Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher is a fairy tale with elements of Bluebeard and Princess and the Pea. (In the latter’s case answering the question of, “Why would the prince want to marry a princess who bruises easily?”) Our heroine is the princess of a small kingdom who has spent most of her life in a convent. She leaves the convent in an effort to rescue her sister from the prince she’s married to. (The prince seems to be making his way through all of the princesses of the small kingdom since he’s already responsible for the death of the heroine’s eldest sister, and there’s a fridge-horror awareness that if the second sister dies, the heroine will have to marry him next.)
Since the heroine has no other recourse, she goes to get aid from a witch, who sets her the usual three tasks. (In hopes of dissuading the princess from her quest. It…doesn’t work because the Princess is Just That Stubborn.) The princess and the witch go on to find (and rescue) other allies and eventually find a way to rescue the princess’ sister and defeat the prince.
This was an engaging story as T. Kingfisher’s fairytales often are. The heroine seems to be some flavor of neurodivergent and her point of view is well-written and very well done. (I can name a few books where I was extremely disappointed about the way a character with ADHD or Autism was written. Or any form of disability for that matter.) I also liked the romantic subplot.
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