Want to escape your world with the help of a little magic? We have several Magical Realism fiction titles that will help you do just that!


Compiled by:
Tyana H.
Before the Coffee Gets Cold

Toshikazu Kawaguchi
(Adult Fiction - Kawaguc)

In a small back alley in Tokyo at a century-old coffee shop rumored to offer patrons the chance to travel back in time, four customers reevaluate their formative life choices.


The Cost of Knowing

Brittney Morris
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Morris)

16-year-old Alex Rufus's curse of seeing the future distracts him from being and doing his best, but when he sees his little brother Isaiah's imminent death, he races against time, death, and circumstances to save him.


The Edge of In Between

Lorelei Savaryn
(Juvenile Fiction - J Savaryn)

After the death of her parents, Lottie loses her colorful magic and is sent to the gray wasteland to live with her uncle, but the discovery of a locked-up garden, a wise cardinal, and a hidden boy gives Lottie a second chance at bringing color back into her life.


The Ghosts of Rose Hill

Rachel Maria Romero
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Romero)

Sent to stay with her aunt in Prague and witness the humble life of an artist, Ilana Lopez—a biracial Jewish girl—finds herself torn between her dream of becoming a violinist and her immigrant parents' desire for her to pursue a more stable career.


The Heartbreak Bakery

A.R. Capetta
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Capetta)

Syd (no pronouns, please) has always dealt with big, hard-to-talk-about things by baking. Being dumped is no different, except now Syd is baking at the Proud Muffin, a queer bakery and community space in Austin. And everyone who eats Syd's breakup brownies...breaks up.


Hour of the Bees

Lindsay Eagar
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Eagar)

At first, 12-year-old Carol is not happy to be spending the summer helping her parents move her grandfather to an assisted living home, but as the summer wears on, she finds herself drawn to him, fascinated by his amazing stories.


Lakelore

Anna-Marie McLemore
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Mclemor)

Everyone who lives near the lake knows the stories about the world underneath it—an ethereal landscape rumored to be half-air, half-water. But Bastián Silvano and Lore Garcia are the only ones who've been there. Bastián grew up both above the lake and in the otherworldly space beneath it. Lore's only seen the world under the lake once, but that one encounter changed their life and their fate. Then, the lines between air and water begin to blur. The world under the lake drifts above the surface. If Bastián and Lore don't want it bringing their secrets to the surface with it, they have to stop it, and to do that, they have to work together.


The Love That Split the World

Emily Henry
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Henry)

At the beginning of her last summer in Kentucky before leaving for college, Natalie is once again visited by the apparition she calls "Grandmother" and meets a new boy, Beau, who changes her life.


The Midnight Library

Matt Haig
(Science Fiction & Fantasy - SF Haig)

Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices...Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?


Notes from My Captivity

Kathy Parks
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Parks)

Adrienne Cahill cares about three things: getting into a great college, becoming a revered journalist like her idol, and making her late father proud of her. So when Adrienne is offered the chance to write an article that will get her into her dream school, there's no question that she's going to fly across the world. But the Russian terrain is even less forgiving than Adrienne. And when disaster strikes, none of their extensive preparations seem to matter. Now, Adrienne's being held captive by the family she was convinced didn't exist, and her best hope for escape is to act like she cares about them, even if it means wooing the youngest son.


Other Birds

Sarah Addison Allen
(Adult Fiction - Allen)

When Zoey comes to claim her deceased mother's apartment on Mallow Island, she meets her quirky and secretive neighbors—including a girl on the run, two estranged middle-aged sisters, a lonely chef, a legendary writer, and three ghosts. Each with their own story. Each with their own longings. Each whose ending isn't written yet.


Sharks in the Time of Saviors

Kawai Strong Washburn
(Adult Fiction - Washbur)

On a rare family vacation, 7-year-old Nainoa Flores falls overboard a cruise ship into the Pacific Ocean. When a shiver of sharks appears in the water, everyone fears for the worse. But instead, Noa is gingerly delivered to his mother in the jaws of a shark, marking his story as the stuff of legends.


A Snake Falls to Earth

Darcie Little Badger
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Littleb)

Nina and Oli have no idea the other exists. But a catastrophic event on Earth, and a strange sickness that befalls Oli's best friend, will drive their worlds together in ways they haven't been in centuries. And there are some who will kill to keep them apart.


A Song Below Water

Bethany C. Morrow
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Morrow)

In a society determined to keep her under lock and key, Tavia must hide her siren powers. Meanwhile, Effie is fighting her own family struggles, pitted against literal demons from her past. Together, these best friends must navigate through the perils of high school's junior year. But, everything changes in the aftermath of a siren murder trial that rocks the nation, and Tavia accidentally lets out her magical voice at the worst possible moment. Soon, nothing in Portland, Oregon, seems safe. To save themselves from drowning, it's only Tavia and Effie's unbreakable sisterhood that proves to be the strongest magic of all.


Spells For Forgetting

Adrienne Young
(Adult Fiction - Young)

Emery Blackwood's life was forever changed on the eve of her high school graduation, when the love of her life, August Salt, was accused of murdering her best friend, Lily. She'd once longed to run away with August, eager to escape the misty, remote shores of Saiorse Island and chase new dreams. But now, she maintains her late mother's tea shop and cares for her ailing father.


The Ten Thousand Doors of January

Alix E. Harrow
(Science Fiction & Fantasy - SF Harrow)

In the early 1900s, a young woman embarks on a fantastical journey of self-discovery after finding a mysterious book in this captivating and lyrical debut. In a sprawling mansion filled with peculiar treasures, January Scaller is a curiosity herself.


Tigers, Not Daughters

Samantha Mabry
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Mabry)

Three sisters in San Antonio are shadowed by guilt and grief over the loss of their oldest sister, who still haunts their house. When strange things start happening around the house, they wonder if Ana is trying to send them a message—and what exactly she's trying to say.


The Valley and the Flood

Rebecca Mahoney
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Mahoney)

When Rose Colter hears a voicemail from her own phone playing on her car radio, she follows the broadcast to the small town of Lotus Valley, where she discovers that she's the prophesied bringer of a catastrophic flood.


Watch Over Me

Nina LaCour
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Lacour)

A newly graduated Mila emerges from foster care to accept a job on an isolated Northern California Coast farm where she confronts haunting memories and the traumas of her fellow residents.