Erin Halbmaier gallantly borrows from Robin Hood’s riches to begin Arrows and Gems with a twist, delivering the adventure and emotional beats of a fairy-tale retelling.
Lorehaven review, 2025

Arrows and Gems

When an outlaw who believes she is a spy rescues her after a fall, Helena must decide who she trusts: the outlaw, or the unlawful regent hunting him.
· February 2025

A runaway princess. An honorable outlaw. A crime that hasn’t been paid.

Princess Helena has always struggled to belong. When she wakes from her twelve-year enchanted sleep, she tries to adjust to the changes in her life. But her childhood sweetheart’s marriage and the council’s plan to choose her husband push her too far.

Cap just wants to protect the people suffering from the tyrannical regent’s rule. But his less-than-legal methods have put a target on his back.

He’s wary of the woman he believes has been sent to trap him, but she has a way of slipping past his defenses. And he’s afraid she might be another sign that he shouldn’t trust his own judgment.

Can Helena and Cap work together to bring down the regent? Or will their insecurities and secrets destroy everything they care about?

Arrows and Gems is a clean, no-spice retelling of Robin Hood and Snow White and Rose Red. It is book four in The Roumaterra Chronicles, a series of interconnected, standalone fairy tale retellings perfect for readers of Brittany Fichter and Annette K. Larsen.

Book 4 of the The Roumaterra Chronicles series.

Review of Erin Halbmaier’s Arrows and Gems

· May 2025

When true love’s kiss woke Princess Helena from her cursed sleep, she was supposed to marry her childhood best friend. But while she slept, he actually married someone else. Helena sets out to find her own way, which begins with joining a certain famous bandit who lives in the woods.

Erin Halbmaier gallantly borrows from Robin Hood’s riches to begin Arrows and Gems with a twist, delivering the adventure and emotional beats of a fairy-tale retelling. This adds lore and builds on the magic system established in previous books of the Roumaterra Chronicles series of retellings. Arrows and Gems, however, is lighter on action than many Hood stories, focusing on politics and relationships for a satisfying addition to one’s library of fairy tale retellings.

Arrows and Gems is a book 4, yet can be read independently of the other books.

Best for: Teen and young-adult fans of fairy tale or classic story retellings, fantasy readers who enjoy strong romance subplots.

Discern: Light fantasy violence, a few kisses between couples, fantasy magic.

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