#WickedlyEverAfter #NetGalley
⭐⭐

A collection of stories, retelling of classic fairy tales as well as some original work. All the stories are about villans. Since each story has a different author, it only seems fair to list them separately. As with all anthologies, some stories were better than others. Overall it wasn't a strong collection, but it was fairly short and kept to the fantasy/fairy tale theme pretty closely. I would say that for a collection of stories about villans, there was not a lot of conflict. A lot of the vilanny was a misunderstanding or misdirection.

A Lover’s Tale, by Divya Sood

Original story. Starts off as a story within a story, but we never go back to the original, so I guess it was a disclaimer? IDK. Also, it's so short that there is nothing believable about the relationship described.

Sea and Hearth, by Julie Behrens

A man steals a selkie pelt in hopes of getting a wife. Fun twist, he steals a male selkie pelt and gets himself a husband. Because magic! Just go with it.

The story (outside of the forced marriage bit) is pretty sweet with Tom and Bay creating a life together and a true partnership. There is some added adventure with Tom and Bay trying to find Bay's stolen selkie daughter and save her from her human husband.

Breadcrumbs, by M. Reed

Hansel and Gretel reimagined. I love that the kids are the villans. Basically they trash the "witches" house. The story quickly becomes a romance between Nia, the witch (who's not a witch) and Amy, a human looking for the children. Not sure why she's looking for these kids, but it doesn't end up being important.

This one was cute and funny. I enjoyed it, but wish it was longer. The end was the begining of a whole new story, and one which was more interesting than Hansel and Gretel.

The Prince Without a Throne, by Sara Marks

I really liked this one... It's beauty and the beast, but modernized. The modern parts (lawsuits, pot, school bullies, etc) was a little out of place with all the magic, but did not detract from the story. It was long enough to get a sense of the characters and tell the whole story. Ending was great.

Part of Her World, by Rachel Kenley

The little mermaid, but Ariel & Ursula are a couple. I can't say much more without spoiling the whole thing. This was a good one. I would have liked more conversation as Ursula is a favorite of mine.

This lack may be due to the short story format - not a lot of time/space to show, plenty to tell.

Rumpled, by Trevann Rogers

This was ok. Modern retelling of Rumplestiltskin.


Stygian Nights, by Susan Hawes

This story is about the Greek god of the underworld, Hades. It was funny and had a good flow. Some repetitive phrases which seemed like an editing oversight, but I did enjoy this. And yes, I did read this in James Woods' voice.

Kink Midas, by Barbra Campbell

Modern King Midas... Looking for a loophole in his deal with Dionysus. His housekeeper/theif helps him in this and overcoming his loneliness. Another good one.

Seeing Red, by Rachel Kenley

Red Riding Hood is trolling for a wolfman. I liked the story, as it had a very modern Red wanting to live on her own and being independent.

Buuuut there are elements which i find problematic... *SPOILERS* the ol' saving women from rape proves love trope, subsequent murder (everyone is ok with this), and the sexual naievete only cured by wolfman. Some eyerolls were necessary.

Grendel’s Love, by Alice Kay

So the monster from Beowolf gets a love story. Awwww.... Except for all the murder. It's not super detailed, but there's a lot of it. I did not really connect with this one either. A lot of the same problematic nonsense as the prior one, but with less charm. Not a great way to end this anthology, TBH. Aaand there were some obvious proofreading errors.

I received a copy of this book for a fair and honest review. I love books with a lot of shorter stories. I got sweeped away in the romance and sweetness of these stories. I mean there is not all happiness and all, but most story that have Wickedly in the title are just a little strange. I am going to look into more by all of these authors and see what I can find.

I received an advanced reader's copy of Wickedly Ever After (An Anthology of Retold Tales) by Rachel Kenley from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was the first book that I have read by Rachel Kenley and I was pleasantly surprised to find an enjoyable new author to follow.

Overall, I enjoyed this novel and I found it to be very well written. Each story in the anthology brilliantly retold a fairytale or myth in an updated way and with love found at the end. I liked the well-crafted characters and the plot of each story, but I think the best part of this novel was that "voice" of each story seemed so different than the one before. It really was six different stories in one novel! :)

All in all, a fun read!

Declined to review. This was a DNF for me. I got to about halfway through and couldn't get through any more. Unfortunately, I just found the stories to not be able to hold my attention. It was a struggle for me from the second story on.

I'm not posting this review on my blog, because I don't like to post reviews under 3 stars, as my goal is to share books that I would recommend not to speak badly of things that I didn't like personally.

Thank you for the opportunity,
Christine Pogon

**Disclaimer: I received an advance review copy from NetGalley for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.**

"Wickedly Ever After" is an anthology of various fairy tales, myth, and folklore stories. The twist is that the villains are the centerpiece of each story with their own "happy ending."

The concept of this anthology is what piqued my interest, but the stories themselves are simply-written and read like middle-grade fanfiction. For example, "Sea and Hearth" was my favorite story of this collection - a widowed man who gets more than he bargained for when he takes a selkie's skin during a bathing session. The way the story develop was the opposite of what I expected, and the "villain" grows and learns a valuable lesson.

<b>SOME THINGS I LIKED - SOME THINGS I DIDN'T</b>

<b>Actual rating: 2.5⭐ </b>

Not a bad book by any means, just not one, that is going to leave a lasting impression on me in any way. It's always strange to review anthologies, because some stories work for you and others might not. In this anthology there were more stories that <i>didn't</i> than there were stories that <i>did</i> work, sadly. Also, this was branded as an anthology where the villains finally got their happy ending - however, there were some stories were I didn't even know who was the villain... So no, this wasn't a spectacular book in any way. But it was somewhat entertaining and worth killing a couple of hours with.

Behind the beautiful cover, this is a collection of tales, spun from the "villain's" perspectives that allows the reader to see that not everything is as it first appears, and that sometimes the bad guy is the hero of their own story. Inspired by mythology, folk and fairy tales, a gifted group of writers have come together to create a collection that will have something to suit most tastes, though a word of caution, this book is definitely not aimed at a younger audience.
Each of the stories had something a little different to offer, and while I enjoyed all of them there were a couple of stand outs that I loved.. Sea and Hearth by Julie Behrens is an amusing tale of a man who gets more than he bargained for when he steals a selkie skin so he can have a seal wife and as well as being the funniest story in the collection it has one of the most beautiful endings. Breadcrumbs by M Reed is a great take on the story of Hansel and Gretel and the editor, Rachel Kenley contributes a wonderful take on Little Red Riding Hood involving shape shifting wolves and the women who love them. Some of the stories focus on romantic love, others veer more towards erotica, but all of them show that some villains deserve , and get, a happy ending too.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.