THE BEST FANTASY ROMANCE BOOKS

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Do you read fantasy romance books?

If you are like me, you can’t get enough of this trope. I love the mix of fantasy and romance, strong women, alpha male, and great world building.

My first 5 star book of 2021 was The Turncoat King by Michelle Diener. I loved it, and can’t wait to read more. It also made me think of all the amazing fantasy romance series I’ve read so far. Moreover it made me wish that there were more authors who would give this trope a go. I’m often researching for what to read next, and fantasy romance is a genre I wish there was more to read from.

The 10 fantasy romance series below are the BEST of the BEST and are coming highly recommended. Each and every one left an impression on me and are the reasons why I love this genre so much.

As always, if you have book recommendations, please don’t hesitate and leave a comment below. I’m always interested to hear what everyone has read and can recommend. Let’s chat 😀

The Rising Wave

The Turncoat King by Michelle Diener

As I mentioned above, this book was my first 5 star book of 2021, and I can’t wait to read more about the couple. I would like to mention that the beginning of the book starts in the anthology Warlords, Witches and Wolves: A Fantasy Realms Anthology, it’s available with Kindle Unlimited, and I would recommend reading it first. It’s the beginning of the couples relationship and I would have hated missing out on it. All I can say about the book is that it was the perfect balance of a fantastic and original plot, a strong heroine, a devoted hero, unique skills, and a great story.

If you don’t have Kindle Unlimited yet, at the moment the first month is FREE when signing up, and the monthly subscription can be canceled at anytime.

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A thirst for revenge . . . Ava is committed to vengeance against the man responsible for the death of her parents. The same man, the Queen’s Herald, who kept her prisoner for two years, until she escaped with Luc, a warlord bent on vengeance just as fierce as her own. He’s forged a powerful army of people from all through the region, called the Rising Wave, to march on the Kassian royal family and smash its corrupt power under the weight of their anger. But for Luc, just as for Ava, his true motive is a lot more personal.

A hidden magic . . . Luc suspects Ava has magical powers, suspects he’s benefited greatly from them, but he’s no stranger to the burdens of power, and he’s prepared to let her tell him in her own time—after all, she’s his heart’s choice and he will give her all the time she needs. Except time is running out for both of them. As they near the Kassian stronghold, forces from within their own camp and without will use every trick they have to stop both Luc and Ava and tear them apart.

A secret laid bare . . . Luc knows Ava has a secret she’s keeping from him—but what he doesn’t realize is she has many. And when those secrets are exposed, everyone will have to grapple with the consequences. Ava is prepared to sacrifice her happiness and even her life to save the Rising Wave and Luc—but she would prefer to use her heart and her head to outwit her enemies instead.

Wraith Kings

Radiance by Grace Draven

Grace Draven is an author that has been on my auto-read list for years now. And this series is one of my favorites. Just look at these stunning covers, and I can promise you’ll be pulled into the story in no time.

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THE PRINCE OF NO VALUE

Brishen Khaskem, prince of the Kai, has lived content as the nonessential spare heir to a throne secured many times over. A trade and political alliance between the human kingdom of Gaur and the Kai kingdom of Bast-Haradis requires that he marry a Gauri woman to seal the treaty. Always a dutiful son, Brishen agrees to the marriage and discovers his bride is as ugly as he expected and more beautiful than he could have imagined. 

THE NOBLEWOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE 

Ildiko, niece of the Gauri king, has always known her only worth to the royal family lay in a strategic marriage. Resigned to her fate, she is horrified to learn that her intended groom isn’t just a foreign aristocrat but the younger prince of a people neither familiar nor human. Bound to her new husband, Ildiko will leave behind all she’s known to embrace a man shrouded in darkness but with a soul forged by light. 

Two people brought together by the trappings of duty and politics will discover they are destined for each other, even as the powers of a hostile kingdom scheme to tear them apart.

Hidden Legacy

Burn for Me by Ilona Andrews

What can I say about Hidden Legacy that I haven’t already said in this blog post. I adore the author couple and would read pretty much anything by them. They are one of only a handful authors I would say that about. This declaration comes from the heart. And if you love a great fantasy romance series you must give Hidden Legacy a try. You won’t regret it!!! I promise!

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Nevada Baylor is faced with the most challenging case of her detective career—a suicide mission to bring in a suspect in a volatile case. Nevada isn’t sure she has the chops. Her quarry is a Prime, the highest rank of magic user, who can set anyone and anything on fire.

Then she’s kidnapped by Connor “Mad” Rogan—a darkly tempting billionaire with equally devastating powers. Torn between wanting to run or surrender to their overwhelming attraction, Nevada must join forces with Rogan to stay alive.

