Finding Aurora (story 6) was the story I was interested in, as I have read from Rebecca Langdan before. There were lots of plot twists within this Sleeping Beauty retelling and I really enjoyed it. Just for this I'm glad I requested the book. Some of the other stories were also enjoyable but this anthology just didn't quite hit.

With 8 short stories in Once Upon a Rainbow, Volume 2, all by different authors, there was a huge opportunity to see some diversity. Ironically this didn't happen. All of the stories are a take on a fairy tale (of sorts) with LGBTQ+ romances. One would think that in a collection of stories meant to help bring down barriers the writers could at least all agree not to use the same stories over and over again. Honestly I'd had enough of Cinderella by story 3 never mind by story 8. Almost all of the stories relied heavily on Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty fairy tales in some way, shape or form.

The Stories
The first three stories are meh at best. The second story, Snow Fox, was cute but so short there was no time to really get into this Snow White re-telling.
Thankfully by story four, Shattered Glass, there was marked improvement. This tale must be based on a fairy tale I am not familiar with, or it was so loosely based on one that I missed it. However Lina Langley has a lovely writing style, and with a slightly longer story than most in this anthology; I found this story by Langley to be a much better experience than the three before.
The last 3 stories were quite strong. Were I compiling this edition I would have moved one of them to the opening story spot. A strong start to an anthology tends to keep readers carrying on through the weaker stories.

Story 6 - Finding Aurora by Rebecca Langdan
This story has lots of little twists and turns during it's retelling of Sleeping Beauty. I found it to be clever, amusing and overall an adorable little story. Even if the ending is 'conveniently' resolved. I especially liked the twist on a dragon guarding the princess. This story is definitely worth a read.

Story 7 - Master Thief by Sita Bethel
This is, easily, the steamiest of the stories by far. It has a lot of erotica in it between two boys. Our thief character is quite clever and manages to resolve all the 'challenges' set forth for him in a very unique way. I didn't love that this was a very one sided romance, until the very end. While our characters are divided by class (typical of a fairy tale), this one seemed to feel one step too far to me. I didn't like that one boy was putting in all the effort while the other one sat back and (more or less) laughed. A happy ending (of course) but I feel like 5-10 years down the road that division would play out in a less than happy way. Although I could just be too practical for this story. (lol)

Story 8 - True Love Curse by Tray Ellis
I may be biased, but I like this one best if only for it's representation of older women who are looking for companionship. Yes there are two boys who find 'true love' (of a sort) but I have to say that I was far more interested in the parallel story of our two widowed women. It would be very cool to see this story expanded on, or the concept taken to a full length novel. I think, in literature, we don't explore the 'older lady' relationship dynamics the way we should. Maybe because most authors aren't old enough to have experienced them? All I know is that I think it's truly gorgeous for people to find love, comfort or companionship later in life once their prior loves or partners have passed (regardless of what sex that new person may be).

Overall
This anthology is worth it as a light read if you want something easy. I would dub it a 'beach' read. Easy to read in a lazy way and with 8 stories of different lengths you can plan out when to read what (if you don't want to read in order).
That said, I won't be rushing out to get novels from any of these authors just yet. Each of them has room to grow (some more than others). Our last three writers should definitely be on the 'future radar' list as with a solid editor I believe they could improve enough to be worthwhile authors.
I would however read a future anthology that takes fairy tales and twists them into LGBTQ+ scenarios. I really did enjoy the cleverness of many of the stories and will be watching for volume 3 to come out in this clever little series.

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

Really only 2 stories I was interested in, and (sadly) neither worked for me. Snow Fox was rather silly, with no real drama, and no chance to explore the characters, while At Her Service just rubbed me the wrong way, feeling rather cruel.

This was a nice anthology but was at times left unimpressed by quite a few of the stories. Coming Home, Deathless and Finding Aurora were my personal favorites and I found them to be cute and very charming. The True love Curse was well done as well and I wish the romance had been developed more as the fairytale its based on is one of my favorites
At Her Service left me feeling a bit uncomfortable and questioning about the relationship.

The other stories had good ideas and world building but ultimately didnt work for me but its always nice when there are more fairytale stories in the world

The Stories Overall

None of the stories blew me away, but a couple stood out as more enjoyable and more memorable than others -- Deathless, Coming Home and Finding Aurora were my top three. I didn't hate the any of the other five stories but they were on the lower end of the rating scale.

[Note: The numbers below are according to my own notes, these may not be as accurate as they could be, and I'll happily take correction.]

