Review by Kelly Jarvis: The Princess and the Shoemaker by Amy Trent

Are you ready for some yuletide magic? Let Amy Trent’s novella The Princess and the Shoemaker warm you up this holiday season. Trent returns to the fairy tale kingdom of her Enchantment Retold series to share the story of Cornelius, a veteran soldier who has returned from war to work in his parents’ struggling shoe shop though his heart is filled with poetry. When he falls asleep before he can finish his last pair of shoes, he awakens to find a lovingly crafted pair of leather boots mysteriously stitched with the silver words of his latest poem.

The financially struggling family tries to embrace the magic, thinking a fairy has come to lend them a hand, but when Cornelius meets the woman who has been visiting the shop to stitch shoes, he falls head over heels in love with her kind demeanor and dark brown eyes. Gwen is more than just a fairy; she is also one of the kingdom’s twelve princesses, but she hides her true identity to protect Cornelius from her overprotective sister Ivy. Her sisters desperately seek the name of the man she is smitten with, but Gwen is resolved to keep their relationship a secret. The unlikely couple flirt all through the yuletide season, crafting shoes, discussing poems, and enjoying seasonal treats, and when the truth of their identities is revealed, they must find a way to address their own insecurities and secure their happily-ever-after.

Although The Princess and the Shoemaker is a standalone novella, fans of the Enchantment Retold series will recognize the names of characters from Amy Trent’s novels Smoke, Steel, & Ivy and Clever, Cursed, & Storied. The novella deals with intense feelings of grief and guilt, but it also sings with romance as Cornelius and Gwen engage in sweet activities and poetic conversations. Trent’s writing is filled with beautiful colors and wintry imagery, and the closed-door relationship between the couple will make even the scroogiest of readers swoon. Trent, who also penned Curses, Diamonds, & Toads, is not new to the fairy tale novella form, and her short work offers great depth and insight for readers looking for an appetizing bite of her storytelling magic.

If you love romantic stories set at yuletide, gift yourself and someone you love a copy of The Princess and the Shoemaker. I loved it! You can find it here.

Kelly Jarvis works as the Contributing Writer for The Fairy Tale Magazine and teaches writing and literature at Central Connecticut State University. Her work has been featured in A Moon of One’s Own, Baseball Bard, Blue Heron Review, Corvid Queen, Eternal Haunted Summer, Forget Me Not Press, Mermaids Monthly, The Chamber Magazine, The Magic of Us, and the World Weaver Press Anthology Mothers of Enchantment: New Tales of Fairy Godmothers. Her debut novella, Selkie Moon, was released in 2025. You can connect with her on Facebook (Kelly Jarvis, Author) or Instagram (@kellyjarviswriter) or find her at https://kellyjarviswriter.com/