Books Like ACOTAR That Are Actually Finished

1.Uprooted

Naomi Novik · Standalone

A wizard takes one village girl every ten years, and this time takes the wrong one. Built on Polish folklore rather than the usual fae tradition, with a genuinely frightening forest and a magic system that feels like cooking.

Best for ACOTAR readers who want the same premise handled by a much stronger prose stylist.

Spice

◆◆◇◇◇Spice 2 out of 5, Warm

Romance

3/5

Plot

5/5

World

5/5

Darkness

4/5

Craft

5/5

One explicit scene, brief and late. The rest is antagonism and proximity. · Slow burn · Happy ending

Content body horror, violence, war

2.The Night Circus

Erin Morgenstern · Standalone

Two magicians are bound as children into a contest neither understands, played out through a circus that appears without warning and opens only at night. Atmosphere is the whole point; the plot is a rumour the book is happy to leave you with.

Best for Readers who want atmosphere above everything and do not need the plot to arrive.

Spice

◆◇◇◇◇Spice 1 out of 5, A door, closed

Romance

3/5

Plot

2/5

World

5/5

Darkness

3/5

Craft

5/5

Closed door. The sensuality is entirely in the descriptions of the circus. · Slow burn · Happy ending

Content child endangerment, suicide, emotional neglect

3.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

4.A Dowry of Blood

S.T. Gibson · Standalone

Dracula's first bride writes a letter to the husband she killed. Short, lyrical, and structured entirely as address — a study of how a controlling love is built one reasonable-seeming concession at a time.

Best for Readers who want dark romantasy with prose that would survive being read aloud.

Spice

◆◆◆◇◇Spice 3 out of 5, Hot

Romance

5/5

Plot

3/5

World

3/5

Darkness

5/5

Craft

5/5

Sensual and explicit in places, but written impressionistically rather than in detail. · Medium burn · Happy ending

Content abusive relationship, coercive control, murder, blood

5.To Kill a Kingdom

Alexandra Christo · Standalone

A siren who collects the hearts of princes is turned human and thrown into the path of the prince who hunts sirens. A Little Mermaid retelling in which both leads are murderers, which is the correct way to do it.

Best for Readers who want a self-contained enemies-to-lovers with no spice at all.

Spice

◆◇◇◇◇Spice 1 out of 5, A door, closed

Romance

4/5

Plot

4/5

World

4/5

Darkness

3/5

Craft

4/5

Kissing only. The tension is built entirely out of mutual intent to kill. · Slow burn · Happy ending

Content violence, murder, abusive parent, gore

6.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

7.The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

V.E. Schwab · Standalone

A woman trades her soul for immortality and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets, until three hundred years later a man in a bookshop says he remembers her. A devil romance disguised as a literary novel, and vice versa.

Best for Readers who want a devil love interest and a standalone they can finish tonight.

Spice

◆◆◇◇◇Spice 2 out of 5, Warm

Romance

4/5

Plot

3/5

World

3/5

Darkness

4/5

Craft

5/5

Occasional and brief, written more for melancholy than heat. · Slow burn · No happy ending

Content suicidal ideation, loss, manipulation

8.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

9.The Bridge Kingdom

Danielle L. Jensen · The Bridge Kingdom · book 1 of 4 · complete

A princess is trained from childhood as a weapon and married to an enemy king she is meant to destroy from inside his own palace. She is very good at the job, and the problem is that he is not what she was told.

Best for Readers who want a marriage-of-convenience spy plot and a series that is finished.

Spice

◆◆◆◇◇Spice 3 out of 5, Hot

Romance

5/5

Plot

4/5

World

4/5

Darkness

3/5

Craft

4/5

Several explicit scenes, well spaced and used to mark the shifts in her loyalty. · Slow burn · Happy ending

Content violence, abusive father, war, betrayal

10.His Majesty's Dragon

Naomi Novik · Temeraire · book 1 of 9 · complete

The Napoleonic Wars, fought with an air force of dragons. A naval captain is bonded to a hatchling against his every intention and discovers that the dragon is better company than the navy was. The friendship is the love story.

Best for Readers who want the best dragon characterisation in the genre and no romance.

