Rose Daughter

by Linda Silver

Like McKinley, Novik takes a fairy tale framework and fills it with genuine emotional stakes—here, a merchant's daughter discovers magic through determination and love rather than passive acceptance. The prose has that same lush, deliberate quality where every description of the magical world feels earned rather than decorative, and the transformation at the heart of the story is as much about self-discovery as it is about romance.

by Naomi Novik

Wait—I know I just recommended Novik, but hear me out: this one captures something Rose Daughter does beautifully, which is making the reader feel the protagonist's isolation and then the slow, almost reluctant opening of her heart. The wizard's tower becomes as much a character as the people in it, and McKinley fans will recognize that same attention to how spaces shape relationships.

by Diana Wynne Jones

Jones has that same gift McKinley does for making magic feel like a lived, complicated thing rather than a plot device. Sophie's journey mirrors Beauty's in unexpected ways—both women find themselves in impossible situations with men who seem dangerous, and both discover that love requires seeing past surfaces. The humor here is drier than Rose Daughter, but the emotional core is just as genuine.

by Erin Morgenstern

This is my 'surprise' pick because while it's fantasy, it reads more like literary fiction—the plot matters less than the atmosphere and the slow-motion romance between two people caught in something larger than themselves. Morgenstern writes description the way McKinley does: every detail about the circus, the gardens, the magic serves the emotional story. It's a book that trusts readers to sit with beauty and mystery without needing constant action.

by Margaret Rogerson

Rogerson writes with the same conviction about the power of love to transform that McKinley does, but she sets it in a world where books themselves are dangerous and alive. The protagonist's journey from isolation to connection mirrors Beauty's arc, and there's that same quality of a young woman discovering her own strength through relationship rather than despite it. This one's from 2019, so it'll give you a sense of how these themes still resonate.