Timeless Fairy Tales are a series of fairy tale adaptations. They can be read in the suggested order, as they are listed here, or out of order. Each book focuses on a different main character, but there is some overlap between the books. For instance, Arcainia–the country Lucien from Beauty and the Beast is set on invading–is the setting for The Wild Swans. The links after the book descriptions take you to extra info about my adaptations and the original fairy tales.
Updated: Timeless Fairy Tales Timeline: PDF File contains a rough timeline of the events that take place in all currently published Fairy Tales. WARNING: It does contain spoilers! I will continue to update the timeline as books (and freebies) are released.
Book 1: Beauty and the Beast – Buy the e-book or paperback on Amazon
Once upon a time Elle made a mistake. A small miscalculation sends her through the roof of an enchanted chateau. Stranded until her broken leg mends, Elle is forced to rely on the good will of the sour chateau owner —the cursed Prince Severin. Prince Severin—the commanding general and staunch supporter of his brother the crown prince—is cursed to look like a beast until a maiden falls in love with him. However, he has given up all hope of shattering the curse after several painful and failed attempts to break it. As such he has only disdain for Elle, leaving her to the devices of his bossy servants. This suits Elle perfectly as she dislikes the entire royal family, Severin included.
Unfortunately for the unsuspecting pair, the chateau servants are determined to break the curse and spend the majority of their time pushing Elle and Severin together. After bonding over gardens, animals, and terrifying squirrels Elle and Severin show signs of friendship, and perhaps something more… But not all love stories can end that easily. After all, Elle is not what she seems, and Severin’s life is placed in danger when hostilities flare between his brother and the monarchs of a neighboring country.
If they really want the love of a lifetime Elle, a loyal liar, and Severin, an indifferent beast, will have to use every trick they know to survive.
- The Original Beauty and the Beast
- Behind the Story–Interpretations of Beauty and the Beast
- About the Beast
Beauty and the Beast Reviews:
“I decided to give it a try and it did not take long to realize I had come across a gem!” – tswartze @ Bibliobibuli
“But, not only is this the beloved tale retold, it’s a new tale with merits all its own, and I for one fell in love with the telling and the characters with all their stupidities and strengths.” – bookjunkie @ Live to Read
“I wasn’t really expecting to like this book when I started reading it, however, this proved to be so unexpectedly charming and adorable that I couldn’t help but love it.” – Aishwarya Hariharan @ BookBear
“If you’re looking for a light read, this is definitely the book for you.” – Olivia @ A Million Books and Too Much Coffee
“I love the chemistry between Elle and Severin…” Asmaa @ Asmaa A. M.
Book 2: The Wild Swans – Buy the e-book on Amazon
The seven princes of Arcainia are cursed and transformed into swans by their step-mother, a wicked witch. Without the princes to run the country and keep it safe from their step-mother’s greedy clutches, Arcainia is ruined…unless Princess Elise, the princes’ foster-sister, can break their curse.
Elise is no hero. She would rather balance expense accounts than become her country’s champion. But, to free her foster-brothers Elise agrees to knit seven shirts made of stinging nettles. She must complete the shirts without uttering a word.
The already dire situation turns perilous when Elise catches the eye of a foreign prince, who drags her back to his family’s castle where she is tormented by the prince’s evil father. With a wicked witch hunting her and the foreign king threatening to kill her, Elise’s loyalty and love are put to the test. She must become Arcainia’s defender, or the country, and her foster-brothers, will be lost.
Wild Swans Reviews:
“I also liked that K.M. Shea put two different paths for readers to choose from. While I agree with many people who said that they wanted K.M. Shea to decide between the two, I like her decision to leave it open to the reader. Most authors choose the path for the reader which usually means that I feel sad for the other suitor(s), so I am glad I got to read both endings.” – Sophie @ SplustBookworms
Book 3: Cinderella and the Colonel – Buy the e-book or paperback on Amazon
The country of Erlauf is the enemy, as far as Cinderella is concerned. Since Erlauf took over her home country, Cinderella has been forced to manage her once opulent duchy like a tightly budgeted farm. Gone are the days of wealth and luxury. Instead, Cinderella dons servants’ clothes and sells all her luxuries to save her servants and her duchy from the mountain of debt she’s racked up due to Erlauf fines and taxes.
Romance and forgiveness are the last things on Cinderella’s mind. Unfortunately the rakish Erlauf Colonel Friedrich has other ideas.
Cinderella thinks she needs a pile of money to save her duchy, and for the Erlauf invaders to leave. What she gets is a debonair Erlauf colonel, a fairy godmother, four mice, two goats, a pair of glass slippers, and a pumpkin.
