Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Once Upon a Time | 2004 | Serena Valentino | Buy |
| 2 | Beautiful Beasts | 2005 | Serena Valentino | Buy |
| 3 | 1140 Rue Royale | 2007 | Serena Valentino | Buy |
| 4 | Dancing with the Ghosts of Whales | 2008 | Serena Valentino | Buy |
Nightmares & Fairy Tales ran for four volumes between 2004 and 2008 and established the approach Valentino would later bring to her Disney Villains novels. Each volume takes classic fairy tales, folk stories, and gothic traditions and retells them with emphasis on the dark, disturbing elements that sanitized versions leave out.
Once Upon a Time, Beautiful Beasts, 1140 Rue Royale, and Dancing with the Ghosts of Whales each explore different corners of the fairy tale tradition. The series is tied together by a haunted rag doll named Annabelle, who witnesses the stories and connects them thematically. The art and storytelling lean heavily into horror, making these fairy tales feel genuinely unsettling rather than simply edgy.