Romance – Page 2 – Marked for Plot

The God Eaters – Soul Crushingly Good

Sometimes, a book hits you like a ton of bricks. They help you redefine your taste, shift the types of stories you pick moving forward, and relentlessly find their way into your recommendations to other readers. Over time, I’ve noticed that my version of these books tend to have rigorous character development, a strong narrative voice, and something to say that goes beyond ‘kill the villain’. The God Eaters is one of those books. Like most of the stories that rip my heart out of my chest, I don’t think it will be for everyone: This novel has too much romance for the typical Fantasy fan, and it trades the tropey goodness Romance enthusiasts crave for a more serious examination of trauma, colonialism, and survival, and most Western fans don’t want to read about two dudes kissing. For me, those elements add up to lightning in a bottle.

Will it be my book of the year? I hope not, only because I would love to read other books that hypnotize me like this one does. It’s definitely a frontrunner though

The Premise:
In a religious theocracy, a pair of remarkable men end up as cellmates in a prison for the magically talented. Kieran is a bandit fighting back against the country who killed his people, forced him into sexual slavery, and addicted him to opium. Ash and his Aunt published rebellious propaganda. The bandit can kill those he hates with a thought, and the writer has a minor empathic gift he uses to avoid trouble. Their journey involves ancient gods, prison breaks, treks across vast deserts, and a lot of agonizingly slow negotiation of their feelings towards each other. They mostly just want to live their lives free from the shadow of religious tyranny. However, the White Watch is relentless and the god who rules them even more so.

Read If You Like: Fantasy Westerns, introspection, anti-colonialist Fantasy from decades ago, awe-inspiring storms, thematically rigorous Romance

Avoid If You Dislike: yearning and pining, underexplained magic, tonal shifts in the third act, ‘he could never like me’

Comparable Media: Heart of Stone, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, The Fall of Kings

Nine-Tenths – Exploring the Complexity of Draconic Love

This book was a pressure cooker, and I’m so happy I read it. I’m slowly realizing that the romances that I love are the ones that take things seriously, instead of going on autopilot. Whimsical and campy romance is great, but I don’t typically have very much interesting to say about them, whereas this might be my longest review of 2026. There was so much that delighted me here, that pushed me to rethink what romance books could accomplish. It also fell into some really basic pitfalls that annoy me, and the ending was sloppy. I think its absolutely worth a look for anyone interested in a serious take on interspecies romance, but if solving systemic issues with a single conversation annoys you, be on guard.

The Premise:
Colin is a barista who is listlessly wandering through life and depression. One of the only perks is the hot and slightly creepy guy who has watched him while drinking coffee for the last two years – Colin has reciprocated those looks. When it turns out that Dav is actually a dragon, the coffee roaster gets melted with dragonife, and Dav volunteers to help out after paying for a new roaster to be shipped in, their romance kicks into high gear. However, relationships to dragons mean something very different than to humans, and that means the duo has a lot to work through.

Read If Looking For: protagonists to have tough conversations and return to them, a peek into draconic psychology, defeating the brain weasels, badass Lesbian aunts

Avoid If you Dislike: miscommunication, unscientific evolutionary biology, easy endings, coffeeshop romances, stuffy British formalities

Comparable Media: Dawn, Looking for Group, Heart of Stone

This Kingdom will Not Kill Me – Romantasy done Right

Earlier this year I read The Inheritance by Ilona Andrews and quickly swore to read more of her work. Her other new release is This Kingdom WIll Not Kill Me, which has been getting more mainstream buzz, likely because it is Andrews first book put out by one of the major publishers (I think it’s their first … this duo has written a lot of books). I had some reservations about this book at first, but I really like how Andrews straddles classic fantasy storytelling conventions with a heavier romance focus. This novel felt a lot like Romantasy written for fantasy fans, whereas much of the Romantasy market seems targeted at Romance fans. As someone who loves both styles of writing (and also Romance and Fantasy when isolated from each other), this felt fresh compared to a lot of what’s coming out right now.

