and naughty words.It’s based on a fairytale, but it isn’t for kids.

A Thousand Nights


E.K. Johnston - 2015
    When she sees the dust cloud on the horizon, she knows he has arrived. She knows he will want the loveliest girl: her sister. She vows she will not let her be next.And so she is taken in her sister’s place, and she believes death will soon follow. Lo-Melkhiin’s court is a dangerous palace filled with pretty things: intricate statues with wretched eyes, exquisite threads to weave the most beautiful garments. She sees everything as if for the last time. But the first sun rises and sets, and she is not dead. Night after night, Lo-Melkhiin comes to her and listens to the stories she tells, and day after day she is awakened by the sunrise. Exploring the palace, she begins to unlock years of fear that have tormented and silenced a kingdom. Lo-Melkhiin was not always a cruel ruler. Something went wrong.Far away, in their village, her sister is mourning. Through her pain, she calls upon the desert winds, conjuring a subtle unseen magic, and something besides death stirs the air.Back at the palace, the words she speaks to Lo-Melkhiin every night are given a strange life of their own. Little things, at first: a dress from home, a vision of her sister. With each tale she spins, her power grows. Soon she dreams of bigger, more terrible magic: power enough to save a king, if she can put an end to the rule of a monster.

Rose of the Oath: A Beauty and the Beast Novella


Hope Ann - 2022
    But there’s no arguing with the strange, scarred host of a hidden valley who’s taken her brother captive. Without the resources to mount a rescue, Elissa desperately settles for the next best thing: exchanging her freedom for her brother.But the longer she stays in the valley, the more Elissa realizes it isn’t just her prison. It holds secrets that her host jealously guards. Secrets that could hold the key to her escape. Except maybe the curse isn’t a curse at all. And maybe secrets are the only thing keeping her alive. A Beauty and the Beast retelling, Rose of the Oath weaves the timeless elements of roses and captors and beauties with deeper shades of betrayal, sorrow, and sacrifice.The first novella in the Legends of Light series, this short novel is a stand-alone story and contains a handful of allegorical themes.

So This is Love


Elizabeth Lim - 2020
    However, when Cinderella finds herself witness to a grand conspiracy to take the king - and the prince - out of power, she is faced with questions of love and loyalty to the kingdom. Cinderella must find a way to stop the villains of past and present... before it's too late.

Little Red


Caroline Lee - 2016
    It isn’t until she’s thrown herself head-long into danger that she realizes the old adage about frying pans and fires applies. She’s in desperate need of a protector, and hires the first man who comes along to get her safely to Everland. Bounty hunter Hank Cutter is more than ready to retire to a lonely little cabin in Arizona, to hang up his gun and find peace. He’ll begrudgingly help the reckless young woman get to the nearest train station, because he figures she’d get into even more trouble on her own. But when El Lobo struts back into his life—Hank still has the scars from their last encounter—he knows that he can’t leave Rojita at the gunslinger’s mercy. Maybe he’s nobler than he’d thought, because he’s soon setting a trap to save the lovely, impetuous Red. The only problem is that she’s still keeping a secret that could destroy his trust. ************************************************ The Brides of Everland, Ever After Step into Everland, Wyoming, where the people on the street are more than what they appear, and there’s just a hint of magic in the air. From evil villains to mysterious godmothers, handsome cowboys to hidden princesses… welcome to Everland, Ever After. LITTLE RED (Rojita and Hank) ELLA (Ella and Ian) BEAUTY (Arabella and Vincenzo) THE STEPMOTHER (Meri and Jack) RAPUNZELLE (Zelle and Dmitri) ROSE RED (Rose and Bear) Heat Level: 1/5 (some spicy language)

Enchanted


Alethea Kontis - 2012
    Sunday’s only comfort is writing stories, although what she writes has a terrible tendency to come true.When Sunday meets an enchanted frog who asks about her stories, the two become friends. Soon that friendship deepens into something magical. One night Sunday kisses her frog goodbye and leaves, not realizing that her love has transformed him back into Rumbold, the crown prince of Arilland—and a man Sunday’s family despises.The prince returns to his castle, intent on making Sunday fall in love with him as the man he is, not the frog he was. But Sunday is not so easy to woo. How can she feel such a strange, strong attraction for this prince she barely knows? And what twisted secrets lie hidden in his past—and hers?

Hazel and Gray


Nic Stone - 2020
    A beckoning mansion in a dark clearing. A short modern-day retelling of Hansel and Gretel by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Dear Martin.It’s bad enough that Hazel and Gray have defied the demands of Hazel’s foul stepfather. The Monster has forbidden their romance. Now they’ve awakened in the forest, phones dead, hours past curfew. But not far away is a grand estate in the middle of nowhere. The door is open. In this short story about choosing your own path, the fury of the Monster that awaits them back home may be nothing compared to what lies ahead.