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The Best Fae Romance Books

Fae romance runs on a specific set of rules — bargains that bind, a creature who cannot lie but will mislead you, and courts where a compliment is a manoeuvre. Everything here is fae-centred rather than fae-adjacent, and rated on the same scales as the rest of the catalogue. The top three are A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas, Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett and House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas.

15 books · Last reviewed

All 15 books

Cover of A Court of Mist and Fury

A Court of Mist and Fury

Sarah J. Maas · A Court of Thorns and Roses · book 2 · ongoing

The book that made the series. It takes the ending of the first one and treats the aftermath as the actual story — trauma, a marriage that is wrong, and a court of misfits who are better at loving her than the man who saved her was.

Best for Readers who found the first book slow and were told to keep going. They were right.

Spice
Spice 4 out of 5, Explicit
Romance
5/5
Plot
4/5
World
5/5
Darkness
3/5
Craft
3/5

Explicit and frequent from the midpoint, including the chapter the entire internet refers to obliquely. · Medium burn · Happy ending · Ends on a cliffhanger

Content PTSD, emotional abuse, violence, suicidal ideation

Cover of Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries

Heather Fawcett · Emily Wilde · book 1 of 3 · complete

A prickly Cambridge academic goes to a frozen village to finish her field guide to the fae, and her insufferably charming colleague follows her there. Written as her journal, which makes the romance funnier and considerably more painful.

Best for ACOTAR readers who want the fae bargains with wit instead of spice.

Spice
Spice 1 out of 5, A door, closed
Romance
4/5
Plot
4/5
World
5/5
Darkness
3/5
Craft
5/5

Closed door entirely. The most explicit thing in it is a dance. · Slow burn · Happy ending

Content peril, child abduction, cold-weather injury

Cover of House of Earth and Blood

House of Earth and Blood

Sarah J. Maas · Crescent City · book 1 · ongoing

Urban fantasy with a murder investigation at its centre and a half-fae party girl grieving her found family. Eight hundred pages, a genuine mystery, and a slow burn that takes almost all of them.

Best for ACOTAR readers who want a real plot to hold the romance up.

Spice
Spice 4 out of 5, Explicit
Romance
4/5
Plot
4/5
World
5/5
Darkness
4/5
Craft
3/5

Explicit, but late and infrequent relative to the length. Most of the book is restraint. · Slow burn · Happy ending · Ends on a cliffhanger

Content grief, graphic violence, drug use, torture

Cover of House of Sky and Breath

House of Sky and Breath

Sarah J. Maas · Crescent City · book 2 · ongoing

The rebellion the first book kept at the edges moves to the centre, and the cost of the previous ending is still being paid. Longer, angrier, and ending on a turn that reframes the entire series.

Best for Crescent City readers, and ACOTAR readers who want the connective tissue.

Spice
Spice 4 out of 5, Explicit
Romance
4/5
Plot
4/5
World
5/5
Darkness
4/5
Craft
3/5

Explicit and considerably more frequent than the first book. · Medium burn · Happy ending · Ends on a cliffhanger

Content torture, graphic violence, grief, explicit content

Cover of The Wicked King

The Wicked King

Holly Black · The Folk of the Air · book 2 of 3 · complete

Jude holds the throne through a bargain with a year on it, and spends the book trying to keep a king who resents her from noticing how little power she actually has. The best-plotted book in modern fae fantasy and the source of one of its most famous endings.

Best for Readers who want scheming and yearning rather than spice.

Spice
Spice 1 out of 5, A door, closed
Romance
4/5
Plot
5/5
World
5/5
Darkness
4/5
Craft
5/5

One extended kiss and a great deal of suppressed everything else. · Slow burn · Happy ending · Ends on a cliffhanger

Content violence, manipulation, drowning, betrayal

Cover of A Court of Thorns and Roses

A Court of Thorns and Roses

Sarah J. Maas · A Court of Thorns and Roses · book 1 · ongoing

A huntress kills a wolf in the woods and is taken across the wall to answer for it, into a fae court where the punishment turns out to be a life she is not prepared to want. The first half is a slow, quiet Beauty and the Beast; the second half is not.

Best for Anyone who wants to understand what the entire genre has been arguing about since 2015.

Spice
Spice 3 out of 5, Hot
Romance
5/5
Plot
3/5
World
4/5
Darkness
3/5
Craft
3/5

Two explicit scenes late in the book, written at length. Everything before them is tension. · Slow burn · Happy ending

Content violence, torture, captivity, death of a partner

Cover of Once Upon a Broken Heart

Once Upon a Broken Heart

Stephanie Garber · Once Upon a Broken Heart · book 1 of 3 · complete

A girl who believes in true love strikes three bargains with the Prince of Hearts, an immortal who deals in exactly that kind of belief. Fairytale-styled, deliberately artificial, and very good at making a bargain feel dangerous.

Best for Readers who want a villainous love interest with no spice and maximum yearning.

Spice
Spice 1 out of 5, A door, closed
Romance
5/5
Plot
3/5
World
4/5
Darkness
3/5
Craft
4/5

Kissing and longing. Closed door throughout. · Slow burn · Happy ending · Ends on a cliffhanger

Content manipulation, violence, memory loss

Cover of Quicksilver

Quicksilver

Callie Hart · The Fae & Alchemy · book 1 · ongoing

A thief from a walled human city is dragged into Yvelia by a fae warrior who despises her, into a court where she is a curiosity and a liability. The most direct answer to what people are asking for when they ask what comes after ACOTAR.

Best for ACOTAR readers who want the same shape with the heat turned up two notches.

