Unique. Diverse. Contemporary.

A good mix of fairytale retellings with a new spin. You could pick and choose which one you want to read if you like a certain author more than others. I personally love short stories and it’s just made even better when it’s a fairytale retelling.

A fantastic collection of short stories.

This is a compilation of fairy tales remixed by phenomenal young adult authors. I love a retelling, which is what immediately drew me to this book. Then looking at the list of authors, I needed to read it. Many of the authors were unfamiliar to me, which I loved. These are short stories that vary from contemporary to historical fiction. There’s also no need to be familiar with a given fairy tale to enjoy these stories. It is easy enough to pick up any story. I am recommending this book to everyone.

I loved the journey this book took me on. I wasn’t sure what I was getting at first but when I got further into it I couldn’t help but be emerged in the atmosphere. I could feel each detail in complete and intense moments.

Definitely a book I will recommend to other readers.

I love Dahlia Adler. Her novels and short stories are great, but the rest of this collected was very hit or miss.

I really loved the Dahlia Adler edited Poe retelling collection His Hideous Heart, so I was really excited to see this new set of fairytale retellings, also edited by Adler.

This collection is less consistently good than Hideous, which surprised me because the parameters for the stories allow for a lot more creative latitude here, but there’s plenty of great stuff that’s worth reading here.

Best of the lot:
Say My Name (Rumpelstiltskin)
Fire and Rhinestone (The Little Match Seller)
Coyote in High Top Sneakers (Puss in Boots)
The Sister Switch (original fairy tale)
Just a Little Bite (Hansel and Gretel)
A Story About a Girl (The Robber Bridegroom)

The last two, along with Melissa Albert’s original fairy tale, were my favorites.

Also worth a read:

Sugar Plum (The Nutcracker and the Mouse King)
In the Forests of the Night (Fitcher’s Bird)
Mother’s Mirror (Little Snow White)
Once Bitten, Twice Shy (Little Red Riding Hood)

The rest you can skip.

I really appreciated the inclusion in the book of the original fairy tales that these stories are based on. Many I’m already familiar with, but a few were new to me and it was so lovely to have them directly to hand in order to better appreciate the retellings.

Thanks to NetGalley & Flatiron Books for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

"Sugar Plum" by Anna-.Marie McLemore (Inspired by The Nutcracker)
⭐
DNF. Did not like the POV and the story.

"In the Forests of the Night" by Gita Trelease (Inspired by Fitcher's Bird)
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

"Say My Name" by Dahlia Adler (Inspired by Rumplestiltskin)
⭐⭐
Somewhat interesting modernized tale, but I feel like it was a waste of a good Rumplestiltskin story when there's a lot more one could do with the story itself.

"Fire and Rhinestone" by Stacey Lee (Inspired by The Little Matchstick Girl)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
So good!!

"Mother's Mirror" by H.E. Edgmon (Inspired by Little Snow-White)
⭐⭐⭐
Great story about a trans teen. Lots of homophobic slurs in this chapter, fair warning.

"Sharp as Any Thorn" by Rory Power (Inspired by Sleeping Beauty)
⭐⭐
Too vague and bizarre for me.

"Coyote in High-Top Sneakers" by Darcie Little Badger (Inspired by Puss in Boots)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Very enjoyable.

"The Sister Switch" by Melissa Albert (New Fairytale)
⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Bizarre but kind of interesting.

"Once Bitten, Twice Shy" by Hafsah Faizal (Inspired by Little Red Riding Hood)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

"A Flame So Bright" by Malinda Lo (Inspired by Frau Trude)
⭐⭐
Was pretty slow.

"The Emperor and the Eversong" by Tracy Deonn (Inspired by The Nightingale)
⭐⭐⭐

"Hea" by Alex London (Inspired by Cinderella)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I feel like this one should be its own story, it was very fun.

The Littlest Mermaid" by Meredith Russo (Inspired by The Little Mermaid)
⭐
A DNF from me. Couldn't stand the writing style.

"Just a Little Bite" by Roselle Lim (Inspired by Hansel & Gretel)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Loved this one! A tantalizing thriller, almost.