Rogan’s after the same target, so he needs Nevada. But she’s getting under his skin, making him care about someone other than himself for a change. And, as Rogan has learned, love can be as perilous as death, especially in the magic world. 

The Bargainer

Rhapsodic by Laura Thalassa

Wow, just look at these covers!!! They are by far one of the most gorgeous fantasy romance covers – period!!! And the story is as spellbinding as the covers. The series has everything a fantasy romance fan would want – a great heroine, alpha hero, sexual tension, a great story, and of course a villain to hate.

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Callypso Lillis is a siren with a very big problem, one that stretches up her arm and far into her past. For the last seven years she’s been collecting a bracelet of black beads up her wrist, magical IOUs for favors she’s received. Only death or repayment will fulfill the obligations. Only then will the beads disappear.

Everyone knows that if you need a favor, you go to the Bargainer to make it happen. He’s a man who can get you anything you want… at a price. And everyone knows that sooner or later he always collects.

But for one of his clients, he’s never asked for repayment. Not until now. When Callie finds the fae king of the night in her room, a grin on his lips and a twinkle in his eye, she knows things are about to change. At first it’s just a chaste kiss—a single bead’s worth—and a promise for more.

For the Bargainer, it’s more than just a matter of rekindling an old romance. Something is happening in the Otherworld. Fae warriors are going missing one by one. Only the women are returned, each in a glass casket, a child clutched to their breast. And then there are the whispers among the slaves, whispers of an evil that’s been awoken. 

If the Bargainer has any hope to save his people, he’ll need the help of the siren he spurned long ago. Only, his foe has a taste for exotic creatures, and Callie just happens to be one

Kingmaker Chronicles

A Promise of Fire by Amanda Bouchet

I still remember my feelings after I finished A Promise of Fire – all I thought was WOW!!! Below you will find a snippet from my Goodreads review. As you can see, I was enamored with the main couple.

“As I already mentioned sassy and kick-ass heroines are my weakness. On top of that A Promise of Fire had an alpha war-lord that knew what he wanted and I was falling fast. The combination of a witty and snarky female lead, as well as a dominant and strong alpha male, plus a superb supporting cast – was a dream come true!!!”

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KINGDOMS WILL RISE AND FALL FOR HER…
BUT NOT IF SHE CAN HELP IT

Catalia “Cat” Fisa lives disguised as a soothsayer in a traveling circus. She is perfectly content avoiding the danger and destiny the Gods-and her homicidal mother-have saddled her with. That is, until Griffin, an ambitious warlord from the magic-deprived south, fixes her with his steely gaze and upsets her illusion of safety forever.

Griffin knows Cat is the Kingmaker, the woman who divines the truth through lies. He wants her as a powerful weapon for his newly conquered realm-until he realizes he wants her for much more than her magic. Cat fights him at every turn, but Griffin’s fairness, loyalty, and smoldering advances make him increasingly hard to resist and leave her wondering if life really does have to be short, and lived alone.

The Four Horsemen

Pestilence by Laura Thalassa

I love it when authors bring something unique to the romance genre. And this series delivers in every aspect. Also I should mention that the books don’t pull any punches. All three books start out as enemies to lovers, all three are raw and emotional at times, but the growth in every book is one to look out for. This series sucks the reader in with a fantastic story, and unique couples.

GET THE FIRST BOOK – currently in Kindle Unlimited

They came to earth–Pestilence, War, Famine, Death–four horsemen riding their screaming steeds, racing to the corners of the world. Four horsemen with the power to destroy all of humanity. They came to earth, and they came to end us all.

When Pestilence comes for Sara Burn’s town, one thing is certain: everyone she knows and loves is marked for death. Unless, of course, the angelic-looking horseman is stopped, which is exactly what Sara has in mind when she shoots the unholy beast off his steed.

Too bad no one told her Pestilence can’t be killed. 

Now the horseman, very much alive and very pissed off, has taken her prisoner, and he’s eager to make her suffer. Only, the longer she’s with him, the more uncertain she is about his true feelings towards her … and hers towards him. 

And now, well, Sara might still be able to save the world, but in order to do so, she’ll have to sacrifice her heart in the process.

Chronicles of the Warlands

Warprize by Elizabeth Vaughan

This series has been my most favourite for a long time. They were recommended to me from a friend, and I devoured them once, twice and a third time. They were also the reason that I found Golden Dynasty by Kristen Ashley, a book whose hero is based on Khal Drogo from Game of Thrones. I adored Lara and Keir in Warprize. I got sucked into their relationship, the characters and the world building.

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SHE MUST CHOOSE BETWEEN HER PEOPLE AND HER FREEDOM…

Xylara is the Daughter of the Warrior King, Xyron. With her father dead and her incompetent half-brother on the throne, the kingdom is in danger of falling to the warring Firelanders. 

