The Best Of: Retellings #2

I might need to start spacing these out a little more as I’m definitely going to run out of retellings to use soon. I’ve got a huge list of ones to read, but I don’t want to make them all I’m reading, so I’m going to make my way through the rest I’ve actually read and then go from there.

Scarlet (The Lunar Chronicles #2) by Marissa Meyer

You all know by now that I’m a huge fan of this series and I did actually want to wait until I’d reread Scarlet to mention it here, but I remember it well enough to know that it is a fun and inventive retelling of Red Riding Hood. I love that the ‘wolf’ is a mutated super soldier and how Scarlet does actually wear a red hood her grandmother gave her.

Synopsis: She’s trying to break out of prison—even though if she succeeds, she’ll be the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive. Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn’t know about her grandmother and the grave danger she has lived in her whole life.

When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother’s whereabouts, she has no choice but to trust him, though he clearly has a few dark secrets of his own. As Scarlet and Wolf work to unravel one mystery, they find another when they cross paths with Cinder. Together, they must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen who will do anything to make Prince Kai her husband, her king, her prisoner.

Little Thieves by Margaret Owen

I wasn’t aware this was a retelling at the time of reading it, but Little Thieves is a great book. I’m still not 100% clued up on the story of The Goose Girl, but you don’t need to be to understand this book. It’s a fun read with a lot of twists and magic.

Synopsis: Once upon a time, there was a horrible girl…

Vanja Schmidt knows that no gift is freely given, not even a mother’s love–and she’s on the hook for one hell of a debt. Vanja, the adopted goddaughter of Death and Fortune, was Princess Gisele’s dutiful servant up until a year ago. That was when Vanja’s otherworldly mothers demanded a terrible price for their care, and Vanja decided to steal her future back… by stealing Gisele’s life for herself.

The real Gisele is left a penniless nobody while Vanja uses an enchanted string of pearls to take her place. Now, Vanja leads a lonely but lucrative double life as princess and jewel thief, charming nobility while emptying their coffers to fund her great escape. Then, one heist away from freedom, Vanja crosses the wrong god and is cursed to an untimely end: turning into jewels, stone by stone, for her greed.

Vanja has just two weeks to figure out how to break her curse and make her getaway. And with a feral guardian half-god, Gisele’s sinister fiancé, and an overeager junior detective on Vanja’s tail, she’ll have to pull the biggest grift yet to save her own life.

A Pho Love Story by Loan Le

I’m a huge fan of Romeo and Juliet retellings and this one is super fun because I love romances with a food theme. I don’t think this is officially a retelling, but their parents own rival pho restaurants, so it counts right? They don’t hate each other and this definitely isn’t an enemies to lovers, but it has the right vibes. A contemporary Romeo and Juliet with a huge helping of delicious food.

Synopsis: If Bao Nguyen had to describe himself, he’d say he was a rock. Steady and strong, but not particularly interesting. His grades are average, his social status unremarkable. He works at his parents’ pho restaurant, and even there, he is his parents’ fifth favourite employee. Not ideal.

If Linh Mai had to describe herself, she’d say she was a firecracker. Stable when unlit, but full of potential for joy and fire. She loves art and dreams pursuing a career in it. The only problem? Her parents rely on her in ways they’re not willing to admit, including working practically full-time at her family’s pho restaurant.

For years, the Mais and the Nguyens have been at odds, having owned competing, neighbouring pho restaurants. Bao and Linh, who’ve avoided each other for most of their lives, both suspect that the feud stems from feelings much deeper than friendly competition.

But then a chance encounter brings Linh and Bao in the same vicinity despite their best efforts and sparks fly, leading them both to wonder what took so long for them to connect. But then, of course, they immediately remember.

Can Linh and Bao find love in the midst of feuding families and complicated histories?\