8 Books Like A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR)

Read all my book reviews here. Be sure to subscribe to my newsletter for more book recommendations!

A Court of Thorns and Roses changed my reading life forever, and I say that as someone who rated the second book 5,000 out of 5 stars on this blog. I stand by the math.

But every ACOTAR reader eventually hits the same wall: you finish the series, and no book sounds right because it isn’t the book you just finished. I’ve spent two years testing books like A Court of Thorns and Roses against that feeling (over 80 books in the romantasy and fantasy space in 2024 alone), and this list is what survived. Every pick is a book I finished, rated, and reviewed. No spoilers, ever.

The short answer: the best books like ACOTAR are From Blood and Ash (the forbidden-romance heir apparent), Quicksilver (the fae enemies-to-lovers the ACOTAR fandom adopted), and Fourth Wing (if you want the dragon war-college version). Five more picks below, sorted by what you loved most about Prythian.

Let’s dive in.

1. From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout

This book is about… Poppy is the Maiden, her whole life scheduled around a destiny nobody asked if she wanted, until a new guard named Hawke joins her protection detail and becomes the one person who actually sees her. The one person she absolutely cannot want. You know how this goes, and you want it to go there.

The ACOTAR overlap: my husband Kyle knew I was deep in my post-ACOTAR wandering phase and pointed out that this is the book half the fandom reads next. He was right. Forbidden romance, a heroine breaking out of a life other people built for her, and worldbuilding that hooks you through curiosity. The rituals and traditions kept me reading just to learn the rules.

Spice level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ 4/5. Runs hotter than ACOTAR book one.

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 stars. The banter between Poppy and Hawke is the sparkliest thing in the book. The pacing strolls and flirts and takes the scenic route, and I bought the sequel the second I finished anyway. Read my full review here!

2. Quicksilver by Callie Hart

This book is about… Saeris is a thief in a desert world where water is rationed and stolen, until she falls into the world of the fae and ends up crafting quicksilver weapons alongside an irritable fae warrior for a war she never signed up for.

The ACOTAR overlap: I picked this up because the entire ACOTAR fandom was hyping it, and the fandom was right. Fae, vampires, a great enemies-to-lovers arc, and my favorite kinship of all: like ACOTAR, it’s loosely built on an old legend (sword-in-the-stone flavor this time). I’m a sucker for a fantasy book that pulls from fairytales and myths.

Spice level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ 3/5. Kingfisher’s dialog alone earns a chili.

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 stars. One of my top reads of 2024: witty dialog, an energetic plot, and an electrifying rush of a book after a run of duds. It survives its own Kindle-edition typos, which is saying something. Read my full review here!

3. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

This book is about… Violet Sorrengard, bookish and physically fragile in a world that punishes both, is forced into a war college where cadets bond with dragons or die trying. The school actively wants her dead, and the most dangerous cadet there has a generational grudge against her family name.

The ACOTAR overlap: this is the other book the ACOTAR fandom stampeded toward, and the enemies-to-lovers mechanics are executed at the same level: you believe the hostility, the burn is slow enough that you’re begging for the turn, and the turn feels earned instead of scheduled. If this one hooks you, I published a whole list of books like Fourth Wing for the aftermath.

Spice level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ 3/5.

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 stars. I didn’t think dragons were my thing. I read it at a pace I can only describe as medically inadvisable and resented every obligation that interrupted me. Read my full review here!

4. House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas (Crescent City)

This book is about… Bryce Quinlan is a half-fae party girl in a modern magical city (think angels with smartphones) until a brutal crime tears her life apart. Two years later the case reopens, and she’s partnered with Hunt Athalar, an enslaved fallen angel with his own reasons to cooperate. It’s a murder mystery wearing a romantasy trench coat.

The ACOTAR overlap: it’s Maas, so the underlying machine is the same — a grief-driven heroine everyone underestimates, and a third act that pays off hundreds of pages of setup. SJM absolutely nails her third acts, and this might be the best one she’s written. The finale had me holding the book closer to my face at 3am as if that speeds it up.

Spice level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ 3/5.

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/5 stars. Full honesty: you will have to survive 200+ pages of dense exposition before the core story ignites, and those pages needed a firmer editor. The 800-page book is worth it anyway. I don’t say that lightly. My full review hits the blog later this month!

5. Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli

This book is about… Rune is a socialite by day and the Crimson Moth by night, smuggling witches out of a revolution that made her kind illegal. To protect her cover, she courts Gideon Sharpe, the revolution’s most decorated witch-hunter, who is courting her right back because he suspects exactly what she is. Both of them are lying. Both of them are good at it.

The ACOTAR overlap: the most combustible enemies-to-lovers setup on this list. Every dance and polite conversation is a knife fight in disguise, because each of them is hunting the other, and that constant structural tension is the same engine that made you ship two characters in Prythian who wanted each other dead.

