Book picks similar to
A Cinderella Twist by K.S. Thomas


romance
retellings
abroad-roadtrips
cinderella-related

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister


Gregory Maguire - 1999
    But what of her stepsisters, the homely pair exiled into ignominy by the fame of their lovely sibling? What fate befell those untouched by beauty ... and what curses accompanied Cinderella's looks?Set against the backdrop of seventeenth-century Holland, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister tells the story of Iris, an unlikely heroine who finds herself swept from the lowly streets of Haarlem to a strange world of wealth, artifice, and ambition. Iris's path quickly becomes intertwined with that of Clara, the mysterious and unnaturally beautiful girl destined to become her sister. While Clara retreats to the cinders of the family hearth, Iris seeks out the shadowy secrets of her new household -- and the treacherous truth of her former life.

Bloodleaf


Crystal Smith - 2019
      Surrounded by spirits and burdened with forbidden magic, she lives in constant fear of discovery by the witch-hunting Tribunal and their bloodthirsty mobs. When a devastating assassination attempt reveals her magical abilities, Aurelia is forced to flee her country with nothing but her life.   Alone and adrift in an enemy kingdom, Aurelia plans her revenge against the Tribunal, desperate to bring down the dark organization that has wrought terror upon her people for hundreds of years. But there’s something deeply amiss in her new home, too, and soon she finds herself swept into a deadly new mystery with a secretive prince, the ghost of an ancient queen, and a poison vine called Bloodleaf.   Aurelia is entangled in a centuries-long game of love, power, and war, and if she can’t break free before the Tribunal makes its last move, she may lose far more than her crown.

The Witch's Tower


Tamara Grantham - 2019
     Gothel is a witch. Punished for the actions of her mother, her choice is simple: either she stands guard over Princess Rapunzel—or she dies. But just because a choice is easy doesn’t mean it’s pleasant. Protecting Rapunzel means watching as the princess lays trapped in a tower, bedridden by hair that is so long and heavy it’s slowly driving her insane. Gothel’s life has become one of imprisonment and solitude as well—until a prince and his handsome squire appear at the tower. Only one object can cut Rapunzel’s hair and end the curse: a pair of magical shears. But the shears are guarded by the most terrifying witches in the land, who also happen to be Gothel’s aunts. As Gothel and the prince’s squire, Raj Talmund, work to form a plan, she finds herself more and more drawn to the mysterious young man from the Outerlands. Unfortunately, his destiny is far more dangerous than she wants to admit: to save a princess, he must kill the witch who's been forced to guard her. "A sparkling Fantasy." ~Kirkus Reviews "Tamara Grantham, the author of THE WITCH’S TOWER, weaves the loose ends about the well-known character Rapunzel and brings forth a masterpiece." ~Lucia W. (Teen Reads) Novels inThe Twisted Ever After Series by Tamara Grantham: The Witch’s Tower (Available Now) The Dragon Swan Princess (March 26, 2019) Book Three (Summer 2019)

Curse of the Beast


Ashley Lavering - 2012
    Moving to her grandma’s quiet town of Cody, Wyoming, Tayla finds some normalcy with her quirky green activist friend, Chel, who spends no time converting her to vegetarianism. A few weeks into her new school, Tayla catches the eye of Kyle Harrington—the high school quarterback and resident millionaire—who can seduce any girl with his charismatic charm, including Tayla. But Kyle is anything but what he seems.Walking through City Park, Tayla is unaware that an ancient curse has her in its crosshairs. The silver moonlight illuminates the path to her van, sprinkling shadows like evil twinkling eyes. Tayla’s skin prickles, and she turns. Something—or someone—is watching her.A powerful werewolf steps from the shadows. An iridescent blue cord shoots from him and slams into her stomach, dissolving instantly. Pain wracks her body, and she tries to scramble to safety, but his silver eyes freeze her in place as the curse binds them together. The cord settles deep inside her body, coiling with dread around her heart. Dismayed by the prospect of a werewolf for a shadow, Tayla fears for the safety of her friends and family. How will she keep the werewolf’s insatiable hunger in check? Her plans for a vegetarian lifestyle quickly dwindle away, and Tayla wrestles to fit her frazzled life back together—piece by piece. But what she didn’t expect was her attraction to the werewolf or the power of the full moon. Will Tayla be strong enough to survive the Curse of the Beast? Or will it consume her like so many before? Find out in the first installment of this unique retelling of Beauty and the Beast.

