The Rose Ball RebelsA gender-swapped Twelve Dancing Princesses retelling

Eliott, Prince of Iris, is trapped. He and five other Princes of the Floral Realms are locked in a tower, kept as collateral for a treaty in a war that will never end.

Desperate to do something, the princes sneak out every night, meeting other conscientious objectors, dissenters and deserters to dance in defiance of their monarchs' warring. Suspicious, the Queen sends spy after spy to find out why the princes' shoes are always worn to nothing.

Every spy fails until the Midsummer Masquerades, when a masked stranger appears, and Eliott is drawn to her despite his wary caution. Every Realm is at war. She can't possibly be on his side.

But when it's love, there are no sides, and Eliott lets himself fall. The stranger, Nina, does too... except she has another mission, one that could cost them everything: love, the Rebels, and their freedom.

The Rose Ball Rebels is the first book in the Floral Realms Fairy Tales, a series of quick romantasy reads with high drama, low spice, and angst up to 11. Each title is a standalone romance but the books are best read in order to understand the series arc.