The best romantasy books for adults, sorted by what you like

The best romantasy books for adults aren’t all the same kind of book. Some are 600-page war stories with dragons. Some are small, warm books about a librarian opening a shop on an island. So this list sorts them by what they’re like (including how spicy), so you can find your next one fast. Every title, author, year and series number below was checked against the publisher, the author’s own site or a library-grade reference. Where a book was first sold as young adult, we say so, because “YA” on the spine and “YA” in the bedroom scenes aren’t always the same thing.

What is romantasy?

Romantasy is fiction that blends fantasy and romance. Merriam-Webster lists it as a slang term for a subgenre that mixes the two “to varying degrees.” The test most readers use is simple: if you took the love story out, would the book fall apart? If yes, it’s romantasy. If the romance is a side plot in a fantasy war, it’s fantasy with a romance in it. (Readers will argue about the borderline ones forever. That’s half the fun.)

The word took off with Sarah J. Maas’s books and, later, Rebecca Yarros’s Fourth Wing, which is often credited with making the label popular. The idea is much older. Robin McKinley was retelling Beauty and the Beast as a full-length novel in 1978.

A few terms you will see on book lists:

• Fae romance. One of the leads is one of the Fair Folk, the fairies of British and Irish folklore. We have a separate list of fae romance books and the myths behind them.
• Enemies to lovers. The leads start on opposite sides.
• Spice or heat. How much sex is on the page. “Closed door” means kissing only. Heat varies a lot between series, and sometimes between books in the same series.
• Young adult (YA) vs new adult vs adult. Several of the most famous titles were first published for teenagers. We note it where it applies.

The best romantasy books: quick list

Bookmark this table. Each title gets more detail in the sections below.

Title	Author	First published	Series	Type
A Court of Thorns and Roses	Sarah J. Maas	2015	A Court of Thorns and Roses #1	Fae; started as YA, now new adult
Fourth Wing	Rebecca Yarros	2023	The Empyrean #1	Dragons; enemies to lovers; new adult
From Blood and Ash	Jennifer L. Armentrout	2020	Blood and Ash #1	Dark fantasy; adult
The Serpent and the Wings of Night	Carissa Broadbent	2022	Crowns of Nyaxia #1	Vampire; gothic
The Cruel Prince	Holly Black	2018	The Folk of the Air #1	Fae; enemies to lovers; YA
The Bridge Kingdom	Danielle L. Jensen	2018 (audio), 2019 (print)	The Bridge Kingdom #1	Enemies to lovers
Divine Rivals	Rebecca Ross	2023	Letters of Enchantment #1	Rivals to lovers; YA
Quicksilver	Callie Hart	2024	Fae & Alchemy #1	Fae; enemies to lovers
A Deal with the Elf King	Elise Kova	2020	Married to Magic #1	Fae; arranged marriage
Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries	Heather Fawcett	2023	Emily Wilde #1	Fae; cozy
The Spellshop	Sarah Beth Durst	2024	Standalone; first of several set in the same world	Cozy
A Discovery of Witches	Deborah Harkness	2011	All Souls #1	Witch and vampire; gothic
Bride	Ali Hazelwood	2024	Bride #1; reads as a standalone	Vampire and werewolf
Uprooted	Naomi Novik	2015	Standalone	Dark fairy tale
Darkfever	Karen Marie Moning	2006	Fever #1	Fae; set in Dublin
Kushiel’s Dart	Jacqueline Carey	2001	Kushiel’s Legacy #1	Older adult romantic fantasy
Daughter of the Forest	Juliet Marillier	1999	Sevenwaters #1	Older; Irish setting
Beauty	Robin McKinley	1978	Standalone	Older; fairy-tale retelling
The Princess Bride	William Goldman	1973	Standalone	Older; adventure romance

The big series to start with

These are the books most other romantasy gets compared to. If you’ve read none of them, start here, and every “for fans of” sticker in the bookstore will suddenly make sense.

