Here are 100 books that More Than True fans have personally recommended if you like
More Than True.
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I never expected to write a zombie story, let alone a novella series. I don’t usually do scary. I avoid horror movies and choose books with pretty covers. I think that’s why my books, like those on this list, walk the line of horror without plunging all the way in. There’s a delight in being spooked, but not if it leads you to recurring nightmares. I want books that will set my heart racing, but don’t plant a lingering fear. The books on this list will raise the hair on your arms, but won’t keep you up at night…unless, of course, it’s because you can’t put them down.
Full disclosure: I’m a sucker for retellings, as you may have noticed since this book is the second retelling to make my list.
This book retells the 12 Dancing Princesses, exploring the family’s curse more in-depth. That means it’s filled with gothic settings, plenty of tragedy, and the requisite family secrets. It’s the perfect spooky story to keep you up all night (because you won’t be able to put it down).
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Get swept away by this “haunting” (Bustle) YA novel about twelve beautiful sisters living on an isolated island estate who begin to mysteriously die one by one. This dark and atmospheric fairy tale inspired story is perfect for fans of Yellowjackets.
"Step inside a fairy tale." —Stephanie Garber, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Caraval
In a manor by the sea, twelve sisters are cursed.
Annaleigh lives a sheltered life at Highmoor with her sisters and their father and stepmother. Once there were twelve, but loneliness fills the grand halls now that four of…
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been obsessed with fairy tales and love. I had imaginary friends and would pretend to be the “damsel in distress,” waiting for my prince to find me. I’ve never lost that love as an adult, but I’ve found that certain books can give me the same feelings I had as a child. And reading these stories always fills me with hope that there is good in the world and that love conquers all!
I loved the meet-cute for this book—technically, the second meet-cute of the two main characters. Who doesn’t want to be saved from a burning building by a hunky firefighter, especially the one you loved as a teenager?
I adored the main character, Emmy, and her belief in love and romance. The setting was especially cozy, and the book made me laugh, too!
Sometime all it takes to start a fire is a single match. . .
Owen Larrabee is not my soulmate.
He wasn't when I confessed my love to him on his wedding day, and he isn't now. I should probably say that I wasn't the bride when that happened. I don't have the best timing.
He’s got a temper, he's moody, and he has a history of being misunderstood and making big mistakes.
I, on the other hand, make pumpkin cupcakes, spend my Friday nights curled up with a beloved romance novel and long to be kissed in the rain.…
I’m an American author and writing teacher both at Harvard and Oxford’s online programs. I've mostly written poetry and nonfiction, then in 2021 I published my first novel, She Never Told Me about the Ocean. I started writing the book when my daughter was born as a way to explore the complicated feelings and fears that suddenly washed over me. The book—like a daughter—outgrew my plans and expectations for it. It became, unexpectedly, a mythology of mothers and daughters. For two decades I've studied fairy tales and myths. Fairy tales deal in fears and the stories we tell ourselves to feel safe—which is why I read them and use them in my writing.
I just discovered this book and want to teach it in every one of my classes! Folkis a series of stories about the villagers in a tiny, closed-off island filled with strange rituals and a cacophony of alliances and grudges. Her language is simply thrilling, and the fairy tales are shocking in all different ways. We hear a different perspective in each story, so the book results in a fairy tale about how small communities work and what the ‘folk’ in them must do—and believe—in order to get along.
A captivating, magical and haunting debut novel of breathtaking imagination, from the winner of the 2014 Costa Short Story Award
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2019 INTERNATIONAL DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE
'That rare thing: genuinely unique' OBSERVER
'Will win you over ... Magical' THE TIMES
'Absolutely stunning. I loved it' MADELINE MILLER, AUTHOR OF CIRCE
On the remote island of Neverness, the villagers' lives are entwined with nature: its enchantments, seductions and dangers. There is May, the young fiddler who seeks her musical spirit; Madden Lightfoot, who flies with red kites; and Verlyn Webbe, born with a wing for an arm. Over the…
The Year Mrs. Cooper Got Out More
by
Meredith Marple,
The coastal tourist town of Great Wharf, Maine, boasts a crime rate so low you might suspect someone’s lying.
