Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George

Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow is based on one of my all-time favorite fairy tales. If you guessed East of the Sun, West of the Moon, you are correct. I mention that it's my favorite because it takes very little for an author to draw me into this tale in a retelling, so take my exuberant praise with a grain of salt if you're not fond of the Norwegian tale.

Ms. George starts her story with a fairly traditional Norwegian family. Her first variant is that the main character has no name, as the mother is so tired of having children she can't be bothered to name her youngest daughter. So the girl -- or pika, or lass -- is mostly left to her own devices, growing up.

When she finds and frees a lucky white reindeer, she is gifted not only with a name, but with the ability to understand animals. Through this skill she is able to make something of herself and for her family, helping those with problem animals. And she gains her best friend, a wolf-pup named Rollo. As you can imagine, when a polar bear comes to call on her family, understanding animals comes in handy.

This one was really a gimme for me. I enjoyed the Lass's exploration of the ice palace, and her curiosity and endless questions drew out my curiosity and endless questions. Ms. George's variations served the story, which still had all the elements of the tale that I love. If you're a fan of this tale, be sure to pick this one up.

Also check out the author's website for her other fairy tale related books.

Enchanted: Erotic Bedtime Stories for Women by Nancy Madore

I love looking at the amazon.com reviews for sexy books. I always read all the one star reviews because it's fascinating to me to contrast the ones who thought the book was too sexy with the ones who thought it wasn't sexy enough....

But anyway. Nancy Madore's Enchanted: Erotic Bedtime Stories for Women is the first in a series of short story collections, focusing on fairy tales. The second book seems to mainly draw from nursery rhymes, the third from a more general fantasy background. The stories are gently erotic--you won't find anything harshly graphic in this collection.

The collection includes these stories:

Beauty and the Beast

Bluebeard

Cat and Mouse

Cinderella

East of the Sun and West of the Moon

Goldilocks and the Three Barons

Mirror on the Wall

Mrs. Fox

Snow White in the Woods

The Empress' New Clothes

The Goose Girl

The Sheep in Wolves' Clothing

The Ugly Duckling

I quite enjoyed the twists on Beauty and the Beast and The Goose Girl. The rest of the stories I found less memorable; some were more clever than others.

Ice by Sarah Beth Durst

Ice, by Sarah Beth Durst is a retelling of one of my favorite fairy tales: East of the Sun, West of the Moon. In this version, Cassie is a young woman working with her father in an arctic research station near the North Pole. She's grown up hearing the fairy tale of how her mother was the North Wind's daughter, and when she fell in love, the Polar Bear King tried to hide her from the North Wind. When the Wind found her, he whisked her away to the land of the trolls.

Now Cassie's understanding is that this is a stand-in story for her mother's death, until one day she meets an enormous polar bear, and her understanding of the way the world works, and her own place in it, will be put to the test.

It took me a little while to get into Cassie's super-scientific mindset, but when I did, I unreservedly loved this book. Although it could easily be aimed at middle-level readers, there is enough depth of characters and plot to appeal to more mature readers, as well. I also really loved Durst's reinterpretation of the trolls and their place in the story (as someone who enjoys more ambiguous "bad guys"). I only wished for another chapter or two at the end! It was a 2009 Andre Norton Award finalist, as well, if my review isn't enough to convince you!

Read more about Sarah Beth Durst and her other fairy tale books at her website.