Recs if you like Spindle's End...

JK Rowling is a bigot who uses her platform to hurt transfolks and other marginalized groups (plus she literally just quoted Mein Kampf on the bird site). If you're still supporting her in 2025, don't bother talking to me.

No Hans Christian Andersen on this list. Retellings based on...Twelve Dancing Princesses, Cinderella, The Goose Girl, Snow White, Snow White + Rose Red, Rapunzel, Hansel + Gretel, Rumplestiltskin, Bluebeard, Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, The Frog Prince, King Thrushbeard, The Pied Piper, The Six Swans, The Brave Little Tailor, Bearskin, Puss in Boots, Allerleirauh, The Wolf + the Fox, The Pink, Maid Maleen, Brother + Sister, The Golden Goose, The Six Swans, etc. As always… no Gaiman

Books that include faeries, whether whimsical or scary

Let me know if you have any recommendations to add to this list!

Hii, everyone ♡ I am a very big fan of the booktuber @caricanread so I thought I would make a list of all the books she has read this year! ✰

Magic? Injury? Stasis? Curse? Sleeping Beauty theme? When a character needs a hand back to consciousness.

(technically motherhood in speculative fiction unless i make a separate list for sci-fi!)

requesting recommendations!

stories where the voices & experiences of mothers are at the center

Though there's plenty of names here that you'll recognize! I enjoyed plenty of these as a kid and wanted to share them, especially since most of these authors have other books that get more attention. Plus, books by smaller authors. How many did you read?

A collection of older, sometimes lesser-known, fantasy (or science fantasy) books written by incredible women and published primarily between the 1980s and early 2000s (with nods to a few older ones). In a time when female fantasy authors were few and far between, these authors carved out their own space in the genre. These stories might not be mainstream hits today, but they are full of brilliant magic, deep characters, and/or worlds that helped shape the genre. (First in Series / standalones only for now - open to suggestions!)

YA fiction retelling, inspired by, and about fairy tales, published for teens between 1990 and 2009.

cozy fantasy reads

Joining my younger self on a reread of all the books I was exceptionally obsessed with in elementary, middle, and high school to reread this year between heavier books (some of the series are very long so I’m only including first in a series)

Dropout's Dimension 20 has maybe my favorite campaign of DND ever, Neverafter! A dark, twisted story full of fairytales. Storytelling about stories, destiny, and what it means to grow beyond the well known tales.

fairytale retellings for adults from the girl who grew up reading nothing else

beloved tales in new gowns

Books with princesses, list idea based on a lyric from the 2025 Snow White

Gimme more magic, myth, romance, and once upon a time...For series, only the first book is listed