This was a lovely magical twist on Sleeping Beauty, where <spoiler>Sleeping Beauty is an evil changeling</spoiler>. Lyrically told, it felt like a natural extension of the original tale, even as it tipped that story on its head. This was the perfect length as a novella, with its focus on the two central characters, and didn't have any extraneous fluff bogging it down. It was an easy one sitting, one hour read for me. Tiny and magical, like Toadling herself.

Some macabre content and a supremely gentle burgeoning friendship that might eventually become romantic, but nothing that would put this out of reach of a middle schooler who loves a good fairy tale twist.

Gonna admit it: I'm officially a T. Kingfisher stan now.

Another in the author's line of Fairy Tale novels, this is a reimagined Sleeping Beauty tale, from the perspective of the fairy who locked her into sleep.

Toadling was once a human child, stolen away to faerie, where she lived happily ever after - until she was plucked from her nest to serve as godmother to the Changeling left in her place. Now she lives alone within a nest of brambles, a small guard against the changing world.

Until one day, there came a knight...

Sweet, quiet, and absolute comfort reading.