Book picks similar to
Skin Deep by Kendra Merritt


fantasy
beauty-and-the-beast
tbr
adaptations

As Old as Time


Liz Braswell - 2016
    And, stranger still, she sees that her mother is none other than the beautiful enchantress who cursed the castle and all its inhabitants. Shocked and confused, Belle and the Beast will have to unravel a dark mystery about their families that is 21 years in the making.As Old as Time is the third book in a new YA line that reimagines classic Disney stories in surprising new ways.

The Great Hunt


Wendy Higgins - 2016
    “I must ask you to sacrifice the promise of love for the sake of our kingdom.”She could only stare back, frozen.When a strange beast terrorizes the kingdom of Lochlanach, fear stirs revolt. In an act of desperation, a proclamation is sent to all of Eurona—kill the creature and win the ultimate prize: the daughter of King Lochson’s hand in marriage.Princess Aerity knows her duty to the kingdom but cannot bear the idea of marrying a stranger... until a brooding local hunter, Paxton Seabolt, catches her attention. There’s no denying the unspoken lure between them... or his mysterious resentment.Paxton is not the marrying type. Nor does he care much for spoiled royals and their arcane laws. He’s determined to keep his focus on the task at hand—ridding the kingdom of the beast—but the princess continues to surprise him, and the perilous secrets he’s buried begin to surface.Inspired by the Grimm Brothers’ tale “The Singing Bone,” New York Times bestselling author Wendy Higgins delivers a dark fantasy filled with rugged hunters, romantic tension, and a princess willing to risk all to save her kingdom.

Gilded Rose


Emma Hamm - 2019
    The world is plagued by creatures called the Dread, and the monster who's captured me is their king. But no matter how hard I try to get away, there's no escaping him. Not when he's magically bound to turn me into one of his creatures. When I discover he wasn’t supposed to destroy cities—that he’s one of the Celestials meant to save humanity—I realize my only hope of survival is breaking his curse. The one that turned him into a beast. But as I uncover the truth to break his curse, I begin to wonder if I’ve lost myself in the process... Can I still escape him? Or has he taken my heart forever? Fans of Robin McKinley and Grimm will fall in love with this twisted fairytale retelling of Beauty and the Beast.

Loved by the Beast: A Historical Retelling of Beauty and the Beast


T.E. Elliott - 2020
    One is seen as a Beast, the other a Beauty. Both long for something more—to be seen, to be known, to be loved for more than what is on the outside. When Léa is faced with the prospect of an arranged marriage or see her father imprisoned, it is a sacrifice she is willing to make. However, when she finds that the rumored beast is nothing more than a gentle and kind man, she is faced with another decision. Can her heart respond to his love even when she has had no power of decision in her life's story?Audric gave up on finding love long ago, so when his mother tells him she has made a match for him, he cannot help but be skeptical of her plans. The rumors he's heard about himself since childhood have even him convinced he's a beast and not worthy of the love of a woman. Should hope be rekindled or squashed entirely? Set in early 18th century France and based on the classic versions of the timeless fairy tale, with a hint of the beloved childhood favorite, this retelling explores the depths of what true love looks like and the lengths one is willing to go in its defense.

House of Salt and Sorrows


Erin A. Craig - 2019
    Once they were twelve, but loneliness fills the grand halls now that four of the girls' lives have been cut short. Each death was more tragic than the last—the plague, a plummeting fall, a drowning, a slippery plunge—and there are whispers throughout the surrounding villages that the family is cursed by the gods.Disturbed by a series of ghostly visions, Annaleigh becomes increasingly suspicious that the deaths were no accidents. Her sisters have been sneaking out every night to attend glittering balls, dancing until dawn in silk gowns and shimmering slippers, and Annaleigh isn't sure whether to try to stop them or to join their forbidden trysts. Because who—or what—are they really dancing with?When Annaleigh's involvement with a mysterious stranger who has secrets of his own intensifies, it's a race to unravel the darkness that has fallen over her family—before it claims her next.

Traitor's Masque


Kenley Davidson - 2015
    The promise of a new life, in exchange for her help. Simple, right? After all, the old woman has only asked for one night. One night, one beautiful gown, one dance… and one message to be delivered to a mysterious recipient.It should be easy. Maybe even fun. Especially when she can slip away into the night after the dance, leaving no clue as to her identity.But before she can escape the ball, Trystan makes a shocking discovery that leaves all her hopes in ruins. She will be forced to confront two very different princes—and choose whether to betray her kingdom… or her heart.If she’s lucky, maybe she’ll even survive to tell about it later.A thrilling, suspenseful retelling of Cinderella, Traitor’s Masque is the first book of the Andari Chronicles, a series of interconnected but stand-alone fairy tale retellings that feature strong heroines, romance, mystery, and deeply satisfying happily ever afters.

Curses


Lish McBride - 2021
    She will be forced to live as a beast forever, unless she agrees to marry a man of her mother's choosing before her eighteenth birthday.Tevin Dumont has always been a pawn in his family's cons. The prettiest boy in a big family, his job is to tempt naïve rich girls to abandon their engagements, unless their parents agree to pay him off. But after his mother runs afoul of the beast, she decides to trade Tevin for her own freedom.Now, Tevin and Merit have agreed that he can pay off his mother's debt by using his con-artist skills to help Merit find the best match . . . but what if the best match is Tevin himself?

