I am late to this genre. I’m not against fantasy, but it’s never been my first love. I do love romance books though, so when you put them together, you have my attention. And lately, I’ve been seeing where everyone is going gaga over it. Goodreads even added a Best Romantasy category for the first time in 2023. That was what tipped me off that it was time to check in to what is happening here. I absolutely fell in love with some of these. If you are looking at places to get your Fantastically Romantic toes wet, you can’t go wrong with any of these.

This has been a buzzy book here lately. Everyone was talking about it. Not gonna lie, I dismissed it as a SciFi read, based on the title. But this is a prime example of not judging a book by its cover. Turns out this is a fantasy story about a girl who goes to school to learn how to ride dragons. I know, right? I was way off. Also, this is a great story. It’s kinda like Harry Potter meets Eragon meets Divergent meets The Hunger Games. Also, it had some great twists that I didn’t see coming and no, I’m not gonna share them here as spoilers. If you want in on the fun, you’ll just have to check this bad boy out and enjoy it yourself. This read is definitely worth the 500 pages. I think it’s my favorite read so far this year. Also, this is going to be a trilogy and part two, Iron Flame, is already out. The third installment is scheduled to be released in January ‘25, so you’ve got a little time to get caught up. Yeah! More Romantasy fun!

After the success with Fourth Wing, I though it would be good to branch out further into Romantasy land. Out of curiosity to see what everyone was talking about, I checked out the first book in this series. Feyre gets pulled into the Fae realms and has to save the day. Ok great. it didn't rock my world, but I liked it enough to give the second one a try. And I’m so glad that I did. A Court of Mist and Fury was amazing. I’m not going to spoil it for you because I want you to be able to experience it like I did. Just let me say that I loved the new characters and very much enjoyed the twists - some I saw coming and some I did not. With this second book, I’m am in it to win it with this whole Romantasy thing. As of this writing, the series includes three other books: A Court of Wings and Ruin, A Court of Frost and Starlight, and A Court of Silver Flames. These are good and I hope there are more to come because I'm hooked.

Jude is a human raised in the High Court of Faerie. Even though she was raised by the High King’s general, she feels powerless because she is not immortal. Her super powers are that she can fight (like the fae) and she can lie (which they can’t). Her goal is to have enough power to keep her and her twin safe. This is a series but so far I have only read the first one and it was pretty light on the romance part of romantasy. Maybe the next book will move further with that aspect. If you like Game of Thrones, this would definitely be a story to pursue. I chose to listen to the audio version, but NPL also has print if you’d rather.

When I first saw this one, I expected it to be set in a shiny, modern-day office building. He runs a billion-dollar company and she helps him take over the world. But friends, this is set in a fairy-tale forest. The Villain is looking for a new assistant and Evie Sage needs to support her family because her dad is ill. Walking past the severed heads in the entrance took a little gumption, but Evie eventually learned to enjoy her job. Turns out she’s pretty good at helping to run an evil operation that is trying to thwart the king. This was one of the more interesting books I’ve read in a while. It definitely circumvented my expectations. It’s not High Fantasy, but that’s kinda what I liked about it. Be warned, there is a pretty good cliffhanger lurking here, but luckily, the second installation in the series (Apprentice to the Villain) should be released this fall. Hopefully, you won’t have to wait too long to see what happens next. If you are looking for Romantasy without the Game of Thrones drama of a fae court, this one is for you.

So those are my best recs for now. I’ve still got quite a bit of reading left to do to get caught up with everyone else. I’ll let you know if I find anything else that is a must read. Until then,

Happy Romantasy-ing…
:) Amanda