Books Like ACOTAR With Less Spice

1.Dragonflight

Anne McCaffrey · Dragonriders of Pern · book 1 · ongoing

The book that invented the telepathically bonded dragon rider, and therefore most of this list. A kitchen drudge turns out to be the last of a noble line and impresses the only queen dragon left on a planet that has forgotten what it is defending against.

Best for Readers who want the original dragon-rider bond that every later book is answering.

Spice

◆◇◇◇◇Spice 1 out of 5, A door, closed

Romance

3/5

Plot

4/5

World

5/5

Darkness

3/5

Craft

4/5

Closed door, and written in 1968 — the one relevant scene has aged badly and readers should know that before starting. · Medium burn · Happy ending

Content dubious consent, period-typical sexism, violence

2.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

3.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

4.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

5.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

6.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

7.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

8.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

9.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

10.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

11.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

12.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

13.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

14.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

15.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

16.A Day of Fallen Night

Samantha Shannon · The Roots of Chaos · book 2 · ongoing

A prequel to Priory set five centuries earlier, following four women as the wyrms wake. Longer, sadder and better constructed than the book it precedes, and readable first without losing anything.

Best for Readers who want the most ambitious dragon worldbuilding currently in print.

Spice

◆◆◇◇◇Spice 2 out of 5, Warm

Romance

3/5

Plot

5/5

World

5/5

Darkness

4/5

Craft

5/5

Occasional and brief. The relationships matter far more than the scenes do. · Slow burn · Happy ending

Content childbirth, plague, war, grief, death of a child

17.The Priory of the Orange Tree

Samantha Shannon · The Roots of Chaos · book 1 · ongoing

Eight hundred pages of dragon politics across two hemispheres that disagree about whether dragons are gods or vermin. A standalone in the sense that it resolves completely, with a slow sapphic romance threaded through the middle of it.

Best for Fourth Wing readers who want dragons with far more worldbuilding and far less spice.

Spice

◆◆◇◇◇Spice 2 out of 5, Warm

Romance

3/5

Plot

5/5

World

5/5

Darkness

3/5

Craft

5/5

One or two brief scenes. The romance is understated relative to the book's length. · Slow burn · Happy ending

Content violence, plague, death, war

18.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

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

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.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