Line #42 Literature/FairytaleNovels


1	The Fairy Tale Novels, a series of books by Regina Doman, take somewhat well-known fairy tales and move the setting to a modern-day setting - let's say New York. The cast: a bunch of Catholic teenagers. In this world, a sleeping spell is a coma, a magical passageway becomes a locked-away staircase that leads out of the house, the seven dwarves are replaced by seven quirky Franciscan friars, and so on.
2
3	There are currently six books in the series: [[Literature/SnowWhiteAndRoseRed The Shadow of the Bear]], [[Literature/SnowWhite Black as Night]], [[Literature/SleepingBeauty Waking Rose]], [[Literature/TheTwelveDancingPrincesses The Midnight Dancers]], [[Literature/AliBabaAndTheFortyThieves Alex O'Donnell and the Forty CyberThieves]], and [[Literature/{{Rapunzel}} Rapunzel Let Down]].
4
5	You can find the website [[http://fairytalenovels.com/ here]].
6	----
7	!!These books provide examples of:
8	* {{Action Film Quiet Drama Scene}}: In ''Alex O'Donnell and the Forty Cyber Thieves'', when Alex and Kateri are sitting by the pool discussing Alex's uncle who [[spoiler: was just murdered]].
9	* ActionGirl: Kateri Kovach, particularly compared to the series' other heroines.
10	* AmateurSleuth: Rose and Blanche, but especially Rose.
11	** "Pipe down, Literature/TrixieBelden."
12	* TheAtoner: [[spoiler:Donna]] in ''Waking Rose'' spends the first half of the book antagonizing Rose. Upon the latter's fall into a coma, she becomes horrified and remorseful, and gradually works alongside Fish and crew to help her.
13	* BattleCouple: Alex and Kateri.
14	* BigBrotherInstinct:
15	** Bear got his nickname in juvenile detention when he saw three inmates trying to drown Fish. He threw one against the wall, the other two ran away, and we can assume both the Denniston brothers were carefully respected afterwards.
16	** Fish tells Rose this is how he feels about her; he doesn't let himself fall in love with her [[spoiler: at first]], but still goes to great lengths to protect her.
17	** Brother Charley to Brother Leon in the second book, and nearly all the friars to Blanche.
18	* BondVillainStupidity: Subverted with [[spoiler:Dr. Prosser and Dr. Murray]]. After tying Fish up, [[spoiler:dousing him in gasoline, throwing him into a barn, and setting it on fire,]] they walk away. Despite his injuries, he manages to wriggle out of his bonds and escape... [[spoiler:and finds that they were waiting outside to see if he would. He is unceremoniously thrown back in and would have died were it not for [[TheCavalry Bear's timely arrival]].]]
19	* BrainsAndBrawn: Fish and Bear, respectively, when they're working as a SiblingTeam. Not that Bear is [[GeniusBruiser by any means stupid]], or that Fish can't [[BadassBookworm take care of himself]].
20	* CoolSword: Alex's various Japanese weapons.
21	* DamselInDistress: Usually the girls (these ''are'' based off fairy tales, after all), but the guys have their moments, too. For Blanche, who has the looks and demeanor to go with it, it's even Lampshaded.
22	* DanceBattler: When Kateri finally does the fan dance in ''Alex O'Donnell and the Forty Cyberthieves''.
23	-->"Remain still. Or you, sir, are dead."
24	* DarkAndTroubledPast: As revealed over the second and third books, Bear and Fish have a whopper: [[spoiler: while their mother was dying of cancer in a hospital, she and they converted, enthusiastically, to Catholicism, so the boys started going to St. Catherine's high school; they were nerds and bullied - especially Fish, who was thought to be gay and was sexually taunted by an adult man; Father Raymond, the closest thing they had to a normal dad, died under mysterious circumstances, and they started investigating; Mr. Freet, fearing they would suspect him, planted cocaine in their lockers; when they got out of juvenile detention, Bear discovered his father was having an affair; the other woman moved in, and married their father after their mother had finally died; she resented the boys, especially Bear because he had preached unsuccessfully against the affair; but she was also attracted to Bear, and when he refused to give her the wrong kind of kiss, ''he and Fish got framed for drug possession AGAIN''; the charge didn't stick, but their father turned them out of the house without giving them their inheritance from their mother; so they lived at their friend Stephen Foster's house while still illegally investigating Father Raymond's death.]] That's excluding what happened to Fish offscreen in ''The Shadow of the Bear''.
