Fairy Tale Retellings Books
Beauty and the Beast, Peter Pan, Snow White and the rest, told with more teeth.
Spiciest here: Hooked. Darkest: Deerskin.
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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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Hooked
Peter Pan, except Hook runs a criminal empire and Wendy is the daughter of the man he wants dead. Each book in the series is a different villain. Great entry point if you want dark romance that isn't relentless.
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Villain Gets the Girl
- Mafia
- Revenge
Content warnings
Murder, Graphic violence, Death of a loved one
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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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Ash
Cinderella with a fairy named Sidhean who wants to take Ash away forever, and the King's Huntress Kaisa, who teaches her to love the woods again. A quiet, lyrical sapphic retelling where the fae are cold and the human is warm.
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Fae
- Forbidden Love
- Slow Burn
Content warnings
Physical or emotional abuse, Death of a loved one
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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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Deathless
Koschei the Deathless shows up at Marya Morevna's window in Leningrad and takes her away to be his bride, and the folktale runs straight into Stalinism and the siege. The prose is gorgeous and dense. The siege chapters are hard reading.
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Villain Gets the Girl
- Captor and Captive
Content warnings
War, Physical or emotional abuse, Death of a loved one, Graphic violence
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Deerskin
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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Desperate Measures
Jafar and Jasmine in Carver City, where Jasmine wants revenge and Jafar will help for a price. It's a Daddy Dom book with consensual non-consent, so know that going in. Short, filthy and very Katee Robert.
- Villain Gets the Girl
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Possessive Hero
- Deals and Bargains
Content warnings
Dubious or non-consent, Graphic violence
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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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Heartless
Before she was the Queen of Hearts, Cath just wanted to open a bakery and dodge a proposal from the King of Hearts. Then the court joker Jest shows up. You know how it has to end and Meyer makes you hope anyway. That ending hurts.
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Forbidden Love
- Arranged Marriage
Content warnings
Death of a loved one, Murder
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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
-
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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Losing Wendy
Peter Pan retold as a mystery, with Wendy Darling, winged fae, mating marks and something killing in Neverland. Enemies to lovers on a very slow fuse. Darker than the premise sounds, and not everyone liked where it takes Wendy.
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Fae
- Fated Mates
- Enemies to Lovers
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
-
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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Spinning Silver
Miryem, a moneylender's daughter, brags that she can turn silver into gold, and the ice king of the Staryk hears her. Rumpelstiltskin by way of Jewish folklore and a fire demon. Several narrators, and some readers wish there were fewer.
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Fae
- Deals and Bargains
- Arranged Marriage
Content warnings
Physical or emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Death of a loved one
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Tender Morsels
After years of abuse from her father, Liga is given a private heaven where nothing bad can happen, and raises her daughters there. Then the real world starts leaking in. Snow White and Rose Red, made very adult. Not for everyone.
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Witches
- Found Family
Content warnings
Sexual assault, Physical or emotional abuse, Harm to children
-
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
-
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
-
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 Hollow Kingdom
Kate and her sister move to Hallow Hill, and Marak, the six-fingered goblin king, decides Kate is going to be his bride. Older YA and oddly sweet, the original goblin-husband book for a lot of readers. Marak is genuinely ugly and somehow it works.
- Captor and Captive
- Arranged Marriage
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Deals and Bargains
Content warnings
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
-
The Never King
Peter Pan snatches Winnie Darling, a descendant of Wendy, because he thinks she knows where his shadow went. Vane and the fae twins Kas and Bash come with the package. Neverland as a violent, hedonistic island. Check the author's content warning page first.
- Why Choose
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Villain Gets the Girl
- Captor and Captive
Content warnings
Kidnapping, Murder, Graphic violence
-
The Sweetest Fiend
Pied Piper retelling. The Piper clears a plague from her city and takes 130 people as payment, her included. The first half is plague and survival, the back half gets very explicit, and it ends mid-fall.
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Fae
- Captor and Captive
- Deals and Bargains
Content warnings
Kidnapping, Graphic violence
-
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
-
The Wren in the Holly Library
Kierse is a thief in a New York still scarred by a war with monsters, and she gets caught breaking into the house of Graves, a centuries-old something who offers her a job instead of killing her. Beauty and the Beast bones and plenty of heat. The first act is slow.
- Enemies to Lovers
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Morally Gray
- Forced Proximity
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Murder, Death of a loved one
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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
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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
-
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
-
Wintersong
Liesl trades herself to the Goblin King to get her sister back from the Underground, and the bargain turns into a marriage. Labyrinth for grown-ups, with music at its heart. Lush and moody, though some readers feel the second half drifts.
- Fae
- Deals and Bargains
- Captor and Captive
- Forbidden Love
Content warnings
Kidnapping, Death of a loved one