Spice

—◇◇◇◇◇Spice 0 out of 5, Closed to the world

Romance

1/5

Plot

4/5

World

5/5

Darkness

2/5

Craft

5/5

No romantic or sexual content. The central relationship is between a man and his dragon. · Slow burn · Happy ending

Content war, animal endangerment, violence

11.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

12.Six of Crows

Leigh Bardugo · Six of Crows · book 1 of 2 · complete

Six criminals attempt an impossible prison break for an impossible fee. A heist novel with six perspectives, four romances handled almost entirely through restraint, and the best-constructed plot on this list.

Best for Readers who want found family and yearning with no spice whatsoever.

Spice

◆◇◇◇◇Spice 1 out of 5, A door, closed

Romance

3/5

Plot

5/5

World

5/5

Darkness

4/5

Craft

5/5

No explicit content at all. One of the romances turns on a character who cannot bear to be touched, and the book respects that completely. · Slow burn · Happy ending · Ends on a cliffhanger

Content violence, child trafficking, addiction, torture

Spice

◆◆◇◇◇Spice 2 out of 5, Warm

Romance

4/5

Plot

3/5

World

3/5

Darkness

3/5

Craft

3/5

One explicit scene late on. The rest is antagonism at close quarters. · Slow burn · Happy ending

Content burning, violence, religious persecution, death

14.Eragon

Christopher Paolini · The Inheritance Cycle · book 1 of 4 · complete

A farm boy finds a dragon egg and becomes the last of the Riders. Unashamedly traditional epic fantasy, written when the author was fifteen, and still the book most people mean when they say they want dragons.

Best for Fourth Wing readers who want the dragon bond with no romance at all.

Spice

—◇◇◇◇◇Spice 0 out of 5, Closed to the world

Romance

1/5

Plot

4/5

World

4/5

Darkness

2/5

Craft

3/5

No romantic content of any kind on the page. This is a quest novel. · Slow burn · Happy ending

Content violence, war, death of a guardian

15.Neon Gods

Katee Robert · Dark Olympus · book 1 of 7 · complete

Hades and Persephone relocated to a modern city-state run by thirteen people who have taken the names of gods. Persephone runs from an engagement into the lower city, and strikes a bargain with the man everyone pretends does not exist.

Best for Readers who want the spiciest thing on the shelf and do not need a war to justify it.

Spice

◆◆◆◆◆Spice 5 out of 5, Scorching

Romance

5/5

Plot

2/5

World

2/5

Darkness

3/5

Craft

3/5

Explicit throughout and adventurous with it. The plot exists to move between scenes rather than the reverse. · Instalove · Happy ending

Content explicit content, abusive parent, coercion, violence

16.A Discovery of Witches

Deborah Harkness · All Souls · book 1 of 3 · complete

A historian who refuses to use her magic calls up a manuscript in the Bodleian that every creature in Europe has been looking for, and a fifteen-hundred-year-old vampire geneticist arrives to see it. Academic, unhurried, and very interested in wine.

Best for Readers who want a possessive vampire and a completed trilogy at a low spice level.

Spice

◆◆◇◇◇Spice 2 out of 5, Warm

Romance

4/5

Plot

3/5

World

4/5

Darkness

2/5

Craft

4/5

Restrained for most of the first book, with a slow escalation across the trilogy. · Slow burn · Happy ending · Ends on a cliffhanger

Content violence, abduction, torture, miscarriage

17.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

18.The Atlas Six

Olivie Blake · The Atlas · book 1 of 3 · complete

Six magicians compete for five places in a secret society guarding the world's lost knowledge, and are told plainly that one of them will not survive the year. Almost entirely conversation, and the conversations are the appeal.

Best for Readers who want dark academia that is mostly clever people arguing.

Spice

◆◆◇◇◇Spice 2 out of 5, Warm

Romance

2/5

Plot

3/5

World

4/5

Darkness

4/5

Craft

4/5

Some explicit content, sparingly used and more interested in power than pleasure. · Slow burn · No happy ending · Ends on a cliffhanger

Content murder, drug use, self-harm, manipulation

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

20.For the Wolf

Hannah Whitten · Wilderwood · book 1 of 2 · complete

The second daughter is owed to the Wolf in the Wilderwood, a debt the kingdom has paid for centuries. She goes, and finds a man being slowly eaten by the forest he is holding back. Bloody, botanical and quietly furious.

Best for Readers who loved Uprooted and want something darker in the same forest.

