Welcome to the blog series where I absolutely wreck your already endless TBR (sorry!). As a follow-up to my post in April, I’m back with more of the best romantasy books.
If you haven’t perused the best sellers list, the front tables at your local bookstore, or the trending posts on Booktok lately, it’s clear the genre isn’t just a trend—it’s here to stay.
What is it about fantasy romance that people love so much? For me, it’s the unique worldbuilding, the high stakes, the character development, the vivid yet grounded writing, and the major throughline that gets my heart fluttering—the romance. There’s familiarity but there’s also twists and turns, vulnerability, tragic backstories, women empowerment, morally gray hereos, villains we root for, and magic to bind it all.
In romantasy, love comes in all forms: fated mates, forbidden romance, enemes/friends/rivals to lovers, why choose, fake dating, forced proximity, just to name a few.
Most importantly, it’s approachable. It’s hopeful. It’s healing. And when life is stressful and hectic, there’s always a dragon waiting to be tamed, a pair of fighting leathers ready to be thrown on, a curse needing to be broken, and a hot fae prince dying to take me to the ball.
Here are 20 books that will take you there. But don’t forget to check out part 1 first!
A Curse of Malice & Mercy by Miranda Joy
Blurb: After a life of enslavement and losing her only friend, Alessia flees to the fae realm, desperate for freedom. There, she meets Rainer, an enigmatic fae prince who claims to detest humans, yet he teaches her how to fight, protects her, and empowers her, as if… his perception has shifted. He knows he needs to stay away, but it’s impossible to fight the temptation between them. If he’s malice, she’s his mercy.
Age category: New Adult
Release date: June 2023 | Goodreads | Amazon
“Now be a good girl and let me see you.”
A Court This Cruel and Lovely by Stacia Stark
Blurb: Hours after humans are born, the gods take what little power they have in exchange for protection against the fae. When Prisca’s forbidden power is discovered, she’s forced to flee. To survive, she makes a bargain with a mercenary: help him sneak into the city and he’ll help her wield the dark power she’s always kept hidden. But he has secrets, ones that could tear the world apart.
Age category: Adult
Release date: March 2023 | Goodreads | Amazon
“Wicked women are my weakness.”
A Cursed Kiss by Jenny Hickman
Blurb: After Keelynn witnesses her sister’s murder at the hands of the Gancanagh, a creature who seduces women and kills them with a cursed kiss, there’s nothing she wouldn’t do to get her back. With the help of a witch, she’s given the tools to resurrect the person she loves most. But first, she must slay the monster—with the help of a handsome half-fae who’d rather do anything else.
Age category: New Adult
Release date: November 2021 | Goodreads | Amazon
“There will never be a time or place when I won’t want to be with you.”
City of Gods and Monsters by Kayla Edwards
Blurb: When Loren barely escapes abduction, the perps take her friend and demand her life in exchange for theirs. She’ll do whatever it takes—even partnering with Darien, feared leader of the Darkslayers—to get her friend back. The search for answers takes them into the city’s underbelly, where they discover a secret that threatens to unravel their world.
Age category: New Adult
Release date: January 2022 | Goodreads | Amazon
“You are…you are my home.”
Daughter of No Worlds by Carissa Broadbent
Blurb: Desperate to save her friend, Tisaanah journeys to the Orders, the most powerful organization of magic Wielders. To join their ranks, she must complete an apprenticeship with Maxantarius, a reclusive fire wielder who despises the Orders. Under the threat of war, she must prove herself—but even more dangerous are her growing feelings for him. The past he wants to forget may be the key to her future… or their downfall.
Age category: New Adult
Release date: January 2020 | Goodreads | Amazon
“I think,” he said, “that you are breathtakingly functional.”
Dream by the Shadows by Logan Karlie
Blurb: Esmer has only ever wanted to escape her miserable village life. But when her sister dies from Corruption and her elixir-dealing parents are accused of a crime, her life turns into a nightmare. And when she begins dreaming of the Shadow Bringer and learns that his monstrous powers might be hers, too, she’s wrenched away from everything she’s ever known to join him in his castle in the Dream Realm.
