Curses Books
A curse sets the story moving, and breaking it usually costs more than anyone expected.
Spiciest here: Bonded by Thorns. Darkest: Juniper & Thorn.
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The books
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A Court of Thorns and Roses
Beauty and the Beast with fae and a lot more blood. The first half is slow and the second half under the mountain is why everyone kept going. Book two is where it gets good, honestly.
- Fae
- Enemies to Lovers
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Curses
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Torture, Murder, Dubious or non-consent
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A Court This Cruel and Lovely
Prisca has hidden her magic her whole life. Then a fae prince turns up who needs exactly that, with a curse sitting in the middle of it. Clear ACOTAR comp and a fine one to read next.
- Fae
- Enemies to Lovers
- Deals and Bargains
- Forced Proximity
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Physical or emotional abuse
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A Curse So Dark and Lonely
Harper, a girl from DC with cerebral palsy, gets snatched into Prince Rhen's cursed kingdom, where every autumn ends with him turning into a monster. The quiet guard commander Grey steals the whole book. Clean YA, more about duty than kissing.
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Curses
- Forced Proximity
- Slow Burn
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Death of a loved one
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A Cursed Kiss
Keelynn's sister died from a Gancanagh's cursed kiss, so she teams up with a witch and the half-fae Tadhg to bring her back. Irish folklore all the way down. There's a lot of miscommunication, but Tadhg carries it.
- Fae
- Curses
- Enemies to Lovers
- Morally Gray
Content warnings
Death of a loved one, Murder, Graphic violence
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A Deal with the Elf King
A village healer gets claimed as the elf king's bride. Softer than most on this site, but it's a full fae-bargain story in one book.
- Fae
- Arranged Marriage
- Deals and Bargains
- Curses
Content warnings
Death of a loved one
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An Enchantment of Ravens
Isobel paints portraits for fae patrons who pay in enchantments. She paints human sorrow into the eyes of Rook, the autumn prince, and he hauls her off to stand trial for it. Short and pretty, a little thin on romance, but the fae are genuinely uncanny.
- Fae
- Forbidden Love
- Forced Proximity
- Curses
Content warnings
Graphic violence
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Bonded by Thorns
Beauty and the Beast, except there are four fae beasts and nobody has to choose. Cozier than most here, but steamy.
- Fae
- Why Choose
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Curses
Content warnings
Physical or emotional abuse, Graphic violence
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Curse of the Wolf King
Beauty and the Beast with a bookworm who'd rather be a spy. Gemma Bellefleur needs King Elliot's curse broken so she can buy her freedom, and he needs someone to fall for him before it kills him. Funny, cozy, a good palate cleanser between dark reads.
- Fae
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Curses
- Forced Proximity
Content warnings
Graphic violence
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Daughter of the Forest
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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For the Wolf
Red, the queen's second daughter, is sent into the Wilderwood as a sacrifice to the Wolf and finds a grumpy Warden named Eammon bleeding into the trees to keep them back. Red Riding Hood meets Beauty and the Beast with forest horror. Slow and tender.
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Curses
- Forced Proximity
- Slow Burn
Content warnings
Gore, Graphic violence
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Gilded
Rumpelstiltskin from the miller's daughter's side. Serilda's tall tales catch the Erlking's attention, he locks her in his haunted castle to spin straw into gold, and a ghost boy named Gild does it for her. Long and slow in the middle, but the Wild Hunt is properly creepy.
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Curses
- Deals and Bargains
- Captor and Captive
Content warnings
Kidnapping, Murder, Death of a loved one, Physical or emotional abuse
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Half a Soul
A faerie stole half of Dora's soul when she was a child, so she can't feel fear or embarrassment, which makes her a menace at Regency balls. Then she meets Lord Elias Wilder, the rude court magician. Austen with faeries and a very soft heart.
- Fae
- Curses
- Slow Burn
Content warnings
Harm to children, Physical or emotional abuse
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House of Hollow
Three sisters vanished as kids and came back with black eyes and no memories. Now the oldest is missing again. Gross, glittery body horror with a fae core. YA but not soft.
- Fae
- Curses
- Fairy Tale Retellings
Content warnings
Gore, Kidnapping, Murder, Harm to children
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House of Salt and Sorrows
Annaleigh lives in a seaside manor with her sisters, four of whom have already died, and the rest keep sneaking off to enchanted balls every night. The Twelve Dancing Princesses as gothic horror. The romance is light. The creep factor isn't.
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Curses
- Forbidden Love
Content warnings
Death of a loved one, Murder, Gore
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Hunted
Yeva, a huntress in a snowy Russian-style kingdom, tracks the Beast that killed her father and ends up his prisoner, being trained to hunt for him. Beauty and the Beast with folktales, a bow and a heroine who hates the ballroom.
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Captor and Captive
- Curses
- Slow Burn
Content warnings
Kidnapping, Animal death, Death of a loved one
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Juniper & Thorn
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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Lightlark
Every hundred years the island of Lightlark appears for the Centennial, a deadly game where six rulers fight to break their curses. Isla, the Wildling ruler, is hiding more than most. The TikTok hype was enormous and the reviews are split. Read it for the twists, not the prose.
