Books Like Tender Morsels
If you finished Tender Morsels and want more fairy tale retellings, witches, found family, start here. Each pick shares at least two tropes with it, and we've rated every one for spice and darkness so you know what you're getting into.
For reference, Tender Morsels is:
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The picks
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1. Deerskin
Shares: fairy tale retellings
A retelling of Donkeyskin, the fairy tale most people never got told. Princess Lissar's father decides to marry her, and what happens is on the page. The rest of the book is about her slow recovery in the mountains with her dog. Gentle in tone, devastating in content.
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Gods and Mythology
- Slow Burn
Content warnings
Sexual assault, Physical or emotional abuse, Animal death, Suicide or suicidal thoughts
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2. Juniper & Thorn
Shares: fairy tale retellings, witches
A retelling of the Grimm story The Juniper Tree, set in an industrializing city with a monster loose in it. Marlinchen and her sisters are the last witches, kept locked up by their abusive father. This is gothic horror first. Check the warnings, they're heavy.
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Witches
- Curses
- Revenge
Content warnings
Sexual assault, Physical or emotional abuse, Harm to children, Gore, Self-harm, Murder
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3. Daughter of the Forest
Shares: fairy tale retellings, witches
The Six Swans in early Ireland. Sorcha's brothers are cursed into swans and she can't speak a word until she's woven shirts from nettles. It's slow, patient and lovely, with one assault scene early on that's very hard to read.
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Curses
- Witches
- Slow Burn
Content warnings
Sexual assault, Physical or emotional abuse, Torture, Death of a loved one
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4. Uprooted
Shares: fairy tale retellings, witches
Every ten years a wizard takes one village girl. This time it's Agnieszka, which nobody expected. The real villain is the Wood, which is properly creepy.
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Curses
- Slow Burn
- Witches
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Death of a loved one
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5. The Witch's Heart
Shares: witches, found family
Angrboda was burned three times by Odin and walked away. She hides in a forest, falls for Loki and has three monstrous children the gods have already decided to destroy. Norse myth from the witch's side. Quiet for a long stretch, then devastating.
- Witches
- Gods and Mythology
- Found Family
Content warnings
Torture, Death of a loved one, Harm to children, Physical or emotional abuse
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6. Nettle & Bone
Shares: fairy tale retellings, found family
Marra, the forgettable youngest princess, decides her sister's abusive prince husband has to die. To pull it off she builds a dog out of bones and picks up a disgraced knight, a dust-wife and a fairy godmother. Funny, grim, with a little romance at the edges.
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Curses
- Found Family
Content warnings
Physical or emotional abuse, Murder, Death of a loved one
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7. The Bone Houses
Shares: found family, fairy tale retellings
In Ryn's village the dead get up at night and walk out of the forest. She's a gravedigger, so it's bad for business. A Welsh-myth road trip with a mapmaker and an undead goat. Creepy, sad and lighter than it sounds.
- Curses
- Found Family
- Fairy Tale Retellings
Content warnings
Death of a loved one, Gore, Graphic violence
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8. The Bear and the Nightingale
Shares: fairy tale retellings, witches
Medieval Russia, winter spirits and a girl who refuses to stop feeding the household demons. Cold, beautiful and slow in the good way.
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Witches
- Demons
- Curses
Content warnings
Death of a loved one, Physical or emotional abuse
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