A magical dance. A storybook prince. The slipper fits, but will it ever come off?

Nora Nilsdotter might be a daughter of a lowly cobbler and a castle stitch-girl, but once she’s invited to the prince’s Selection Ball, she’s certain how the rest of her story should go. Afterall, she has the occasionally-irritable-and-quite-possibly-evil stepsisters. She even has a mysterious and glamourous pair of ruby dance-slippers. She might not love the prince, but what does that matter? This is her chance to make things in the kingdom better for all the other peasant girls just like her.

But when a handsome guard from her past seems determined to set her heart racing and expose all her secrets, can she still rewrite her story to become the prince’s bride? Or are all her dreams as cursed as a certain pair of red shoes?

The Storybook Bride is a clean romantic and comedic fantasy inspired by the Red Shoes and other fairytales. This story takes place at the same time as The Swan Bride and can be read in any order.

Published
February 21, 2025
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Borderland Brides Fairytale Retellings

The series

Full series details →

Step across the boundary where human kingdoms brush against the hidden realms of the fae, and you enter a world where familiar fairy tales are rewritten in shadows and starlight. In Borderland Brides Fairytale Retellings, magic is both beautiful and dangerous, love is tangled with duty, and every choice carries weight beyond what the eye can see.

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Each story reimagines a classic tale, from swan maidens and dancing princesses to enchanted slippers, but never in ways you expect. Heroes wrestle with secrets and curses, heroines confront their own strength and desires, and the fae courts hover at the edge of wonder and menace. The landscapes shimmer with moonlit lakes, echoing ballrooms, and forest paths that lead to both danger and discovery, creating a world that feels alive and perilous, yet irresistibly enchanting.

In The Swan Bride, a maiden’s stolen magic gives her a second chance at life, but it comes at a cost. The Storybook Bride twirls through obsession and ambition, showing how even the smallest wishes can carry profound consequences. In The Shadow Bride, cursed dances and missing sisters pull characters into a web of intrigue and sacrifice, where bravery and love are tested at every turn.

Though still a young series, it has already captivated readers who crave lyrical fantasy, romantic tension, and the dark whimsy of fae-infused storytelling. With every tale, the series lingers in the mind like a half-remembered dream, exploring the costs of magic, the strength of the heart, and the blurred line between myth and reality.

For readers of fairy tale retellings who appreciate magic that bites as well as charms, Borderland Brides Fairytale Retellings offers an atmospheric escape into worlds both familiar and strange, where every twist of a story brings wonder, peril, and the subtle ache of longing.

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10/10

This is the first real Retelling of Red Shoes that I have read and I thought it was a very enjoyable story. I loved the character Jarl and enjoyed seeing him and Nora together. This story takes place during the same timeframe as The Swan Bride: A Swan Lake Retelling and is more enjoyable when they are read together however they can each be read as standalone stories since they focus on different characters. I look forward to reading more of this series and other Fairy Tale Retellings by this author in the future.

I received a free copy of this book from the author and am voluntarily leaving a review.

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