The Premise
In classic Isekai fashion, Maggie wakes up to find herself stranded in the world of her favorite novels. Rellas is a cutthroat world about to be put into the hands of a brutal tyrant.Without knowing how long she’s going to be stuck here, she’d like to avoid that fate from coming to pass. She leverages her encyclopedic knowledge of this world and its major characters to pass herself as an information broker, getting herself involved with assassins, swordmasters, and aristocrats. Oh, it also turns out she can’t die, though that doesn’t prevent her from experience pain when people stab her.

Read If Looking For: a balance of romance and political intrigue, quick pacing, competent protagonists, indulgent use of tropes

Avoid If Looking For: instalove, protagonists who gain massive power, books that primarily live in ‘show’ instead of ‘tell’

Comparable Media: Inkheart, Rook and Rose

Winter Romance Roundup

I’m almost positive that my yearly romance kick has faded away for the time being. I’ve been settling back into some meatier fantasy/science fiction as I try and clear my shelves to prepare for r/fantasy’s yearly bingo to pick up again and I pivot to reading a lot of gay stuff again (probably including romances). It was a tough winter in Minnesota this year, which explained why I binged so many romances. They’re listed below in approximately the order I enjoyed them.

Shirewode

December this year has, apparently, been the month of mildly disappointing sequels. If you’d like to see my review of book 1 in this take on gay Robin Hood, see Greenwode. It lost a lot of the things that made it interesting, rehashed old ground, and didn’t succeed in raising the stakes of book 1 in a satisfying way. Just frustrating all-around. I think it’s a good recommendation for people who want fantasy gay yearning, but I needed the series to move past that.

You would think from this cover art that archery and action were going to be at least a little more prominent in this book? Too bad! Think again!

If you loved and wanted more of the ‘enemies by fate and religion’ vibes in book 1, you may like this one a lot more than I did. It remains the focal point of the series.

The Premise:
Book 1 ended pretty tragically. Gamelyn thinks his first love is dead. Rob thinks his first love betrayed him and is responsible for the death’s of his parents and sister. The Abbess and Sherriff are just generally horrible people. Book 2 picks up several years later as Gamelyn returns from his time in the Crusades as a Templar. Meanwhile Rob is finally the bandit we all knew he’d become. Gamelyn is assigned to hunt down the false pretender to the pagan god’s power by the Templars, not realizing the love of his life is actually alive and the very man he’s hunting. Meanwhile, Rob’s sister Marion is also alive, has amnesia, and is the kept pet of the evil Abbess.

A Holiday Season Romance Binge

November, December, and January are typically months when I dive back into romances. I like things sweet and quick-moving as work at school intensifies. For a lot of genre romances though, I don’t think there’s a ton to say in long form review formats. At least, not for the type of reviews I like doing. So here’s a bundle of mini reviews for anyone looking for dudes making out this winter. And yes, I am on the bandwagon of reading a bunch of Rachel Reid books now that the Heated Rivalry TV show is out. You will find no shame from me here.

That said, even though a few of these are 5/5, none come close to being as good as my favorite romance of the year, Looking for Group by Alexis Hall.

Looking for Group

November through January has historically been a heavy romance season for me, and Looking for Group definitely jumpstarted that process. It was a bit of an impulse buy. Alexis Hall has been hit or miss for me, but the nerdy vibes of a video-game focused romance caught my eye. Also, the cover art is gorgeous (though inaccurate to the point of infuriating me. The whole schtick is that the love interest hates high elves and only plays dark elves … so why is a high elf on the cover? Also the humans are above the wrong characters). ANYWAYS. This book won me over by successfully executing romance plotlines with realistic characters and pacing, which I really enjoyed. If anyone else has good recs for other down-to-earth romances, I’m all ears!

The Premise:
Drew is a pretty big nerd. He’s one of the strongest tanks in the MMORPG Heroes of Legend, but when his competitive guild gives a valuable loot drop to someone who will barely use it instead of him, he ragequits. To try and find the joy in the game again, he joins a casual (but skilled) guild, where he meets Solaris. He quickly starts to fall for her, until she turns out to be a he, and Drew has a bit of a crisis. Add onto that his inability to manage pressure from his friends and issues expressing himself without being a big of a jerk, and Drew is on track to potentially ruin something beautiful before its even begun.

