Twisted Tales: Hello Cruel Heart, What Was Once Mine and If the Shoe Fits

 According to experts, "Fairy tales are essential stories for childhood.  These stories are more than just happily ever after, they portray real moral lessons through characters and virtues shown in the stories.  They do not only captivate the imagination of young minds, but also enhance their creativity and reasoning skills." A popular new subject matter for young adult novels is the "twisted tale" where the author significantly changes the story line to recognizable tales. Hopefully most teenage readers come to these new stories with a knowledge of the original so that they can recognize the clever changes the author has made. Hello Cruel Heart by Maureen Johnson (Truly Devious series) gives readers insight into the formative years of Cruella de Vil from One Hundred and One Dalmatians. What Was Once Mine by Liz Braswell is the eleventh book in the Disney Twisted Tales series.  This one wonders what would happen if Rapunzel's mother drank a potion from the wrong flower? If the Shoe Fits by Julie Murphy (Dumplin') is a retelling of Cinderella that is a blend of the classic fairy tale and a reality TV show. 

In Hello Cruel Heart 16-year-old Estella dreams of being a fashion designer in 1960s London but spends most of her time designing trick clothes to use in heists she and her friends Horace and Jasper do to stay afloat.  When she has a chance encounter with trust funder twins Magda and Richard, they take her in and peddle her designs in exchange for accommodations and what she thinks is friendship. Her clothing designs are worn by their high society friends, as well as an up-and-coming rock band, whose lead guitarist becomes her boyfriend.  But when they tire of her and make plans to leave on vacation without her, her alter ego Cruella exacts revenge.  A vivid Swinging 60s setting and Estella's creative clothing designs add a colorful twist to the tale of a classic Disney villain. This is the prequel to the new live action film Cruella, starring Emma Stone, which continues the tale into the 1970s.

What Was Once Mine reimagines the Tangled version of Rapunzel with her mother drinking from the wrong flower. In this version the ailing pregnant queen drinks from the Moondrop flower rather than the Sundrop flower, giving Rapunzel silver hair and the ability to hurt rather than heal.  For everyone's safety she is locked in a tower and watched over by the evil Mother Gothel.  Rapunzel longs for freedom and to see the mysterious floating lights that appear on her birthday, but she is afraid of hurting people.  When the handsome outlaw Flynn Rider and his buddy Gina help her escape, the trio ends up investigating the secret of Rapunzel's hair, while Gothel and other nefarious people try to find them.  Although not vastly different from the original version of the story, this is an entertaining read, complete with a sympathetic princess and rogue friends, as well as devious villains, and a happily ever after. 

If the Shoe Fits, a retelling of Cinderella, finds Cindy, a plus-size shoe designer appearing on a reality dating show,  hoping to showcase her shoe designs and get a job. Cindy Woods, a recent fashion school graduate, is off to a nannying job, when her stepmother, a dating show TV exec, needs a fill-in for a cancellation on her show, "Before Midnight." Along with her two stepsisters, Cindy joins the two dozen girls hoping to win the hand of Henry Mackenzie, who is the heir to a fashion empire that is floundering.  Coincidentally, Cindy and Henry meet on the plane to LA and hit it off.  Expecting to be sent home fairly quickly, the witty likeable Cindy becomes an audience, as well as Henry's, favorite, and is surprised to last week after week.  As the show moves from one glamourous setting after another, Henry and Cindy find ways to be together off camera.  Assuming that Henry actually has the power to keep her on the show, Cindy ultimately realizes the producers are manipulating the show results and she may not get her romantic finale. Cindy's relationship with her supportive blended family, her aspirations as a shoe designer and her plus-size appearance are refreshing twists.  Although the book is being marketed for more mature readers, the  YA fans of the author's Dumplin' series will love her adult debut.  

