Book List: 12 Dancing Princesses Retellings

I love fairytale retellings so much, but I have to be honest. I don’t know much about the 12 Dancing Princesses. From what I understand is this king has twelve daughters and though they are locked in their room each night, their dancing shoes are worn through in the morning. The king promises his daughters to any man who can discover their secret.

Here are some books that put a spin on that.

• Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George

Genre: Fantasy

Average Goodreads Rating: 3.94

Galen is a young soldier returning from war; Rose is one of twelve princesses condemned to dance each night for the King Under Stone. Together they search for a way to break the curse, despite malevolent forces working against them.

• House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig

Genre: YA Fantasy

Average Goodreads Rating: 3.93

Annaleigh lives a sheltered life at Highmoor, a manor by the sea, with her sisters, their father, and stepmother. There used to be twelve, but four of the sisters died in such tragic ways, people think the family is cursed by the gods. Annaleigh becomes convinced these deaths were no accidents and wonders if she should stop her other sisters from sneaking off to dances at night, or to join them.

• The Princess Curse by Merrie Haskell

Genre: Middle Grade Fairy Tale

Average Goodreads Rating: 4.02

In the fifteenth-century kingdom of Sylvania, the prince offers a fabulous reward to anyone who cures the curse that forces the princesses to spend each night dancing to the point of exhaustion. Everyone who tries disappears or falls into an enchanted sleep. 13-year-old Reveka decides she’s going to try, despite the danger.

• The Thirteenth Princess by Diane Zahler

Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy

Average Goodreads Rating: 3.95

Zita is the thirteenth daughter of a king who wanted only sons. When she was born, Zita’s father banished her to the servants’ quarters to work in the kitchens, where she can only communicate with her royal sisters in secret. When Zita turns 12, her sisters all fall ill. With some help, Zita follows her sisters to a world of dreams and dancing, in an attempt to break a sinsiter curse lurking behind.

• A Dance of Silver and Shadow by Melanie Cellier

Genre: YA Fantasy

Average Goodreads Rating: 4.20

When Princess Liliana and her twin sister set sail for new lands, Lily hopes to find adventure and romance. But the people of Marin live under the shadow of a curse. To save them, Liliana and eleven other princesses must compete in a secret tournament.

• Entwined by Heather Dixon

Genre: Fantasy

Average Goodreads Rating: 3.86

Azaela is trapped. But so is the Keeper. So he extends an invitation. Every night, Azalea and her eleven sisters may step through the enchanted passage in their room to dance in his silver forest, but there is a cost. 

• Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier

Genre: Historical Fantasy

Average Goodreads Rating: 4.10

High in the Transylvanian woods, at the castle Piscul Draculi, live five daughters and their doting father. Inside is a hidden portal, known only to the sisters. Every Full Moon, they alone can pass through it into the enchanted world of the Other Kingdom. There they dance through the night with the fey creatures of this magical realm. But their peace is shattered when Father falls ill and must go to the southern parts to recover, for that is when cousin Cezar arrives, with dark motives.

• The Night Dance by Suzanne Weyn

Genre: YA Fantasy

Average Goodreads Rating: 3.76

Rowena and her sisters love sneaking out to the woods at night and dancing. Their father, noticing the state of their shoes, offers a reward to whoever can figure out where they are going. Meanwhile, Bedivere is trying to return the sword Excalibur, and in doing so, falls in love with Rowena, knowing he can only have her if he accepts her father’s challenge.

• The Firethron Crown by Lea Doue

Genre: Historical Fantasy

Average Goodreads Rating: 3.98

Princess Lily, the eldest of twelve sisters and heir to a mighty kingdom, desperately seeks a break from her mother’s matchmaking. Fleeing an overzealous suitor, Lily stumbles into a secret underground kingdom where she and her sisters encounter a mysterious sorcerer-prince and become entangled in a curse and the price of freedom is too much.