A Court of Thorns and Roses — Sarah J. Maas (2015). Book 1 of the ACOTAR series, published by Bloomsbury. Feyre, a human girl hunting in the winter woods, kills a wolf that turns out to be a faerie, and has to go to Prythian, the land of the fae, to pay for it. Maas told BookPage in 2015 that it began as a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, East of the Sun, West of the Moon and the Scottish ballad Tam Lin. It was published as young adult but always sat on the edge of new adult, and it is now usually classed as new adult. Book 2, A Court of Mist and Fury (2016), brings in Morrigan, or Mor, one of the Night Court’s inner circle. Her name is the name of an Irish war goddess; read about the Morrigan in Irish myth. Main series so far: A Court of Thorns and Roses (2015), A Court of Mist and Fury (2016), A Court of Wings and Ruin (2017), A Court of Frost and Starlight (2018) and A Court of Silver Flames (2021).

Fourth Wing — Rebecca Yarros (2023). Book 1 of The Empyrean, published by Red Tower Books, an imprint of Entangled Publishing. Violet Sorrengail, trained to be a scribe, is made to enter Basgiath War College to become a dragon rider. Xaden Riorson’s father led a rebellion and was executed by Violet’s mother, so the two start as enemies. It spent 18 weeks at No. 1 on the New York Times list. It is classed as new adult and has sexual scenes. Book 2 is Iron Flame (2023); book 3 is Onyx Storm (2025).

From Blood and Ash — Jennifer L. Armentrout (2020). Book 1 of Blood and Ash, first published by Blue Box Press. Poppy is the Maiden, chosen from birth and forbidden to be touched, until a guard named Hawke is assigned to protect her. It won the 2020 Goodreads Choice Award in Romance. Book 6, The Primal of Blood and Bone, came out in 2025 and a seventh is planned. There is also a prequel series, Flesh and Fire.

The Serpent and the Wings of Night — Carissa Broadbent (2022). Book 1 of the Crowns of Nyaxia (the Nightborn Duet), now published in the US by Bramble. Oraya, the adopted human daughter of a vampire king, enters a deadly tournament run by the goddess of death. Reviewers call it a slow-burn vampire romance.

Enemies to lovers romantasy books

The most requested trope in the genre. Two people on opposite sides, forced together, pretending they’re not interested.

• Fourth Wing — Rebecca Yarros (2023). See above. The rebellion between their families is the reason they are enemies.
• The Cruel Prince — Holly Black (2018). Book 1 of The Folk of the Air, from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. Jude, a mortal girl, is raised in the High Court of Faerie and wants a place at court. This is young adult and closed door, but adult readers love it. Followed by The Wicked King (2019) and The Queen of Nothing (2019).
• The Bridge Kingdom — Danielle L. Jensen. Lara, a warrior princess, is trained to bring down a rival kingdom and then falls for the person she vowed to destroy. It came out first as an Audible original in 2018, then in print in 2019. Del Rey now publishes it. Book 2 is The Traitor Queen.
• Divine Rivals — Rebecca Ross (2023). Book 1 of Letters of Enchantment, from Wednesday Books. Two workplace rivals fall for each other through enchanted letters during a war of the gods. It is a young adult title. Book 2, Ruthless Vows, came out in December 2023.
• Quicksilver — Callie Hart (2024). Book 1 of Fae & Alchemy. Saeris Fane, a thief in a desert city, is carried into Yvelia, a frozen land of the fae, and bound to a prickly fae warrior called Kingfisher. Self-published in June 2024, then picked up by Forever in the US and Hodderscape in the UK.

Fae romantasy books

Fae romance is the biggest sub-type of romantasy. Most of it borrows from the fairy folklore of Ireland, Scotland and England: the courts, the bargains, the danger of eating their food. For a full list tied to the myths behind each book, see our guide to fae romance books, and for the folklore itself, fairies in Irish folklore.

• A Court of Thorns and Roses — Sarah J. Maas (2015). See above.
• The Cruel Prince — Holly Black (2018). See above.
• A Deal with the Elf King — Elise Kova (2020). Book 1 of Married to Magic, first published by Silver Wing Press. Luella is taken into the Elf King’s land, Midscape, which is dying, and only she can save it. The publisher describes the Married to Magic books as linked standalones you can read in any order.
• Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries — Heather Fawcett (2023). See the cozy section below.
• Darkfever — Karen Marie Moning (2006). Book 1 of the Fever series, from Delacorte Press. Mac Lane goes to Dublin to find out who killed her sister and finds the city full of the Fae. Moning’s Fae are the Tuatha Dé Danann, split into the Seelie and Unseelie courts. It’s an older adult series, and the romance builds slowly over several books.

Gothic romantasy books

Dark houses, vampires, curses and dread, with a love story inside.