Spice level: 🌶️ 1/5. YA-leaning, so this is the one to hand to the romantasy-curious teenager in your life, or to read yourself when you want the tension without the heat.

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/5 stars. The premise machinery is genuinely great and the pages turn fast, though the emotional depth doesn’t fully cash the check the setup writes. Read my full review here!

6. A Court This Cruel and Lovely by Stacia Stark

This book is about… Humans are born with power the gods promptly confiscate, and the rare few who keep theirs are branded corrupt and burned. Our heroine has hidden forbidden magic her whole life. When her secret surfaces, she cuts a deal with a ruthless mercenary who once left her for dead. Bargains with dangerous men: famously reliable.

The ACOTAR overlap: it’s right there in the title, and the DNA matches. A deadly bargain, a dangerous male lead, and forbidden power as the engine. This is comfort-food ACOTAR energy, and I mean that as praise.

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/5 stars. I read about eighty books a year, so reading slumps are an occupational hazard, and this book broke one: I read it in a single day and immediately started book two. Is it deep? No. Did that stop me? Not even slightly. My full review is coming to the blog soon!

7. The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent

This book is about… Oraya is a human raised by the vampire king, adopted prey in a world of predators. Her one path to power is the Kejari, a legendary tournament where the prize is a wish and the entry fee is usually your life. Her most useful ally is a vampire competitor she cannot trust.

The ACOTAR overlap: this is for readers who wanted Prythian with the lights turned further down. A mortal surviving among beautiful monsters, courts with distinct politics, and a romance built on an alliance with an expiration date.

Spice level: 🌶️🌶️ 2/5.

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/5 stars. Polished, deliberate worldbuilding and an ending that genuinely surprised me into starting the sequel immediately. I just wanted more wit: it plays everything a little somber compared to the Maas books that sent you here. Read my full review here!

8. 🔥 The Ash Trials by Amy Suto (Yes, Me)

In the grand tradition of this blog’s transparent self-promotion: yes, I wrote this one, and I wrote it because ACOTAR turned me into the kind of reader who needed more deadly-stakes romantasy than the genre could hand me fast enough.

This book is about… Saffron Vale wakes in a ruined wedding dress, locked in a prison for the kingdom’s deadliest criminals, with no memory of who she is. To survive the brutal Ash Trials, she must outlast shifters, spellcasters, and something even more dangerous: the truth about herself. Her only allies? A traitorous commander from her past and an assassin who swears she’s the real monster here.

What I hope you’ll love about it: deadly trials, a slow-burn romance, and a heroine with everything to prove. It’s on Kindle Unlimited, and if tonight’s the night you stay up too late with a book, I’d love it to be mine.

Which Book Should You Read First?

If the Feyre-and-you-know-who dynamic was the whole draw, start with From Blood and Ash, the closest thing to that forbidden-romance high. If you loved Prythian’s fae courts and bargains, go Quicksilver. And if you want the pick I recommend to everyone regardless of what they loved: Fourth Wing, which converted a dragon skeptic in one sitting.

FAQ: Life After ACOTAR

Which Sarah J. Maas Series Should I Read After ACOTAR?

It depends on your appetite. Crescent City (starting with House of Earth and Blood) gives you Maas in a modern magical city with her best third act, if you can survive 200+ pages of setup (I rated it 3 out of 5 stars). Throne of Glass is her seven-book assassin epic, also 3 out of 5 for me: uneven, and I still binged roughly 4,500 pages of it in one month. For my money, ACOTAR is the strongest Maas series, so everything else is dessert.

What Order Should I Read the ACOTAR Books In?

Publication order: A Court of Thorns and Roses, then A Court of Mist and Fury (my favorite of the series), A Court of Wings and Ruin, and the novella A Court of Frost and Starlight, followed by A Court of Silver Flames. I rated books one and three 4 out of 5, and book two broke my rating scale entirely.

Are There Books Like ACOTAR on Kindle Unlimited?

Yes! From Blood and Ash, Quicksilver, and my own The Ash Trials are all on Kindle Unlimited, and my ranked list of the best romantasy books on Kindle Unlimited covers the wider field.

Is ACOTAR Spicy?

Book one is a mild 🌶️🌶️ 2 out of 5 on my scale. The series escalates from there — I’ll leave it at that, because spoilers are banned on this blog.

More Romantasy for Your TBR

Browse my ranked list of the best romantasy books on Kindle Unlimited, my new list of books like Fourth Wing, or the full book reviews shelf. I’ll keep this list updated as I read deeper into the genre — I’m scraping every Reddit recommendation thread and BookTok account so you don’t have to.

Subscribe to my newsletter and you’ll know the moment a new favorite makes the cut. Here’s to finding the book that finally fills the Velaris-shaped hole in your heart.