Of Knives and Nobility: A Retelling of The Princess and the Pea (Twist of Tales Series) by E.G. Bella

He’s determined to rescue her. She knows it’s impossible. As his younger brother marries and takes the throne, Prince Fenrick Norlander of Pethaylia longs for nothing more than love of his own. When whispers circulate of a beautiful princess in the next kingdom awaiting an eligible suitor, he heeds his brother’s urging, and resolves to try for her hand. Surely these tests each suitor is forced through can’t be as hard as rumors claim. Princess Ellina Thorell of Cabrana is a captive in her own home, subject to an endless stream of men failing her mother’s corrupt tests, and resolved to no longer open her heart to any of them. She spends her days gazing out her window, wishing the time away, and when the eager prince from Pethaylia arrives, she wants nothing to do with him. He’ll fail and leave, like everyone else. But as Fenrick fights to earn her favor, he realizes the dire consequences at stake—failing at the tests will lose more than her hand, but her freedom. His efforts and unending kindness light a spark of hope in Ellina’s chest, but how can anyone overcome the queen’s deception? As stakes rise and lies twist, more than their own happily-ever-afters hang in the balance. This book is part of A Twist of Tales, a series of nonmagical Christian genderbent fairy tale retellings with epic adventures and animal companions. Of Knives and Nobility retells The Princess and the Pea, featuring a morally admirable hero, and tropes such as he falls first and forced proximity.

Cabin Girl by E.G. Bella

Eight years ago, young Éirinn O’Connell’s papa disappeared at sea. Many sleepless nights later, in the rolling hills of 1600’s Ireland, Éirinn has given up on his return – while her mama continues to watch the horizon, her grasp of reality slipping. Desperate to provide for her and her sister, Éirinn learns all she can of medicine and spends her days struggling to assist villagers who shun her for her crooked back. Then in one brutal night, Barbary pirates raid her village, and Éirinn is dragged from her family and the only home she’s ever known. Set on a course to Morocco, and amidst a crew as turbulent as the ocean around her, Éirinn is forced to tend to the sick quartermaster. In addition, she must serve as cabin girl to the infamous Captain Gills, a hard-hearted man bent on thwarting her every attempt to return home…to the family she prays still lives. As Éirinn searches for a way home, she soon finds that all is not what it seems aboard The Lonely Eye. Unrest brews and mutiny whispers. Allies appear in unexpected places. A cunning enemy plots. Who can she trust? Will her God carry her through the storms? And how can she survive the Captain’s constant torment? The answers are unlike anything she expects.