Grimm's Fairy Tales by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

This is a 3-disc audiobook of 21 different Grimm's Fairy Tales including Cinderella, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty.  Every tale has a different reader, including Jim Dale and Scott Brick.  Two of my favorites.

This is the Grimm version of the fairy tales, not the Disney-fied version many of us are used to.  Death or dismemberment is often a consequence for the baddies in these tales.

Fabulous listen!

Winter by Marissa Meyer

Winter is the last book of the 4 1/2 part young adult science-fiction series that features different fairy-tale inspired heroines.

Winter is the step-daughter of Levana, the quite nasty queen of Luna (the moon.)  Winter is more beautiful and much kinder than Queen Levana, but she is going insane because she refuses to use the power most Lunar's have, mind control.

Queen Levana orders Winter's prince charming Jacin, a  palace guard, to kill Winter.  Ah, Sleeping Beauty!  We also still have the other fairy tale heroines introduced in the earlier books, Cinder the cyborg who is the true Queen of Luna, Scarlett (Red Riding Hood) and Cress (Rapunzel.)  Each of the princesses also have their Prince Charmings.  All are working together to overthrow the tyrant Queen Levana and get Cinder on the throne.

This was a fun series but would have been more fun if I was 15 and not 49.  I spent a fair amount of time rolling my eyes through this epic last book in the series.  I won't be recommending this series to my adult friends but think my younger self would have totally dug it.

A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz 256 pages

I love a good twist on a fairy tale and this one definitely panned out.  The author warns that it is not a tale for the faint of heart, that the only story most of us know about Hansel and Gretel is the smallest portion of their tale and possibly the most tame.  We get to meet their parents and learn of the terrible beginnings that would set their whole story in motion.  This story has child eaters, dragons, beheadings, souls being plucked from young women, a trip to Hell and more.  It was a very enjoyable story and I'm glad I decided to give it a try.  It was gruesome, but I would still recommend it to kids 3rd grade and up who like a little meat and gore to their adventure stories.

Flunked: Fairy Tale Reform School book 1 by Jen Calonita 244 pages

This was another twist on a traditional fairy tale.  Actually, it twisted a bunch of fairy tales together.  The story is set in Enchantasia, where the princesses rule with kindness and generosity.  Villains, many of them, have changed their ways and are now teachers at a reform school for budding villains and general ne'er-do-wells.  The story follows Gilly, one of the cobbler's daughters (one of many children living in the boot), who is trying to help her family the only way she knows how - theft.  Unfortunately, the local Dwarf Patrol knows her and what she's likely to do.  She's nabbed for the third time and sent to Fairy Tale Reform School.  It's not bad.  At all.  She has a room almost all to herself, nice clothes, classes that would never have been offered at her trade school and all the food she could eat.  She even makes some friends.  But Gilly only wants to get back to her family, she worries that her siblings are going hungry and feels guilty with every bite she eats.  However, not every villain has given up their evil ways and mysterious things begin to happen at the school.  Gilly finds herself playing something of a hero and a detective, mostly by accident.  This was a really fun story and I think the series has a lot of potential.