Received this on NetGalley for review.

The idea of this is so amazing! But I will say upfront that I was extremely disappointed by the use of the word queer in the title because literally all the stories are about persons who seem to identify as gay. There were no bisexuals or pansexuals or asexuals or trans* persons, all of who fall under the category of queer. It's just really annoying when people act like "queer" only refers to gay persons and that's what this book does. Honestly, I don't think saying "gay and lesbian" fairy tales would reduce the readership at all.

That aside, most of the stories were really interesting.

There was "Beanstalk," which ended up being a really cute lesbian retelling of "Jack and the Beanstalk". The idea was quite innovative and read well.

"The Princess and the Frog," which comes after the story of the same name, is very funny and light-hearted and adorable (once one gets past the idea that the evil character seems to be East Asian based which has a slightly uncomfortable racist feeling attached.)

"Heartless" was also quite great. Based on "The Snow Queen," it was somehow both sad but also happy? Anyway, it was quite good.

Also entertaining were "The Snow King" and "Sneewitchen."

It's probably not my immediate recommendation for an anthology, but I would recommend it if someone was starved for gay and lesbian fairy tales.
( )

* The Vain Prince - Andrew J. Peters
** Beanstalk - Clifford Henderson
SWF seeks FGM - Allison Wonderland
A Hero in Hot Pink Boots - J. Leigh Bailey
*** Red - Andi Marquette
The Beanstalk Revisited - Rob Rosen
*** Heartless - Veronica Wilde
The Ivy and the Rose - Juliann Rich
Goldie and the Three Bears - Sasha Payne
Final Escape - Stacia Seaman
Sneewittchen (Snow White) E.J. Gahagan
The Red Shoes - Alex Stitt
The Princess and the Frog - Barbara Davies
The Snow King - Rhidian Brenig Jones
Riding Red - Victoria Oldham
Bad Girls - Jane Fletcher and Joey Bass

DNF, no rating.
The first story was rife with misused words and bad grammar. In addition, on a personal level, I didn't care for the solution to the story's dilemma. And then there was the abruptly inserted and awkwardly-written sex scene...

The second story didn't win me over either - it's an overly didactic allegory. Simplistic politics, with a dash of insta-"love."

I love fairytale retellings, and am open to all flavors of sensuality... but I'm thinking that this isn't the volume for me. (Especially since anthologies often open with their strongest selections...)

On to the next book...

Edit... based on another review, I went ahead and read Heartless - Veronica Wilde. OK, this one is pretty sexy. It works. (And is much more what I was expecting from this volume...) It's a contemporary, erotic S&M retelling of 'The Snow Queen,' which retains a supernatural element.

And..OK, last one. Red - Andi Marquette - also recommended by another review. A retelling of Red Riding Hood where a young woman seeks to protect her ailing werewolf lover. The allegory involving anti-werewolf bias actually works very well, but although the story was a fairly solid selection, with a standard fantasy feel, it didn't quite convince me to go on and read the rest of the collection...

Few things about this book.

1. It is obviously a collection of retold classic fairy tales with a queer twist.

2. Yes buddy, You heard me right! With a queer twist. So don't expect to see Sleeping Beauty waiting for handsome Prince Charming to rescue.

3. Mature scenes are visible in some stories. Yeah, there's a lot. So if you're a kiddo thinking that this is your fairy tale, I'm commanding you right now to close your eyes and go back to your home and watch some disney cartoons instead.

Okay. This compilation is good. I mean, it gives us a lot of different variety of a short story in just a single book. Some stories were serious. Some were funny. Some were sad. Some were dark. And some were erotica. But not all the stories here were okay. Few were seriously dull. And boring. I had quite high expection with this book because the premise was really interesting. But I didn't get the similarity of some retold stories to the original one. It somehow felt forced. Because the mature scenes became more prominent than the story itself. But some had really good and interesting version. So here's my favorite:

1. Red by Andi Marquette (5 stars)
- I really really loved this version. The likeness to the original story was still there but with more exciting plot. The characters were lesbians, yet reading it wasn't awkward. And I'd love to read more from this author.

