Book picks similar to
Belle (story #3 from Fairy Tale Flirts!) by Lisa Scott
romance
short-story
fairy-tales
contemporary-romance
Stealing Cinderella
A. Zavarelli - 2020
His was… me. It should have been simple. Go to the ball, meet the prince, and secure his patronage for my favorite charity. But beneath the mask, the brooding beast of a man was not at all who I expected. He was dark and intense and eerily quiet. When I left, I could still feel the ghost of his touch branded into my skin. He haunted my dreams, but I never expected to see him again. Then he came for me. And he took me. And I learned that his darkness was a void I never could have conceived. He’s the crown prince of Norway. And, now, I’m his captive.
The Wish Collector
Mia Sheridan - 2018
When ballet dancer Clara Campbell arrives in New Orleans, lonely and homesick, she is immediately captivated by the story of Windisle Plantation and the tragic tale that is said to have transpired beyond its gate. Legend has it that it is abandoned by all living souls, but to Clara’s great surprise, it is not a ghost she hears through the stone wall surrounding the property, but a flesh and blood man. A scarred stranger with a pain deeper and darker than the churning waters of the Mississippi river that flows beside his self-imposed prison. The ruined man behind the wall hides himself from the world. The last thing he expects is to find a friend in the selfless girl who speaks to him through the cracks in the rock. The girl who keeps returning week after week. The girl who makes him wish for things he has long since given up on. The girl who strikes both fear and hope within his wounded heart. But there can be no future for them, no life beyond Windisle, for no one knows better than him that monsters only live in the dark. The Wish Collector is the story of shame and triumph, of loneliness and love, and the miracle of two hearts connecting despite the strongest of barriers between them.
How (Not) to Kiss a Toad
Elizabeth A. Reeves - 2012
All her life she's been cursed-- every man she's ever kissed has turned into a toad. Love isn't likely to come her way, she knows.If that weren't a big enough problem, her 'curse' has come to the attention of the Council of Magic and she may never be able to use her powers.Enter the perfect man-- handsome, sweet, and loves food just as much as Cindy does. It would seem to be a match made in Heaven, or is it?Cindy isn't the only one keeping secrets.With toads, cupcakes, romance, magic and ice cream, life never has time to get dull!
Ice
Sarah Beth Durst - 2009
Now that Cassie is older, she knows the story was a nice way of saying her mother had died. Cassie lives with her father at an Arctic research station, is determined to become a scientist, and has no time for make-believe.Then, on her eighteenth birthday, Cassie comes face-to-face with a polar bear who speaks to her. He tells her that her mother is alive, imprisoned at the ends of the earth. And he can bring her back — if Cassie will agree to be his bride.That is the beginning of Cassie's own real-life fairy tale, one that sends her on an unbelievable journey across the brutal Arctic, through the Canadian boreal forest, and on the back of the North Wind to the land east of the sun and west of the moon. Before it is over, the world she knows will be swept away, and everything she holds dear will be taken from her — until she discovers the true meaning of love and family in the magical realm of Ice.
There's Cake in My Future
Kim Gruenenfelder - 2010
Melissa (Mel), still ringless after dating the same man for six years, deserves the engagement ring charm. The red hot chili pepper would be perfect for Seema, who is in love with her best male friend Scott, but can't seem to make their relationship more than platonic. And recently laid off journalist Nic wants the shovel, which symbolizes hard work, to help her get her career back on track. Nic does everything she can to control who gets which silver keepsake - as well as the future it represents. But when the charmed cake is mysteriously shifted from the place settings Nic arranged around it, no one gets the charm she chose for them. And when the other party guests' fortunes begin coming true, Mel, Seema, and Nic can't help but wonder.... Is the cake trying to tell them something?
The Story of Awkward
R.K. Ryals - 2014
If you are looking for a narrative without emotion, without regrets, and without mistakes, this is definitely the wrong story. This is by no means an uncomplicated tale about uncomplicated people. It is by no means sweet or light. This story is ugly. This story is complicated. This story is emotional. This story is tragic. In short, this story is about being awkward. Peregrine Storke is an artist with an odd sketchbook full of pictures she’s drawn since she was a child. It is a book full of strange sketches and awkward characters, for there is no better way to hide from bullying and life than to create a world of your own. With a stroke of her pencil, she has given life to a spectacled princess, a freckle-nosed king, a candy loving troll, a two-horned unicorn, and a graceless fairy. At nineteen, Peregrine leaves her home, her sketchbook, and awkwardness behind. But what happens when something goes wrong in the world of Awkward? Trapped inside of her complex realm with the bully she thought to leave behind, Peregrine discovers there is nothing worse than falling for your own villain.
