The best fantasy romance to fall in love with fairy tales once more

Why am I passionate about this?

I have a passion for fairy tale stories especially ones for adults because they are often the first stories we learned as kids. The ability to look back at how we interpreted them and how our understanding changes over time and culture makes for something that is truly timeless, and therefore like a beloved trope is never the exact same thing twice. Each time only builds on our enjoyment and the many possibilities we can imagine. Not only in worlds of magic, but our own.


I wrote...

The 8th Rank

By Rose Sinclair,

Book cover of The 8th Rank

What is my book about?

In this Big Bad Magic series, fairy tales intertwine to weave a new story about the people many have considered villainous. This MM fantasy novel features a mage without memories, his rebellious childhood crush, and a magic-fueled race to find each other again before the murder of a Queen.

Through retellings, we not only get to see how the world was, but how it is today. The Frog Prince, Robin Hood, and the Mad Hatter are only a few of the wondrous characters the Big Bad Wolf comes across in a journey to reclaim himself.

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of A Land of Never After

Rose Sinclair Why did I love this book?

As someone who writes fairy tale retellings where everyone shares one world as we all do now, I always love the tales that my own characters don’t get to interact with. That’s where A Land of Never After comes in. Featuring a pirate queen a strong-willed Wendy, and a trans Peter Pan. I think the diversity different people expand on is what makes humans so magical in the first place.

By R. L. Davennor,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Land of Never After as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

All my life, I’ve dreamed of the sea.


Mermaids, stormy skies, daring adventures, pirates…it was little wonder I sprinted to the docks the moment I left the orphanage. Eager to begin my new life, I searched for a ship that would have me—and found a thief instead. I chased the bastard.

Now I’m trapped.

I’m told this place is Neverland, but everything I touch is dead or dying; what’s left is hellbent on killing each other. Monsters lurk around every corner, and everyone I meet hides a damning secret. I’m thrust in the middle of a deadly feud, and the…


Book cover of How to Train Your Goblin King

Rose Sinclair Why did I love this book?

Gaslamp books not only have adorably fun titles, they also can push fairy tale retellings to have more creatures as part of the main cast. Erin Verse’s debut is Labyrinth inspired with a mixed-race heroine fighting for justice. Which you’ll quickly see is my favorite type of protagonist. While humans can be loveable, I think it’s through monsters we often learn to accept ourselves.

By Erin Vere,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked How to Train Your Goblin King as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Floss is most definitely NOT marrying the Goblin King, even if it saves her a trip through the labyrinth.

Floss, an aspiring law student, has enough troubles to ruffle anyone’s bustle. Her school of choice won’t let her in because of her gender, her equal rights league is hopelessly ineffective, and there aren’t enough calming tonics in the world to stave off her panic attacks.

Now her niece is missing, the roguish Goblin King keeps proposing, and sinister forces threaten Floss’s city. She’ll have to brave a dangerous labyrinth and question everything she believes in to save not only her…


Book cover of Of Heists and Hexes

Rose Sinclair Why did I love this book?

This book is a Robin Hood retelling. While both our Robin’s fight for social change and the poor while falling in love along the way, S.L. Prater’s has a gender swap twist as features a thieving witch pestering the sheriff of Nottingham. I believe Robin being a woman subverts expectation and by seeing the known in a new light like that makes the world a bit more empathic to each other. I think the old and known can change and still hold so much heart.

By S. L. Prater,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Of Heists and Hexes as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“I can’t tell if you’re about to kiss me or arrest me …”

Sheriff Nottingham should not be enjoying his pursuit of the witch Robin Hood. It’s supposed to be a job: catch the thief, bring her to justice, pursue the next criminal. But the longer their game of cat and mouse goes on, the more he never wants it to end.

Nottingham senses Robin is luring him into a political dispute between the king and an ambitious prince—a battle that threatens to destitute the poor in Sherwood. But the sheriff can’t risk getting involved. He’s already overwhelmed raising his…


Book cover of Tales of the Enchanted Wildwood: Tales 1-6

Rose Sinclair Why did I love this book?

While my series tend to be on the shorter end, if you want something to really sink your teeth into try Angela J. Ford’s interracial romance collection full of action, adventure, and steam. Celtic Mythology is the theme for this six standalone novel collection that tops out at over 600 hundred pages! In a world like it is now, sometimes I just want to escape into a fantasy world a fantasy series is so perfect for that.

By Angela J. Ford,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Tales of the Enchanted Wildwood as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This collector's edition includes six stand-alone adult fairy tales blending fantasy action-adventure with steamy fantasy romance.Tales of the Enchanted Forest is a collection of six fantasy romance short stories. The series is inspired by fairy tales with a hint of Celtic Mythology and a nod to the TV show, Once. However, you won’t find your traditional damsels in distress. The women you’ll meet in these tales take the future into their own hands, regardless of the challenges. They also have magic. Some of it beautiful, like the magic of the healer, but others have dark magic which torments them as…


Book cover of Once Upon a Forbidden Desire: Fairy Tales and Other Stories

Rose Sinclair Why did I love this book?

Sometimes you simply want all, I get it. That’s part of the reason why so many fairy tale characters know each other in my series, so why not try a brand-new fantasy romance anthology? Featuring 20 different short stories and authors, Once Upon A Forbidden Desire is bound to be magical. If you are anything like me, you have a long to-do list and there never seems like enough time. Short stories are the perfect thing for that in my opinion. I always savor them like an advent calendar’s candy.

By Zoey Ellis, Kristin Gleeson, Kathryn Ann Kingsley , A.J. Lancaster , C.M Nascosta , L Penelope

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Once Upon a Forbidden Desire as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

When it comes to true love, rules are meant to be broken …

Dark forests and locked doors, poisoned apples and forbidden lovers ... Bold heroines and swoon-worthy heroes break all the rules in this enchanting anthology of the fairy tales you thought you knew.

Once Upon A Forbidden Desire features 20 enticing fairy tale retellings by a diverse selection of fantasy romance authors. From sweet true love’s kisses to sizzling passion, from modern streets to enchanted forests, and from a mage Rapunzel to a winged Prince Charming ...

If you enjoy captivating romance, enthralling new worlds, and stories with…


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Book cover of Melody and the Pier to Forever: Parts Five and Six

Shawn Michel De Montaigne

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What is my book about?

A young adult and epic fantasy novel that begins an entire series, as yet unfinished, about a young girl named Melody who discovers that the pier she lives near goes on forever—a pier that was destroyed by a hurricane that appeared out of blue skies in mere moments in 1983.

Melody doesn't know it, but a king has been searching for her for more than twenty years—longer than she's been alive. His kingdom is readying for the day when they may return to the world found beyond the end of that very pier, a world cast into darkness by an…

Melody and the Pier to Forever: Parts Five and Six

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What is this book about?

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