Five romantasy book series' to get your heart racing if you loved ACOTAR
The viral romantasy (a combination of romance and fantasy) book series, A Court of Thorns and Roses - better known as ACOTAR - has been confirmed to release its sixth book between the tail-end of 2025 to 2026. Whilst you wait, here's five recommendations for series that are just as good summer escapes.
With over 200 billion views on BookTok, a steamy holiday romance and adventure is guaranteed to be yours with these addictive and trending reads that will get your heart racing!
From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout
The winner of Goodreads Choice Award for Readers' Favourite Romance in 2020, this dark romance questions gender roles and duty, as protagonist Poppy between maidenhood and fighting to defend her Kingdom. Full of vampires, monsters, gods, and a steamy enemies-to-lovers trope with a golden-eyed guard, it's no surprise this series continues to be raved about.
READ MORE: Romance is in the air as new London bookshop selling only 'spicy novels' opens
From Blood and Ash boast nearly 69,000 reviews on Goodreads and is rated 4.22 out of five - any Romantasy reader would like those chances!
Phantasma: The Wicked Games trilogy by Kaylie smith
Said to be a medley of ACOTAR and BookTok favourite Caraval, Phantasma is the first in a trilogy of a dark fantasy adventure. With an intense romance, a morally grey heart-throb and unexpected plot twists, Phantasma is a brilliant choice for those who loved Rebecca Yarros' Fourth Wing, Nisha J. Tuli and Carissa Broadbent.
Rated more than four stars on Amazon and Goodreads, the complex characters and inescapable tension is sure to set your summer alight.
Godkiller, Fallen Gods trilogy by Hannah Kaner
Godkiller is a personal favourite, with brilliant world building and imagery right from page one. Kaner's characters are lovable, wholesome and total feminist icons. Full of assassins, gods and handsome knights, this epic quest is a definite page-turner and uniquely written.
Furthermore, Kaner's world is queer-casual and here to stay as an instant Sunday Times Bestseller - the Daily Mail calling the first instalment: "A wonderful, gritty, explosively violent, and beautifully realised debut". It is also available on QueerLit.
Ember in The Ashes, Ember Quartet series by Sabaa Tahir
The Young Adult fantasy series is smart social commentary inspired on Ancient Rome's Centuria, and follows the character arc of a young Laia, a girl from a hunted minority group, and a leading soldier named Elias as their paths cross and entwine as they fight the corruption of their empire.
If you loved Divergent and The Hunger Games as a teen, this resurgence of Dystopian literature will consume you - a perfect choice for those who love Fantasy just as much as Romance. I couldn't put them down!
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Shadow and Bone trilogy by Leigh Bardugo
Now made into a popular Netflix series starring the dreamy Ben Barnes, Shadow and Bone is a series that refuses to let you go. Set in the Grimshaverse, this three-part series explores the dark and dangerous 'rip' in the country Ravka that swallows light and where no person survives. When Alina, a military cartographer and orphan unlocks her Grimsha gift that she repressed as a child, her world changes overnight.
The Shadow and Bone series is imaginative, romantic and full of yearning and childhood romance. Whilst a Young Adult series, the novels stand the test of time and was nominated for Goodreads Choice Awards for Readers' Favourite Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction in 2012.
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