Romantasy books are still dominating bookshelves and bestseller lists in 2025, and they will continue to do so as they blend the best of romance and fantasy into one book! If you are a fan of romance and fantasy, then let me tell you about some of the best romantasy books you should read this year!
Romantasy—where romance meets fantasy—offers readers the perfect mix of sweeping romance and enchanting fantasy. While it is not a new genre, it has become much more popular in recent years. The authors are pushing the genre’s boundaries with fresh twists on beloved tropes—think forbidden love tangled in courtly intrigue, magical duels charged with tension, and star-crossed fates bound by destiny.
Whether you love slow-burning passion or whirlwind romance set against mystical backdrops, there’s a new story waiting to steal your heart.
In this article, we look at some of the best romantic fantasy books of the year, which brings more than just romance—they deliver intricate worldbuilding, high-stakes conflicts, and characters who leap off the page. So, let’s not waste much time and get started with the list!
Best Romantasy Books to Read in 2025
1. Powerless by Lauren Roberts
Only the extraordinary belong in the kingdom of Ilya—the exceptional, the empowered, the Elites.
The powers these Elites have possessed for decades were graciously gifted to them by the Plague, though not all were fortunate enough to survive the sickness and reap the reward.
Those born Ordinary are just that—ordinary. And when the king decreed that all Ordinaries be banished to preserve his Elite society, lacking an ability suddenly became a crime—making Paedyn Gray a felon by fate and a thief by necessity.
Surviving in the slums as an Ordinary is no simple task, and Paedyn knows this better than most. Having been trained by her father to be overly observant since she was a child, Paedyn poses as a Psychic in the crowded city, blending in with the Elites as best she can to stay alive and out of trouble. But that’s easier said than done!
2. The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent
The adopted human daughter of the Nightborn vampire king, Oraya carved her place in a world designed to kill her. Her only chance to become something more than prey is entering the Kejari: a legendary tournament held by the goddess of death herself.
But winning won’t be easy amongst the most vicious warriors from all three vampire houses. To survive, Oraya is forced to ally with a mysterious rival.
Raihn is dangerous; he is a ruthless vampire, an efficient killer, an enemy to her father’s crown, and her greatest competition. Yet, what terrifies Oraya most is that she is oddly drawn to him.
But there’s no room for compassion in the Kejari. War for the House of Night brews, shattering everything Oraya thought she knew about her home!
3. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
Teenager Feyre lives her everyday life in the woods, which is her home. She knows the forest like the back of her hand, and it’s where she feels safe. However, when Feyre kills a wolf while hunting one day, she is confronted by a creature who says she must face the consequences for her kill.
The creature takes her with him to the land of the faeries. His name is Tamlin, a faerie cruel to his new captive, wanting her to suffer for the life of the wolf she has taken. At some point during her captivity, Feyre starts to feel differently, not only towards Tamlin but also the world she has been forced into.
It’s a beautiful world but also dangerous because something lurks in the darkness. Feyre can’t say what is wrong, but she knows something is.
Related: ACOTAR Books Reading Order
4. Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber
For as long as she can remember, Evangeline Fox has believed in true love and happy endings… until she learns that the love of her life will marry another.
Desperate to stop the wedding and to heal her wounded heart, Evangeline strikes a deal with the charismatic but wicked Prince of Hearts. In exchange for his help, he asks for three kisses, to be given at the time and place of his choosing.
But after Evangeline’s first promised kiss, she learns that bargaining with an immortal is a dangerous game—and that the Prince of Hearts wants far more from her than she’d pledged!
Related: All Stephanie Garber Books in Order
5. Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer
With ailing family to support, Evie Sage’s employment status isn’t just important, it’s vital. So when a mishap with Rennedawn’s most infamous Villain results in a job offer—naturally, she says yes.
No job is perfect, of course, but even less so when you develop a teeny crush on your terrifying, temperamental, and undeniably hot boss.
But when she’s getting used to severed heads suspended from the ceiling and the odd squish of an errant eyeball beneath her heel, Evie suspects this dungeon has a huge rat…and not just the literal kind. Because something rotten is growing in the kingdom of Rennedawn, and someone wants to take the Villain—and his entire nefarious empire—out.