25	* DarkerAndEdgier:
26	** ''Black as Night''. Blanche is on the run after being framed for drug possession and grand theft, and is also being stalked [[spoiler:by two different parties]].
27	** As of ''Rapunzel Let Down'', which deals with teen pregnancy, illegal immigration, homelessness, prison, kidnapping, and worse, we have a new winner in this category.
28	** The author states she intended the books to alternate between this and LighterAndSofter, but didn't completely succeed. ''Black as Night'' - darker and edgier. ''Waking Rose'' - even ''darker''. ''The Midnight Dancers'' - serious, but more gentle and philosophical in tone. ''Alex O'Donnell and the Forty Cyber Thieves'' - even the ''title'' is lighter and softer; there's a lot more humor, and the action scenes get decidedly [[{{Camp}} cartoony]]. ''Rapunzel Let Down'' - isn't even put in the YA section with the others; it was published as adult fiction.
29	* DefrostingIceQueen:
30	** Fish in "Waking Rose" is a male example--he cares about Rose and they are genuine friends, but he's also keeping her at arm's length because of her immaturity, her pushiness about her romantic interest in him, and because he has his own [[DarkAndTroubledPast issues]] he's working through. Her growing respectful of his boundaries allows him to open up to her about those issues, to the point she becomes the only one besides Bear who knows the full details.
31	** Rachel Durham from "The Midnight Dancers" also qualifies.
32	* DefiledForever: [[spoiler:RareMaleExample. Fish was raped off-screen by Mr. Freet in the first book and has been wrestling with feelings of shame, inadequacy, and dirtiness since. It's not until the end of ''Waking Rose'' that he accepts that what happened does not, in any way, make him less worthy of love, God's or Rose's.]]
33	* DistressedDude: Every male hero gets tied up and humiliated at least once.
34	* EvenEvilHasStandards:
35	** PlayedWith. [[spoiler:Elaine]] is a GoldDigger who tries to frame at least three people for drug possession and [[spoiler:is coaxing her husband into suicide]], but hesitates to actually murder Blanche...up until all her plans fall through. At that point she decides, in the midst of a VillainousBreakdown, that [[IveComeTooFar there's no turning back for her]], so she may as well cross that final line.
36	** [[spoiler:Dr. Murray]] gladly sells organs on the black market, but doesn't have the stomach for murder. A bit hypocritical, considering people have to be murdered to provide said organs... A much more straightforward example is her genuine horror at [[spoiler:Dr. Prosser gleefully and cruelly stomping on Fish's broken ankle.]]
37	* ForegoneConclusion: As these ''are'' fairytale retellings, anyone even slightly familiar with the originals should have an idea of what major plot beats to expect, i.e. both Blanche and Rose falling into comas in their own books. Rose's is even '''called''' ''Waking Rose''!
38	* {{Foreshadowing}}:
39	** After falling into her coma, the next few Rose [=POVs=] show that she's able to hear those around her and is actively trying and coming close to getting her body to work again. Then, after a dream in which a snake bites her, her feeble control slips away from her, her [=POVs=] become disjointed and hallucinatory, and she's unable to hear anything from the real world. [[spoiler:That's because from then on, she's actually being kept in a drugged state.]]
40	** Also, that dream, [[spoiler:and thus the drugging, occurs after she is transferred into Dr. Murray's care. Guess who's one half of the BigBadDuumvirate?]]
