Fairest One

by Kayla Eshbaugh

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Welcome to the ancient land of Terra, where curses run rampant throughout all the kingdoms and where the royalty desperately attempt to break their curses and claim their own happily ever afters.

Princess Scarlet of Torren is the fairest one in all the land–only she doesn’t want to be. While some may believe a curse for being beautiful isn’t much of a curse at all, Scarlet knows differently. It’s more sinister than anyone realizes. Scarlet grows up hiding from nobles at court to prevent them from falling victim to her curse. Defying as many royal rules as possible, Scarlet is known not only for her beauty but as a messy and odd princess. When she meets an aspiring knight, she makes him vow to never fall in love with her beauty. With his friendship, she feels like she has everything she needs–that is, until she loses it all.

Sir Ronin Dallard doesn’t know when it happened, but he is in love with Princess Scarlet of Torren. His vow he made as a child to never fall in love with her beauty–he can rest assured knowing it isn’t her beauty he is in love with. As the bridal tournament is called, Princess Scarlet must choose a knight to wear her token. Ronin wants to be the one to win the tournament for her. He is determined to convince Scarlet that his love is for her, not the curse.

When outside forces pull them apart, and the kingdom is under attack from the inside, will Ronin and Scarlet find a way to save Torren from a false queen? A false queen who will do all in her power to use Scarlet’s curse to take over not only her kingdom but all the kingdoms in the land. Can beauty save a kingdom? Or will it destroy them all?

Fairest One is a Snow White retelling and the third book in The Cursed Kingdom Chronicles, a series of clean stand-alone but connected fairytale retellings. If you enjoy clean romance, adventure, and witty banter, The Cursed Kingdom Chronicles is for you!

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Book Details

Genre

Fantasy/Science Fiction Romance

Subgenre

Fairytale, Medieval, Royal

Series

The Cursed Kingdom Chronicles • Book 3

Audience

Upper YA

Bell Peppers

🫑🫑🫑

Profanity

1 None

Violence

3 Moderate

Drugs, Alcohol, Tobacco

1 None

Publication Date

February 7, 2023

Language Versions

English

Fiction Form

Novel

Sensitive Themes

Abuse (physical, emotional, or verbal), Bullying or humiliation

Another brilliant retelling

I’m so impressed with this writer and this series. This has been the best version of Snow White I’ve ever read. Fresh and enthralling.

Great series

Brilliant and creative retelling of Snow White with her curse being 'Beauty'. I loved Ronin's loyalty and his love for Scarlet, the 7 knights, the apple orchard and the breaking of another curse.

A truly beautiful story 😊

I loved this Snow White retelling so much! 😍I'm really a big fan of the writing style of Kayla and I love her world-building and well-thought-out characters!This Snow White is a spirited, stubborn, but kind and caring princess. I really liked that Scarlet was a bit different from an 'ordinary' princess! With her fondness for apples, climbing trees, and aversion to dancing.Then Ronin, who doesn't want a personal knight in shining armor...... The boy Ronin was already caring and sweet, but the man/knight Ronin is swoon-worthy! He is kind, has good leadership skills, is supportive, protective, and a bit mischievous. But most of all, he is a good friend.There is a friends to lovers romance with years of history between Scarlet and Ronin, and that made the romance and chemistry between them so much more realistic and meaningful! I really loved them together! It was adorable to see Ronin fall first and try to fight it, trying not to risk their friendship. All the pining...😉I loved the dual POV, it added so much to the story and it was so much fun to read it from both sides!Of course, the evil stepmother was my least favorite character, but she was really well done. A real villain, but still with her own backstory.The seven knights were funny and really great side characters!I also loved all the characters from the other kingdoms. They are great for world-building and also introduce upcoming stories.If you love apples, friends to lovers and fairy tales, then this is your book!It has romance, humor, action, adventure, and friendship.Most importantly, this story shows that true beauty comes from the inside and shines the brightest!

I love the Retells

Great retell of Snow White! Well written and very romantic! It’s is always satisfying to read a book where the language is not foul! I hope she writes many more!!!

Lovely story, but lots of unnecessary filler

I loved the premise of this and the love story between Robin and Scarlett. The story was very creative and entertaining, and I enjoyed the twists including the seven knights (vs dwarves) as well as the triad of the poisoned apple(s), comb and the infamous magic mirror. But, I took off a star here because I felt there was just too much empty "filler" that largely consisted of the two of them just kissing. it was as if the author had to get to a certain page count and so she tried to build up the love idea between them by having them explore this rite of passage together and multiple times, which really was unnecessary (not to mention redundant; i actually found myself skimming through these parts, particularly after the third one -- and yes there were several more after that!). Still, even after ALL of this kissing, Scarlett still cannot seem to figure out she actually loves Ronin or that he doesn't love her simply because of her curse--even though she knows he's not affected by it! I got very frustrated with her, even though I did overall enjoy the book in general and would still recommend it.