Insanity


Cameron Jace - 2013
    No one doubts her insanity. Only a hookah-smoking professor believes otherwise; that he can prove her sanity by decoding Lewis Carroll's paintings, photographs, and find Wonderland's real whereabouts. Professor Caterpillar persuades the asylum that Alice can save lives and catch the wonderland monsters now reincarnated in modern day criminals. In order to do so, Alice leads a double life: an Oxford university student by day, a mad girl in an asylum by night. The line between sanity and insanity thins when she meets Jack Diamond, an arrogant college student who believes that nonsense is an actual science.

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.

Awake


Jessica Grey - 2012
    Alex has always been more interested in rocks and science than stories about princesses and magic. Now she's far too busy with her summer internship at the Gem and Mineral Museum to think about children's stories. Between avoiding her former best friend and high school baseball star, Luke Reed, and trying to hide her unrequited crush on her mentor at the museum, the real world is occupying all of her time. ...Until she walked into one. It turns out fairytales aren't all fun and games. A curse has turned her neat and orderly world upside down, and to break it, she bands together with a fellow intern and a recently awakened princess who's been asleep for almost 900 years. Can this trio of unlikely heroines put an end to an ominous enchantment, discover true love, and keep an ancient and evil magic from being unleashed on modern-day Los Angeles?

A Rush of Wings


Laura E. Weymouth - 2021
    But though she hears voices on the wind and possesses unusual talents, her mother Mairead believes Rowenna lacks discipline, and refuses to teach her the craft that keeps their Scottish village safe. When Mairead dies a sinister death, it seems Rowenna’s one chance to grow into her power has passed. Then, on a fateful, storm-tossed night, Rowenna rescues a handsome stranger named Gawen from a shipwreck, and her mother miraculously returns from the dead. Or so it appears.This resurrected Mairead is nothing like the old one: to hide her new and monstrous nature, she turns Rowenna’s brothers and Gawen into swans and robs Rowenna of her voice. Forced to flee, Rowenna travels to the city of Inverness to find a way to break the curse. But monsters take many forms, and in Inverness Rowenna is soon caught in a web of strangers who want to use her raw magic for their own gain. If she wishes to save herself and the people she loves most, Rowenna will have to take her fate into her own hands, and unlock the power that has evaded her for so long.Content warnings are available via the author's website.

A Boy and his Dog


Chloe Holiday - 2021
    Hope Hernandez were any more exhausted, she'd be the one on the gurney. Her drive for perfection leaves her scrambling to juggle an insane ER schedule, studying for boards, and her boyfriend—whoops! Ex-boyfriend.Fine. One less thing demanding her attention. Hope buries her pain in work. The truth is she’d get more affection from a dog, with less risk to her heart. Safe and uncomplicated. The second she sees the forlorn, retired military K9, Hope falls hard: he's sad and alone, just like her. They head to Colorado, aiming for a fresh start—if she can score the coveted ER job. Yet when a scorching hot veteran shows up to lay claim to her dog, he disrupts her careful plan. He's anything but safe—he’s dynamite. And he's oh, so wrong if he thinks he can charm Hope into giving up her loyal companion.Bomb disposal technician Grant Calloway's whole life blows up after an IED detonates at a Kosovo parade. He and his working dog, Mojo, save hundreds with their off-duty heroism, but reality bites hard: Mired in red tape, then bounced out of the Army for hearing loss, Grant's blindsided when Mojo's adopted out by a civilian who won't understand the needs of a military-trained dog. Grant's best friend deserves better. Grant turns his back on a lucrative job and instead hits the road for Colorado to track down his dog.He thought finding Mojo would be the hardest part, but the woman who took him won't listen to reason, and Grant's charm has no effect. Refusing to be diverted by her big brown eyes and gorgeous smile, Grant lays siege to reacquire Mojo—by whatever means necessary.A Boy and his Dog is a steamy, enemies-to-lovers medical / military romance. It contains profanity and sex scenes.

The Anti-Cinderella


Tawdra Kandle - 2018
    But that kiss didn't exactly change my life. To tell you the truth, I didn't even think about it-or Nicky Windsor-for the next ten years . . . until fate, in the guise of my grandparents, brought us back together again.Now everything has spun out of control. I'm ducking reporters and photographers when I try to leave home. My friends act as if I'm someone they don't know anymore. The whole world seems to be watching me, wanting to see some kind of modern Cinderella story. But trust me, I'm no man's princess. I'm more comfortable in tennis shoes than in a tiara, more likely to rock a bucket than a ball gown, and more liable to fall on my face than to pull off a graceful wave.The only thing that keeps me from running away and hiding is Nicky. He's all I've ever wanted in a man: hot, hunky and head-over-heels in love with me. I think I feel the same way. I think I want to be with him forever. But the idea of life with the royal family terrifies me. Even if I have found my one and only, can I handle what comes after our happy ending?

