Princesscore. Royalcore. Secret Heir. Secret Royal. Prince Charming. We’ve grown up with stories of princesses in locked towers and princes on white steeds. We’ve played video games where queens send us on quests or the royal princess is kidnapped by the beast. Naturally, we’d want to read books with these kind of archetypes–especially those that defy those sterotypes and become fierce warrior queens and sensitive kings.
- The Selection by Kiera Cass
Genre: YA Fantasy
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.10
Thirty-Five girls are chosen to compete for the love of Prince Maxon. But America Singer doesn’t want to be chosen. She has a secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her, and this will mean leaving him and her life to live in a palace that is constantly threatened by rebel attacks. But then she meets Prince Maxon.
- Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Fantasy Mystery
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.19
Celeana, an assassin, is summoned to the castle to compete for her freedom. If she can defeat twenty-three other killers and become the king’s personal assassin, then she will eventually be free. But when her competitors start dying one by one, Celeana’s fight for freedom becomes one for survival.
- Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Genre: YA Fantasy
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.07
Katsa is a Graceling, one of the few people granted exceptional talent. Though she is the niece of the king, because of her skills she becomes his thug. She doesn’t expect to fall for Prince Po. She never expects to learn the truth behind her Grace or the secrets hidden in her kingdom.
- Cinder by Marissa Meyer
Genre: YA Fantasy
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.13
This is a futuristic retelling of Cinderella that begins an epic series. In New Bejing (and across the world) humans, androids, and cyborgs live with some discrimination against them. Cinder is a second class citizen, a cyborg, and a gifted mechanic living with her stepmom and stepsisters. When she is invited to the prince’s ball to celebrate the impending wedding of Prince Kai and the Lunar Queen to avoid war, Cinder sees this is as a chance. Until she’s caught in the midst of the intergalactic struggle.
- Red, White, & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
Genre: LGBT Romance
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.16
When First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz is forced to pretend to be friends with Prince Henry after a disaster leads to bad press, Alex finds himself heading to a secret love affair that could upend both nations.
- The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
Genre: YA Fantasy
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.12
Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee, Crown Princess of Kildenree spent her early years learning the language of birds. And when she was older, she watched as a colt was born, and she heard the first word on his tongue, his name, Falada.
- The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Genre: Fantasy
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.26
How can I summarize this book? You’ve probably seen the movie. It’s about love, falling both in and out, about lust, about adventure, about cunning, about vengance and forgiveness.
- Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce
Genre: YA Fantasy
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.25
Alanna and her twin Thom switch places, her off to learn knighthood and him to learn magic. But the road to knighthood is not as easy as Alanna thinks it might be. She must control her heart and learn to discern who her enemies are.
- Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.02
Miri lives in a simple small village. One day, the king prophecies that her village is where the next princess resides. In a year, the prince will come choose a bride from their village. Until then, every teenage girl must learn how to be a princess. Miri has to navigate the new social rules, the competition, her love for her best friend quarreling with her desire to be chosen. But then bandits come to steal away the princess and Miri must unite the girls and use her strange power.
- Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
Genre: YA Fantasy
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.03
The world is divided between those who bleed red and the elite who bleed silver and have special powers. Mare, a red, through a stroke of luck finds herself working in the Silver palace. Here, she discovers a power of her own. The Silvers want to show her off as a long-lost princess but Mare is secretly working with the Red Guard, a rebel group, to bring them down.
Living For Literature 