This anthology of short stories introduces readers to 16 outside-the-box retellings of the Rapunzel fairy tale. No matter what your favorite genre may be — fantasy, mystery, contemporary, horror, or sci-fi — there’s sure to be a story here for everyone.
The Royal Treatment, by Pam Halter
Rapunzel’s determined to start her own hair salon. But what will she do when her hair expertise brings in hard-to-work-with clients like Medusa and the Yeti?
Rated: None.
A Baker’s Guide to Fortune and Folly, by Rachel Dib
It all started with a dare. While the baker may not be a great architect (He may have forgotten a door, but at least it has a window!), his tower proves he’s still able to make something other than baked goods. And hey, its flaws didn’t stop that witch from wanting to move in. However, years later, trouble brews when his son professes his love for a fair maiden who has been locked away in that tower, and it’s up to the baker to set things right.
Rated: None.
Rapun Zel, by Michelle Houston
Rapun Zel is a werewolf, but not in the traditional sense. She’s determined to turn her hair growth curse into a gift — one that will give her the means to create her own business.
Rated: None.
The Lost Princess, by Kaitlyn Emery
Three sisters are trapped in a tower, and it’s up to the eldest girl to earn their freedom by tricking the witch who holds them all captive.
Rated: Mild, for some peril.
Operation Breakout, by Stoney M. Setzer
Thanks to an evil organization, test subject Sixty-One has a superpower … and also a disability. He’s blind. When the inmates’ breakout plan goes awry, Sixty-One is left wandering alone and lost — until he hears the voice of a girl in need of help.
Rated: Mild, for violence and an explosion which causes several deaths and injury.
Blood Gold, by Etta-Tamara Wilson
A farmer revered for her sweet lettuces receives a special vegetable order from the lady of the castle, as well as an invite to tour the castle grounds. However, the lady seems interested in more than just the farmer’s produce, and all too soon their negotiations turn deadly.
Rated: Mild, for vague references of torture and death.
Down the Fire Escape, by Kathleen Bird
Day after day, Annaliese watches a handsome, blind stranger pass beneath her window. She dreams of speaking to him and learning his name, but her severe anxiety and her helicopter mother keep her tied to her apartment. However, when she witnesses her handsome stranger being mugged one day as he passes on the street below, Annaliese knows she’ll have to find a way to break from her shell and her mother’s countless rules and help him.
Rated: None.
Tower to Tower, by Michelle L. Levigne
When Zella is threatened with an eviction notice, she’ll have to find a way to trick Prince Rumpton in order to keep the tower’s wig business running.
Rated: None.
The Safe Tower, by Beka Gremikova
Zeke was fleeing to a faraway continent rumored to be free of the plague that turned many of his friends into man-eating zombies when he discovered a girl living in a thorn-covered tower. Kaya has been trapped in the tower for years with her overprotective neighbor, who seems intent on keeping her safe no matter the cost. But is living in safe isolation worth losing the opportunity Zeke offers — a chance at a happily-every-after free of the plague?
Rated: Mild, for violence and some graphic scenes fighting zombies. There are three uses of mild language. Characters kiss.
Starchild, by Abigail Falanga
For years, Zell has lived alone on a deserted ship with just her Goth-L drone for company. She always naively believed she’d been sent away from the mother ship to escape a disastrous life-threatening incident, but when she makes contact with a space patroller, she begins to unravel the truth of what really happened that day she was sent away.
Rated: Mild, for danger and peril.
Deserted, by Cortney Manning
Persinette wakes in the desert with no memory of who she is or how she got there. As time goes on and she slowly uncovers the truth, she remembers the prince who rescued her, and she realizes she’ll have to face her past if she hopes to rescue him in return.
Rated: Mild, for some violence, injury and peril.
Fairy Cursed, by Lindsi McIntyre
When a girl is discovered with strands of actual gold in her hair, she attracts the attention of unscrupulous men interested only in keeping her captive to use for their own ends. But she won’t be captive for long. Because her older sister has come to rescue her.
Rated: None.
The Princess of Callanway Broch, by Meaghan Elizabeth Ward
“Callanway’s secrets are ours to keep.” For years, that saying echoed like a promise from neighbor to dockworker in Rhapona’s remote coastal village. But when a dark stranger arrives one chilly spring and starts asking questions, the town’s long-kept secrets begin to unravel — secrets that involve Rhapona, her mother, and the abandoned broch where they live.
Rated: Mild. For general peril and mention of a family’s murder.
The Dragon-Keep’s Servant, by Michaela Bush
With the help of a stranger, a girl hatches a plan to escape her captor’s tower and the deadly fate that comes with her job.
Rated: Mild, for the vague threat of death.
Ocean Shackles, by Cassandra Hamm
When confronted by a friend in the hidden ocean cavern that has become her prison, a girl begins to see her lover for the villain that he truly is.
Rated: Mild, for fantasy violence and the topic of domestic abuse.
The Tower, by Deborah Cullins Smith
Rapunzel themes are worked into a none-too-subtle allegorical story when a tourist explores the Tower of London and receives a series of frightful and graphic visions of the tower’s past inhabitants. With the help of strangers, she learns to face the visions and find the courage to rescue herself from a prison of her own making.
Rated: Moderate, for gruesome, sometimes graphic, historical scenes relived (from William Wallace’s demise, Anne Bolyn’s captivity, and the murder of two children).
Overall Rating: Moderate.