New YA Mysteries: Two Can Keep a Secret, Serious Moonlight,The Vanishing Stair, and The Hummingbird Dagger

Mysteries are arguably the most popular genre in fiction. Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys have captivated readers for generations.  With summer just around the corner, I think it's a perfect time to recommend four new YA mysteries, complete with teen sleuths, for summertime escapist fun. In Two Can Keep a Secret by Karen McManus (One of Us is Lying) twins Ezra and Ellery solve a series of homecoming queen murders. Serious Moonlight by Jenn Bennett (Alex, Approximately) introduces mystery lover Birdie Lindberg, who teams up with an aspiring magician to  expose the devious activities of a reclusive mystery author. In The Vanishing Stair, the second installment in Maureen Johnson's (Shades of London) Truly Devious trilogy, mystery obsessed Stevie Bell continues to uncover clues to a triple murder at Ellingham Academy. The Hummingbird Dagger by Cindy Anstey  (Suitors and Sabotage) is a regency novel filled with romance and mystery, involving an amnesia plagued young woman who is the target of devious criminals.

In Two Can Keep a Secret twins Ellery and Ezra are staying with their grandmother in Echo Ridge, while their mother is in rehab.  Their mother's twin, a high school homecoming candidate, died there 17 years ago, the homecoming queen five years ago was murdered  and now threats against the homecoming court have again surfaced.  The twins are working at the Fright Farm, formerly known as Murderland, where the homecoming queen's corpse was found. Ellery, a true crime buff, is determined to solve the mysteries.  The story is told in alternating chapters from the perspectives of Ellery and Malcolm, the younger brother of a man suspected of the five-year-old murder. This fast paced mystery is filled with red herrings and shocking twists that will keep readers turning pages until the satisfying conclusion, that reveals not only the murderer's identity and motivation, but other town secrets as well.

Serious Moonlight introduces mystery-loving Birdie Lindberg, who finds herself working the graveyard shift at her new job at an historic Seattle hotel, with aspiring magician Daniel Aoki, after an awkward one night stand with him, which she initiated, but ultimately fled. Birdie, whose strict grandparents have kept her isolated from kids her own age, spends most of her free time hanging out at the Moonlight Diner, where she met Daniel, or with her free-spirited Aunt Mona. Daniel, hoping to break through Birdie's defensive behavior, suggests they investigate whether a guest holding secret meetings at the hotel is actually Raymond Darke, a reclusive bestselling local mystery author.  As Birdie begins to blossom, she and Daniel rekindle their initial attraction while sharing their individual vulnerabilities with each other.  He struggles with depression after an accident with a magic trick leaves him deaf in one ear, and she worries that she suffers from narcolepsy, which is especially troublesome for someone who works the night shift. The mystery is compelling, with each chapter opening with a quote from a famous literary sleuth, but it is the developing relationship between these sensitive teens that is truly memorable.

The Vanishing Stair, the second installment in the Truly Devious mystery trilogy, finds true-crime obsessed Stevie Bell, continuing to investigate an unsolved kidnapping and triple murder that rocked her school, Ellingham Academy, in 1936. After a classmate's murder at the academy, her parents make her come home, but then allow her to return at the urging of their employer Senator Edward King.  When she returns, she resumes a relationship with his rebellious son David, who initially lied about his identity. Unbeknownst to him she agreed to keep tabs on him for his father in exchange for her return. Hired by an academic to help research details for her upcoming book on the legendary murders, Stevie uncovers the answers to several of the long-standing riddles of the case.  The story, alternating between the past and present, resolves several elements of the mystery yet others go unsolved, leaving readers anxious for the final installment, The Hand on the Wall, coming out in January 2020.

As The Hummingbird Dagger opens, a near-fatal carriage accident near London in 1833 leaves a young woman with amnesia and in the care of young Lord James Ellerby of Hardwick Manor.  Calling herself Beth, the girl struggles to regain her memory and is terrified by a recurring nightmare of a hummingbird with blood dripping from its steel beak.  James and his sister Caroline, who were suspicious of Beth's shifty carriage companions and insist she recuperate at their home, try to help her uncover her identity, even as frightening occurrences continue to take place on and around the manor.  A romance between James and Beth slowly evolves as clues to the mystery begin to help Beth reclaim her past and defy those plotting against her. Those readers, who love historical fiction filled with intrigue and suspense, will enjoy this latest book from Cindy Anstey, a master of the YA Regency Novel.