"A Story About A Girl" by Rebecca Podos (Inspired by The Robber Bridegroom)
⭐ ⭐
I don't like stories within a story, especially since it's a short story. Not a bad idea though.

At the end of the book are some variations of the original stories which is cool. I read most of them already but it's good for anyone new to fairytales.

A collection of fairytale retellings by a number of acclaimed young adult authors. These stories may be based on beloved tales, but they are diverse and refreshing, each with their own unique take on a classic!

This compilation of short stories was entertaining and unique. I appreciated reading a number of tales I was familiar with but with completely reimagined characters and settings, and also learning new stories I hadn’t heard before! My favorite of the 15 short stories were: “In the Forests of the Night” (Fitcher’s Bird), “Mother’s Mirror” (Little Snow White), and “Hea” (Cinderella).

Thank you to NetGalley, Flatiron Books, and the authors for the opportunity to read and review this book!

I love reimagined fairy tales and was excited to read At Midnight when given the chance. Overall, it was just ok. Some stories I loved more than others, which is to be expected with this type of book.

If you're a lover of fairy tales and enjoy seeing them remade in a different light, I would say grab this one and give it a read.

I sincerely appreciate the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy. All opinions expressed herein are my own.

This was a fun collection of fairytale retellings. I enjoyed the updated versions of the stories and the multiple authors who contributed these stories. It's a little hard to judge the whole book in stars since each story is not only different because of the retellings but also because of the multiple authors so obviously some stories I enjoyed more than other. Other readers may enjoy stories more than I did. It's a high 3 stars rating for me. What I truly enjoyed about the book you can complete a story each day it's a excellent book to take on a trip.

At Midnight is an incredible compilation of short story retellings of fairy tales. Three and a half stars from me! I highly recommend this. My top three stories in the book were (in no particular order): Say My Name by Dahlia Adler (inspired by Rumpelstiltskin), The Sister Switch by Melissa Albert (an original) and A Story About A Girl by Rebecca Podos (inspired by The Robber Bride). This compilation also includes the stories each tale is based on, which I really enjoyed as well. I really appreciated how all of the tales were inclusive and diverse.
Thank you to Netgalley and Flatiron Books for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest opinion.

Even though I’m well into adulthood, I still enjoy a good fairy tale retelling, and I was excited to read this collection when I saw it included authors like Tracy Deonn, Melissa Albert, and Hafsah Faizal. They’re all such great storytellers, and I was eager to see what kind of fairy tale reimagining they would come up with. Overall, I liked most of the stories. They are unique and interesting, and so much more layered and nuanced than the originals.

Like many anthologies, this is one where you can pick and choose the stories you want to read. Each of the fifteen stories is a standalone reimagining of a classic fairy tale. So, we have the same tropes, but everything is totally transformed and modern. I like how varied the stories are and how well each was transformed into a contemporary setting with unique and diverse characters. Instead of the all-white characters we usually encounter in fairy tales, these include Chinese, Muslim, Apache, Mexican-American, LGBTQ characters and more. The stories also had much more depth, more detailed backstories, and new complications, struggles, and conflicts.

Of course, I enjoyed some stories more than others, especially since these are all written by different authors. The writing styles and voices are all different, and I particularly liked Sharp as Any Thorn by Rory Power, Once Bitten, Twice Shy by Hafsah Faizal, and Just a Little Bite by Roselle Lim. I also liked that the book included the original stories at the end of the book. That way, if you don’t know the story and want to read the original, you can!

I would definitely recommend checking out the content warnings before reading the book. There are definitely subjects and situations that could trigger readers, including gore, death, abuse, and more. Special thanks to Flatiron Books and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of the book. All thoughts are my own.

After being provided with an ARC of this book, I was really excited about reading these fairytale retellings. While I did enjoy some of the retellings ( the Rumplestiltskin and The Nutcracker versions were my favorites), the majority of the stories were a bit underwhelming for me. I did love the aspect that all of the retellings were told from a modern standpoint. I thought that was a great take on some of these fairytale classics!

Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a new take on a well told story.