Read if Looking For: nerdy characters, realistic conflict resolutions and relationship development, bisexual awakening storylines

Avoid if you Dislike: video game chat dialogue, extensive descriptions of MMORPG gameplay, meet-cute, physically tame romances

But Not Too Bold

Novellas have become one of my go-to library checkouts. With my limited budget, dropping $15 on a book that will take me a single evening to consume is a tough choice to make. However, I love the length and format, and I find that authors tend to be much more focused on what makes their work special in novellas. But Not Too Bold is an excellent example of that trend, and it put Cabaret in Flames (Hache Pueyo’s upcoming release) on my radar.

The Premise:
Dália’s promotion to Keeper of the Keys is only a small surprise. Nobody expected her mentor to be eaten, but when you work in a house owned and inhabited by Anatema, a fabulously rich pseudo-eldritch spider creature, you know that getting eaten is one of the hazards of the job. Thankfully, Dália is not a Bride, and thus her risk of being eaten is much lower than those who seek to marry into the wealth of the household. Unfortunately, Dália is quite beautiful, and Anatema cannot resist a beautiful woman. Dália must step carefully, but she finds herself at home with the strange encounters her new position throws at her.

Read if you Like: translated books, fast-paced horror, creepy spider monsters, tidy endings, descriptions of opulent mansions

Avoid if You Dislike: human/monster love stories, depictions of spiders, characters without self-preservation instincts, fairy tale ‘retellings’ far from the source material

Two who Live On (Branches of Past and Future #2)

Sequel review here! If you want to learn more about a fun, but perhaps not terribly deep, urban fantasy about a teacher of magic at a high school, see my review of Three Meant to Be. I was a little unsure of where I sat with Book 1. I enjoyed it certainly, but found it wasn’t quite giving me the depth or grittiness I was looking for in an adult magic school story, nor the sense of mystery from magic schools of my childhood, nor even the epic fight scenes of progression fantasy schools. About 50 pages into this book though, I shifted my brain fully into popcorn romance urban fantasy mode, and it really clicked. This series isn’t cracking my all time favorites, but I’m having a really wonderful time.

The Premise:
This book picks up right where book 1 left off. At the start of second semester, without the threat of one student being brutally murdered, Dorian is able to focus a bit more on himself and his relationship with his celebrity boyfriend (and childhood ex) Milo. He also needs to keep his students on track for a talent showcase, which might open doors for many of their future prospects. Of course, what would a semester of Dorian’s life be without the threat of constant demon attacks?

Read if Looking for: Magic School Teacher protagonist, escapist fantasy, bad puns, romance/fantasy elements balanced well

Avoid if Looking for: deep themes, unpredictable twists, realistic portrayals of teaching

Greenwode

Robin Hood is not a story that I’m particularly fond of. I don’t dislike it, but the story doesn’t have a place in my heart – even as childhood nostalgia. Being a take on Robin Hood, I wasn’t sure if Greenwode was going to be a good fit for me, but thankfully it avoided being a campy retelling. Instead, this was a delightful story of romance, internalized homophobia, and the politics of rural England. It’s rare for me to want to pick up a sequel quickly, but I definitely want to tackle the next installment this year.

The Premise: Rob and his sister Marion are destined to take the mantle of Hunter and Maiden in the Old Religion, holding great power and sway over the traditional practices in a country rapidly being consumed by Christianity. Gamelyn is the son of the local lord and is fairly sure he wants to join a local monastery. After a chance meeting brings Rob and Gamelyn into contact and an easy friendship, both of their faiths will be tested by their growing attraction and duties. Their romance sits underneath the growing tension between the old and new religions, and it seems like war is close to breaking out.

Read if Looking For: star crossed lovers, characters grappling with religion, beautiful forest scenes, romantic yearning, ancient gods

Avoid if Looking For: lots of dramatic archery sequences, books with few sex scenes, positive depictions of Christianity