Nevertheless, jobless empty nester Mallory Cooper has become increasingly reclusive and fearful. Careful to keep the red wine handy and loath to leave the house, Mallory misses her happier self—and so…
My very intelligent, very (self-described) un-literary father taught me all about the complexities and beauty of God. My librarian mother gave me the literature that would introduce me to the most profound descriptions of those complex beauties. As the author of Marvelous Light, numerous metaphor-dependent blog posts, and future allegorical novels, I hope to introduce each of my readers to the divine realities on which I depend daily.
Lewis considered George MacDonald his spiritual father, having never met the man. He said that MacDonald introduced him to the gospel through his stories before he even knew that that’s what was happening. How? Metaphor. George MacDonald knew of God’s love more than most and did his best to share it with the world, deeply hidden in fairy tales, the kind of folklore that Lewis, Tolkien, and the rest of the Inklings loved so dearly.
George MacDonald occupied a major position in the intellectual life of his Victorian contemporaries. This volume brings together all eleven of his shorter fairy stories as well as his essay "The Fantastic Imagination". The subjects are those of traditional fantasy: good and wicked fairies, children embarking on elaborate quests, and journeys into unsettling dreamworlds. Within this familiar imaginative landscape, his children's stories were profoundly experimental, questioning the association of childhood with purity and innocence, and the need to separate fairy tale wonder from adult scepticism and disbelief.
I'm passionate about ghost stories, classic gothic literature, and horror comics, and I have always felt that October is too short to contain the atmospheric chills and versatility of horror stories. I am also passionate about graphic novels and have worked as a professional illustrator, comic artist, and colorist for 7 years. I love the camp, the fun, and the macabre invoked by Summerween. Now that I have written and published my own cozy, spooky graphic novel, which made both the American Book Association's Indies Introduce List for Summer 2024 and People Magazine's Summerween 2024 Book List, I want to shine the spotlight on other comics with the feeling of October.
A hauntingly beautiful anthology of five twisted fairytales that, to me, felt like stepping into a pastoral Twilight Zone and stayed in my mind for days after the final page. Carroll’s artwork is eerie and subtle, and the limited color palette turns scenes of the mundane into a visual nightmare.
The stories are well-paced and spooky, and in my opinion, best read during a dark summer thunderstorm.
Since I can remember, I’ve loved fairy tales. Stories that start once upon a time, somewherefar, far away. Those words are both comforting and exciting. I am fascinated by their evolution and prevalence in different cultures and genres. That same story can be told in a million different ways that are familiar, and completely new. I used a fairy tale to complete my writing minor, then submitted that same story for a Masters writing program, transforming it into my thesis, which became my first published book. I’ve spent a career reading and writing fairy tales, and I hope this list helps you love them as much as I do.
Ever wonder what would happen if you mixed up traditional fairy tales with noir fiction? This graphic novel series answers that question, as it moves those familiar fairy tale characters from the storybook forest to a gritty urban landscape called Fabletown. Now, you’ll follow a reformed Big “Bad” Wolf as he tries to solve the murder of Snow White’s party girl sister, Rose Red. It’s a fun read with compelling illustrations and an unexpected twist on both the fairy tale and detective genres.
When a savage creature, known only as the Adversary, conquered the fabled lands of legends and fairy tales, the famous inhabitants of folklore were forced into exile. Disguised among the normal citizens of a modern New York, these magical characters created their own peaceful and secret society, which they called Fabletown. But when Snow White's party-girl sister, Rose Red, is apparently murdered, it's up to Fabletown's sheriff -- the reformed Big Bad Wolf, Bigby -- to find the killer. Meanwhile, trouble of a different sort brews at the Fables' upstate farm, where non-human inhabitants are preaching revolution...and threatening the carefully…
Don’t mess with the hothead—or he might just mess with you. Slater Ibáñez is only interested in two kinds of guys: the ones he wants to punch, and the ones he sleeps with. Things get interesting when they start to overlap. A freelance investigator, Slater trolls the dark side of…
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been obsessed with fairy tales and love. I had imaginary friends and would pretend to be the “damsel in distress,” waiting for my prince to find me. I’ve never lost that love as an adult, but I’ve found that certain books can give me the same feelings I had as a child. And reading these stories always fills me with hope that there is good in the world and that love conquers all!
