Category Archives: Fantasy & Paranormal

The Women Could Fly by Megan Giddings

Josephine Thomas has heard every conceivable theory about her mother’s disappearance. That she was kidnapped. Murdered. That she took on a new identity to start a new family. That she was a witch. This is the most worrying charge because in a world where witches are real, peculiar behavior raises suspicions and a woman–especially a Black woman–can find herself on trial for witchcraft. But fourteen years have passed since her mother’s disappearance, and now Jo is finally ready to let go of the past. Yet her future is in doubt. The State mandates that all women marry by… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Misogyny, homophobia & racism (theme)
  • Murder & disappearance of a mother
  • Animal death
  • Bullying

Word of Mouse by James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein

What makes Isaiah so unique? First, his fur is as blue as the sky—which until recently was something he’d never seen, but had read all about. That’s right: Isaiah can read and write. He can also talk to humans . . . if any of them are willing to listen! After a dramatic escape from a mysterious laboratory, Isaiah is separated from his “mischief” (which is the word for a mouse family) and has to survive in the dangerous outdoors, and hopefully find his missing family. But in a world of cruel cats, hungry owls, and terrified people, it’s… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Injections mentioned
  • Animal medical experimentation (theme)

Fall of the School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani

What rises . . . must fall. Two brothers One Good. One Evil. In exchange for power and immortality, they watch over the Endless Woods and rule the School for Good and Evil. Yet all School Masters must face a test. Theirs is loyalty. But what happens when loyalty is corrupted? When the bonds of blood are broken? Who will survive? Who will die? And what will become of the school and its students? The journey that started a hundred years ago throttles towards its end.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Smoking
  • Blood depiction & mentions of blood-drinking
  • Death of children mentioned
  • Torture by waterboarding/drowning
  • Physical assault & fantasy violence

Rise of the School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani

This year, best friends Sophie and Agatha are about to discover where all the lost children go: the fabled School for Good & Evil, where ordinary boys and girls are trained to be fairy tale heroes and villains. As the most beautiful girl in Gavaldon, Sophie has dreamed of being kidnapped into an enchanted world her whole life. With her pink dresses, glass slippers, and devotion to good deeds, she knows she’ll earn top marks at the School for Good and graduate a storybook princess. Meanwhile Agatha, with her shapeless black frocks, wicked pet cat, and dislike of nearly everyone, seems a natural fit for the School for Evil… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Alcohol consumption
  • Physical assault & fantasy violence

The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani

This year, best friends Sophie and Agatha are about to discover where all the lost children go: the fabled School for Good & Evil, where ordinary boys and girls are trained to be fairy tale heroes and villains. As the most beautiful girl in Gavaldon, Sophie has dreamed of being kidnapped into an enchanted world her whole life. With her pink dresses, glass slippers, and devotion to good deeds, she knows she’ll earn top marks at the School for Good and graduate a storybook princess. Meanwhile Agatha, with her shapeless black frocks, wicked pet cat, and dislike of nearly everyone, seems a natural fit for the School for Evil… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Fatphobia & body-shaming
  • Death of a parent
  • Bullying
  • Animal death & cruelty

Beasts and Beauty: Dangerous Tales by Soman Chainani

Twelve tales, twelve dangerous tales of mystery, magic, and rebellious hearts. Each twists like a spindle to reveal truths full of warning and triumph, truths that capture hearts long kept tame and set them free, truths that explore life . . . and death. A prince has a surprising awakening. A beauty fights like a beast. A boy refuses to become prey. A path to happiness is lost. . . . then found again. Chainani respins old stories into fresh fairy tales for a new era and creates a world like no other. These stories know you. They understand you. They reflect you. They are tales for our times. So read on, if you dare.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child trafficking
  • Rape, implied
  • Blood & gore depiction

A World Without Princes by Soman Chainani

After saving themselves and their fellow students from a life pitched against one another, Sophie and Agatha are back home again, living happily ever after. But life isn’t exactly a fairytale. When Agatha secretly wishes she’d chosen a different happy ending with Prince Tedros, the gates to the School for Good and Evil open once again. But Good and Evil are no longer enemies and Princes and Princesses may not be what they seem, as new bonds form and old ones shatter.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Torture

A Worthy Opponent by Katee Robert

Once upon a time I was a girl who believed in love and happily ever afters. Now the only thing I believe in is revenge. Unfortunately for me, there’s only one man willing to help me. Hook. I should have known it wouldn’t be out of the goodness of his heart. He doesn’t have one. No, Hook wants his ring on my finger and me on my knees before him—and he won’t take no for an answer. I’m willing to pay any price in order to bring Pan down…even if it means I lose my soul in the bargain.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Intimate partner abuse & violence recounted
  • Emotional & physical child abuse recounted
  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) & panic attack
  • Scars
  • Parent with alcoholism
  • Alcohol consumption & mentions of recreational drug use
  • Gun violence
  • Attempted kidnapping

Wrath Goddess Sing by Maya Deane

Achilles has fled her home and her vicious Myrmidon clan to live as a woman with the kallai, the transgender priestesses of Great Mother Aphrodite. When Odysseus comes to recruit the “prince” Achilles for a war against the Hittites, she prepares to die rather than fight as a man. However, her divine mother, Athena, intervenes, transforming her body into the woman’s body she always longed for, and promises her everything: glory, power, fame, victory in war, and, most importantly, a child born of her own body. Reunited with her beloved cousin, Patroklos, and his brilliant wife, the sorceress Meryapi, Achilles sets out to war with a… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Homophobia
  • Transphobia, deadnaming & misgendering
  • Rape mentioned
  • Infidelity
  • Self-sacrifice
  • Pregnancy & childbirth
  • Blood depiction & blood-drinking
  • Ritualistic cannibalism
  • Murder
  • Immolation
  • Drowning
  • Physical assault
  • Animal sacrifice

The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden

Now Moscow has been struck by disaster. Its people are searching for answers—and for someone to blame. Vasya finds herself alone, beset on all sides. The Grand Prince is in a rage, choosing allies that will lead him on a path to war and ruin. A wicked demon returns, stronger than ever and determined to spread chaos. Caught at the center of the conflict is Vasya, who finds the fate of two worlds resting on her shoulders. Her destiny uncertain, Vasya will uncover surprising truths about herself and her history as she desperately tries to save Russia, Morozko, and the magical world she treasures. But she may not be able to save them all.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Period-typical misogyny
  • Sexual assault & threats of rape
  • Death during childbirth mentioned
  • Torture
  • Graphic animal death (pet horse)
  • War themes