Before she was old enough for a marriage-of-alliance, Xylara was trained as a healer. She can’t usurp her brother or negotiate a peace–but she can heal the brave ones injured in battle.

But not only her countrymen are wounded, and Xylara’s conscience won’t let Firelander warriors die when she can do something to save them. She learns their language and their customs and tries to make them as comfortable as possible, despite their prisoner-of-war status.

She never expects that these deeds, done in good faith, would lead to the handsome and mysterious Firelander Warlord demanding her in exchange for a cease-fire. Xylara knows must trade the life she has always known for the well-being of her people, and so she becomes…

The Warprize

The Broken Lands

Pathfinder’s Way by T.A. White

If you are interested in a heroine who has no special skills but earns a name from grit, determination and skill alone, this series is for you. TA White is a name to pay attention to. Her books are incredibly well written, and her world building is impeccable. Also her romance is just the right amount for fantasy romance books. Her sci-fi romance Rules of Redemption (The Firebird Chronicles Book 1) is a MUST READ!!!!!

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The Trateri are about to learn a vital lesson of the Broken Lands. Deep in the remote expanse where anything can happen, it pays to be on a pathfinder’s good side.

Nobody ventures beyond their village. Nobody sane that is. Monstrous creatures and deadly mysteries wait out here. Lucky for the people she serves, Shea’s not exactly sane. As a pathfinder, it’s her job to face what others fear and find the safest route through the wilderness. It’s not an easy job, but she’s the best at what she does.

When the people she serves betray her into servitude to the Trateri, a barbarian horde sweeping through the Lowlands intent on conquest, Shea relies on her wits and skill to escape, disguising herself as a boy to hide from the Warlord, a man as dangerous as he is compelling.

After being mistaken as a Trateri scout during her escape, Shea finds herself forced to choose between the life she led and the possibilities of a new one. Her decision might mean the difference between life or death. For danger looms on the horizon and a partnership with the Warlord may be the only thing preventing the destruction of everything she holds dear.

Tairen Soul

Lord of the Fading Lands by C.L. Wilson

An older series from 2007, but nevertheless spellbinding and the perfect blend of fantasy and romance for any fan.

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Once he drove back the darkness.
Once he loved with such passion his name was legend.

iOnce, driven wild with grief over the murder of his beloved, the majestic Fey King Rain Tairen Soul had laid waste to the world before vanishing into the Fading Lands. Now, a thousand years later, a new threat draws him back into the world—and a new love reawakens the heart he thought long dead.

Ellysetta, a woodcarver’s daughter, calls to Rain in a way no other ever had. Mysterious and magical, her soul beckons him with a compelling, seductive song—and no matter the cost, the wildness in his blood will not be denied. 

As an ancient, familiar evil regains its strength, causing centuries-old alliances to crumble and threatening doom for Rain and his people… he must claim his truemate to embrace the destiny woven for them both in the mists of time.

Chronicles of The One

Year One by Nora Roberts

I’m a huge fan of Nora Roberts, and although her trilogies aren’t often a hit with me, this epic trilogy was right up my alley. What an incredible journey these three books were. A series any fantasy romance fan will enjoy.

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It began on New Year’s Eve.

The sickness came on suddenly, and spread quickly. The fear spread even faster. Within weeks, everything people counted on began to fail them. The electrical grid sputtered; law and government collapsed–and more than half of the world’s population was decimated.

Where there had been order, there was now chaos. And as the power of science and technology receded, magic rose up in its place. Some of it is good, like the witchcraft worked by Lana Bingham, practicing in the loft apartment she shares with her lover, Max. Some of it is unimaginably evil, and it can lurk anywhere, around a corner, in fetid tunnels beneath the river–or in the ones you know and love the most.

As word spreads that neither the immune nor the gifted are safe from the authorities who patrol the ravaged streets, and with nothing left to count on but each other, Lana and Max make their way out of a wrecked New York City. At the same time, other travelers are heading west too, into a new frontier. Chuck, a tech genius trying to hack his way through a world gone offline. Arlys, a journalist who has lost her audience but uses pen and paper to record the truth. Fred, her young colleague, possessed of burgeoning abilities and an optimism that seems out of place in this bleak landscape. And Rachel and Jonah, a resourceful doctor and a paramedic who fend off despair with their determination to keep a young mother and three infants in their care alive.

In a world of survivors where every stranger encountered could be either a savage or a savior, none of them knows exactly where they are heading, or why. But a purpose awaits them that will shape their lives and the lives of all those who remain.

The end has come. The beginning comes next.

THE BEST FANTASY ROMANCE BOOKS