Hey there darlings! Today I will be discussing my absolutely all time favourite, 5 star Romantasy books. Some of these are much more known than others. I hope I can inspire you to pick up one of these fantastic books. From dark academia, to assassins, to dragon riders, we have a good mix going on in this list. So strap your leathers, and let’s get into it!
Blood & Betrayals by Jeanette Rose (with Alexis Rune)
Book description: If you like your dark academia absolutely stuffed to the rafters with supernatural chaos, welcome to Avalon University. Summer Tuatha Dé Danann planned to keep her head down and slide through her time at this elite magic school unnoticed, which is a lovely plan that lasts approximately zero chapters once someone applies on her behalf, a serial killer starts stalking the halls, and a court of impossibly hot, murderous men take an interest in her.
This one leans into a slow-building why-choose dynamic and a proper murder mystery, all wrapped around a guarded, sharp-tongued heroine and her equally murderous besties (the friendships are a genuine highlight). Fair warning: it’s very long and very spicy, with scenes roughly every other chapter.
Spice: Spicy 🌶🌶🌶🌶 | Tropes: Dark academia, why choose, murder mystery, morally grey love interests, found family, hidden past, cliffhanger
Why I love this book: You guys, this book was such an unexpected gem. I picked this up last year, I think I came across it on goodreads, and was sold by the academy setting/murder mystery plot. The entire book was SO MUCH FREAKING FUN. The suspense, the mystery, the secrets, I could not put this book down I swear this is the literary version of crack. But the reason this book is on this list, is because of the HEART SHATTERING ending. I finished reading this book in a hotel room I was sharing with my sister, she turned to me and had to witness the trauma seeping through my eyes. I was not okay lmao. But anyways, if I haven’t said it already, read this book if you’re looking for a mystery meets academy setting vibe.
House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City Book 1) by Sarah J. Maas
Book description: The book that proved Sarah J. Maas could do urban fantasy just as devastatingly as she does faerie courts. Bryce Quinlan is a half-Fae party girl living her best life in the glittering, brutal city of Lunathion, until her best friend Danika and her whole pack are savagely murdered and the case goes cold. Two years later, when the killings start again, Bryce is pulled into the investigation alongside Hunt Athalar, a fallen angel enslaved as an assassin for the Archangels, and the two of them slow-burn their way through grief, danger, and one of the best partnerships in the genre.
What makes this one special is how it balances a genuinely gripping murder mystery with real emotional weight, Bryce’s grief is handled beautifully, and the found-family threads will wreck you.
Spice: Spicy 🌶🌶🌶🌶 | Tropes: Urban fantasy, murder mystery, slow burn, partners to lovers, found family, fallen angel hero, grief
Why I love this book: I put this book off for so long. I convinced myself that it wasn’t going to be my sort of vibe, and boy HOW WRONG was I… From the start, you are fully thrusted into the story, so it can be a little confusing trying to wrap your head around all the characters and the general Crescent City lingo. But eventually everything starts to click and the world you are immersed in begins your whole entire persona. This is an urban fantasy, so it’s very different to the high fantasy world of Throne Of Glass and ACOTAR, but it’s such an amazing read you will not regret picking this up.
Let me just shout this out from the rooftops: THIS BOOK IS ABSOLUTELY DEVASTATING in the best way. The tears I shed reading this could fill an Olympic swimming pool. All I have to say, is go into with patience in the beginning, and an open mind. Good luck to you…
The Assassin’s Blade by Sarah J. Maas
Book description: Before Celaena Sardothien became a legend, she was Adarlan’s most feared teenage assassin, and this collection of prequel novellas is where her story truly begins. Across five interconnected tales, we follow Celaena from the assassin’s guild under her manipulative master Arobynn Hamel, to the sun-baked Red Desert and the Silent Assassins, to Skull’s Bay and a mission that pits her conscience against her orders. And then there’s Sam Cortland, whose slow-burn romance with Celaena is so tender and so doomed it will leave a permanent mark.
If you’ve read Throne of Glass, this is essential emotional context; if you haven’t, it’s a gorgeous entry point that makes everything after it hit harder. It’s lower on spice than Maas’s adult work, but the ache, the betrayal, and the character work are all top tier. Have tissues ready, you’ll understand why once you get there.
Spice: Sweet 🌶🌶 | Tropes: Assassins, forbidden love, slow burn, betrayal, coming of age, found family, tragic romance
Why I love this book: There are two ways you can read this book: before the Throne Of Glass series, or after TOG book 2. I started with this book, and then went into the TOG series. Now if I was to reread this series again, I would read it the same way I did the first time. Personally, I believe reading it first makes the first few books of the series have so much more of an emotional impact. Those of you who haven’t read TOG yet, you are in for one crazy, soul breaking ride.
I can’t put into words how much I enjoyed his book. I absolutely loved every part about getting to know Celeana’s backstory and how she ends up in Endovier (Book 1). As always, the ending absolutely broke me. It’s one of the few books I think about weekly, and I literally have to sit in silence for a few seconds to wrap my head around the traumatic events that occur in this book. Anyways, read this 🙂
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
Book description: Violet Sorrengail was meant for a quiet life among the scribes, but her formidable general mother forces her into Basgiath War College to become a dragon rider, where the mortality rate is horrifying and the older cadets would happily watch her die. Standing between her and an early grave (and simultaneously making her life hell) is Xaden Riorson, the most powerful, most terrifying wingleader in the quadrant, who has every reason to want her dead.
