The Frog Prince by Jean Johnson - 3
Erotic twist on the fairy tale, different feel from a romance even with HEA, harder to relate to characters

The Courtship of Wali Daad by Jean Johnson - 5
Wonderful tale, good life, good people and hearts
( )

Fun stories. They are quite explicit, but not more so than much of the romance I read - including other books by Jean Johnson! I want to find the original version of The Courtship of Wali Daad, though I suspect the only difference is the final gifts. Most of the other stories were pretty different from the originals - The Princess on the Glass Hill, Sleeping Beauty, and Beauty and the Beast were firmly SF (and the latter two were in the same universe, one I haven't encountered before. Genetic manipulation and rebellion of those manipulated). Snow White was set in her Sons of Destiny universe - and that story must have been written pretty soon after the original series, because her foreword talks about it as the first time she's come back to that world. There are now quite a few other books set there (most of which I've read and enjoyed). And several of the stories were swapped - gender or otherwise - giving a different angle on the classic tale. I liked the way there were links between the stories, too - they were mentioned as being read or told in the other stories. The sex was pretty well incorporated into the stories, not bolted on too visibly. Very nice. ( )

What a treat! I rarely read an erotic story or a fairy tale, so this was quite outside my normal reading. I don't even know why or how I wound up with it on my ereader, but I'm glad I did.

The fairy tales are:
The Frog Prince
The Courtship of Wali Daad
The Pricess on the Glass Hill
Snow White & the Seven Dwarves
Sleeping Beauty
Beauty & the Beast
Puss-in-Boots
The King Who Heard A Joke

The settings varied with some being rather traditional fairy tale settings, others were SF stories & some were set in universes that the author has apparently written books about. She's an author worth reading, too. I plan to check out some of her other books.

I have to admit skimming through the sex in most cases, although in a couple of cases, it really made the point of the stories. The first & last were particularly good examples of that.

Sometimes turning an odd corner is well worth it!

( )

I have learnt a ruthless lesson! Never procure anything that screams EROTICA while I am PMSing. It’s reminiscent of waking up next to your imbalanced ex-boyfriend after a night of drunken bliss fancying that you would have rather fucked a maggot.




Crammed with inane foreplay banter and oodles of exasperating vanilla sexual antics, it made the antiquarian Grimm brothers seem more arousing.
( )

This collection of stories consists of 8 fairytale spinoffs. The collection is best read in order because each one refers to the other. Overall, I think this was a fun collection. Even though I read erotica, I’m typically not into fairy tale spinoffs but my GR friend recommended this book so I went for it. For the most part these tales are witty and fun. Some of the tales take place in a fantasy world, others are sci-fi and others are set in worlds the author has previous books for. I haven’t read anything else by Jean Johnson, so I’m not familiar with the worlds she created, but author notes were included before each tale. The author notes were great in explaining their origin and why the author chose to do a spin off on each fairy tale.

The Frog Prince: This one was a fun intro. I thought it was hilarious and witty.

The Courtship of Wali Daad: I’m not sure what fairytale this one is based on, but this story was my favorite out of the entire collection. I loved the characters and it again there was a lot of wit. Even if you don’t read the entire collection I highly recommend this one.

The Princess on the Glass Hill: Here is where things start to turn sci-fi. I admit I’m not a big fan of sci-fi, so I’m biased. The story was just okay for me. Aside from the sci-fi factor the hero in this one is a womanizer and I didn’t care for the insta-love that happens in the end.

Snow White & the Seven Dwarves : Um, wow. This one takes place in an underwater world the author had previously wrote about. I thought the world was interesting and I think I want to read whatever book this world is based on and maybe try to go live there. ;-)

Sleeping Beauty: This one takes place in a sci-fi world. I wasn’t too crazy about this one. The hero is much older than the heroine even though he doesn’t look that old, but still. Again, there was an insta-love thing happening and I don’t know…it just didn’t really work for me.

Beauty & the Beast: Gah! This one wanted me to take out the scissors, razor and wax. The beast in this one is a genetically modified hairy beast that exhibits human qualities. He, of course, falls for a human and has to deal with the repercussions of his decision. I did like how the author outlined the consequences and had the characters deal with the society they live in. The problem for me was the naughty bits. All that fur! *shudder*

Puss-in-Boots: This has a bit of info dumping in the beginning, but once I got passed that it was enjoyable enough.

The King Heard a Joke: This was another one I’m not sure what fairytale it was based on. It started off okay, but then it became pretty annoying. Part of it was because the wife was so bloody stubborn and bratty. Then came the sex part. Now, I have nothing against BDSM but the way this was handled was absolutely ridiculous. I understand it’s a fairytale, but it just didn’t make sense particularly with the wife’s personality.
( )