• The Serpent and the Wings of Night — Carissa Broadbent (2022). See above.
• A Discovery of Witches — Deborah Harkness (2011). Book 1 of the All Souls series. Diana Bishop, a historian and a witch who has refused to use her power, calls up a lost manuscript, Ashmole 782, in Oxford’s Bodleian Library. Matthew Clairmont, a vampire who has hunted the book for at least 150 years, becomes her protector. Sky made it into a three-season TV series (2018–2022).
• Bride — Ali Hazelwood (2024). From Berkley. Misery Lark, the daughter of a powerful vampire, is married off to Lowe Moreland, an alpha werewolf, to seal an alliance. Arranged marriage, two species who hate each other. A companion novel about a different couple, Mate, followed in 2025.
• Uprooted — Naomi Novik (2015). A standalone. A wizard called the Dragon protects Agnieszka’s valley from the Wood, a hostile forest on its border, and takes a village girl as his price. It draws on the Polish fairy tales Novik grew up with, and it won the Nebula Award for Best Novel.

Cozy romantasy books

Lower stakes, small settings, a slow romance. Good if the big series feel like homework.

• The Spellshop — Sarah Beth Durst (2024). From Bramble; later books by Durst are standalones set in the same world. Kiela, an introverted librarian, flees a fire at the Great Library during a revolution and goes back to her family’s empty cottage on a small island, where she opens a jam shop and secretly sells spells. Her assistant is a sentient spider plant. The romance is with her new neighbor.
• Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries — Heather Fawcett (2023). Book 1 of the Emily Wilde series, from Del Rey. Emily, a prickly Cambridge scholar, travels to a remote snowbound village to finish the first encyclopaedia of faerie lore. Her irritating academic rival follows her. The series was a 2026 Hugo Award finalist for Best Series. Book 2 is Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands (2024).

Standalone romantasy books

One book, one ending. No five-book commitment, no two-year wait after a cliffhanger.

• Uprooted — Naomi Novik (2015).
• Bride — Ali Hazelwood (2024). A companion, Mate (2025), follows a different couple, but Bride is a complete story.
• The Spellshop — Sarah Beth Durst (2024). Later books share its world but each stands alone.
• A Deal with the Elf King — Elise Kova (2020). Part of a series, but each book stands alone.
• The Princess Bride — William Goldman (1973). See below.

Older books that shaped the genre

Long before the word existed, these books put a love story at the center of a fantasy.

• The Princess Bride — William Goldman (1973). An adventure romance with pirates, giants and true love, first published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Rob Reiner filmed it in 1987, and the Cliffs of Moher in County Clare stand in for the Cliffs of Insanity. Read about the Cliffs of Insanity.
• Beauty — Robin McKinley (1978). McKinley’s first book, a full-length retelling of Beauty and the Beast.
• Daughter of the Forest — Juliet Marillier (1999). Book 1 of the Sevenwaters series, set in early medieval Ireland. Marillier’s site describes it as a reimagining of the fairy tale “The Six Swans.” Sorcha’s six brothers are turned into swans, and she must stay silent until she can free them. Content warning: it includes sexual violence.
• Kushiel’s Dart — Jacqueline Carey (2001). Book 1 of Kushiel’s Legacy, Carey’s first novel, from Tor. It won the 2002 Locus Award for Best First Novel. A long, adult political fantasy with romance at its core.
• Darkfever — Karen Marie Moning (2006). Covered under fae above.

If you came to romantasy from Bridgerton

A lot of readers arrive from historical romance on TV. If that’s you, the closest matches here are A Discovery of Witches (history, old houses, slow burn) and Bride (arranged marriage). Castle Howard in North Yorkshire stood in for the Duke of Hastings’ estate, Clyvedon, in season one of Bridgerton, according to Castle Howard; see our guide to visiting Castle Howard.

Spicy romantasy books (and the spiciest)

“Spice” is how much sex is on the page, and it’s the first thing a lot of readers want to know. On this list, the books with the most heat are the adult and new adult series:

• The later ACOTAR books. Book 1 has some heat; it goes up from A Court of Mist and Fury (2016), and A Court of Silver Flames (2021) is the one readers usually call the spiciest of the series.
• Fourth Wing — Rebecca Yarros (2023). New adult, with sexual scenes.
• From Blood and Ash — Jennifer L. Armentrout (2020). Adult, open door.
• Quicksilver — Callie Hart (2024). Adult, enemies to lovers.
• Bride — Ali Hazelwood (2024). Adult.

