Ripped Pages by M. Hollis
Published by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
Pub Date: September 22, 2017
Pages: 60
Format: e-book | Source: purchased
Genres: young adult, fantasy, retelling, LGBTQ
Rating:

Princess Valentina lives a reasonably comfortable life, but after her mother’s death, her father gets tired of taking care of her and locks her in a tower. She spends years on her own, talking to the birds on her windowsill, and reading books with adventures she will never experience. Her plans of running away are usually left for another day because she knows the vast forest surrounding her tower is too dangerous to cross alone.
Until one day, another girl passes by on her horse and Valentina wonders if she’s finally brave enough to seize her chance of freedom.

Ripped Pages is a Rapunzel F/F retelling in the format of a novelette.

I don’t tend to read many novellas or novelettes- it’s hard for me to get invested in a story so short unless it’s about characters I’m already familiar with. But I saw Ripped Pages mentioned a few times on Twitter and the sound of a f/f Rapunzel retelling was too good to ignore! As I expected, it moved fast but despite its length I cared about Valentina and smiled when she found books that described how she felt about romance and other girls. I also liked the Rapunzel twist, with her being put in the tower by her father and of course her female rescuer. The dialogue was a little simplistic but the feeling of adventure and the sweet romance was lovely.

Are you a fan of novellas? Any other f/f fairy tale retellings I should try?