The Fae Folk: Stories featuring Fairies and Faeries

Fairies have been a part of our folklore for years and tales of their wicked and mischievous deeds have made their way into many of today’s fantasy novels. So, if you are interested in stories featuring the courts and world of fairies, or faeries, check out this list below and let us know your favorite faires/faeries stories. For physical copies of these books, please read these instructions for reserving titles for Curbside Pickup. 

*All book descriptions are from the publisher.

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

Jude was seven years old when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King. To win a place at the Court, she must defy him—and face the consequences.

In doing so, she becomes embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, discovering her own capacity for bloodshed. But as civil war threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.

Accessible as an Overdrive ebook/audiobook and physical book.

Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

Rule #3: Don’t stare at invisible faeries.

Aislinn has always seen faeries. Powerful and dangerous, they walk hidden in the mortal world. Aislinn fears their cruelty-especially if they learn of her Sight-and wishes she were as blind to their presence as other teens.

Rule #2: Don’t speak to invisible faeries.

Now faeries are stalking her. One of them, Keenan, who is equal parts terrifying and alluring, is trying to talk to her, asking questions Aislinn is afraid to answer.

Rule #1: Don’t ever attract their attention.

But it’s too late. Keenan is the Summer King who has sought his queen for nine centuries. Without her, summer itself will perish. He is determined that Aislinn will become the Summer Queen at any cost-regardless of her plans or desires.

Suddenly none of the rules that have kept Aislinn safe are working anymore, and everything is on the line: her freedom, her best friend, Seth, her life-everything.

Accessible as a hoopla ebook/audiobook and physical book.

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (previously mentioned in YA Beauty and the Beast Retellings and a staff pick on the ACOTAR Series)

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a terrifying creature arrives to demand retribution. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she knows about only from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not truly a beast, but one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled her world. At least, he’s not a beast all the time.

As she adapts to her new home, her feelings for the faerie, Tamlin, transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie she’s been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But something is not right in the faerie lands. An ancient, wicked shadow is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it, or doom Tamlin-and his world-forever.

Accessible as an Overdrive ebook/audiobook and physical book. 

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan’s life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school…or at home.

When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she’s known is about to change. But she could never have guessed the truth.

For Meghan is the daughter of a mythical faery king…and a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she’ll go to save someone she cares about, stop a mysterious evil no faery creature dare face…and find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.

Accessible as an Overdrive ebook and physical book.

Lament by Maggie Stiefvater

Sixteen-year-old Deirdre Monaghan is a painfully shy but prodigiously gifted musician. She’s about to find out she’s also a cloverhand—one who can see faeries. Deirdre finds herself infatuated with a mysterious boy who enters her ordinary suburban life, seemingly out of thin air. Trouble is, the enigmatic and gorgeous Luke turns out to be a gallowglass—a soulless faerie assassin. An equally hunky—and equally dangerous—dark faerie soldier named Aodhan is also stalking Deirdre. Sworn enemies, Luke and Aodhan each have a deadly assignment from the Faerie Queen. Namely, kill Deirdre before her music captures the attention of the Fae and threatens the Queen’s sovereignty. Caught in the crossfire with Deirdre is James, her wisecracking but loyal best friend. Deirdre had been wishing her life weren’t so dull, but getting trapped in the middle of a centuries-old faerie war isn’t exactly what she had in mind…

Accessible as an Overdrive ebook, hoopla ebook, and physical book. 

Wings by Aprilynne Pike

Laurel was mesmerized, staring at the pale things with wide eyes. They were terrifyingly beautiful—too beautiful for words.

Laurel turned to the mirror again, her eyes on the hovering petals that floated beside her head. They looked almost like wings.

In this extraordinary tale of magic and intrigue, romance and danger, everything you thought you knew about faeries will be changed forever.

Accessible as an Overdrive audiobook, hoopla ebook/audiobook, and physical book.

Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston

Since the dawn of time, the Faerie have taken…. Seventeen-year-old actress Kelley Winslow always thought faeries were just something from childhood stories. Then she meets Sonny Flannery. He’s a changeling-a mortal taken as an infant and raised among Faerie-and within short order he’s turned Kelley’s heart inside out and her life upside down. For Kelley’s beloved Central Park isn’t just a park-it’s a gateway between her ordinary city and the Faerie’s dangerous, bewitching Otherworld. Now Kelley’s eyes are opening not just to the Faerie that surround her, but to the heritage that awaits her… a destiny both wondrous and strange.

Accessible as a hoopla ebook/audiobook and physical book.

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

Twelve-year-old Artemis Fowl is a millionaire, a genius, and above all, a criminal mastermind. But even Artemis doesn’t know what he’s taken on when he kidnaps a fairy, Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon Unit. These aren’t the fairies of bedtime stories—they’re dangerous!

Accessible as an Overdrive ebook/audiobook, hoopla ebook, and physical book. 

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Staff Pick: A Court of Thorns and Roses Series by Sarah J. Maas

Enter Prythian, land of the fae, if you dare! Here, you won’t find humans scrapping out an existence as they do on the lower side of the wall. Instead, creatures from nightmares abound, waiting with sharp teeth and curved claws to lure humans to the other side of the wall, where they will be enslaved… or worse. And, as if that isn’t enough to worry about, there are the High Fae with powers that can shake mountains, powers that can transport you across the world in the blink of an eye, powers beyond imagination. But are all fae bad?

