What is more dramatic than being cursed? This trope has resulted in some of my most favorite books of all time! Check out my list of YA Books About Curses!
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I don’t read a lot of fantasy anymore, but I do LOVE a good curse. On a fictional character, of course!
Curses are such a great trope in fairy tales. Stories like Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast, and Little Mermaid all feature characters under magical curses and spells.
YA Books About Curses have resulted in some of my very favorite fantasy books!
Here are a few curse books on my shelf and a few I want to read! Check out my list of YA Books about Curses and tell me about your favorites!
YA Books About Curses
Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust (2020)
There was and there was not, as all stories begin, a princess cursed to be poisonous to the touch. But for Soraya, who has lived her life hidden away, apart from her family, safe only in her gardens, it’s not just a story.
As the day of her twin brother’s wedding approaches, Soraya must decide if she’s willing to step outside of the shadows for the first time.
Below in the dungeon is a demon who holds knowledge that she craves, the answer to her freedom. And above is a young man who isn’t afraid of her, whose eyes linger not with fear, but with an understanding of who she is beneath the poison.
Soraya thought she knew her place in the world, but when her choices lead to consequences she never imagined, she begins to question who she is and who she is becoming…human or demon. Princess or monster.
The Wrath and the Dawn by Renée Ahdieh (2015)
In a land ruled by a murderous boy-king, each dawn brings heartache to a new family. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, is a monster.
Each night he takes a new bride only to have a silk cord wrapped around her throat come morning. When sixteen-year-old Shahrzad’s dearest friend falls victim to Khalid, Shahrzad vows vengeance and volunteers to be his next bride.
Night after night, Shahrzad beguiles Khalid, weaving stories that enchant, ensuring her survival, though she knows each dawn could be her last.
But something she never expected begins to happen: Khalid is nothing like what she’d imagined him to be. Incredibly, Shahrzad finds herself falling in love.
Still, Shahrzad has come to understand all is not as it seems in this palace of marble and stone. She resolves to uncover whatever secrets lurk and, despite her love, be ready to take Khalid’s life as retribution for the many lives he’s stolen. Can their love survive this world of stories and secrets?
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater (2012)
Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.
His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.
But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.
For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.
Cursed by Jennifer Armentrout (2012)
Dying sucks. High school senior Ember McWilliams knows firsthand.
After a fatal car accident, Ember’s gifted little sister brought her back. Now anything Ember touches dies.
Ember operates on a no-touch policy with all living things–including boys. When Hayden Cromwell shows up, quoting Oscar Wilde and claiming her curse is a gift, she thinks he’s a crazed cutie. But when he tells her he can help control it, she’s more than interested.
There’s just one catch: Ember has to trust Hayden’s father, a man she’s sure has sinister reasons for collecting children whose abilities even weird her out. However, she’s willing to do anything to hold her sister’s hand again. And hell, she’d also like to be able to kiss Hayden.
But when Ember learns the accident that turned her into a freak may not have been an accident at all, she’s not sure who to trust. Someone wanted her dead, and the closer she gets to the truth, the closer she is to losing not only her heart, but her life.
Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake (2011)
Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.
So did his father before him, until he was gruesomely murdered by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father’s mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. They follow legends and local lore, destroy the murderous dead, and keep pesky things like the future and friends at bay.
Searching for a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas expects the usual: track, hunt, kill.
What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he’s never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, now stained red and dripping with blood.
Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.
White Cat by Holly Black (2010)
Cassel is cursed by the memory of the fourteen year old girl he murdered. Life at school is a constant trial. Life at home even worse.
Cassel’s family are one of the big five crime families in America. Ever since magic was prohibited in 1929 magic workers have been driven underground and into crime. And while people still need their touch, their curses, their magical killings, their transformations, times have been hard.
But there is a secret at the centre of Cassel’s family and he’s about to inherit it. It’s terrfying and that’s the truth.
Stolen Songbird by Danielle Jensen (2014)
A girl destined for the stage. A prince cursed to darkness. A bond that will unleash magic caged for centuries.
Centuries ago, the Isle of Light was ruled by creatures with dangerous magic until a witch bound them to their underground city. But a prophesy has spoken of a union with a human girl that has the power to set them free.
Cécile is a singer destined for the stage when she is kidnapped and bonded to the cursed prince of Trollus, with their minds linked in a way she never dreamed possible. Trollus is both magical and deadly, but as Cécile hunts for a way to escape, she discovers there is more to her mysterious husband than anyone realizes.
As tension brews and political games escalate, Cécile finds herself at the center of a rebellion… and she is the one with the magic needed to overthrow the tyrant who rules.
Torn between returning to her human life and becoming the princess Trollus needs, Cécile must decide which world she belongs to… and how far she’s willing to go to save the prince who holds her heart.
Ever Cursed by Corey Ann Haydu (2020)
The Princesses of Ever are beloved by the kingdom and their father, the King. They are cherished, admired. Cursed.
Each carries the burden of being punished for a crime they did not commit, or even know about. They are each cursed. And their mother, the Queen, is imprisoned, frozen in time in an unbreakable glass box.
But when Eden’s curse sets in on her thirteenth birthday, the princesses are given the opportunity to break the curse, preventing it from becoming a True Spell and dooming the princesses for life.
To do this, they must confront the one who cast the spell—Reagan, a young witch who might not be the villain they thought—as well as the wickedness plaguing their own kingdom…and family.
Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta (2008)
Finnikin of the Rock and his guardian, Sir Topher, have not been home to their beloved Lumatere for ten years. Not since the dark days when the royal family was murdered and the kingdom put under a terrible curse.
