Once Upon a Retelling

I adore fairytale retellings. I love the classics, the mashups, and lately I have been enjoying the ones that flip the script and switch up the male and female roles. Whatever the retelling, I eat them up—yum yum—and then go right back for seconds.

Beauty and the Beast has always been one of my favorites. I love everything about it: the fated love, the forced proximity, the slow burn. Swoon. The idea of falling in love despite outward appearances gives me all the feels. If a story even hints at that dynamic, I’m in.

When I sat down about a year ago to write a closed-door Regency romance of my own, A Rose for Braemore (still a work in progress—nearly completed) became my own Beauty and the Beast retelling. It follows a scarred, reclusive earl and a physician’s daughter who find themselves in a marriage of convenience and surrounded by haunting gothic elements at his family’s estate. As their trust deepens, they must discover whether love can truly heal old wounds and defy society’s expectations.

Fairytale retellings are such a delight to read—and honestly, this one has been an absolute joy to write.

Retelling a beloved fairytale isn’t limiting, and it doesn’t have to be at all cliché. You start with a story you already know and love from beginning to end. Treat it as a rough blueprint or a familiar mold you can twist, reshape, and reimagine however you want. You have complete creative license with a built‑in emotional arc. The established storyline gives you a direction that keeps the ideas flowing while you make it your own.

Retellings are timeless for a reason. These tales have been told thousands of times, across cultures and centuries, yet they still resonate. They reveal so much about humanity—our capacity for change, growth, love, and hope. These are the things we keep coming back to time and time again.