41	* FreudianExcuse: Both villains in "Rapunzel Let Down" had abusive fathers. One follows his father's example, the other hates all men.
42	* FunPersonified: Both Br. Leon (from ''Black as Night'') and Alex O'Donnell count.
43	* GeniusBruiser:
44	** As it turns out, Bear writes poetry.
45	** Raphaela from 'Rapunzel Let Down' as well, much to her mother's disapproval.
46	* GoshdangItToHeck: This is Christian fiction. Rose's swear words get pretty bizarre, though. ("Holy candlesticks, sister!")
47	%% * HugeGuyTinyGirl: Bear and Blanche.
48	* INeverSaidItWasPoison: A complicated version occurs in ''Waking Rose''. [[spoiler:During her gloating over Fish, Dr. Prosser brings up his rape at the hands of Mr. Freet to further humiliate him. Fish never actually charged Mr. Freet for the rape, so there are no court records of it as she claims. [[AwesomenessByAnalysis From that slip, he quickly deduces they're somehow talking to the comatose Rose, who does know.]].]]
49	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Fish is cranky, sarcastic, dismissive, and outright rude. But, when people need him, he always goes the whole hog in pulling through for them, the best example having to be when Rose [[ForegoneConclusion falls into a coma]]: he makes the hour-and-a-half drive ''every day'' to visit her and works himself to the bone trying to find who did it.
50	* KatanasAreJustBetter: ALEX. He does end up breaking one in a fight, though.
51	* MassiveNumberedSiblings:
52	** The Durhams have fourteen kids. The Kovachs have plenty, too.
53	** So does [[spoiler: Raphaela. Turns out she has 13 biological siblings in Mexico!]]
54	* MeaningfulName:
55	** Rose (has red hair, a fiery spirit, and is named for the fairy tale character Rose Red and Briar Rose); Blanche (means white, is quiet and gentle, and named after both Snow Whites); Brier, their surname, means Rose. So their names mean Rose Red ('rose' is a shade of red) and Rose White (in some variations of the story, Snow White's name is changed to this).
56	** Bear points Blanche's name out to her and jokingly calls her Snow White.
57	** Bear is named for being brawny and protective of his younger brother, Fish, who is named for managing to slip out of bad situations. However, their proper names are Arthur and Benedict (Fish's other nickname is Ben).
58	** It gets better. The name Arthur means Bear. Fish, meanwhile, is pointed out in the third book to be symbolically associated with Christ.
59	** Hermes is the god of thieves and gambling. Hermes 'stole' Raphaela's innocence and loves risks.
60	* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: Paul from "The Midnight Dancers" is a ninja clown! Who also plays the flute!
61	* NumberOfTheBeast: The villain's keypad code in "The Shadow of the Bear."
62	* PrinceCharming: Bear and Fish play this in different books for each of their love interests. Paul is also seen as this trope by a somewhat jealous Fish in "Waking Rose".
63	* RedOniBlueOni: Red-haired Rose (romantic, adventurous {{Cloudcuckoolander}}) and black-haired Blanche (shy and sensible, with a SugarAndIcePersonality).
64	* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: Played with with the Denniston brothers. Bear is a burly, serious guy with a fierce temper should you cross him, but he has a deep appreciation for art, poetry, and architecture. Fish is scrawny, geeky, and uses brains over brawn, but he's not a romantic at all like his brother and can come off as harsh because he lacks sensitivity.
65	* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Even after she's woken from her coma, Rose still has to spend time recovering in a hospital [[spoiler:gradually being weaned off all the drugs she was pumped with for months]].
66	* TookALevelInBadass: Fish, Alex, Kateri, Raphaela, Hermes, and Rose to an extent in her own book.
67	* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Political activist Kateri is the Tomboy to the Girly Girls Blanche and Rose, who like dresses, sewing, and romance. Also Raphaela's mother and Raph herself.
68	* TwiceToldTale: All of the books.

Context Literature / FairytaleNovels