With dragons who have personalities and opinions, deadly trials at every turn, a slow-burn enemies-to-lovers romance, and a twist that reframes the entire story, it’s the ultimate binge read.
Spice: Warm 🌶🌶🌶 | Tropes: Dragon riders, war college, enemies to lovers, morally grey MMC, forced proximity, deadly trials, only one bed
Why I love this book: XADEN FREAKING RIOSON. That’s it. Him. Okay, I’m kidding, kind of, not really… lol. The first time I read this book I knew my life wasn’t going to be the same again. Once you enter this world of dragons. secrets and SERIOUSLY hot wing leaders, there is no going back darling. I read this book while I was going through a tough time with some anxiety issues, and I’m not kidding when I say Violet Sorrengail gave me motivation to keep trying, and to believe in myself. I guess I kinda owe her one.
I will say though, the dramatized audiobook… OMG. I am not one to listen to audiobooks very often, but this one right here… soul shattering. I finished listening to this audiobook in the car, with my family, on a road trip, literally bawling my eyes out lmao (why I am always out on a trip when I get traumatized by a book).
Zodiac Academy: The Awakening by Caroline Peckham & Susanne Valenti
Book description: Tory and Darcy Vega are ordinary twins scraping by until they discover they’re actually the lost heirs to the throne of Solaria, a magical kingdom, and are whisked off to Zodiac Academy to claim their power. The catch? The ruthless, gorgeous Celestial Heirs currently sitting on that power have zero intention of giving it up, and they make the twins’ lives absolute hell to drive them out.
Book one is where the bully-romance, star-sign magic, and simmering enemies-to-lovers tension all begin, and while it starts on the milder end, the series famously escalates into some of the most beloved (and spiciest) dark academia on BookTok. Give it time to sink its claws in, because the payoff across the series is legendary.
Spice: Warm 🌶🌶🌶 (escalates across the series) | Tropes: Dark academia, bully to lovers, enemies to lovers, magic school, hidden royalty, elemental magic, slow burn
Why I love this book: the best thing I remember about this book, is when I finished the last page, closed the book, and stared into the abyss laughing to myself wondering what in the actual bookish crack did I just read. I tell everyone I know to read this series. This is if romantasy and reality tv had a baby. It’s drama after drama, secrets around every corner, and freaking hot fae book boyfriends. It’s spicy, it’s wild, and most importantly (for me), it’s based in a magical academy! Anyways enough said, read this beast of a book.
Phantasma by Kaylie Smith
Book description: Ophelia Grimm enters Phantasma, a deadly haunted-house competition where the winner earns a single wish, in a desperate gamble to save her family home and reunite what’s left of her family. To survive its ever-shifting rooms and horrors, she has to rely on Blackwell, the maddeningly charming phantom who guides players through the game, and whose motives are anything but pure.
Beyond the atmosphere (which is thick enough to taste), what makes this stand out is its heart: Kaylie Smith drew on her own experience with OCD to write Ophelia’s “Shadow Voice,” giving the book a nuance you don’t always find in the genre.
Spice: Spicy 🌶🌶🌶🌶 | Tropes: Deal with the devil, haunted house trials, necromancer FMC, slow burn, gothic, enemies to lovers, OCD rep
Why I love this book: Honestly, the OCD rep. As an anxiety and OCD diagnosed girly, it’s very rare I come across OCD representation in romance, so when I picked this up, and got to experience the main character’s struggles with OCD, I was enamored with this story. It’s represented so accurately, and I genuinely felt like I could relate to the main character and her struggles with this disorder. The spice, the MMC, the haunted house vibes, were immaculate. Such an amazing read.
Petition to encourage more OCD rep in romance books? Yes please.
A Touch of Gold and Madness by K.L. Devore
Book description: For readers who want their romantasy dark, post-apocalyptic, and dripping with slow-burning tension. Princess assassin Gray Monroe is dispatched by her father to kill the villainous prince blamed for collapsing the modern world into a magical wasteland, and she has exactly one thing on her mind: vengeance for the man who murdered her first love. Then she finally comes face to face with her nemesis, Prince Griffin Silas, and hesitates, which is a very inconvenient time to develop feelings.
Griffin, for his part, is battling an affliction that’s slowly stripping away his sanity and feeding his craving for violence, all while chasing his own deadly mission. It’s a story soaked in trauma, secrets, betrayal, and warring magical factions, with an icy assassin heroine and a hero unravelling at the seams. This is book 1 in the Celestials of Arcadia series.
