Though romantasy has enjoyed a resurgence in recent years, readers have been devouring fantasy books with strong romance plot lines for decades. We tend to think of books in clean-cut genres. Fantasy should be one thing and romance another. And if the characters fall in love along the way? Well, that’s just a richer story.
Except that’s not exactly how genre is supposed to work. Fantasy books have certain elements, and romance books have other elements. What does it mean to merge the two? And why can’t readers get enough?
When you blend fantasy and romance together, one isn’t an afterthought or secondary idea to the heart of the story. They’re both essential, creating a deeper, layered, and more nuanced plot that brims with perfectly timed beats. It’s immersive and explosive, with just enough emotion to keep you hooked. Here are seven adult fantasy romance books you won’t be able to put down.
Firelight
Miranda Ellis was born with a strange gift and has spent her entire life trying to control it. But when she makes a devastating mistake, her family’s fortune is shattered and she’s forced to marry Lord Benjamin Archer. He knows he shouldn’t marry Miranda. It’s selfish. When he is accused of committing several gruesome murders, Miranda doesn’t believe he’s guilty. To prove his innocence, she’ll descend into a world of dark magic. To save his soul, she’ll have to find the man hidden behind the masks he wears.
The Awakening
A war is brewing. Vampire Fallon Nuit has allied with deadly demons in order to capture and possess Damali Richards. Damali is a vampire huntress, but that’s not why Fallon wants her. She’s also a powerful Neteru. And he’s not the only one who is searching for her. With her enemies closing in, she has no choice but to turn to an ex-lover turned vampire. But he has an agenda all his own, and if she wants to survive, Damali will have to do the one thing she doesn’t want to do—trust him.
Immortal Rider
When Arik Wagner steals a kiss from Limos, a Horseman and Satan’s future bride, he finds himself in Hell. Literally. Thanks to his military training, he manages to survive the torture the demon’s inflict on him. But Limos can’t help but interfere. As the two make it back to Earth’s surface, all Hell threatens to break loose. Satan wants his bride or he’ll make everyone pay. The only question is can Limos and Arik contain the passion threatening to erupt between them? Or will they bring on the apocalypse?
Bright Smoke, Cold Fire
Inside the walls of Viyara, the living are protected from the dead. Despite their families war, Mahyanai Romeo and Juliet Catresou are deeply in love. But when Romeo kills her cousin, Juliet is compelled by magic to punish him. When she tries to escape her fate, things go terribly wrong and Juliet is killed, leaving her guard Paris bound to Romeo. But before she can die completely, Mahyanai Runajo pulls Juliet back to life and binds the girl to her. Juliet doesn’t want to help Runajo, but she might be the city’s only hope. Because the city is hiding secrets. And outside the walls is only death.
Storm Born
When spirits and fey cross into the mortal world, there are shamans like Eugenie Markham there to banish them. When she’s hired to find a teenager in the Otherworld, she finds a prophecy instead, one involving her future first-born child. Turns out, they’ll threaten the future of the world. Now, she’s a target for every demon, fey, and creature. Some to impregnate her, others to kill her. And as dark forces surround her, Eugenie realizes that the greatest danger might not be them—it might be the power she feels waking up inside her.
The Knight and the Moth
Like other foundling girls, Sybil Delling traded her dreams for a decade of service to the Diviners. Now when she sleeps, she receives visions from the Omens, allowing her to predict terrible things before they occur. Nine years in, an unruly knight visits the cathedral. He has no respect for Sybil or her vision. But when her fellow Diviners start disappearing, she has no choice but to ask for his help. Inside the cathedral, life was simple. Outside is nothing but danger, including the knight helping her and the way his dark eyes look at her. To give in might make her a heretic… and that might be the only thing that can defeat a god.
Dire Bound
Dire Bound calls itself a cross between Fourth Wing and The Hunger Games, but fans of A Game of Thrones are sure to love this story for one simple reason: Dire Wolves take center stage in this brutal enemies-to-lovers battle royale. This romantasy debut from author Sable Sorensen was one of Amazon's Best Books of the Year 2025 and offers as much brutal violence as feral romance.
Just because it's for adults doesn't mean that it skimps on popular tropes like forced proximity and morally grey characters. After becoming a BookTok favorite in 2025, the series is set to publish a sequel, Fury Bound, in May.