Now, Evie must resist drooling over her boss, figure out who is sabotaging his work… and ensure he makes them pay.
6. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
Violet Sorrengail wants to live a quiet life by entering the Scribe Quadrant, studying books, and learning about history. However, Violet’s mother, who happens to be the Commanding General, orders her to join the Riders Quadrant and bond with one of the dragons to become a Dragon Rider!
Left with no choice of her own, Violet needs to find a dragon to bond to, which isn’t easy as most dragons don’t want to bond with the cadets.
And it’s not just the dragons she has to worry about. Other cadets in the college aren’t trustworthy either, as they would sooner eliminate their competition than make friends. So, to live, Violet must find a way to bond with a dragon as soon as possible.
To make matters worse, Xaden Riorson has set her eyes on her. This is a problem because he is the wingleader in the Rider’s Quadrant, doesn’t care for her mother, and would do anything to hurt her.
Related: Fourth Wing Books in Order
7. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
Celaena Sardothien is living a difficult life. This formally renowned assassin has been living a year in a slave camp as punishment.
When given a chance for freedom, she jumps at the opportunity right away… though there is a catch. To gain this freedom, Celaena must survive a competition where she will go up against over two dozen people.
What seems like a straightforward competition turns into something else entirely when the people she is supposed to fight start dropping dead. Will she end up becoming the next victim?
Somehow, Celaena will have to find a way to survive while also trying to figure out what is happening. Not like she has a choice. It’s either that or die at the hands of some unknown killer.
Related: Throne of Glass Reading Order
8. Quicksilver by Callie Hart
Twenty-four-year-old Saeris Fane is good at keeping secrets. No one knows about her strange powers, or the fact that she has been picking pockets and stealing from the Undying Queen’s reservoirs for as long as she can remember.
But a secret is like a knot. Sooner or later, it is bound to come undone.
When Saeris comes face-to-face with Death himself, she inadvertently re-opens a gateway between realms, gets transported to a land of ice and snow, and finds herself in the middle of a centuries-long conflict that might just get her killed.
The first of her kind to tread the frozen mountains of Yvelia in over a thousand years, Saeris mistakenly binds herself to Kingfisher, a handsome Fae warrior with secrets and nefarious agendas of his own.
Death has a name. It is Kingfisher of the Ajun Gate. His past is murky. His attitude stinks. And he’s the only way Saeris is going to make it home.
9. A Promise of Fire by Amanda Bouchet
Cat Fisa isn’t who she pretends to be. She’s perfectly content disguised as a soothsayer in a traveling circus, avoiding the destiny the Gods—and her dangerous family—have saddled her with. As far as she’s concerned, the magic humming within her blood can live and die with her.
But then she locks eyes with an ambitious warlord from the magic-deprived south and her illusion of safety is shattered forever.
Griffin knows Cat is the Kingmaker—the woman able to divine truth through lies—and he wants her to be a powerful weapon for his newly conquered realm. Kidnapping her off the street is simple enough, but keeping her by his side is infuriatingly tough.
Cat fights him at every turn, showing a fiery spirit that burns hot, leaving him desperate for more. But can he ever hope to prove to his once-captive that he wants her there by his side as his equal, his companion—and maybe someday, his Queen?
10. A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St. Clair
Persephone is the Goddess of Spring by title only. The truth is, since she was a little girl, flowers have shriveled at her touch. After moving to New Athens, she hopes to lead an unassuming life disguised as a mortal journalist.
Hades, God of the Dead, has built a gambling empire in the mortal world and his favorite bets are rumored to be impossible.
After a chance encounter with Hades, Persephone finds herself in a contract with the God of the Dead and the terms are impossible: Persephone must create life in the Underworld or lose her freedom forever.
However, the bet does more than expose Persephone’s failure as a Goddess. As she struggles to sow the seeds of her freedom, love for the God of the Dead grows—and it’s forbidden.
11. The Book of Azrael by Amber V. Nicole
A thousand years ago, Dianna gave up her life in the deserts of Eoria to save her dying sister. She called upon anyone who would listen, not expecting a monster far worse than any nightmare to answer.