2. The Vain Prince by Andrew J. Peters (4 stars)
- I liked the dark part of the story but the ending was a meh.

3. The Snow King by Rhidian Brenig Jones (3.5 stars)
- Everything was beautiful except the freaking seed part.

But I really liked this compilation and you would also like this too. Recommend! ( )

Classic fairy tales and fables with a Queer twist. Yes, yes, and more yes.

The first story was 'The Vain Prince' which is based on 'The Frog Prince'. I don't know the original fairy tale so I couldn't compare it, but overall I liked the story.

The second story was 'Beanstalk' based on --well-- needless to say, Jack and the Beanstalk. I liked it a lot. It was a different take on the story than I was expecting, but even so, it definitely worked.

The third story was 'SWF seeks FGM', and it was based on 'Cinderella'. It was from the point of view of the wicked stepmother, and was a bit short but definitely sweet little story.

The fourth story was 'A Hero in Hot Pink Boots' based on 'Alice in Wonderland'. I'll admit, I only barely remember reading Alice in Wonderland when I was younger, and so I didn't like this story quite as much as some of the others, but, the may have mostly been on me. And, even so, the story definitely kept my attention.

The fifth story, called 'Red', was, unsurprisingly based on 'Little Red Riding Hood'. It was one of my favorites in the book. It took Red and her Hood in a different and cool direction.

The sixth story, 'The Beanstalk Revisited' was another story based on 'Jack and the Beanstalk', although this one was definitely different than the first one. It wasn't quite as fractured as the first one. It was more like the original story with a smaller twist.

The seventh story, 'Heartless' was based on 'The Snow Queen'. I was wondering how this would turn out. There has been a ton of focus on 'The Snow Queen' (thanks to Disney's Frozen), and not always in a fairy tale faithful sorta way, and this was a cool Snow Queen story based on the actual story and not any other media representations.

The eighth story, 'The Ivy and the Rose', was based on 'Little Briar Rose'. It was another of my favorites in the book. Other than the main character's gender the story wasn't changed drastically, just here and there. It was told really, really well, and I thought it was one of the most fun reads in the collection.

The ninth story was 'Goldie and the Three Bears' based on the story of almost the same name. It was definitely not at all what I was expecting, but, in the end, it was indeed just right.

The tenth story was 'Final Escape' based on 'Little Match Girl', and was sad and yet also immensely touching as well.

The eleventh story was 'Sneewittchen' based on 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarves'. And was a super cute story.

The twelfth story was 'The Red Shoes' based on the story of the same name. It was okay, but wasn't in my top ten in this collection.

The thirteenth story was 'The Princess and the Frog' based on the story of the same name. It was basically the same story as the original fairy tale (I believe, that also isn't one of the fairy tales that I've read recently). And I really liked it a lot.

The fourteenth story was 'The Snow King' another story based on 'The Snow Queen', although I'm pretty sure that the two stories couldn't have been more different. I thought that this story was one of the most faithful version of The Snow Queen that I've seen/read in quite a while (well, aside from the genders in the story and the fact that this version had quite a bit more sex in it).

The fifteenth story was 'Riding Red', another story based on 'Little Red Riding Hood'. It was -- wow-- definitely, let's go with, an intense story. And I think that although this and the other Little Red Riding Hood story were my two favorites in the collection, I liked this one just a teensy tiny bit better.

The sixteenth and final story in the collection was 'Bad Girls' and based on both 'Sleeping Beauty' and 'Snow White'. IT was the shortest story in the collection I think, but, it was also hilariously awesome for sure.

It was a mostly enjoyable collection of short stories. Some were better than others, but, over all, a dozen plus stories by great authors with very cool alternative takes on these well known fairy tales.

I got this advanced galley through Netgalley on behalf of Bold Strokes Books. ( )