The Tales of Faith trilogy by Amanda Tero give a Christian twist to well-known fairy tales. The three books in the series are: Befriending the Beast, The Secret Slipper, and Protecting the Poor. The books are very loosely based on Belle and the Beast, Cinderella, and Robin Hood. While the books do portray some similarities to the original tales, such as names, locations, or societal status, they are their own story and not just a Christian re-telling of the same fairy tale.

Befriending the Beast, the first in the trilogy, is a novella with under a hundred pages. In this story, the main character, Belle, is a fifteen-year-old princess. Belle fled the castle after her father’s grief over her mother’s death turned him into a figurative beast. Belle is living with her aunt and uncle, Lord and Lady Kiralyn, when she overhears Lord Kiralyn’s plans to ask her father to allow him to adopt her.

With her sixteenth birthday approaching and her newfound faith in Christ, Belle feels impressed to return home and try to repair her broken relationship with her father.

Belle struggles with staying true to what God and called her to do—return home—and doing what would be easy—letting her uncle and aunt adopt her.

In the end, Belle and her father make amends, and she continues to live with him.

The Secret Slipper is the second in the series and 146 pages long. In it, we are once again introduced to Lord Raoul Kiralyn.

Belle had eased the loss of Raoul’s own daughter ten years earlier and he was grieving her return to her father, the king. It is upon his return home from leaving the castle and Belle that he learns that his own daughter, Ellia may still be alive.

It is discovered that Bioti, the nursemaid, faked both hers and Ellia’s death after Lady Kiralyn died in the plague. She changed Ellia’s name to Lia and told her that her father had died, and she was her mother. Bioti dislikes Lia greatly and favors her own daughters, Geva and Helga, over her. Both Bioti and her stepsisters treat her poorly. After the death of Bioti’s actual husband, she lost her wealth. She compensates by forcing Lia to work in the stables for Sherriff Feroci and later as a servant to the Sherriff’s wife as well.

In his search for his daughter, Lord Kiralyn must learn to seek God and trust in His will. It is only when he is willing to accept God’s will that he receives the help he needs.

Lia, who has long suffered from a deformed foot, feels pity for herself because of her circumstances. After being thrown in the dungeon and sentenced to hang she learns from another prisoner, Zuzene, that true beauty lies within and she will only receive peace once she accepts Christ and releases her anger and bitterness.

With the help of Noel and Umphey, Lia’s friends, Lord Kiralyn finds her just in time to save her from hanging and the two return to his estate.

Protecting the Poor, book three in the series, is 221 pages long. It introduces us to Lord Feroci, previously Sherriff Feroci of Abtshire.

Outraged that the King has decided to name Princess Belle as his heir even if she does not marry before his passing, Lord Feroci begins plotting to overthrow the King.

When it is believed that Dumphey has overheard his plan, a plot is set to get rid of him.

Dumphey had his eyes opened to the injustices in Abtshire after Lord Feroci attempted to hang Lia based only on suspicions while dismissing facts. Since then he has been finding ways to feed the poor without getting caught by Lord Feroci’s guards.

When an attempt is made on his life, he seeks help from his friend Patey, who leads him into the forest where others are also hiding. He quickly gains their trust and is asked to be their leader.

Meanwhile, Patey approached Noel and asked him to take over Dumphey’s route of families he was feeding. At twelve, Noel feels it is a task much larger than him, but he wants to do what is right.

Once the brothers learn of Lord Feroci’s plan they realize that their best hope is to get word to Lord Kiralyn and the King.

The King’s soldiers arrived just in time and Lord Feroci’s plan was thwarted.

Throughout their ordeal, the brothers seek the Lord for forgiveness, guidance, and courage.

At the end of each book is a list of discussion questions. Some are to prompt further insight into a character’s actions and others ask the reader to reflect on how they would react in a similar situation.

While the books do have a medieval setting, they are not historical fiction but fall clearly within the fantasy genre. The books also build on each other with characters being taken from previous books to tell the story for the next one. While you could read them out of order, there would be times you felt as though you were missing something.

The progression of the books also shows the author’s progression as a writer. Each book gets better at filling in more details and giving the characters more depth. There are also more religious references as the books progress. In each book, there is at least one character who comes to accept Christ as their Savior.

I did like that the motives and decisions of the main characters were motivated by their faith.

My twelve-year-old daughter and I both read the books. She enjoyed them, as did I. I did feel that for older readers, they may be lacking a bit in detail and depth. But they are perfect for younger readers and older readers will appreciate them as a quick and clean read.

I would recommend them to anyone looking for clean, Christian-themed books for their tween or teen daughters.

--Product Review by Destiny Mawson, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, February 2020.