I love books about faeries. It is almost guaranteed that if your book is about faeries, be is a war, a romance, friendship I will read it. What sparked this post was actually a conversation I had with my sister. She thinks faeries are creepy and much more scary than the boogieman in your closet or the monster under the bed. And thinking about it she has a point.

We are talking changelings, goblins, tricks for giggles and just murder a lot of the times. However, there is something about this world that makes me excited but most importantly invested.

It could be the horror part of it as I am a fan of horror or it could be the fantasy aspect of it and how the fae world is broken down and built. Either way I love it.

Reading books about faeries is what brought me into the fantasy genre and opened up to reading other folklore and mythologies that I now crave to read. On that note, this post will break down my favorite fae books and why I love them.

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Wicked Lovely series by Melissa Marr

This is the series that started it all for me. My first book about faeries and the forbidden romance.

Aislinn sees faeries but follows a set of rules to keep her safe. Don’t stare, don’t speak and don’t attract attention from the faeries. It isn’t until Keenan the Summer King comes along and want Aislinn as his Queen.

I was sucked into this and it is one of the rare series I finished AND have all hardcover books for. As an adult (because I was 17/18 when I first read these books), I still enjoy them and Melissa Marr as an author.

When looking up this book cover on Goodreads, I noticed that a lot of reviewers compared this book to Twilight and generally hated Aislinn because she was boring. 1: I am going to ignore the Twilight part because any book that came out after Twilight that was about forbidden paranormal romances was compared to Twilight. 2: Aislinn is boring, which is the point. She chooses to live a boring life and existence to follow those specific rules.

Moral of the story, I ship this series and will foreva. If ya’ll can promote and ship abusive and toxic relationships between a fae and a human *cough* then I can ship this.

Faeriewalker series by Jenna Black

If I remember correctly, I read this when it launched which was about 3 years after Wicked Lovely.

Dana’s mother is an alcoholic and a very public one. So at her wits end, Dana runs away to find her father Avalon; the only place where the human and fae world coexist. But the peace Dana was looking for doesn’t come as she is a faeriewalker, able to travel between both world and bring technology into the fae world.

Again, sucked in. The summary sounds cliche but the author was able to build a world that not only captivates you but makes sense if faeries were a real thing. As an adult, I may not read this again because there is a lot of cliche in the book.

However, its a solid novel that grows as your continue the series.

Bones of Faerie series by Janni Lee Simner

Funny story about this series. I wanted to read this book badly but I couldn’t find any copies at a local store so I forgot about it (this was pre-goodreads). Fast forward and I see the book available on BookOutlet, so I bought it.

15 year old Liza is living in the aftermaths of a war between fae and humans. Surrounded by a forest that threatens anyone that comes into it, Liza discovers that she is part fae and can see into the past.

What took me by surprise within this series was the romance. It is not heavy by any means and in the first book it is nonexistent. I actually liked that about this series because that means that the romance wasn’t the first priority in the story.

However, the book was slow and compared to the colors you see and feel from other fae novels, this was grey and a bit bland. I have always assumed this was intentional because ya know war. But it may not be liked. I enjoyed this read because it gave me a different outlook on the fae. Yes, I am well aware of the evilness of fae and how it can get dirty but from a book perspective, at the time that I read this book, this wasn’t common.

The Iron Witch series by Karen Mahoney, I believe, is one of the most underrated YA

fae series that I have come across.

Donna’s father died when she was seven after a fey attack. Her mother went crazy and now after years of being bullied for her iron tattoos branding her arms, her best friend is kidnapped and now she must work with the fae to save her.

I feel like this book did not get the hype that it deserves because of timing. If you haven’t noticed, every 5 years there is craze where all that is published are the same type of books until something else comes along. Right now its witches and during the time of this book’s release it was fae. So a lot of people’s complaint is, its the same type of book. It really isn’t.

Donna is an idiot. She isn’t exactly the strong heroine that does what is right and owns to her mistakes. She is selfish and is willing to let the world die for those she loves. This is a problem throughout the entire series, however here is what I appreciate about this book. The story building is great. The author takes her time giving you a world that you are curious about. Yes, Donna is a tool, however, adding in alchemy to the story was a good call to push it along.

Although the series brought you the typical girl, willing to risk it all (literally all) for two people, the foundation was strong and I recommend it to young adults. NOT adults.

Say hello to my first introduction to Holly Black.

When Jared Grace finds their great uncle’s book, ‘Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide to the Fantastic World Around You’ they realize that they are not alone. The siblings use the field guide to discover what is truly around them.

The Spiderwick Chronicles will always be a favorite to me and I was introduced to this by my older nephew.

You want details in a small compacted but enjoyable form? This is it. You want illustrations that will fascinate and creep you out? This is it.

As the series progresses it gets darker because the kids begin meeting the not so friendly faeries, which is to be expected. Because we all know that some faeries are mean and evil.

The best feature about this read is the illustrations. They are so very detailed and fit well with theme of field guide that you can’t help but purchase the companion book.

As this was the first book I read that featured Holly Black, I started reading her solo projects and got hooked. Overall, this is a good beginning into faeries.

Also I would like to say for those that didn’t like the book because this children’s book, not YA, CHILDREN’S BOOK, was too young for you, you might want to rethink some things.

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But I can go on an on about faerie books. But I won’t :) What are some of your favorites?