Romantasy books are all the rage and whether you’re just looking to check out what this genre is all about or if you’ve been a long-time fan of fantasy romance books, this is the book list for you with the top 10 romantasy books of all time.
These are the books that perfectly blend the romance and fantasy genres in the very best of ways, propelling them to the bestseller lists and the Goodreads Choice Awards.
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1. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
- 4.65 Goodreads rating
- 691,000 ratings 115,000 reviews on Goodreads
- New York Times Bestseller
- Amazon Bestseller
Why This Romantasy is Best: Dragons, Enemies to Lovers, Mental Telepathy, Cliffhanger
Fourth Wing has dominated the 2023 bestseller lists for weeks on end and for good reason because who doesn’t love dangerous challenges, imposing dragons and a heroine who defies the odds?
Violet Sorrengail thought she was destined to be a Scribe which only fit her frail body and her love of books and history, only her mother enters her into the Riders Quadrant, where the best of the best compete for a spot as an elite dragon rider. NO ONE expects her to last past the first challenge – just crossing the parapet into the Riders Quadrant – let alone last past any challenges faced by first years but Violet defies them all, including Xaden, the most ruthless wingleader.
Fourth Wing is a must-read romantasy book if you love a strong heroine who is really a diamond in the rough with a quality and power all her own; a wounded hero who has the weight of the world on his shoulders but who completely falls for the girl; and a world filled with power struggles, hidden mysteries and secrets that could change everything one once knew before.
For more about Fourth Wing, check out:
2. From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout
- 4.25 Goodreads rating
- 485,000 rating, 48,000 reviews
- 2020 Goodreads Choice Awards Winner
- USA Today Bestseller
- Swoon Award for Fantasy Romance (2020)
Why This Romantasy is Best: Enemies to Lovers, Slow Burn, Werewolves, Naughty Book, Biting
From Blood and Ash is really tied with Fourth Wing as the best romantasy book of all time because it too is an epic fantasy romance that will just sweep you into another world with a strong hero and heroine that you’ll completely fall for.
Poppy’s life has never been her own. As the Maiden, the future of the kingdom rests on her shoulders, and she is to remain untouched, in solitary, until the day of her Ascension. But when Hawke takes up the post as her Royal Guard, she begins to question her duty and her desire that he has awoken. As tensions among the Desenters rise and attacks on the kingdom increase, Poppy is at risk of failing the gods, denying her destiny and possibly losing her life or her heart.
Armentrout is one of the best romantasy authors and her talent shines in From Blood and Ash and the entire From Blood and Ash series. This book is utterly captivating about a prince looking to reclaim his kingdom, a group of dissenters supporting his cause and a group of people holding secrets to who and what they really are with Poppy thrust in the middle trying to figure out fact from fiction.
But it was the exquisite slow burn romance between Poppy and Hawke is what kept me glued to the pages of this fantasy romance book.
For more about From Blood and Ash, check out:
3. Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross
- 4.26 Goodreads rating
- 132,000 ratings 26,000 reviews
- 2023 Barnes & Noble Best Book of the Year Nominee
- Amazon Bestseller
Why This Romantasy is Best: Magic Typewriters, Academic Rivals to Lovers, Truth Reporting, Battle of the Gods
When I was going through romantasy withdraw after reading Fourth Wing and waiting for Iron Flame’s release, I turned to Divine Rivals to cure me and boy did it ever! This fantasy romance book is more than worthy of its nomination as one of Barnes & Noble’s Best Books of 2023 as it too made my list of best romance novels of 2023.
After centuries of sleep, the gods are battling again. But eighteen-year-old Iris Winnow just wants to hold her family together. Her mother is suffering from addiction and her brother is missing from the front lines. Her best bet is to win the columnist promotion at the Oath Gazette.
To combat her worries, Iris writes letters to her brother and slips them beneath her wardrobe door, where they vanish—into the hands of Roman Kitt, her cold and handsome rival at the paper.
When he anonymously writes Iris back, the two of them forge a connection that will follow Iris all the way to the front lines of battle: for her brother, the fate of mankind, and love.
This is a wonderful young adult fantasy romance with such a unique story about enchanted typewriters, battling gods and two academic rivals turned lovers in the most epic of slow burn romances. I absolutely loved the setting and time period that Ross evoked in this romance as if I was living in the 1940s.