Age category: Young Adult
Release date: September 2023 | Goodreads | Amazon
“I should be terrified, but some dark, terrible part of me wanted to be found.”
Gild by Raven Kennedy
Blurb: In Highbell, in the castle built into the frozen mountains, everything is made of gold. Even Auren, a young woman King Midas rescues. With him, safety is a given—until war comes to the kingdom and a deal is struck. Suddenly, trust is broken, love is challenged, and everything she thought she knew about Midas is wrong. Because the bars she’s kept in, no matter how gilded, are still just a cage.
Age category: New Adult
Release date: October 2020 | Goodreads | Amazon
“And I’m terrified that one wrong step will have me tipping right over the edge, headfirst into a fall that I can’t recover from.”
Heavenly Bodies by Imani Erriu
Blurb: A prophecy promises Elara will fall for a Star—cruel, merciless gods—and it will kill them both. But when one descends to wreak havoc on her Kingdom, she is forced to flee into the arms of her enemy. As she discovers more about her magic, and the Stars’ deceit, she finds herself learning more about the country she is forced to take refuge in, and its enemy prince.
Age category: New Adult
Release date: February 2022 | Goodreads | Amazon
“I would let the whole world burn if it kept you warm.”
Illusion of Stars by Sarah Marie Page
Blurb: When Isabel’s friend is found murdered on the beach, her world is ripped apart. Desperate for answers, she discovers a stash of letters that reveal the neighboring kingdom is poised to conquer everything in its path. Seeking vengeance, Isy infiltrates the enemy. Her mission? Woo Erik, the general’s son, and steal their kindgom-shattering weapon. But Isy must wrestle her quest for vengeance against her attraction to the enemy.
Age category: New Adult
Release date: July 2024 | Goodreads | Amazon
“The sky—and the thousand stars shooting through it.”
Long Live by V.B. Lacey
Blurb: Isla’s world is forever changed when her family is attacked on a journey away from home and she must travel to the mountains to find them. When her path crosses with an elemental who has awoken from a thousand year slumber, she discovers her fate is entangled with theirs. When she follows them on their journey to defeat a dark force, she learns that not everything may be as it seems.
Age category: New Adult
Release date: August 2023 | Goodreads | Amazon
“Beautiful, vicious girl. I like it when you show your teeth.”
Of Darkness and Ruination by Rachel Fallon
Blurb: Come Placement Day, Asteria is forced into the Dusk Kingdom and given to its Prince, Cyrus. To survive, she must begin to play her own game within the court. The merciless ruler of the Night Kingdom, King Calix, starts making his move. Yet, darkness calls to her in mysterious ways, and an equally mysterious soldier makes her question who the real monsters are.
Age category: New Adult
Release date: April 2024 | Goodreads | Amazon
“No matter what happens, no matter who might be part of my life, I’ll always do whatever it takes to protect you.”
Of Magic & Men by Meg Alivien
Blurb: Humans like Freyah stay out of the way. That is, until she publicly offends a handsome but arrogant soldier and is snatched away to answer for her crime. Under the guise of serving her punishment, she is forced to remain at the castle to help Madam Lema uncover secrets of the rebellion facing the country. She is thrust into a world of magic, secrets, and deception and soon, her hatred for that soldier turns into something else…
Age category: Adult
Release date: October 2023 | Goodreads | Amazon
“You are always in control with me.”
Shot in the Dark by Mary Dublin and Anne Kendsley
Blurb: Sylvia’s exploration beyond her village is shattered by a bullet through her wing—courtesy of Jon and Cliff, monster hunters who suspect her involvement in gruesome disappearances. Her captivity transforms into an unlikely alliance when she saves Jon’s life. She’s left with no choice but to stay by his side while he and Cliff go hunting, and icy hostility melts into forbidden attraction.
Age category: New Adult
Release date: May 2024 | Goodreads | Amazon
“Who did this to you?”
