Thursday’s Tale: Beauty and the Goblin KingBeauty and the Goblin King by Lidiya Foxglove
Series: Fairy Tale Heat #1
Published by the author on April 27, 2017
Source: Purchased
Genres: Erotic Romance, Fairy tale
Pages: 154
Format: eBook
Purchase at Bookshop.org
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three-stars

For the past ten years, the Goblin King has stayed locked away in his caverns. He only opens his doors for one purpose: he will give one gold coin for every night a girl is willing to spend with him. Despite his fearsome reputation, his fangs and claws, the girls come back safe and sound, and they never say a word about it. One must be very desperate to accept such an offer…or very curious. Well, everyone says curiosity has always been my downfall. Too clever for a girl so beautiful.

Now my family is on the brink of losing everything. My sister Clara knows the goblin king’s story has always intrigued me, and she’s willing to sacrifice me to get her hands on his money. But I finally have the chance to sate my curiosity.

What will I find when I get there? A man who is cruelly cursed, haunted by a past misdeed? Or the man who will unlock all of my secret desires?

It has been a long time since the Goblin King trusted anyone, but if he is willing to trust me, I might be able to save him and his people. But the witch who cursed him is close at hand, and she doesn’t play fair.

Beauty and the Goblin King is definitely a re-telling for grown-ups. Our beauty, Sabela, goes the Goblin King’s castle by choice. Her family needs the gold that the Goblin King gives to girls willing to spend the night with him. Okay, her family definitely pressures her to do it, but she always been a bit fascinated by the stories and this gives her an excuse to allow herself to go.

This is erotica. There are several steamy scenes, but you do get to actually like Sabela and Nyar, the King, and believe in their relationship. She’s brave and curious and open-minded. He’s caring, under his rough exterior, and sexy. It’s only 150-ish pages so we don’t get quite as much character and world-building as we might in a longer story, but I think I prefer my erotic romances on the shorter side. I was rooting for their happily-ever-after, which they do get.

As a re-telling it borrows mostly from Disney’s version, complete with animate forks , plates, etc. This time, however, they are goblins who have been trapped. A couple of them are well-done for minor characters, willing to do whatever they can to help their king. I really appreciated that the supporting female characters were so strong and independent.

I actually enjoyed this re-telling more than I thought I would. It was a fun, quick read. It was a good balance between the tale and the romance. There were some touching bits, a few tense moments, and the ending made me smile.

Thursday’s Tales is a weekly event here at Carol’s Notebook. Fairy tales, folktales, tall tales, even re-tellings, I love them all. Feel free to join in.

About Lidiya Foxglove

Lidiya Foxglove likes her fairy tales to be very naughty indeed. She grew up on a steady diet of fairy tales, folklore and fantasy and loves the swoon-worthy romance and happily ever afters, but thinks the best fairy tales also have the thrill of forbidden desires. If she’s not writing, she’s probably reading.

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