The Beast's Heart


Leife Shallcross - 2018
    But if loneliness breeds desperation then I was desperate indeed, and I did what I felt I must. My shameful behaviour was unjustly rewarded.My Isabeau. She opened my eyes, my mind and my heart; she taught me how to be human again.And now I might lose her forever.Lose yourself in this gorgeously rich and magical retelling of The Beauty and the Beast that finally lays bare the beast's heart.

Lost in the Never Woods


Aiden Thomas - 2021
    It's been five years since Wendy and her two brothers went missing in the woods, but when the town’s children start to disappear, the questions surrounding her brothers’ mysterious circumstances are brought back into light. Attempting to flee her past, Wendy almost runs over an unconscious boy lying in the middle of the road, and gets pulled into the mystery haunting the town.Peter, a boy she thought lived only in her stories, claims that if they don't do something, the missing children will meet the same fate as her brothers. In order to find them and rescue the missing kids, Wendy must confront what's waiting for her in the woods.

Unhooked


Lisa Maxwell - 2016
    Now these delusions have brought them to London, far from the life Gwen had finally started to build for herself. The only saving grace is her best friend, Olivia, who’s coming with them for the summer. But when Gwen and Olivia are kidnapped by shadowy creatures and taken to a world of flesh-eating sea hags and dangerous Fey, Gwen realizes her mom might have been sane all along. The world Gwen finds herself in is called Neverland, yet it’s nothing like the stories. Here, good and evil lose their meaning and memories slip like water through her fingers. As Gwen struggles to remember where she came from and find a way home, she must choose between trusting the charming fairy-tale hero who says all the right things and the roguish young pirate who promises to keep her safe. With time running out and her enemies closing in, Gwen is forced to face the truths she’s been hiding from all along. But will she be able to save Neverland without losing herself?

Hunted


Meagan Spooner - 2017
    Though she grew up with the city’s highest aristocrats, far from her father’s old lodge, she knows that the forest holds secrets and that her father is the only hunter who’s ever come close to discovering them. So when her father loses his fortune and moves Yeva and her sisters 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. Deaf to her sisters’ protests, Yeva hunts this strange Beast back into his own territory—a cursed valley, a ruined castle, and a world of 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?

An Enchantment Of Thorns


Helena Rookwood - 2021
    An enchanted forest. A beauty destined to break the curse upon them...As town greenwitch, Aster’s spent her whole life defending her people from the nightmarish fae of the forest. Yet despite her best efforts, each year a girl is taken by the fae Beast who rules the Folkwood, sacrificed to the ancient faerie magic of the Tithe.And this year, the Beast claims Aster.When he whisks her away to his lavish woodland Court, Aster finds herself prisoner in a cursed mansion laced with enchantments and filled with hordes of wicked faerie servants. Not to mention there’s the Beast himself, whose savage beauty and dark magic never fail to remind Aster of his predatory fae nature.But when the Beast realizes Aster is more powerful than she ever could have guessed, he offers her a deal. Her freedom in exchange for her help breaking the curse on his Court.As feelings blossom between the two of them, their faerie bargain will force Aster to choose: her people or her heart.A retelling of Beauty and the Beast, An Enchantment of Thorns is the first in a new series of interconnected fairy tale retellings that feature strong heroines, swoon-worthy heroes, clean romance, and magical happy ever afters. Readers are comparing this new fae romance to A Court of Thorns and Roses, Uprooted, and The Cruel Prince.

The Healer's Apprentice


Melanie Dickerson - 2010
    One Hope.Rose has been appointed as a healer's apprentice at Hagenheim Castle, a rare opportunity for a woodcutter's daughter like her. While she often feels uneasy at the sight of blood, Rose is determined to prove herself capable. Failure will mean returning home to marry the aging bachelor her mother has chosen for her—a bloated, disgusting merchant who makes Rose feel ill.When Lord Hamlin, the future duke, is injured, it is Rose who must tend to him. As she works to heal his wound, she begins to understand emotions she's never felt before and wonders if he feels the same. But falling in love is forbidden, as Lord Hamlin is betrothed to a mysterious young woman in hiding. As Rose's life spins toward confusion, she must take the first steps on a journey to discover her own destiny.

So This is Love


Elizabeth Lim - 2020
    However, when Cinderella finds herself witness to a grand conspiracy to take the king - and the prince - out of power, she is faced with questions of love and loyalty to the kingdom. Cinderella must find a way to stop the villains of past and present... before it's too late.

Cruel Beauty


Rosamund Hodge - 2014
    And since birth, she has been in training to kill him.With no choice but to fulfill her duty, Nyx resents her family for never trying to save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, Nyx abandons everything she's ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle—a shifting maze of magical rooms—enthralls her.As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex's secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Even if she could bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him? With time running out, Nyx must decide what is more important: the future of her kingdom, or the man she was never supposed to love.