In the first book of this fantasy series (previously mentioned in the Beauty and the Beast Retellings post), Feyre is just a 19-year-old girl who hunts in the forest to keep food on the table for her and her family. But then one day, something happens that will change her life forever. She’s forced to leave her family and go to Prythian, where everything is not what it seems. Could her captor be good, or is he the monster she has always believed the fae to be? And what is happening in Prythian that makes even these immortals shudder? 

As you read through the series, the characters continue to face overwhelming obstacles which only seem to get worse and worse, leading to a war with the lives of both human and fae alike in jeopardy from an evil far worse than anything that has been thrown at the world for a very long time, an evil that may not have been as dormant as everyone hoped over the past 500 years…

With violence and graphic images, this book is not for the faint of heart. 

Reserve physical copies of Sarah J. Maas’s popular ACOTAR series for Curbside Pickup, or check them out online in ebook format on Overdrive or through the Libby app. The first book is also available on Overdrive as an audiobook.

YA Beauty and the Beast Retellings

Through retellings, you can visit the same story or a similar story over and over again with new characters and new adventures. Fairy tale retellings are especially great because they were made for retellings. The stories can be shaped and changed with details added or removed, depending on how the author wants to tell the story. Beauty and the Beast is a favorite fairy tale, probably best known for the Disney animation many have seen as a child. YA has some great stories featuring this tale, and some YA Beauty and the Beast retellings accessible through Abbot Public Library are listed below. Enjoy!

*All descriptions are from the publisher. Titles that are part of a series are marked with an *.

Of Curses and Kisses by Sandhya Menon

Will the princess save the beast?

For Princess Jaya Rao, nothing is more important than family. When the loathsome Emerson clan steps up their centuries-old feud to target Jaya’s little sister, nothing will keep Jaya from exacting her revenge. Then Jaya finds out she’ll be attending the same elite boarding school as Grey Emerson, and it feels like the opportunity of a lifetime. She knows what she must do: make Grey fall in love with her and break his heart. But much to Jaya’s annoyance, Grey’s brooding demeanor and lupine blue eyes have drawn her in. There’s simply no way she and her sworn enemy could find their fairy-tale ending…right?

As the stars conspire to keep them apart, Jaya and Grey grapple with questions of love, loyalty, and whether it’s possible to write your own happy ending.

Accessible on: Overdrive

Beauty by Robin McKinley

The sisters’ wealthy father loses all his money when his merchant fleet is drowned in a storm, and the family moves to a village far away. Then the old merchant hears what proves to be a false report that one of his ships had made it safe to harbor at last, and on his sad, disappointed way home again he becomes lost deep in the forest and has a terrifying encounter with a fierce Beast, who walks like a man and lives in a castle. The merchant’s life is forfeit, says the Beast, for trespass and the theft of a rose—but he will spare the old man’s life if he sends one of his daughters: “Your daughter would take no harm from me, nor from anything that lives in my lands.” When Beauty hears this story—for her father had picked the rose to bring to her—her sense of honor demands that she take up the Beast’s offer, for “cannot a Beast be tamed?”

Accessible on: Overdrive & hoopla

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas*

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin—one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she’s been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow over the faerie lands is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it…. or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.

Accessible on: Overdrive 

Hunted by Meagan Spooner

Beauty knows the Beast’s forest in her bones—and in her blood. After all, her father is the only hunter who’s ever come close to discovering its secrets. So when her father loses his fortune and moves Yeva and her sisters out of their comfortable home among the aristocracy and back to the outskirts of town, Yeva is secretly relieved. Out in the wilderness, there’s no pressure to make idle chatter with vapid baronessas… or to submit to marrying a wealthy gentleman. But Yeva’s father’s misfortune may have cost him his mind, and when he goes missing in the woods, Yeva sets her sights on one prey: the creature he’d been obsessively tracking just before his disappearance. The Beast.

Deaf to her sisters’ protests, Yeva hunts this strange creature back into his own territory—a cursed valley, a ruined castle, and a world of magical creatures that Yeva’s only heard about in fairy tales. A world that can bring her ruin, or salvation. Who will survive: the Beauty, or the Beast?

Accessible on: Overdrive & hoopla

A Curse so Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer*

Fall in love, break the curse.

It once seemed so easy to Prince Rhen, the heir to Emberfall. Cursed by a powerful enchantress to repeat the autumn of his eighteenth year over and over, he knew he could be saved if a girl fell for him. But that was before he learned that at the end of each autumn, he would turn into a vicious beast hell-bent on destruction. That was before he destroyed his castle, his family, and every last shred of hope.

Nothing has ever been easy for Harper. With her father long gone, her mother dying, and her brother barely holding their family together while constantly underestimating her because of her cerebral palsy, she learned to be tough enough to survive. But when she tries to save someone else on the streets of Washington, D.C., she’s instead somehow sucked into Rhen’s cursed world.

Accessible on: Overdrive

Beastly by Alex Flinn*

I am a beast.

A beast. Not quite wolf or bear, gorilla or dog, but a horrible new creature who walks upright—a creature with fangs and claws and hair springing from every pore. I am a monster.

You think I’m talking fairy tales? No way. The place is New York City. The time is now. It’s no deformity, no disease. And I’ll stay this way forever—ruined—unless I can break the spell.

Yes, the spell, the one the witch in my English class cast on me. Why did she turn me into a beast who hides by day and prowls by night? I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you how I used to be Kyle Kingsbury, the guy you wished you were, with money, perfect looks, and the perfect life. And then, I’ll tell you how I became perfectly …. beastly.

Accessible on: Overdrive & hoopla