For more about Divine Rivals, check out:
4. A Promise of Fire by Amanda Bouchet
- 4.00 Goodreads rating
- 43,000 ratings 5,000 reviews
- 2016 Goodreads Choice Awards Nominee
- RUSA CODES Reading List Nominee for Romance (2017)
Why This Romantasy is Best: Greek Mythology, Band of Brothers, Soothsayers
Wow! I absolutely got sucked into this story and couldn’t stop reading because this is what romantasy books are all about. I find that I can be an impatient reader when it comes to fantasy series if the first book only sets the foundation, but I FINALLY found a fantasy romance book that is all about the romance as well as a fascinating story all in book one!
In A Promise of Fire, Cat Fisa has been living in disguise as a soothsayer in a traveling circus until Griffin, an ambitious lord from the magic-deprived south, recognizes her magic and kidnaps her. 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.
The back and forth between Cat and Griffin is off the charts in this must-read romantasy as she fights her feelings for him, but he was the most patient alpha male. I’m a sucker for anything Greek mythology and Bouchet weaves in these aspects in the best ways with some intense fighting scenes with interesting creatures that keep you on the edge of your seat.
For more about A Promise of Fire, check out:
5. The Bird and the Sword by Amy Harmon
- 4.19 Goodreads rating
- 40,000 ratings 5,000 reviews
- 2016 Goodreads Choice Awards Nominee
Why This Romantasy is Best: Shapeshifters, Muteness, Eagles, Castles
The Bird and the Sword will make you fall in love with romantasy books! Harmon is such a talented writer and she pens an unforgettable world and beautiful prose in this fantasy romance that is a perfect slow burn love story within a medieval world. I was enthralled and couldn’t stop reading.
The day Lark lost her mother, her mother told her to swallow her words, to push them down deep, and she hasn’t spoken a word since. But Lark soon finds herself a pawn, a hostage in the hands of Tiras, the young King of Degn, who is holding onto how own dark secrets in a world where the Gifted are hunted.
From the start you are pulled into a world of magic with dancing puppets and child innocence but you soon learn that this same world is not without its dangers. I felt like I was in this beautiful medieval world filled with castles and warriors and maidens, but where magic is feared and thus destroyed or hidden to prevent such fate. Harmon has such a way with words making this a romantasy not to miss.
For more about The Bird and the Sword, check out:
6. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
- 4.2 Goodreads rating
- 1.8M ratings 150,000 reviews
- 2015 Goodreads Choice Awards Nominee
- Lincoln Award Nominee (2017)
- New York Times Bestseller
- Amazon Bestseller
Why This Romantasy is Best: Tests of Strength, Masked Heroes, Tattoos, Shapeshifters, Enemies to Lovers
You can’t talk about romantasy books without the name Sarah J. Maas crossing your lips. Her two fantasy series, including the A Court of Thorns and Roses series, continue to captivate readers years after their release.
I describe A Court of Thorns and Roses as a cross between From Blood and Ash and The Hunger Games where nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre is dragged to a treacherous magical land for taking the life of a wolf. But there, Feyre discovers that her captor is not truly a beast, but one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled her world.
As she adapts to her new home, her feelings for the faerie, Tamlin, transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion, but something is not right in the faerie lands. An ancient, wicked shadow is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it, or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.
While it takes some time for this romantasy to heat up, the last chapters will have you on the edge of your seat. Read it for a heroine who comes from nothing and is overlooked, a hero who has magical powers with a sidekick that provides comic relief, an unexpected antihero to love, and a nasty villainess.
For more about A Court of Thorns and Roses, check out:
7. Radiance by Grace Draven
- 4.01 Goodreads rating
- 57,000 ratings 6,500 reviews
- All About Romance (AAR) Annual Reader Poll Nominee for Best Fantasy Romance (2016),
- Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award (RT Award) Nominee for Fantasy Romance (2015)
Why This Romantasy is Best: Opposites Attract, Marriage of Convenience, Slow Burn, Prince
If you’re looking for a slow burn romantasy book, then look no further than Radiance! I was so taken by these two characters right from the start with their endearing meet cute moment and I loved following them from that time on.
Brishen Khaskem, prince of the Kai, has been the heir to spare in his Kai kingdom, which is why his only worth is to wed a human to secure a political alliance between kingdoms. Ildiko is the niece to the Gauri king and has resigned herself to her fate of marrying the young Kai prince.