Cinderella and the Colonel Reviews:
“Please, please read this if you love fairy tales and need a little romance in your day, but don’t want just fluff. It’s such a breath of fresh air.” -bookjunkie @ Live to Read
“A light and enjoyable read, sprinkled with humor.” – Aya @ Ayaling
“I’m so incredibly glad I stumbled on this in my futile quest to read all Cinderella based romances, because it shows that all is not lost and excellent retellings still exist and not all has been done and tried yet. I wholeheartedly suggest this book to all Cinderella and fairy tale lovers.” – Liis @ Me and Reading
“Cinderella and the Colonel is a sweet and entertaining novel with a likable heroine. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys clean romances and humor in their fairy tales.” – Belinda @ In the Land of Dragons
“I highly, highly, highly recommend this story!” – Lindsey @ Chick Lit Chickadees
Book 4: Rumpelstiltskin – Buy the e-book on Amazon
When Gemma’s drunken father tells King Torgen of Verglas that his daughter can spin straw into gold, Gemma assumes her life is over. Held captive in a room filled with straw, Gemma is ordered to spin it all into gold by dawn the following day, or she will be killed by the king’s orders. Rather than cry her eyes out over her sad fate, Gemma tries escaping, and becomes acquainted with a mysterious mage named Stil. Stil offers to help Gemma complete her task, for a price, and turns the straw into gold thread.
Unfortunately the gold whets the greedy appetite of King Torgen, who is determined to wring more gold from Gemma. Gemma is relieved when Stil agrees to help her a second and third time…but his requested payments for the task grow stranger and stranger…
Can Gemma outsmart the evil king and survive Stil’s unusual bargains?
- Rumpelstiltskin: the original fairy tale (brutally picked apart by yours truly)
- Origins and Analyzing Rumpelstiltskin
- My Version
Rumpelstiltskin Reviews:
“Shea has created a beautiful world inhabited by fairytale characters. Stil was a great, quirky character.” – Casey Williams
Book 5: The Little Selkie – Buy the ebook or paperback on Amazon
It is with great reluctance–and a lot of frustration–that Dylan, a selkie, saves the Ringsted Prince Callan when she finds him shipwrecked and drifting in the ocean. The experience is nothing but a bother, so she puts it from her mind and swims off on her merry way. Two years later, while chasing an evil sea witch onto land, Dylan’s pelt is stolen, leaving her unable to return to the ocean in her sea lion body. Rather than serve as the sea witch’s tool, Dylan asks a traveling enchantress to seal her voice. The enchantress complies, and Dylan is taken to the royal palace by one of the sea witch’s minions where she encounters, yet again, Prince Callan.
Between court games, a dangerous brush with a kelpie, and sniffing out the sea witch while looking for her pelt, Dylan’s days are a flavorful blend of treachery and boredom. But during her searches and investigations, Prince Callan befriends her, making her question her loyalties. Dylan always thought her heart was with the ocean, but can she defeat the sea witch and leave Callan, forever?
Book 6: Puss in Boots – Buy the ebook or paperback on Amazon
Because Gabrielle, the daughter of a miller, is lovely to behold, she is given only a cat as her inheritance, and is told to marry. Immediately.
When her cat reveals he can talk and insists he is magical, he invites Gabrielle to join him in a life of adventure in exchange for a pair of boots. She agrees. Puss soon has her facing bandits, rescuing the sharp-mouthed Prince Steffen, and fighting malicious creatures that encroach upon her country’s lands. While Gabrielle and Prince Steffen strike an unlikely friendship, Puss tells everyone they come across that Gabrielle is the long lost Marquise of Carabas—a dangerous claim as Carabas is guarded by a shape-shifting ogre that has defeated armies, killed mages, and quashed a number of heroes.
Gabrielle might not have so easily agreed to Puss’s offer of partnership if she knew the cat’s greatest ambition: to take out the ogre.
Puss In Boots Reviews:
“I’ve fallen for K. M. Shea’s fairy tell rewrites, and her newest, Puss In Boots, is no different.” – Mary @ MarylyMade
Book 6: Swan Lake — Buy the ebook on Amazon
Will she choose to save her country or free herself?
Cursed to be a swan by day, Odette spends her nights leading a band of smugglers and delivering illegal goods. Though she longs for her spell to be broken, she is stuck flattering the evil sorcerer who cursed her.
When the kind and witty Prince Alexsei tracks Odette and her crew to their camp, Odette fears he is yet another complication she must manage. Instead, Alexsei slowly endears himself to her and searches for a way to break her curse—but with every visit he risks alerting the sorcerer to his presence.
When the sorcerer launches an attack against the royal family, Odette is pulled between her love for Alexsei and her loyalties to her crew. Will she choose to fight with Alexsei, or fulfill her responsibilities as a leader and smuggler?