One honest caveat: heat often changes from book to book in the same series, so a mild book 1 doesn’t promise a mild book 3.

Romantasy books without spice

Yes, they exist, and they’re not just for teenagers.

• The Cruel Prince — Holly Black (2018). Young adult, closed door, and still sharp enough for adults.
• Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries — Heather Fawcett (2023). A slow, prickly academic romance.
• The Spellshop — Sarah Beth Durst (2024). Cozy and gentle: jam, spells and a spider plant.
• Divine Rivals — Rebecca Ross (2023). Young adult, so on the mild side; most of the romance is in the letters.

Romantasy books like Fourth Wing and ACOTAR

If you liked Fourth Wing (the war college, the danger, the enemies-to-lovers pull): The Bridge Kingdom, From Blood and Ash, The Serpent and the Wings of Night (a deadly tournament) and Quicksilver.

If you liked A Court of Thorns and Roses (fae courts, bargains, a human out of her depth): The Cruel Prince, A Deal with the Elf King, Quicksilver, and Lyra Selene’s A Feather So Black, which is on our fae romance list. For fae without the war, Emily Wilde.

Which romantasy books are becoming movies or TV shows?

Adaptation news changes fast, and plenty of deals never reach a screen, so treat this as a snapshot. As of February 2026, Reactor reported:

Book	Studio	Status (Feb 2026)
Fourth Wing	Amazon MGM Studios (Prime Video)	Series ordered; Amazon bought the rights in 2023
Quicksilver	Netflix	In development, announced late 2024
From Blood and Ash	Sony Pictures Television	Rights bought in 2024; no news since
Divine Rivals	Paramount Pictures	Film in development, announced June 2025
A Court of Thorns and Roses	Hulu / 20th Television	Cancelled in 2025

A Discovery of Witches has already been done: Sky made three seasons (2018–2022).

Romantasy for a book club

A good test for a book club pick: is there something to argue about besides whether they’ll kiss? These hold up:

• Uprooted (2015). A standalone, with a forest worth a whole evening.
• Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries (2023). Folklore, footnotes and a narrator the group will disagree about.
• Daughter of the Forest (1999). Irish setting, a hard story, lots to talk about. (Mind the content warning below.)
• Divine Rivals (2023). War, letters and grief; it works for a mixed-age group.

Big series are harder for a group, because not everyone wants to sign up for five books. On our own trip we get round that with two picks a month, one closed door and one spicier.

Why is romantasy so popular?

Part of it is simple math: it’s one book for two big groups of readers, fantasy and romance. Part of it is TikTok, where #BookTok readers pushed Sarah J. Maas’s and Rebecca Yarros’s books to the top of the charts (Fourth Wing spent 18 weeks at No. 1 on the New York Times list). And the word itself went mainstream: in 2024 Collins Dictionary put “romantasy” on its Word of the Year shortlist, and NBC News reported that Collins tied it to people looking for escape in an uncertain world. Which, fair.

Is it “all the same”? Some of it is, the way some of any genre is. That’s what this list is for.

Romantasy books for adults: how to choose

The quick version, if you skipped straight here.

1. You want the book everyone is talking about. Fourth Wing or A Court of Thorns and Roses.
2. You want fae and folklore. The Cruel Prince, then our fae romance list.
3. You want lower heat. The Cruel Prince is closed door. The Spellshop and Emily Wilde are slow, gentle romances.
4. You want dark and atmospheric. The Serpent and the Wings of Night or Uprooted.
5. You want an older classic. Daughter of the Forest or Beauty.

Many fae romance books borrow from Irish mythology: the Tuatha Dé Danann, the Morrigan and the fairy forts of the west. That’s what our June 2028 trip is about. From January to May 2028, up to 15 women read fae romance and the Irish myths behind it together online. Each month there are two picks, one closed door and one spicier, and you choose which to read. Then the group spends eight nights at Gregans Castle Hotel in the Burren, County Clare, 17 to 25 June 2028. The books we’re considering include Daughter of the Forest, The Cruel Prince, A Feather So Black, A Court of Thorns and Roses and Nora Roberts’s Dark Witch; the final list isn’t announced yet. See Midsummer in the Burren for the details.