Spice
Spice 5 out of 5, Scorching
Romance
5/5
Plot
4/5
World
4/5
Darkness
4/5
Craft
3/5

Explicit throughout and unusually frank, with scenes long enough to be structural rather than punctuation. · Slow burn · Happy ending · Ends on a cliffhanger

Content graphic violence, sexual content, captivity, gore

Cover of Radiance

Radiance

Grace Draven · Wraith Kings · book 1 · ongoing

Two people from species that find each other physically repellent are married to seal a trade alliance, and decide to make the best of it. A marriage of convenience built on genuine kindness rather than antagonism, which is much rarer than it should be.

Best for Readers tired of hostility who want a marriage of convenience built on decency.

Spice
Spice 3 out of 5, Hot
Romance
5/5
Plot
3/5
World
4/5
Darkness
3/5
Craft
4/5

Several explicit scenes, warm rather than intense, and central to how they grow close. · Medium burn · Happy ending

Content violence, xenophobia, grief

Cover of Spinning Silver

Spinning Silver

Naomi Novik · Standalone

A moneylender's daughter turns silver into gold well enough to attract the attention of the winter king, in a Rumpelstiltskin retelling with three narrators and a great deal to say about debt. Colder and cleverer than Uprooted.

Best for Readers who want a fae bargain plot with essentially no spice and exceptional writing.

Spice
Spice 1 out of 5, A door, closed
Romance
3/5
Plot
5/5
World
5/5
Darkness
3/5
Craft
5/5

Almost entirely closed-door. The romance is negotiated rather than consummated on the page. · Slow burn · Happy ending

Content antisemitism, violence, forced marriage

Cover of The Cruel Prince

The Cruel Prince

Holly Black · The Folk of the Air · book 1 of 3 · complete

A human girl raised in Faerie by the man who murdered her parents decides that the way to be safe is to become dangerous. The cruelty is real, the politics are genuinely intricate, and the romance is almost entirely composed of hostility.

Best for ACOTAR readers who want the fae court politics without the explicit content.

Spice
Spice 1 out of 5, A door, closed
Romance
3/5
Plot
5/5
World
5/5
Darkness
4/5
Craft
5/5

Kissing and considerable tension. Nothing on the page beyond that. · Slow burn · Happy ending · Ends on a cliffhanger

Content violence, bullying, murder of parents, poisoning

Cover of These Hollow Vows

These Hollow Vows

Lexi Ryan · These Hollow Vows · book 1 of 2 · complete

A thief bargains with the Unseelie prince to steal three artefacts and free her sister, while the Seelie prince offers her a better deal. A love triangle between two fae courts, which is a structure the genre attempts often and lands rarely.

Best for ACOTAR readers who want the fae courts at a much lower spice level.

Spice
Spice 2 out of 5, Warm
Romance
4/5
Plot
3/5
World
4/5
Darkness
3/5
Craft
3/5

Tension-heavy with brief on-page content. Considerably milder than ACOTAR. · Medium burn · Happy ending · Ends on a cliffhanger

Content violence, captivity, addiction

Cover of A Deal with the Elf King

A Deal with the Elf King

Elise Kova · Married to Magic · book 1 of 4 · complete

Every hundred years the elf king takes a human bride, and this time it is the village herbalist who has been quietly preparing for it. A short, contained fantasy romance that resolves entirely within its own covers.

Best for Readers who want a fae marriage plot that finishes in one book.

Spice
Spice 3 out of 5, Hot
Romance
5/5
Plot
3/5
World
3/5
Darkness
2/5
Craft
3/5

Two or three explicit scenes, moderate in length and clearly signposted. · Medium burn · Happy ending

Content grief, peril, arranged marriage

Cover of Throne of Glass

Throne of Glass

Sarah J. Maas · Throne of Glass · book 1 of 8 · complete

An eighteen-year-old assassin is pulled out of a salt mine to compete for the post of King's Champion. The first book is a competition novel with a love triangle; the series it turns into over eight books is something considerably larger.

Best for Readers who want a completed eight-book saga to disappear into.

Spice
Spice 1 out of 5, A door, closed
Romance
3/5
Plot
4/5
World
4/5
Darkness
3/5
Craft
3/5

Kissing in the first book. The series becomes explicit from around the fourth. · Slow burn · Happy ending

Content slavery, violence, torture, death

No cover

Zodiac Academy: The Awakening

Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti · Zodiac Academy · book 1 of 9 · complete

Twin sisters discover they are fae heirs and are enrolled in an academy where four heirs to the throne intend to break them. Genuinely brutal bullying-to-lovers across a very long completed series, with a reverse-harem structure.

Best for Fourth Wing readers who want the academy structure and a series they can finish.

Spice
Spice 4 out of 5, Explicit
Romance
4/5
Plot
3/5
World
3/5
Darkness
5/5
Craft
3/5

Escalates sharply across the series; the first book is milder than what follows. · Slow burn · Happy ending · Ends on a cliffhanger

Content bullying, assault, torture, graphic violence, explicit content

Related tropes

Narrower lists, built from the same catalogue.

Best Fated mates Booksfated matesBest Forbidden romance Booksforbidden romanceBest Enemies to lovers Booksenemies to lovers

If you came from a specific book

Books Like ACOTARA Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Questions readers ask

What should I read if I loved the fae in ACOTAR?
Quicksilver is the closest match for the mate bond and the court politics at a similar spice level. The Cruel Prince has sharper fae scheming with far less spice, and Uprooted has the older, stranger, more genuinely frightening version of the fae tradition.
Are fae romance and romantasy the same thing?
No. Romantasy is the whole category of fantasy where romance carries equal weight with the plot. Fae romance is one subgenre of it — currently the largest, which is why the two get used interchangeably.