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8 Best Fake dating Fantasy Romance Books

Two characters agree to perform a relationship for a practical reason — a political alliance, a deception, an inheritance — and the performance stops being one. The arrangement gives them permission to do things they would not otherwise attempt. The three strongest examples in the House's catalogue are Spinning Silver, The Bridge Kingdom and Radiance — each rated below on spice, romance prominence and how much the trope actually carries the book.

8 books · Last reviewed

All 8 books

Ranked so books where fake dating is the point come before books where it is one element among many.

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 Bridge Kingdom

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

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

No cover

The Hurricane Wars

Thea Guanzon · The Hurricane Wars · book 1 · ongoing

A soldier of the Lightweaver rebellion is forced into a political marriage with the Night Emperor's heir, the man who has been trying to kill her for years. Southeast Asian-inspired, and the enemies part is unusually well earned.

Best for Readers who want enemies to lovers where the war is still going on around them.

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

Explicit scenes in the back half, arriving after a long and genuinely hostile build. · Slow burn · Happy ending · Ends on a cliffhanger

Content war, violence, genocide, torture

Cover of Bride

Bride

Ali Hazelwood · Bride · book 1 · ongoing

A vampire is married off to a werewolf alpha to hold a truce together, and spends the honeymoon investigating a disappearance instead. Paranormal romance with a contemporary voice, and much funnier than the premise suggests.

Best for Readers who want fated mates and a possessive love interest in a standalone.

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

Explicit, frequent in the back half, and written with Hazelwood's usual directness. · Medium burn · Happy ending

Content violence, captivity, blood, child endangerment

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

No cover

Serpent & Dove

Shelby Mahurin · Serpent & Dove · book 1 of 3 · complete

A witch and a witch-hunter are forced into marriage by a public misunderstanding neither can undo. The premise is the whole engine, and the book knows it — every scene is two people who should kill each other being obliged to share a room.

Best for Readers who want enemies to lovers with a completed trilogy behind it.

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

Cover of Neon Gods

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

What fake dating actually means

Two characters agree to perform a relationship for a practical reason — a political alliance, a deception, an inheritance — and the performance stops being one. The arrangement gives them permission to do things they would not otherwise attempt.

The lie is a licence. Every touch can be excused as necessary right up until it cannot, and the moment the pretence collapses is the scene the whole structure exists to deliver.

Also asked for as fake dating, fake engagement, marriage of convenience, pretend courtship.

Questions readers ask

What does fake dating mean in a book?
Two characters agree to perform a relationship for a practical reason — a political alliance, a deception, an inheritance — and the performance stops being one. The arrangement gives them permission to do things they would not otherwise attempt.
Why do readers like fake dating?
The lie is a licence. Every touch can be excused as necessary right up until it cannot, and the moment the pretence collapses is the scene the whole structure exists to deliver.
What else is fake dating called?
Readers ask for it as fake dating, fake engagement, marriage of convenience, pretend courtship. All of those describe the same thing, and searching any of them on this site returns the same books.