This story with a mix of reimagined fairytales was really fun. It was entertaining to read what the story was based on and try to figure out how they were connected to the original tales. I loved the mix of characters and stories throughout and how they weren't just fairytales but also people just looking for their next happily ever after.

I was rather excited about some fairytale retellings and enjoyed some of them while I was reading, butt after I got done with the book, I couldn't really remember any of them off the top of my head. I had to go back and flip through to refresh my memory about what the stories were.

I enjoyed "In the Forests of the Night" by Gita Trelease with the girl being clever to deceive the villain. and "Mother's Mirror" by H. E. Edgmon because the 'Snow White' character was able to find their reflection to match themselves. I did really enjoy that story the most. There is transphobia in that story, just to be warned.

"HEA" by Alex London was rather annoying because the main character was annoying.

Also, about half of the book is the old fairy tales themselves, which was disappointing. I know a lot of them and, the ones that I didn't know, I looked up before I started the short story that went along with it. I didn't catch that cause the table of contents didn't really show up when I started the story. That was a bit disappointing; I thought there would be more retelling content.

I was given an ARC by Netgalley to post an honest review.

Fairy tales are certainly one of my favorite genres and modern retellings are even more so. I was looking forward to reading this book as soon as I heard about it. The thing that's fun about short story collections is that you really get a snapshot of many different authors and have a chance to determine if their flavor meets your style. While there were a couple of authors I was familiar with (Melissa Albert, Hafsah Faizal) and some are on my TBR list (Darcie Little Badger, Malinda Lo.)

Of course, reading through a collection means that there are some stories that you will love and some that you may not, but most of these stories were excellently written. The only author I struggled a little bit with was Alex London (but that was mostly because I apparently am not familiar enough with Gen Z queer culture or social media which means I had a hard time keeping up with what the protagonist was talking about.) I still enjoyed the story because the feelings were still written in a very authentic way.

Overall, this is a fantastic collection of stories. The authors all did very interesting things with the concept to make it uniquely theirs. I would say that many of these stories tend to be dark, but in reality, that is where fairy tales belong.

Definitely check out this reimagined short story collection if you enjoy fairy tales. I knew I wanted to check out this collection when I saw the list included some of my favorite YA authors like Tracy Deonn and Malinda Lo, and I was not disappointed. The collection started strong with Anna-Marie McLemore's retelling of the Nutcracker. I was unfamiliar with the story of Fitcher's Bird, but I enjoyed Gita Trelease's writing, making it another one of my favorites from this collection. I appreciated the addition of the fairy tales at the end of the book, so I could go back and learn the original story if I was unfamiliar. Like most short story collections, some parts fell short for me, but overall, I enjoyed this collection.

Thank you to Flatiron Books and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

It's similar to Adler's other edited short story collection featuring Poe since the retellings were at the front and the original stories were at the back. I was trying to figure out whether the short stories were just longer or there were more of them but it didn't seem so until I got to the end and realized it's the beginning of the original content.

The authors are well-selected and the stories themselves offer something that is both unique and entertaining in addition to revisiting an original fairy tale. Favorites were "Sugarplum" that kicked it all off, "Say My Name" for it's spin on girls, tech, and coding with Rumpelstiltskin, and "A Story About a Girl"-- "Why do you look so scared Aleksander? It's just a story." with a little creepy factor in "Just a Little Bite" inspired by "Hansel and Gretel."

At Midnight is a collection of short stories inspired by a variety of fairy tales and it includes the original fairy tales at the back of the book as well which was a welcome surprise. I think fans of fairy tale retellings in general will definitely check this out. For me, as with a lot of short story collections, there were some I liked and some that I didn't like. This wasn't my favorite collection of stories unfortunately, there were a lot of stories that were okay and I enjoyed but that weren't memorable and probably won't stick with me over time. That being said the last story, by Rebecca Podos, was by far my favorite of the collection and I think I will remember that one story at least even months from now.

*Thank you to Dahila Adler and Netgalley for providing me with an E-ARC of "At Midnight" in exchange for an honest review!*

I LOVE fairytale retelling, so of course this was on my tbr. I love how inclusive and diverse this was! I think anyone who loves Fairytale Retellings like I do is in for a treat.