Both Brishen and Ildiko see the other just as ugly in appearance as they expected on their wedding day and yet through a new-found friendship, they come to find each other more beautiful than either could imagine.
I love that this book focuses on how two people from two very different kingdoms can look past their differences in appearance and come to befriend each other and even love one another.
For more about Radiance, check out:
8. A Shadow in the Ember by Jennifer L. Armentrout
- 4.48 Goodreads rating
- 118,000 ratings 12,000 reviews
Why This Romantasy is Best: Primals and Gods, Great World-Building, Enemies to Lovers
Just when I think there couldn’t possibly be more to the epic From Blood and Ash series, Armentrout goes and creates this amazing prequel Flesh and Fire series starting with A Shadow in the Ember that you don’t want to miss.
Born shrouded in the veil of the Primals, Seraphena Mierel’s future has never been hers. Chosen before birth to uphold the desperate deal her ancestor struck to save his people, Sera must leave behind her life and offer herself to the Primal as his Consort.
However, Sera’s real destiny is the most closely guarded secret in all of Lasania—she’s not the well-protected Maiden but an assassin with one mission—to end the Primal. If she fails, she dooms her kingdom to a slow demise at the hands of the Rot.
I’ve come to expect amazing writing, awesome storytelling and the greatest world-building from Armentrout and she again delivers in this romantasy book I couldn’t put down.
Just like in From Blood and Ash, you’re in for a wonderful slow burn romance with a LOT of details about the worlds these characters live in as well as bits and pieces about the creatures, gods, Primals and more that all play a role in the present as well as the history that led up to it. Get ready to sink into this romance and series that will have you hooked.
For more about A Shadow in the Ember, check out:
9. Pestilence by Laura Thalassa
- 3.89 Goodreads rating
- 78,000 ratings 9,600 reviews
- 2018 Goodreads Choice Awards Nominee
Why This Romantasy is Best: Apocolypse, Enemies to Lovers, Plague, Rebirth, Humanity
Pestilence makes the list of best romantasy books because Thalassa pens such a unique story about the end of days that I was glued to the pages to see what would happen to not only Sara and Pestilence but also the fate of humanity.
The world has gone topsy-turvy when the 4 horsemen arrive on earth. After their initial appearance when electricity became a luxury and modern living was no longer, the horsemen weren’t seen again until Pestilence shows up five years later. Now he’s riding around on his steed spreading a plague with the goal to end humankind.
Sara Burn’s plans to stop the horseman however no one told her he can’t be destroyed. 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.
The best part of this romantasy is their debate about humankind which they had over and over while healing each other and fending off those trying to end them and in turn end the plague. It’s an enemies to lovers fantasy romance that will really have you thinking about ready to continue the series.
10. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
- 4.19 Goodreads rating
- 1.2 million ratings 82,000 reviews
- 2012 Goodreads Choice Awards Nominee
- New York Times Bestseller
- Lincoln Award Nominee (2015)
- North Caroline Young Adult Award for High School (2015)
Why This Romantasy is Best: Challenges, Secret Mazes, Strong Heroines
Throne of Glass catapulted Sarah J. Maas into the romantasy stratosphere as this book and series continues to draw fans almost ten years after its release.
Readers cannot get enough of this young adult fantasy romance about 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien who is given her freedom from the salt mine prison of Endovier by the Crown Prince in exchange for acting as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.
If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she’ll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom. But between training sessions with the captain of the guard and interactions with the Prince, a mysterious danger is lurking in the shadows, taking the lives of other contestants. Celaena must investigate if she hopes to stay alive only to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.
This book is high on fantasy but a bit low on the romance in book one of the Throne of Glass series but you’ve got so many more books to sink into to enjoy the romance piece. Book one truly sets the stage for the young heroine who will defy all to claim her fate.
For more about Throne of Glass, check out:
Because of the popularity of romantasy books I have a feeling we will be seeing a lot more in the years to come so be sure to bookmark this list to see which new romantasy books make this list.
More Romantasy Book Lists:
- New Romantasy Books of 2024 All Fans Must Read
- Best Fantasy Romance Books
- Best Dark Fantasy Romance Books
- Best Young Adult Fantasy Romance Books
- Best Enemies to Lovers Fantasy Books
- 2023 Goodreads Choice Awards Nominees for Best Romantasy
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