Bossed by the Dad Bod


Reina Torres - 2022
    He’s a rock. The people who work for him. The people who live in town. His teenage daughter even laughs at his jokes… once in a while. He keeps himself busy, so he won’t think about what he’s missing. What’s even worse is he’s found her. New in town, making a new life for herself. What he wouldn’t do to get his hands on her, but he’s afraid he’ll scare her away. She’s just too sweet to be bossed around by the likes of him.Shelby Akers is new in town and new to love, but that didn’t stop her from falling for Doyle Crane the first day she met him. It wasn’t love at first sight when he helped pull her car out of the mud or when he shook his head at how she was shivering in the rain, but it most certainly was when he took off his coat, wrapped it around her body and gave her a heated appraising look and muttered, “Someone needs to take care of you, Shelby.”Doyle knows he’s too bossy to even think of getting close to Shelby. She needed a nice, easy-going guy who could be gentle with her, someone who wasn’t him.That all changed when her boss put her in danger.He went from hands-off, seemingly unaffected Doyle to demanding, bossy-as-fu…dge, hands-all-over protector. Shelby couldn’t be happier.Dad Bods made a big impression in 2021 - and they're not going anywhere! This January, some of your favorite contemporary romance authors are bringing you a sexy selection of brawny, hot Dad Bods and the women who love their men with a little something extra to hold on to.These men may be built for comfort but don't be fooled - they will stop at nothing to protect the women who've claimed their hearts

Speak From The Heart


L.B. Dunbar - 2013
    Back at her grandmother’s summer home, she’s only in Elk Lake City for a visit which can’t end soon enough. Especially when she can’t seem to get away from one grumpy repairman who shows up everywhere. Fortunately for him, his daughter is sweet even if she refuses to speak.Jess Carter is a hometown favorite and a hot single father. Sworn off love for several reasons, foremost is the silence of his daughter. His little one has a secret and he doesn’t know the why behind it. Unfortunately for him, his six-year-old has taken a liking to the beautiful new woman in town visiting her nana. And everywhere he goes, there she is, invading his space and his heart.While silence might be golden, the voice in lonely hearts refuses to remain quiet.** PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED in 2014 as Sound Advice, Sensations Collection 1.

Valiant


Sarah McGuire - 2015
    Yet when he's struck ill, she'll do anything to survive, even donning boys' clothes and begging a commission to sew for the king. Piecing together a fine coat is far simpler than unknotting court gossip about an army of giants led by a man who cannot be defeated. And they're marching toward Reggen to seize the throne. But Saville knows giants are just stories, and no man is immortal.Then she meets them, two scouts as tall as trees. She tricks them into leaving, but tales of the daring tailor's triumph quickly spin into impossible feats of giant-slaying. And mere stories won't deter the Duke and his larger-than-life army.Now only a courageous and clever tailor girl can see beyond the rumors to save the kingdom again.

Neverland


Anna Katmore - 2014
    “Angel, the word you’re looking for is pirate.”Strange things are happening in Neverland…Although Angelina McFarland loves reading fairytales, she never dreamed of falling right into one herself. Literally! But who is this flying boy who saved her? And why doesn’t he want to grow up?Desperately trying to find a way off this cursed island, Angelina runs into a ruthless pirate. Hook captures her and keeps her trapped on his ship, the Jolly Roger, to lure the flying boy out of his hiding. But is Hook really the heartless man she heard about? The more time Angel spends with him, the more she starts to wonder. Her growing feelings for him are as intense as shocking, and soon she can’t stop thinking about how soft his lips felt on hers when he kissed her under the stars. As time passes, an old train ticket to London is all she has left to remind her of her former life and why she can’t give up trying to find a way home.Or is staying in Neverland forever the better choice after all?Grab a happy thought and follow Angel on an adventure that will keep you breathless and smiling long after you read the last page…Mind the cliffhanger! (I’m sorry!)The sequel PAN’S REVENGE is already available.

Sugar


Terri E. Laine - 2018
    Laine comes part two of a sweet but sexy single dad story that began with Honey. Just when Honey and Jake think they got everything figured out, a blast from the past rolls in determined to tear everything apart. From Honey to Ford, secrets can make or break any relationship between Jake and the woman he loves. Trust will be the key to mending hearts and forging a path to the future. But it won’t come easy and at what cost until it’s all too much. Sugar is part two of Honey and cannot be read as a standalone.