This book is so much fun. I loved how Jane was determined to fall in love with all the romance tropes and they backfire. It felt like a reverse fairy tale, which made me laugh and swoon.
And when the main characters finally got together, I was kicking my feet in delight. Such a fun story set in the small-town island of Sunset Harbor.
I write fairy tales and folklore, dark fantasy and horror. I have an academic background in history and archaeology. I am Australian (yes, lots of scary creatures here!) but inspired by this rich, multicultural country with First Nations tales for over 60,000 years. I am fascinated by how fairy tales, folklore and mythologies can be similar and yet so intriguingly different across time and space, written and oral telling. I love the enduring power of the fairytale and how, with each retelling, it transforms it into a new story, and as people travel, new tales are retold and transformed into a new version for a new place and generation.
I adored this book. I loved its clever fairy tale reimagining of Beauty and Beast set in 1940s Germany under the Third Reich. I enjoyed the transformation of this classic fairy tale into a historical novel that was rich in detail and unique characters and revealed much of the hidden voices of resistance within Germany during this time.
Forsyth is a fellow Australian fairytale, fantasy, and historical author who writes fantasy, history, fairy tale, and myth retellings reimagined into new settings that I find inspiring and the power of the fairy tale to be retold and made new and to endure.
Australian paperback edition of novel by acclaimed writer, Kate Forsyth. "Filled with danger, intrigue and romance, The Beast's Garden, a retelling of the Grimm brothers' Beauty and the Beast, is a beautiful, compelling love story set in a time [WWII Germany] when the world seemed on the brink of collapse.
I am a Wolfhound parent and the author of books about this majestic breed. I have studied everything I could find about the Wolfhound since I first lost my heart to one many years ago, meeting breeders and owners alike to learn everything I could about their temperament and health. I have attended many dog shows and symposiums to further my knowledge of my breed. Having shared my life with this dog, unlike any other, I devour books written by other Wolfhound owners.
A beautifully written book that brings the magic of the Irish Wolfhound to the reader.
This collection of fairy tales and poems invites us into the mystical world where the Wolfhound was king. A heartwarming tribute to the enormous heart of this gentle giant. It speaks to the soul of anyone who has met one of these loving, kind creatures. I could read it again and again.
I always longed for a wolfhound. I watched documentaries about them, read books about them, and finally, traveled to Ireland and met my first real ones. They were my fairy tales, until a living flesh and fur giant came to share my home and heart. There is really no way to describe to someone what it is like to share your home with these gentle, goofy, stubborn, and loving friends. I hope these fairy tales bring a little bit of their magic into each reader’s heart. They truly have the strength of lions while possessing the souls of lambs.
These days, I’m an author, but that was long predated by being a reader. I’ve loved fairy tales all my life and spent most of my childhood lugging around a thick paperback copy of the Brothers Grimm's stories. My nationally bestselling second novel, Bear, is a reimagining of my favorite tale: “Snow-White and Rose-Red. " It is about two sisters who live in a cottage with their mother and whose lives are upended when a bear shows up at their door.
Oyeyemi plays with symbol, myth, and magic in all of her books, and this gorgeous novel is no exception.
This book turns the Snow White story inside out to tell a twentieth-century tale of race, beauty, and family. I’m always blown away by the range of Oyeyemi’s imagination and the depth of her skill. She is an absolutely extraordinary storyteller.
As seen on the cover of the New York Times Book Review, where it was described as “gloriously unsettling… evoking Toni Morrison, Haruki Murakami, Angela Carter, Edgar Allan Poe, Gabriel García Márquez, Chris Abani and even Emily Dickinson,” and already one of the year’s most widely acclaimed novels:
“Helen Oyeyemi has fully transformed from a literary prodigy into a powerful, distinctive storyteller…Transfixing and surprising.”—Entertainment Weekly (Grade: A)
“I don’t care what the magic mirror says; Oyeyemi is the cleverest in the land…daring and unnerving… Under Oyeyemi’s spell, the fairy-tale conceit makes a brilliant setting in which to explore the alchemy…