The Rose and the Beast: Fairy Tales Retold
Francesca Lia Block - 2000
With language that is both lyrical and distinctly her own, Francesca Lia Block turns nine fairy tales inside out.Escaping the poisoned apple, Snow frees herself from possession to find the truth of love in an unexpected place.A club girl from L.A., awakening from a long sleep to the memories of her past, finally finds release from its curse.And Beauty learns that Beasts can understand more than men.Within these singular, timeless landscapes, the brutal and the magical collide, and the heroine triumphs because of the strength she finds in a pen, a paintbrush, a lover, a friend, a mother, and finally, in herself.
The Seven Steps to Closure
Donna Joy Usher - 2012
Things go from bad to worse when she discovers that, not only is her ex-husband engaged to her cousin - Tash, the woman he left her for - but that Jake is also running for Lord Mayor of Sydney.Desperate to leave the destructive relationship behind and with nothing to lose, she decides- with encouragement from her three best friends - to follow the dubious advice from a magazine article, Closure in Seven Easy Steps.The Seven Steps to Closure follows Tara on her sometimes disastrous- always hilarious - path to achieve the seemingly impossible.
Spelled
Betsy Schow - 2015
32: If you find yourself at the mercy of a wicked witch, sing a romantic ballad and wait for your Prince Charming to save the day.Yeah, no thanks. Dorthea is completely princed out. Sure being the crown princess of Emerald has its perks—like Glenda Original ball gowns and Hans Christian Louboutin heels. But a forced marriage to the charming brooding prince Kato is so not what Dorthea had in mind for her enchanted future.Talk about unhappily ever after.Trying to fix her prince problem by wishing on a (cursed) star royally backfires, leaving the kingdom in chaos and her parents stuck in some place called “Kansas.” Now it’s up to Dorthea and her pixed off prince to find the mysterious Wizard of Oz and undo the curse…before it releases the wickedest witch of all and spells The End for the world of Story.
Charming the Prince
Teresa Medeiros - 1999
Never in my life have I backed down from any challenge or betrayed so much as a hint of fear—until the war ended and I found myself a reluctant papa to a dozen unruly children.Realizing that I couldn't lop their little heads off or throw them in the dungeon, I sent my steward out to find them a mother and me a bride—an attractive, meek, maternal creature too plain to tempt me to get her with child. You can imagine my horror when he returned with Lady Willow of Bedlington, a spirited beauty who made me think of nothing else!With her cloud of dark curls and the sparkle of passion in her eyes, Willow was everything I'd sworn to resist. I never dreamed she would join forces with those mischievous imps of mine to teach this cynical warrior just how sweet surrender can be.Bannor the Bold,Lord of Elsinore
Cinderella Busted
Petie McCarty
Overdue for a little romance in her life, Lily is anxious for one fabulous date with her handsome prince, so she cultivates her inadvertent masquerade. Rhett Buchanan has become jaded with the Palm Beach social scene, dominated by scheming women desperate for more money -- his money. Rhett falls hard when he meets Lily Foster. She is a breath of fresh air after the smog of gold diggers constantly surrounding him. For Rhett and Lily, it's love at first sight until her deception comes to light and pitches their relationship into a disastrous tailspin. Well-meaning friends are determined to intercede and resort to inept high jinks to reunite the estranged couple while a wicked ex-girlfriend plays dirty to keep the couple apart.
