Fae Romance Books Like Fourth Wing

1.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

2.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

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.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

5.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

6.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

7.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

8.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

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

10.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

11.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

12.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

13.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

14.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

15.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