But then Finnikin is summoned to meet Evanjalin, a young woman with an incredible claim: the heir to the throne of Lumatere, Prince Balthazar, is alive.
Evanjalin is determined to return home and she is the only one who can lead them to the heir. As they journey together, Finnikin is affected by her arrogance . . . and her hope.
He begins to believe he will see his childhood friend, Prince Balthazar, again. And that their cursed people will be able to enter Lumatere and be reunited with those trapped inside. He even believes he will find his imprisoned father.
But Evanjalin is not what she seems. And the truth will test not only Finnikin’s faith in her . . . but in himself.
YA Books About Curses Inspired by Beauty and the Beast
I also have a List of YA Beauty and the Beast Retellings!
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (2015)
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.
Of Beast and Beauty by Stacey Jay (2013)
I am a beast. 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.
Curses and Kisses by Sandhya Menon (2020)
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. 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?
His Lordship Grey Emerson is a misanthrope. Thanks to an ancient curse by a Rao matriarch, Grey knows he’s doomed once he turns eighteen. Sequestered away in the mountains at St. Rosetta’s International Academy, he’s lived an isolated existence—until Jaya Rao bursts into his life, but he can’t shake the feeling that she’s hiding something.
Check out my review of Curses and Kisses!
A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer (2019)
Cursed by a powerful enchantress to repeat the autumn of his eighteenth year, Prince Rhen, the heir of Emberfall, thought he could be saved easily if a girl fell for him. But that was before he turned into a vicious beast hell-bent on destruction.
Nothing has ever been easy for Harper. With her father long gone, her mother dying, and her brother constantly underestimating her because of her cerebral palsy, Harper learned to be tough enough to survive. When she tries to save a stranger on the streets of Washington, DC, she’s pulled into a magical world.
Harper doesn’t know where she is or what to believe. As she spends time with Rhen in this enchanted land, she begins to understand what’s at stake. And as Rhen realizes Harper is not just another girl to charm, his hope comes flooding back. But powerful forces are standing against Emberfall . . . and it will take more than a broken curse to save Harper, Rhen, and his people from utter ruin.
YA Books About Curses Inspired by Cinderella
Be sure to check out my book list of fairy tale inspired YA books!
Spindle Fire by Lexa Hillier (2017)
It all started with a curse…
Half sisters Isabelle and Aurora are polar opposites: Isabelle is the king’s headstrong illegitimate daughter, whose sight was tithed by faeries; Aurora, beautiful and sheltered, was tithed her sense of touch and her voice on the same day. Despite their differences, the sisters have always been extremely close.
And then everything changes, with a single drop of Aurora’s blood—and a sleep so deep it cannot be broken.
As the faerie queen and her army of Vultures prepare to march, Isabelle must race to find a prince who can awaken her sister with the kiss of true love and seal their two kingdoms in an alliance against the queen.
Isabelle crosses land and sea; unearthly, thorny vines rise up the palace walls; and whispers of revolt travel in the ashes on the wind. The kingdom falls to ruin under layers of snow. Meanwhile, Aurora wakes up in a strange and enchanted world, where a mysterious hunter may be the secret to her escape…or the reason for her to stay.
YA Books About Curses Inspired by Little Mermaid
Be sure to check out my full post on the best YA Mermaid Books!
To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo (2018)
Ever since her best friend, Anna, drowned, Evie has been an outcast in her small fishing town. A freak. A curse. A witch.
A girl with an uncanny resemblance to Anna appears offshore and, though the girl denies it, Evie is convinced that her best friend actually survived. That her own magic wasn’t so powerless after all.
And, as the two girls catch the eyes—and hearts—of two charming princes, Evie believes that she might finally have a chance at her own happily ever after.
But her new friend has secrets of her own. She can’t stay in Havnestad, or on two legs, unless Evie finds a way to help her. Now Evie will do anything to save her friend’s humanity, along with her prince’s heart—harnessing the power of her magic, her ocean, and her love until she discovers, too late, the truth of her bargain.
The Sea Witch by Sarah Henning (2018)
Princess Lira is siren royalty and the most lethal of them all. With the hearts of seventeen princes in her collection, she is revered across the sea. Until a twist of fate forces her to kill one of her own.
To punish her daughter, the Sea Queen transforms Lira into the one thing they loathe most—a human. Robbed of her song, Lira has until the winter solstice to deliver Prince Elian’s heart to the Sea Queen or remain a human forever.
The ocean is the only place Prince Elian calls home, even though he is heir to the most powerful kingdom in the world. Hunting sirens is more than an unsavory hobby—it’s his calling. When he rescues a drowning woman in the ocean, she’s more than what she appears.
She promises to help him find the key to destroying all of sirenkind for good—But can he trust her? And just how many deals will Elian have to barter to eliminate mankind’s greatest enemy?
Which of these have you read and what else should I put on this list? Tell me in comments!
I loved Stolen Songbird and Girl, Serpent, Thorn is on my list to read! I’m trying to remember books about curses I’ve enjoyed that aren’t mentioned here but I’m blanking!
If you think of any come back and tell me!
I am a fan of the Raven Cycle and ACOTAR. I read the Menon book, but it was just ok for me (which was odd, because I usually go gaga for her books). I am one of the few who like The Graces and The Brooklyn Brujas series is really good. And, Ella Enchanted. Ha! I read more books with curses than I thought.
I never read the Graces (maybe it was the low GR rating that deterred me…)
I’ve only read Holly Black’s from that list. I have A Curse So Dark and Lonely on my kindle. I’ve read several romance curse books though.
Karen @ For What It’s Worth
I liked Stolend songbird and ACOTAR, and some of these are on my TBR, and I definitely need to check some of these out.
Ooh, come back and let me know what you think of some of the others!