Enchant: Beauty and the Beast Retold
Demelza Carlton - 2017
An enchanting beauty. Only love can break the spell.Once upon a time...The wicked King Thorn forced the enchantress Zuleika to cast a terrible curse. She fled his court to travel the world, helping those who need her magic most. Until a search for her merchant father's lost ships leads her to an enchanted island, where Prince Vardan, the island's ruler, is afflicted by the most powerful curse Zuleika has ever encountered. She's not sure she can reverse the spell, but she's determined to try. After all, a prince who fights pirates can't be all bad...no matter how beastly his appearance.Together, can the enchanting beauty and the beastly prince break the spell?Romance a Medieval Fairytale series:Each book is a standalone, so they can be read in any order:(#1) Enchant: Beauty and the Beast Retold (#2) Dance: Cinderella Retold (#3) Fly: Goose Girl Retold (#4) Revel: Twelve Dancing Princesses Retold (#5) Silence: Little Mermaid Retold (#6) Awaken: Sleeping Beauty Retold (#7) Embellish: Brave Little Tailor Retold (#8) Appease: Princess and the Pea Retold (#9) Blow: Three Little Pigs Retold (#10) Return: Hansel and Gretel Retold (#11) Wish: Aladdin Retold (#12) Melt: Snow Queen Retold (#13) Spin: Rumpelstiltskin Retold (#14) Kiss: Frog Prince Retold (#15) Hunt: Red Riding Hood Retold(#16) Reflect: Snow White Retold (#17) Roar: Goldilocks Retold
The Fairy's Return and Other Princess Tales
Gail Carson Levine - 2002
In The Princess Test, the author spoofs the notion that a pea can prove a person's pedigree. Princess Sonora and the Long Sleep features a genius of a princess, a hundred years of snooze, two princes, and a flock of balding sheep! Cinderella is a boy in Cinderellis and the Glass Hill, and the glass slipper is a glass hill. In For Biddle's Sake, Parsley tries to forget her beloved prince and get used to life as a Biddlebum Toad. The road to happily-ever-after isn't easy when a baker's son and a princess fall in love in The Fairy's Return.Elements of the classics are woven into these not-so-typical retellings of "Toads and Diamonds," "The Princess and the Pea," "Sleeping Beauty," "The Princess on the Glass Hill," "Puddocky," and "The Golden Goose." The fresh and funny twists on favorite fairy tales will win the hearts and capture the imaginations of young readers everywhere.
A Timeless Romance Anthology: Happily Ever After Collection
Jessica Day George - 2017
Eden, Julie Daines, Heather B. Moore, and Annette Lyon.MAIL-ORDER PRINCESS by Jessica Day George: Elise flees her small kingdom and arrives in the New World with only her two trunks and seven swans—her seven brothers to be exact. But Elise will do anything to get her brothers away from their cruel stepmother’s curse, even if it means accepting the long-distance marriage proposal to a former count turned farmer. THE MILLER’S DAUGHTER by Julie Wright: When Isa meets Thomas Rumple, she is quickly infatuated with his good looks and natural charm, until she learns his true identity. Due to a wild claim by her insufferable father, Isa’s life is threatened by the king if she can’t spin a room full of straw into gold, and Thomas may be the only one who can save her. THE PEBBLED PATH by Sarah M. Eden: Deep in the heart of a mysterious forest, Gretel trades her freedom to save her beloved father from the spell of an evil enchantress. Even attempting to escape would cost her father his life. Gretel’s determination to fulfill her promise wavers when she meets Hansel, a young man who captures her heart. For, she loves him too dearly to put his life in danger, and he loves her too much to simply leave her to her fate.BLACK FERN by Julie Daines: Rós is desperate to find work in order to care for her ailing father and younger sisters. She applies to the mysterious owner of a crumbling castle and is soon swept up in dark secrets. Unsure if the owner of the castle is man or beast, Rós determines to help him at all cost. She soon discovers that the cost may be too great, even for her.SCARLET by Heather B. Moore: When Scarlet needs to fetch a healing tonic on the night when the wolves are at their most dangerous, she has no choice but to apply to her nemesis, August, for help. He agrees to help her, but they encounter a pack of wolves that put up a fierce fight, marking Scarlet as their newly targeted prey. SO RARE A POWER by Annette Lyon: Stella knows she’s taking a risk each time she meets Patrick in the rose garden that they’ve cultivated together. And no matter how much her mother will disapprove of their relationship, Stella can’t deny her feelings for him. When the Snow Queen steals away Patrick to drain him of his powers of creating beauty and life, Stella must decide what she’s willing to risk to rescue him.
Gorgeous
Paul Rudnick - 2013
When eighteen-year-old Becky Randle’s mother dies, she’s summoned from her Missouri trailer park to meet Tom Kelly, the world’s top designer. He makes her an impossible offer: He’ll create three dresses to transform Becky from a nothing special girl into the most beautiful woman who ever lived. Becky thinks Tom is a lunatic, or that he’s producing a hidden camera show called World’s Most Gullible Poor People. But she accepts, and she’s remade as Rebecca. When Becky looks in the mirror, she sees herself – an awkward mess of split ends and cankles. But when anyone else looks at Becky, they see pure five-alarm hotness. Soon Rebecca is on the cover of Vogue, the new Hollywood darling, and dating celebrities. Then Becky meets Prince Gregory, heir to the British throne, and everything starts to crumble. Because Rebecca aside, Becky loves him. But to love her back, Gregory would have to look past the blinding Rebecca to see the real girl inside. And Becky knows there’s not enough magic in the world. A screamingly defiant, hugely naughty, and impossibly fun free fall past the cat walks, the red carpets, and even the halls of Buckingham Palace, Gorgeous does the impossible: It makes you see yourself clearly for the first time.