Once Upon a Curse

I feel that I should start this post by letting you know that I have not always been a fan of short stories. In fact, I still find that I'm quite picky about how interesting and symbolic they are. (Seriously, if you've ever read Canadian short stories, you'd probably get bored. I did. Even the symbolism can't make the prairies that interesting.) That being said, it seems odd that I would choose to read this, right? A little. But I found it on sale; plus the idea of rewritten and new fairy-tales has intrigued me since the day I started watching Once Upon a Time. I figured it was worth checking out.
However, I have to say that this was not quite what I was expecting. Many of these were completely new stories, but maybe I was too picky because I felt like there were elements lacking from some of them. Many of the stories also felt very YA which, if you know me, was a little off-putting. There was a real mix of fantasy and real-world settings, mythology and magic, gods and fairies. I just wish more of them felt darker. There was something too cutesy about some, and a few too many happy endings. I want stories where the supposed hero turns out to be the villain, or things are not as straightforward as they seem. The description of this book says it's "more Grimm than Disney" yet I feel that there were few stories that had the same dark endings as Grimm stories. Maybe I should brush up on the original tales; then I might realize I'm wrong.
Perhaps the most interesting story was "Dance with the Devil", although it felt nothing like a fairy-tale. Nonetheless, there were some good stories that drew from legends and old tales that made me wish they were longer so that I could understand more about them. I was especially curious about "Beauty within Beast." Luckily, the last page of every story gives author information and links to learn more about their work. Maybe some day I can look into those to find some expanded versions of the tales, or at least some related stories.