ERIN HALBMAIER

I probably should have posted this sooner…but I’m not in the habit of blogging. 😜 I should try to fix that!

So, I decided to participate in something called The Arista Challenge this year. For this, the organizer chooses a fairytale, and then everyone who participates writes a retelling of that fairytale. The stories are then released within a short period of time. This year was The Goose Girl…and do we ever have a range of stories!

First, we have The Handmaid’s Blood by Kendra E. Ardnek. Short and sweet, it’s part of her Once Upon a Twisted Time series.

Three drops of blood bind her to the princess’s will.

Next is Wind Charmer by Meredith Leigh Burton. It features a neurodivergent main character who must find her voice and hidden strength.

Felicity does not conform to her kingdom’s idea of a princess.

Have you ever considered an anime lit Goose Girl retelling? That’s just what Erudessa Gentian does with her short story: Friend or Faux, part of The Otaku Fairytales.

New school, new start…right?

Meagan Myhren-Bennett combined The Goose Girl with the Pied Piper for the first book in her The House of Sorah series, Arabella’s Song.

A song calls her to her destiny until a betrayal threatens her future.

Sarah Pennington continues her Daughters of Atirse series with Illusion’s Reign. And it has a magic cat. What more do you need to know? That, and I read the first book in the series (Song of the Selkies) that she wrote for last year’s Arista Challenge. I’m excited to read this one!

A transformed princess is determined to reclaim what’s hers – but can truth prevail when illusion wears the crown?

I haven’t read Beyond the Tales of Tricia Mingerink yet, but I’m excited to do so! She wrote the fourth and final book of that series for this challenge: Goose Princess: A Goose Girl & Wild Swans Retelling.

Before he can have peace, he has one last curse to face.

And last on the list is mine…Curse of Silence, book 3.5 in The Roumaterra Chronicles. We have new characters traveling between two new kingdoms in this one!

A princess with a magic handkerchief. A flirtatious baron’s son. The maid who turned their world upside down.

Have you read any yet? Plan to read them all? I’m excited for these books!