Now she does what Kaden asks, even if that means securing an ancient relic from the very creatures that hunt her.
In the old world his name was Samkiel. In the new world it is Liam, but one title remains true throughout time. He is the World Ender, a myth to his enemies, a savior and King to those loyal to him.
After the Gods War, he locked himself away, hiding from the world, denying his crown and responsibilities. Now an attack on those he holds dear sends him back to the one realm he never wished to visit again and into the sights of an enemy he thought imprisoned eons ago.
12. From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Chosen from birth to usher in a new era, Poppy’s life has never been her own. The life of the Maiden is solitary. Never to be touched. Never to be looked upon. Never to be spoken to. Never to experience pleasure.
Waiting for the day of her Ascension, she would rather fight back the evil that took her family than prepare to be found worthy by the gods. But the choice has never been hers, as the entire kingdom’s future rests on Poppy’s shoulders.
When Hawke, a golden-eyed guard honor bound to ensure her Ascension, enters her life, destiny and duty become tangled with desire and need. He incites her anger, makes her question everything she believes in, and tempts her with the forbidden.
Meanwhile, a fallen kingdom, forsaken by the gods and feared by mortals, is rising once more, determined to take back what it believes is its own through violence and vengeance!
13. The Games Gods Play by Abigail Owen
The gods have never favored me. Far from it, thanks to Zeus.
Living as a cursed office clerk for the Order of Thieves, I keep my head down and hope the capricious beings who rule from Olympus won’t notice me. It’s not easy, given that San Francisco is Zeus’ patron city, but I make do. I survive.
Until the night I tangle with a different god. The worst god. Hades!
For the first time, the ruthless, mercurial King of the Underworld has entered the Crucible—the deadly contest the gods hold to determine a new ruler to sit on the throne of Olympus. Instead of fighting their own battles, the gods name mortals to compete in their stead.
So why did Hades choose me as his champion? And why does my heart trip every time he says I’m his?
14. When the Moon Hatched by Sarah A. Parker
The Creators did not expect their beloved dragons to sail skyward upon their end. To curl into balls just beyond gravity’s grip, littering the sky with tombstones. With moons.
They certainly did not expect them to fall.
As a valued Elding Blade of the rebellion group Fíur du Ath, Raeve’s job is to kill. To complete orders and never get caught. When The Crown employs a renowned bounty hunter to capture a member of the Ath, Raeve’s world is turned upside down.
Crushed beneath a mourning weight, Kaan Vaegor took the head of a king and donned his melted crown. His hunt for a moonshard lures him into a notorious prison, where he stumbles upon something that rips his perception of reality apart—a shackled miracle with eyes full of rage and blood on her hands.
15. Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco
Emilia and her twin sister Vittoria are streghe – witches who live secretly among humans, avoiding notice and persecution.
One night, Vittoria misses dinner service at the family’s renowned Sicilian restaurant. Emilia soon finds the body of her beloved twin… desecrated beyond belief. Devastated, Emilia sets out to find her sister’s killer and to seek vengeance at any cost—even if it means using dark magic that’s been long forbidden.
Then Emilia meets Wrath, one of the Wicked—princes of Hell she has been warned against in tales since childhood. Wrath claims to be on Emilia’s side, tasked by his master with solving the series of women’s murders on the island. But when it comes to the Wicked, nothing is as it seems!
16. Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross
All eighteen-year-old Iris Winnow wants to do is hold her family together. With a brother on the frontline forced to fight on behalf of the Gods, who are missing from the frontline, and a mother drowning her sorrows, Iris’s best bet is winning the columnist promotion at the Oath Gazette.
But when Iris’s letters to her brother fall into the wrong hands – that of the handsome but cold Roman Kitt, her rival at the paper – an unlikely magical connection forms.
Expelled into the middle of a mystical war, magical typewriters in tow, can their bond withstand the fight for the fate of humankind and, most importantly, love?
17. The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
Jude was seven when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie.
Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans, especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.
She must defy him and face the consequences to win a place at the Court.
As Jude becomes more deeply embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, she discovers her capacity for trickery and bloodshed. But as betrayal threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude must risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.
18. Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater
Finding a husband in Regency England is difficult when you’re a young lady with only half a soul.
Ever since she was cursed by a faerie, Theodora Ettings has had no sense of fear or embarrassment, which makes her prone to accidental scandal.
She hopes to be a quiet, sensible wallflower during the London Season – but when the strange, handsome and utterly uncouth Lord Sorcier discovers her condition, she is instead drawn into dangerous and peculiar faerie affairs.
If Dora’s reputation can survive both her curse and her sudden connection with the least-liked man in all of high society, then she may yet reclaim her normal place in the world… but the longer Dora spends with Elias Wilder, the more she begins to suspect that one may indeed fall in love, even with only half a soul.
19. Trial of the Sun Queen by Nisha J. Tuli
Lor has endured twelve long years of torment under the Aurora King’s rule. Her only desire is to escape and pay him back for every moment of misery she’s endured.
When a surprise release finds her in the hands of the rival Sun King, Lor is thrust into the spotlight as she competes against nine other Tributes for the role of queen. If she wins his heart, she’ll earn her freedom and finally get her revenge.
But Lor doesn’t belong in the Sun Queen Trials. Not only does she not understand why she was freed, but she isn’t a citizen of the Sun King’s court. The other Tributes resent her presence and will stop at nothing to ensure Lor is permanently removed from the competition.
Now Lor must win, because if she loses, she dies. Or worse, she’ll be returned to the evil—and now vengeful—Aurora King.
20. Faebound by Saara El-Arifi
Yeeran is a warrior in the elven army and has known nothing but violence her whole life. Her sister, Lettle, is trying to make a living as a diviner, seeking prophecies of a better future.
When a fatal mistake leads to Yeeran’s exile from the Elven lands, they are forced into the terrifying wilderness beyond their borders. There they encounter the fae court.
The fae haven’t been seen for a millennium. But now Yeeran and Lettle are thrust into their seductive world – torn between their loyalty to each other, their elven homeland, and their hearts!
21. The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller
Alessandra is tired of being overlooked, but she has a plan to gain power. She’ll woo the Shadow King, marry him, and kill him to take his kingdom for herself.
No one knows the extent of the freshly crowned Shadow King’s power. Some say he can command the shadows around him to do his bidding. Others say they speak to him, whispering the thoughts of his enemies.
Regardless, Alessandra knows what she deserves, and she’ll do everything in her power to get it.
But Alessandra’s not the only one trying to kill the king. As attempts on his life are made, she finds herself trying to keep him alive long enough for him to make her his queen—all while struggling not to lose her heart. After all, who better for a Shadow King than a cunning, villainous queen?
22. Blood of Hercules by Jasmine Mas
I’m struggling to survive in a Titan infested world where Spartans, immortals from twelve royal families who have god-like powers and obscene wealth, rule over all. As a shy, stammering foster child with nothing, I keep my head down and focus on excelling in school.
But then my blood test reveals I’m part of the powerful elite—one of them—a Spartan!
Forced to attend the Spartan War Academy, I undergo the most harrowing test of all time to see if I have what it takes to be an immortal. There’s just a few problems. Achilles and Patro are my scary mentors. Kharon, the ferryman of death, and Augustus, the son of war, are my terrifying professors.
Also, I’m pretty sure either someone’s stalking me everywhere I go, or my sanity’s slipping––I have a bad feeling both are true.
23. The Veiled Kingdom by Holly Renee
Fleeing my father’s cruelty, the wicked king who robbed me of a future, I face death in the streets, caught between a rebellion and a tyrant’s reign.
Captured by those sworn to kill me, the rebels remain blind to my true identity—the missing daughter of the despised king. Faced with an impossible choice, I stand before them: join the rebels or face their blades.
Yet, Dacre, the son of the ruthless rebellion commander, becomes torn between suspicion and a desire that mirrors my own. He allows no one to touch me, tries to protect me, yet threatens me at every turn.
As secrets are weaved beyond our hidden realm, a fierce battle unfolds within me. As I get closer to the rebels, and their cause, my loyalty to my kingdom clashes with my undeniable devotion to Dacre and the burning connection between us.
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