- Deadly Trials
- Curses
- Love Triangle
- Court Intrigue
Content warnings
Murder, Graphic violence
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Nettle & Bone
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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Once Upon a Broken Heart
Evangeline Fox makes a deal with Jacks, the Prince of Hearts, to stop the wedding of the boy she loves. The price is three kisses, collected whenever he likes. Sugary fairy-tale prose with a hero who is absolutely not a hero.
- Deals and Bargains
- Curses
- Morally Gray
- Forbidden Love
Content warnings
Murder, Death of a loved one
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One Dark Window
There's a monster living in Elspeth's head, and it talks. Gothic, foggy, strange in the best way. Feels like a dark fairy tale someone forgot to tame.
- Curses
- Morally Gray
- Forbidden Love
- Slow Burn
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Death of a loved one, Murder
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Six Crimson Cranes
Princess Shiori's stepmother turns her six brothers into cranes and curses her so that every word she speaks kills one of them. The Six Swans through East Asian folklore, plus the betrothed she tried to ditch. Gentle YA with real heart.
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Curses
- Arranged Marriage
- Slow Burn
Content warnings
Death of a loved one, Graphic violence
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Stolen Songbird
Cécile is kidnapped and dragged under the Forsaken Mountain to marry Tristan, a troll prince whose people are cursed to stay buried there. These trolls are beautiful and vicious, closer to fae than fairy tale ogres. The rebellion subplot is the sleeper hit.
- Captor and Captive
- Arranged Marriage
- Forbidden Love
- Court Intrigue
Content warnings
Kidnapping, Physical or emotional abuse, Graphic violence
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The Bear and the Nightingale
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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The Bloody Chamber
Ten short stories that take Bluebeard, Beauty and the Beast, Red Riding Hood and Puss in Boots and make them hungry, sexual and strange. Short enough to read in a weekend. Every dark fairy tale retelling since owes it something.
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Vampires
- Curses
Content warnings
Murder, Physical or emotional abuse, Gore, Dubious or non-consent
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The Bone Houses
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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The Darkest Part of the Forest
In Fairfold, tourists come to gawk at a horned boy asleep in a glass coffin in the woods. Then Hazel finds the coffin smashed and empty. Two romances, one of them queer, and a brother-sister story that hits just as hard.
- Fae
- Curses
- Found Family
- Forbidden Love
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Physical or emotional abuse
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The Hazel Wood
Alice's grandmother wrote a book of fairy tales so dark it's out of print. Then the stories start coming for her.
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Curses
Content warnings
Murder, Graphic violence, Kidnapping
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The Last Wish
Linked short stories where Geralt takes monster contracts that keep turning out to be twisted fairy tales: a cursed princess, a Beauty and the Beast setup, a djinn. Start here, not with Blood of Elves. It's funnier and more melancholy than the games.
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Morally Gray
- Curses
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Murder, Gore
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The Wrath and the Dawn
The caliph of Khorasan takes a new bride every night and kills her at dawn. Shahrzad volunteers to avenge her best friend and keeps herself alive with stories. A Thousand and One Nights retelling with slow enemies to lovers and gorgeous food and clothes.
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Enemies to Lovers
- Arranged Marriage
- Curses
Content warnings
Murder, Death of a loved one, Suicide or suicidal thoughts
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These Vile Hearts
Maddox is type 1 diabetic, just lost her job and her insurance, and makes a deal with a dryad queen: kill the Redwood King and get cured. Then she mistakes his cursed brother Castor for him. Funny, angry about real healthcare, and a very good debut.
- Deals and Bargains
- Curses
- Enemies to Lovers
- Forbidden Love
Content warnings
Murder
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Throne of the Fallen
Envy gets his own book and Maniscalco cranks the spice way past Kingdom of the Wicked. A spin-off you can read on its own.
- Demons
- Forced Proximity
- Enemies to Lovers
- Curses
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Murder
-
To Kill a Kingdom
Lira is a siren who takes a prince's heart every year on her birthday. Elian is a prince who hunts sirens. Her mother curses her into a human body and sends her after him anyway. The Little Mermaid with knives, in one fast standalone.
- Enemies to Lovers
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Curses
- Forbidden Love
Content warnings
Murder, Graphic violence, Physical or emotional abuse
-
Uprooted
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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Wicked Fox
Miyoung is a gumiho in modern Seoul who has to feed on men's energy to survive, and Jihoon is the boy she saves from a goblin in the woods. K-drama structure, lots of family grief and food. Sweet, sad and a little slow in the middle.
- Gods and Mythology
- Forbidden Love
- Curses
Content warnings
Death of a loved one, Graphic violence, Murder
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Wicked Lovely
Aislinn can see faeries and survives by never letting them know. Then Keenan, the Summer King, decides she's the girl who'll break his curse and simply will not leave her alone. One of the original YA fae books, and Seth is still the better boyfriend.
- Fae
- Love Triangle
- Forbidden Love
- Curses
Content warnings
Stalking, Physical or emotional abuse
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Wildwood Dancing
Every full moon Jena and her sisters slip through a portal in their Transylvanian castle to dance with the folk of the Other Kingdom. Twelve Dancing Princesses with a dash of the Frog Prince, and Gogu the frog steals the show.
- Fae
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Curses
- Forbidden Love
Content warnings
Physical or emotional abuse, Death of a loved one