Spice: Warm 🌶🌶🌶 | Tropes: Enemies to lovers, assassin heroine, post-apocalyptic fantasy, morally grey hero, slow burn, vengeance, forced proximity
Why I love this book: I loved everything about this book. A princess assassin? Yes please. A post-apocalyptic/dark fantasy setting? Yes please. A cat and mouse style enemies to lovers? Yes please! The plot twists in this book were INSANE. Don’t even get me started on the MMC… Now I will be honest, I have not read book 2 yet. I am worried I am going to be emotionally traumatized? Abso-freaking-lutetly! Stay tuned for my review on book 2 🫣
The Ascended by Bree Greenwich
Book description: If you’ve been chasing that specific Sarah J. Maas feeling, this is the book that scratches that itch. Thais Morvaren hides her ability to forge starlight, a power that would force her into the deadly Trials of Ascension, until she and her twin brother are thrust into the competition anyway. What follows is a brutal, immersive gauntlet of divine trials, revenge, and a mentor-student dynamic that slowly curdles into something far more dangerous.
Xul is the brooding, possessive shadow daddy the genre keeps promising, and the tension between him and Thais builds until you’re physically incapable of putting the book down. The slow burn is exquisite, the trials keep the plot racing, and Thais herself is a refreshingly grounded heroine who actually communicates like an adult.
Spice: Warm 🌶🌶🌶 | Tropes: Deadly trials, mentor x student, enemies to lovers, shadow daddy MMC, slow burn, divine magic, revenge
Why I love this book: THE WORLDBUILDING IN THIS BOOK WAS INSANE! I had seen a lot of people suggest reading the Esprithean series before this book as it’s part of the same universe, but then looking at the reviews I decided to just read the ascended first and it was still really good! I think technically it can be read as a standalone but I see why people would say to read the other series first. And get me started on that cliffhanger…
But I’ve decided I’m gonna read the Esprithean series. If it’s anything like the ascended I don’t see why I wouldn’t like it, plus it will help me understand a few things from this book…🫣😭
This Vicious Dream by Stacia Stark
Book description: Madinia Farrow once helped save a kingdom; now she’s spent three years trapped in a tower of thorns and nightmares, her sanity drained, because she knows the location of a grimoire that could reshape the world. Then a rage-filled stranger appears in the woods, hunting something he lost centuries ago, and his instincts insist that Madinia is the key. Bound by a common mission, they’re forced together on a deadly quest as her stolen memories slowly return.
Madinia is vicious, ruthless, and utterly unbreakable, exactly the kind of morally grey heroine you root for, and Calysian’s “he takes care of her no matter how much hate she throws his way” energy is devastating. It’s a slower burn, so the spice is sparing but potent, and the banter and simmering tension more than carry it. This book is first in the Kingdom of Death duology (a spin-off of Kingdom of Lies, but you don’t need to have read it).
Spice: Warm 🌶🌶🌶 | Tropes: Reluctant allies to lovers, touch her and die, forced proximity, hidden identity, vengeance, found family, dual POV, slow burn
Why I love this book: I came across this book in a bookshop in my area. I had no expectations, no idea what it was about, and it freaking surprised me. The chemistry and romance in this book was too good, I was heavily in my feels while reading this. Madinia is such a badass fmc, and Calysian… my man my man my man. I loved the plot reveals/twists. The cliffhanger was crazy, and book 2 isn’t even out yet, I don’t think it’s even been announced… but I need it ASAP, like I need my morning iced coffee. If you’re looking for an epic, slow burn, romantasy hidden gem, this is the one.
Unbound by Penelope Bloom
Book description: Pitched as Divergent meets Fourth Wing, this is a fast-paced, hugely bingeable magical-academy romantasy, and a brilliant readalike for anyone in a post-Basgiath slump. At Confluence Academy, students are branded by water, air, earth, or fire, but nineteen-year-old Nessa Thorne’s mark is a silver spiral: the sign of an “unbound,” a power so dangerous her kind were supposedly hunted to extinction centuries ago. Fleeing a tragic past and unable to channel her abilities, Nessa has to survive an academy full of circling enemies, forbidden desire, and blood-forged alliances.
Her biggest threat (and biggest temptation) is Raith Hollow, a broody, protective fire affinity whose scorching gaze follows her everywhere and whose secrets could topple kingdoms, and yes, he is extremely Xaden-coded, so you know what you’re getting.
Spice: Warm 🌶🌶🌶 | Tropes: Magical academy, elemental magic, bonded beasts, enemies to lovers, forbidden romance, slow burn, found family, deadly trials
Why I love this book: This book brought me back to my Fourth Wing feels! It has an academy setting, dragons, elemental magic, beast bonding and an epic slow burn. I completely fell in love with Raith the MMC, in fact, he got added to my top book boyfriend list. I just don’t understand why this book isn’t more popular. It’s so underrated. Divergent is one of my favourite books of all time, and there are some elements in this book, such as the main character Nessa being an “unbound” (does not belong to the four elements) that remind of the iconic dystopian. If you’re looking for a book that gives fourth wing meets hunger games meets Divergent vibes, this is your next read!
Discover More
Hey darlings! I hope you enjoyed this list of my all time favourite romantasy reads, and I hope I have inspired you to pick one of them up 🙂
- Looking for more lists like these? Explore Caty’s Reads
- Looking for more Romantasy book recs? Explore our Romantasy Books
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