The Bear & the Rose by Erin K. Larson-Burnett
Blurb: The bear goddess Artio has awakened. This means vicious bears wreaking violence upon Rhoswen, sole Bearslayer of Hazelfeu’s, village. So, she sets out to liberate her people. In her search, Rhoswen stumbles upon a maiden who is bound to Artio’s forest and longs for freedom. Rhoswen’s resolution hardens with passion. She will unfetter Hazelfeur, and she will free her enchantress.
Age category: Adult
Release date: June 2023 | Goodreads | Amazon
“I could come to love an eternal spring, I think. I would, for her.”
The Divine and the Cursed by J.E. Reed
Blurb: When Arianna is sold into slavery, she spends months disguised as half-Fae struggling against the devastations of war. She never expected to find herself at the mercy of her country’s greatest enemy, General Rion. He relishes in his reputation as The Demon: a creature incapable of love or compassion. She strives to placate him while plotting her escape, but fate has other plans.
Age category: Young Adult
Release date: December 2022 | Goodreads | Amazon
“You will never, never have to spend another day in this life alone. I won’t allow it.”
The Honey Witch by Sydney J. Shields
Blurb: When Marigold’s grandmother whisks her away to the family cottage with an offer to train her as the next Honey Witch, she accepts. Even if it comes with a rule: no one can fall in love with her. When Lottie, a grumpy skeptic who doesn’t believe in magic shows up, she can’t resist proving her wrong. But dark magic awakens, and she must fight for her magic and her heart.
Age category: Adult
Release date: May 2024 | Goodreads | Amazon
“You are everything I cannot have.”
The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon
Blurb: Talasynis is hiding a secret: light magic courses through her, a power that can cut through the Night Empire’s shadows. Tasked with obliterating any threats to the Night Empire with his armies and mighty Shadow magic, Prince Alaric’s never been bested. Until her. Thrust into an uneasy alliance, they will confront the secrets at the heart of the war and unlock a searing passion.
Age category: Adult
Release date: October 2023 | Goodreads | Amazon
“Fire of my blood, sun of my soul, I would raise my armies in your defence and I would stand by your side though the Eversea itself be against us.”
The Ryder of the Night by Eden Eaves
Blurb: Nyx’s kind are on the brink of extinction. He should be flying but without his ryder he’s grounded. Zaria was the key to his future but she was stolen away. A decade later, she’s found—living in a cult, growing poison that’s killing his kind. He kidnaps her and the first step is convincing her the life she knew was a lie. If she doesn’t accept who she is and learn to harness her power, it will consume her—leaving him ryderless again.
Age category: Adult
Release date: March 2024 | Goodreads | Amazon
“Our magic works better together. Where you fly, I fly.”
Threaded by Tay Rose
Blurb: Mariah’s birthday was supposed to bring freedom. When she’s summoned to the capital for a ceremony that happens once every few hundred years, she has no choice but to go. Thrown into a world of politics and power grabs, she finds herself drawn to the disgraced son of a Lord. They grow closer, uncovering the mysteries of their world and their gods, and begin to present a threat to the kingdom…one that cannot be ignored.
Age category: New Adult
Release date: June 2023 | Goodreads | Amazon
“Whenever you think it was you who lost control, remember—it was me who lost control first.”
Veiled Skies by Jessica Santi
Blurb: Crown Princess Deming wants nothing to do with her title. The continent is at peace and her small, human portion of it, is prospering under the stewardship of her uncle. Then, an ominous fog rolls in, caging the capital city in a dome of magic and mist. A series of unsettling events are set in motion—who can she trust when the lies begin piling up? And will she wield the power of her birthright, or wilt beneath it?
Age category: Upper Young Adult
Release date: May 2024 | Goodreads | Amazon
“I could be thrown across worlds and still find my way back to you.”
Make sure to go to Goodreads for the full blurbs—I condensed as best I could!
Maybe I can be persuaded to make a part 3 of the best romantasy books?
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