Queer Representation

The blurb says "across the LGBTQIA+ spectrum" but Once Upon a Rainbow largely focuses on the L and the G. There were only two aro and/or ace characters (in Finding Aurora and The True Love Curse) and the sexuality of both were given only a minor mention. There was only one character who was either bi or pan (also in Finding Aurora) and only one trans character (in Snow Fox). There were no non-binary characters or any use of gender-neutral pronouns.

Intersectionality

Again, I felt Once Upon a Rainbow fell down here. As well as feeling very cis, it also felt very white, able-bodied and neurotypical. (By my count) there was one PoC whose race was explicitly mentioned -- the Snow White in Snow Fox is Black. (I think) the protagonists in Finding Aurora were Middle Eastern but it wasn't explicitly stated. There were no characters with mental illness and the only one (at a push) disabled/ chronically ill character (in The True Love Curse), but the illness is cured when the curse is lifted.

This review will be posted on Goodreads and my blog, Foxes and Fairy Tales, on Sunday 13 May.

I was a little underwhelmed with this volume of fairy tale retellings. I loved the first group of stories so much that I was a little disappointed. None of the stories stood out to me. They were a decent grouping and they represented a large spectrum of sexualities, genders and personalities. Which is what I love about these anthologies, the variety you get with it.

Queer retelling of fairytales? I'm in! Thankfully most of the 8 stories were well-executed and had me devouring the book. As with any anthology there are hits and misses, but overall we read this volume for its inclusiveness and not necessarily for the writing.

This anthology of queer retellings of fairytales had me quite interested, but the reality is that I was not very impressed by it. There are 8 stories of varying lengths and it would be better to get into them one by one (warnings mentioned below):

Coming Home:
Modern Cinderella retelling but from the point of view of the ‘Prince Charming’. It was cute and I loved the m/m romance. It mostly stays true to the original, swapping out Cinderella for a guy, and the ‘shoe’ is not really the thing that brings them together but a coffee shop and a phone

Snow Fox:
Ah, this one had potential – it had a black trans girl as the Snow White, but the villain and the whole circumstance are so ridiculous, combined with the terrible writing, that I was cringing hard. The story is set in modern times, with the rivalry being over Instagram popularity, not beauty. It does have a cute f/f romance, though, with a paramedic as the love interest.

Deathless:
Oh, this one was nice. It had Ivan fall in love with Koschei, and having to decide between duty and love. And a Koschei who was longing for an end from his immortality. The ending was expected and a little cliche, but I’ll take it.

At Her Service:
Another Cinderella retelling, but with an f/f romance that hints at a dom-sub relationship? Anyway, I am still trying to figure out how much of it felt abusive. Also, minus points for fatmisia.

Shattered Glass:
A good dystopic retelling of The Snow Queen, but the world-building was confusing and it took too long to even work out what was happening. Warning for gore, though!

Finding Aurora:
This one was my favorite of the bunch – it has a bisexual mage helping out the Prince to save Aurora. But on the way, the brambles are much more than thorns, and they have to wake and reunite a family.

Master Thief:
This was Puss in Boots, I am guessing? A thief sets out to steal the heart of his childhood friend, a squire in the nearby manor. Lots of challenges, and some sexy times. But writing was sub par.

The True Love Curse:
I would have loved this 12 Dancing Princesses retelling more if the romance had been developed better. Otherwise, it is still a good story of the true love trope.

Overall, it was an okay read, some stories were good, but some not so much.

A fantastic collection of fairy stories retelling some of the childhood favourites from an LGBTQIA+ pov. The style chosen to write these stories in may not be for everyone but I for one enjoyed their content and their filling of a gap in the inclusiveness of literature generally. As a beginning piece in providing reading material for all, this is a definite plus, but it is also something that needs working on and improving, those coming after will surely be able to improve.

What a fantastic boxset of stories by these amazing authors that everyone is going to absolutely love and enjoy. I absolutely got hooked on this boxset and only took my a couple of days to enjoy all the amazing stories there is to read. I can’t wait to see what else these authors have got out there to read. I would wholeheartedly recommend

Thank you to NetGalley, the authors of the stories in this book, and NineStar Press, LLC for allowing me to read and review an ARC of Once Upon a Rainbow, Volume Two.
This book is pitched as "Your favorite stories from childhood have a new twist. Eight fairy tales of old with characters across the LGBTQIA+ spectrum."
I'm disappointed to say that I didn't really enjoy a single story in this book. The writing in several of the stories wasn't very good. A few need editing. None were exciting. All were predictable, even though one of two were such a stretch that they came off as bizarre. I wanted to like these stories, but I just didn't.
1/5