I’ve been doing a lot of cleaning over the past few months (I’m guessing you have too), so I thought it was a good time to give homage to the fairy tale heroine who does the most cleaning: Cinderella.
As a fun side note, while I enjoy the Disney movie, I am an active anti-fan of Cinderella’s prince because he is so useless! This is the main reason why I gave the prince in my retelling (Colonel Fredrick) a much more active role. My fairy tale retelling of Cinderella is #3 in the Timeless Fairy Tales series, and you can find Angelique’s side of the story in: Curse of Magic!
But back to the retelling list! I’ll start with some of my favorite Cinderella retellings, followed by tons more suggestions from the Facebook Champions.
Here are my favorite Cinderella stories:
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine – Can a Cinderella retelling be more perfect than this story? Tons of fun world building in this book as well (the movie doesn’t give it justice).
Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix – Unusual in that it tells the story of what comes after the big slipper reveal. The book cover makes it look like a modern story but it’s actually a typical YA epic fantasy world setting.
The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey – This retelling isn’t squeaky clean, but it’s a fun reimagining of Cinderella that puts a really interesting twist the typical fairy tale world retellings take place in.
And of course, there is Cinderella and the Colonel by K.M. Shea 🙂 (Buwahah, yes, a daring plug of my own story.)
If that wasn’t enough for you here are more suggestions from Facebook! Note that I didn’t include any books that were labeled as definitely not clean. I also had problems finding several of the suggestions on Goodreads (maybe they are known by a different title?) so if you’re looking for even more suggestions you can check out the comments on the Facebook post.
Cinderella Retellings Facebook List:
Traitor’s Masque by Kenley Davidson
Princess of Glass by Jessica Day George
Before Midnight – A Retelling of Cinderella by Cameron Dokey
The Ugly Stepsister by Aya Ling
Ella by Jessilyn Stewart Peaslee
Cinders, Stars, and Glass Slippers by Brittany Fichter
Chasing Cinders by Elizabeth D. Marie
Midnight’s Curse by Tricia Mingerink
The Captive Maiden Melanie Dickerson
Phoenix & Ashes by Mercedes Lackey
Soot and Slipper by Kate Stradling
Cinder Ellie and Ellie and the Prince by J.M. Stengl
Of Glass and Glamour by Chanda Hahn
The Amaranth Enchantment by Julie Berry
Princess of Midnight by Lucy Tempest
Coronation Ball by Melanie Cellier
Disenchanted: The Trials of Cinderella by Megan Morrison
The Moon Master’s Ball – Clara Diane Thompson
Back by Midnight by Dee J. Stone
The Reluctant Godfather by Allison Tebo
The Rat Prince by Bridget Hodder is mostly a Cinderella retelling, though it is spun with Beauty and the Beast–Cinderella’s Prince Charming is actually one of her rat friends who has been helping her survive her stepmother’s cruelty. It’s aimed at middle graders, so it’s squeaky (ha!) clean and quite cute.
I loved cinders by Finley Aaron. Cinderella is an awesome swordsman who kicks butt and goes about in disguise as a boy
So. Many. Books. I have not read! 😲😵😱
Well, time to get to work! 😂
Oh my gosh, yes, the prince in Cinderella is so useless! The ball in the movie wasn’t even a masquerade- couldn’t he at least look at the ladies first and rule out a ton of them because they look nothing like his mystery girl? I loved the twist you gave Cinderella and the Colonel. I originally read it when I was new to your books, and didn’t trust your writing like I do now. I wasn’t a fan of Friedrich and assumed the worst of him due to reading from the perspective of Cinderella’s prejudice. I didn’t want her to end up with a womanizing, flirtatious rogue. But on my reread, I saw everything through the light of knowing the real circumstances, and CatC is now one of my favorite books. I love the added nuance to a well known story, and the new aspect of practicality in a usually whimsical tale. It gave it such a different feel!
Cinderella: Ninja Warrior by Maureen McGowan is really good too!
I’ve read so many of these! I love Cinderella the fairytale but I’m usually wary of retellings because there are SO MANY. I love Tricia Mingerink’s, Kaylin Lee’s, and Allison Tebo’s– all unique worlds and fun twists on the story! Also, Identity by Camille Peters is a retelling of “The Goose Girl”? It’s a great fairytale retelling, just not of Cinderella 🙃
Cindersteller by J. M. Page is a fun scifi retelling that I enjoyed.
Definitely, I love how J.M. Page took fairytales and gave them a sci-fi twist.
I know! I tried some other authors that got recommended after reading her books…. but some were a bit too spicy for me.
I was kinda surprised at how many of these I’ve already read, considering that Cinderella isn’t my favorite, but I apparently love a lot of retellings. Cinderella and the Colonel are hands down my favorite though! The Jenni James one got me into reading a lot of fairy tales so I def recommend that. Cinder by Marissa Meyers is great in a futuristic science-fiction-y twist of it! Those were my favorites. But I also want to throw another out there that’s really good if you want more of an almost urban fantasy feel is the City of Wishes by Rachel Morgan. It’s completed (and the first three books are free right now!! not on KU though…)
Is it clean?
Yes it is!
Something I did forget to mention it started as 6 serials or smaller books but it is in one complete book as well if you don’t want to do 6 little books
Thanks!