The Borrowed Rose: Beauty and the Beast Book Recommendations and Retellings

Alert!   Fun pop-culture trend for 2026:  gothic romance and dark fantasy.  Princesses, I'm in.   📣 PSA:  As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. I'm on the hunt, far and wide, for expected 2026 book releases with a Beauty and the Beast vibe.  So far, I'm seeing three and I'm excited about each. New Beauty and the Beast Books Set for Release in 2026 The Curse of the Wretched  - S. Usher Evans This fractured fairytale features a gender swap with a witchy Shadow Mommy (that's a thing now?)!!  Ok, we'll need to check this out!  The  Cursed of the Wretched  is set to release September 2026.  Anticipation! Pre-purchase available at Amazon  here . The Last Thorn - Talia Hibbert This is all I needed to be interested:  " a cursed hero must form a soul bond with his enemy's exiled daughter – or lose himself entirely to the monster he hides inside."  ( Reference here .)  With a diverse set of c...

Fellow princesses, princes and other self-ordained royalty, I'm thrilled for the new year!  It's my favorite time of year - that feeling of new beginnings and new thoughts for the year is exciting! Word of the Year Every year I chose a theme word as an exercise to focus my intention and check-in throughout the year. In 2025 my word was WONDER.  2025 was a heady year of change and blessings.  More than I deserve and more than I expected.  We changed jobs, moved cities, moved homes, lost our fur kid, reconnected with friends, traveled to new destinations and overall, the year was wonderous (with the exception of losing our girl, though we knew it was coming.  Can you ever be ready for that?).  My intention was to appreciate the wonder each day - with new eyes, fresh appreciation to the Creator of the universe, and overall rather, be in awe.  It's been great.  I'm in awe and endeavor to stay in awe. For 2026, I've settled on ENJOY.  I started wi...