“Wicked Ever After” by Alta Hensley and Zoe Blake is a short collection of stories centered around familiar fairytales. These stories include “Snow and the Seven Huntsmen,” “Red & the Wolves,” and “Queen & the Kingsmen.” Each of these tales is a why-choose, dark fairytale romance retelling, with the last two tales intertwining with characters from the first.
“Snow and the Seven Huntsmen” tells the story of Snow White and her seven huntsmen. This take definitely had some dub-con/non-con situations early on in the tale, which was a little off-putting. (I like dark romance but this was dark.) The seven huntsmen eventually start to grow on you as the story goes on - even entertaining Snow’s pitiful attempts at cooking (which was probably one of their only redeeming qualities). However, there’s very little character development and plot outside of the bedroom.
“Red and the Wolves” is a retelling of “Little Red Riding Hood” - red cloak included! Red is a fierce female, despite growing up shamed and belittled by her grandmother. She’s ultimately chosen as a sacrifice to the wolves - in the hopes of staving off the impending “darkness” of the forest. Red eventually comes around to the idea of her alphamen. This story’s plot development was much more substantial than the first story in the series. And the steamy scene in the hot springs - wonderful!
“Queen and the Kingsmen” is a retelling of “Sleeping Beauty” as Queen Zelladine serving as a dark, wanton Maleficent-like character. Queen “Zella” Zelladine is taken captive by four kingsmen, in an effort to gain information about the missing whereabouts of Briar Rose’s body. (Queen Zella had enough of the King and cursed him while also whisking Rose’s body away.) Spoiler alert - we learn that Queen Zella is actually friendly with Briar Rose and steals her away so that she doesn’t have to marry the decrepit older man her father wants her to marry for political reasons, instead marrying the young prince she loves. The four kingsmen eventually turn to Zella’s side and are shocked when they find out the truth of Zella and Rose’s relationship. This was probably my favorite story of the three - I enjoyed Disney’s live-action take of Maleficent and the friendship she formed with Aurora. This tale very much played on that storyline. This story was a great take on the story of “Sleeping Beauty” - choosing to focus on Queen Zella and her love of pain/pleasure instead.
Overall, I enjoyed the two latter stories more than I did Snow’s. I would give Red’s and Zella’s stories four out of five stars, with Snow’s story at a 2.5 stars. If you’re looking for a dark romance retelling of some familiar classics, make sure to check the trigger warnings before diving into this book.
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