Spice

◆◆◇◇◇Spice 2 out of 5, Warm

Romance

4/5

Plot

4/5

World

5/5

Darkness

4/5

Craft

4/5

One extended explicit scene. Everything else is proximity and dread. · Slow burn · Happy ending

Content body horror, blood, self-sacrifice, religious control

21.Belladonna

Adalyn Grace · Belladonna · book 1 of 3 · complete

An orphan who cannot die investigates a series of murders alongside Death himself, who has been watching her since she was a child. Gothic, mannered, and unashamedly indebted to every haunted-house novel of the last two centuries.

Best for Readers who want gothic romance with Death as the love interest and no spice.

Spice

◆◇◇◇◇Spice 1 out of 5, A door, closed

Romance

4/5

Plot

4/5

World

3/5

Darkness

3/5

Craft

4/5

Kissing and atmosphere. Nothing explicit. · Slow burn · Happy ending

Content murder, poisoning, grief, death of a parent

22.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

23.Divine Rivals

Rebecca Ross · Letters of Enchantment · book 1 of 2 · complete

Two rival journalists write to each other through an enchanted typewriter without knowing who is on the other end, while a war between gods swallows the countryside. Old-fashioned in the best sense, and the letters are genuinely lovely.

Best for Readers who want rivals-to-lovers with no spice and prose worth slowing down for.

Spice

◆◇◇◇◇Spice 1 out of 5, A door, closed

Romance

5/5

Plot

4/5

World

4/5

Darkness

3/5

Craft

5/5

Closed door throughout. The intimacy is entirely in the correspondence. · Slow burn · Happy ending · Ends on a cliffhanger

Content war, death, injury, alcoholism

24.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

25.Kingdom of the Wicked

Kerri Maniscalco · Kingdom of the Wicked · book 1 of 4 · complete

A witch in nineteenth-century Sicily investigates her twin's murder and finds herself working with a Prince of Hell who is exactly as helpful as that sounds. Food, grief and demons, in roughly that order of loving description.

Best for Readers who want a devil love interest and a completed series to go with him.

Spice

◆◆◆◇◇Spice 3 out of 5, Hot

Romance

4/5

Plot

4/5

World

4/5

Darkness

4/5

Craft

4/5

Building tension across the book with explicit content arriving in the sequels. · Slow burn · Happy ending · Ends on a cliffhanger

Content murder, gore, mutilation, grief

26.The Foxglove King

Hannah Whitten · The Nightshade Crown · book 1 of 3 · complete

A woman who can raise the dead is blackmailed into spying on a decadent court by the Sainted King, handled by a prince who despises her. Court intrigue with necromancy, and considerably more interested in religion than most of the genre.

Best for Readers who want court intrigue and necromancy with a slow, hostile romance.

Spice

◆◆◆◇◇Spice 3 out of 5, Hot

Romance

4/5

Plot

4/5

World

4/5

Darkness

4/5

Craft

4/5

A few explicit scenes, unhurried, arriving after a long stretch of hostility. · Slow burn · Happy ending · Ends on a cliffhanger

Content death, drug use, gore, religious control

27.Fireborne

Rosaria Munda · The Aurelian Cycle · book 1 of 3 · complete

After a revolution overthrows the dragonlords, an orphan and the surviving son of the old regime compete to lead the new order's dragon riders. A political novel about whether a just revolution stays just, with dragons.

Best for Fourth Wing readers who want the war college with real politics behind it.

Spice

◆◇◇◇◇Spice 1 out of 5, A door, closed

Romance

2/5

Plot

5/5

World

4/5

Darkness

4/5

Craft

4/5

Kissing at most. The tension between the leads is ideological before it is romantic. · Slow burn · No happy ending · Ends on a cliffhanger

Content famine, execution, war, class violence

28.Powerless

Lauren Roberts · The Powerless Trilogy · book 1 of 3 · complete

In a kingdom that exiles the powerless, an Ordinary hides among the Elites and enters the trials that would expose her. The prince assigned to hunt people like her is the one falling for her, which is the entire premise and it works.

Best for Fourth Wing readers who want the trials and the banter without the explicit scenes.

Spice

◆◆◇◇◇Spice 2 out of 5, Warm

Romance

4/5

Plot

3/5

World

3/5

Darkness

3/5

Craft

3/5

Kissing and one restrained scene. Written for a younger audience than most of this list. · Slow burn · Happy ending · Ends on a cliffhanger

Content violence, death, persecution

29.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