Best Romantic Fantasy Books

Liveship Traders Trilogy (Liveship Traders)

by Hobb, Robin

A nautical fantasy featuring pirates, dragons, and magic? What's not to love? To top it off, Liveship Traders is filled with fantastic women. Ronica, the widow of the liveship's former captain is independent, resourc...

Kushiel's Dart (Kushiel's Universe) Start here

by Carey, Jacqueline

The first novel in a six-part series, this is an epic tale that features a female protagonist who is both spy and courtesan. She has been chosen to experience pain and pleasure as one.

A lot of novels on this list are either children's stories or young adult. While they make for great stories, there are some great coming of age stories that feature very mature content. Primarily, Phedre's Trilogy is a...

The Curse Of Chalion

by Bujold, Lois Mcmaster

Lois McMaster Bujold is famous for her very atypical characters. She demonstrated this with her Miles Vorkosigan character, and she does the same thing with the Curse of Chalion. The main character, Cazaril, is an comple...

Daughter Of The Forest (Sevenwaters) Start here

by Marillier, Juliet

This series follows several generations of a family who have a special relationship with the Otherworld and takes place mostly in ancient Ireland.

This intricate retelling of the Celtic Swans fairy tale takes an enchanting story and embellishes it with depth, believable backstory, ancient magic, and great characters.  It is painfully dark, at times horrifying, b...

Mirror Of Her Dreams (Mordant's Need) Start here

by Donaldson, Stephen R.

This two-part series with a man crashing through a woman's mirror in order to find a champion, a champion to save his kingdom from evil.

Most of you will probably never have heard of this series (it's taken a back seat to Donaldson’s more controversial work, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant), which is a pity. This is one of the best romance fantasies I’v...

Graceling (Graceling Realm) Start here

by Cashore, Kristin

Katsa is a pragmatic graceling born with the ability to kill with her bare hands from the time she was eight years old. Graced as all gracelings are with unique superpowers and marked with two different eye colors, sh...

Sailing To Sarantium (The Sarantine Mosaic) Start here

by Kay, Guy Gavriel

Kay writes a lot of fantasy that appeals to those who enjoy a good, well thought out romance novel. While romance is not the only point of Kayâs stories (Kay is too intelligent of a writer for that sort of book), it alwa...

The Black Jewels Series (The Black Jewels)

by Bishop, Anne

A landmark step in feminist fiction, this dark fantasy series is unlike anything you've ever read. Bishop takes the physical and typical differences between men and women, highlights rather than diminishes them, and c...

Archangel (Samaria) Start here

by Shinn, Sharon

This series does something a bit different from your usual fantasy romance. The setting of the book is a different world, a world with different legends and religions. There is a religious aspect to the book, but it’s ne...

The Kingkiller Chronicles (The Kingkiller Chronicle)

by Rothfuss, Patrick

A world that is vast, fantastical, and strongly rooted in logical world-building—it is a trilogy and biography of a famous musician and adventurer.

If you haven't heard of The Kingkiller Chronicles by now, you'll want to pick it up as soon as possible. Rothfuss' award-winning series took the genre by storm in 2007 with its expertly crafted take on a traditional...

Tamir Triad (The Tamir Triad)

by Flewelling, Lynn

This is a series that's fallen a bit by the wayside in that many don't know about it. But it's a rare treat for those who want a well drawn dark fantasy tale with elements of horror. This is a tale that's moody and suspe...

Rhapsody

by Haydon, Elizabeth

This one’s a pure romance. If you want an emotional fantasy series with some pretty strong characterization and a well-realized world, Rhapsody is the book you're looking for. There are a LOT of the standard conventions...

The Sword Of Truth

by Goodkind, Terry

Most would argue that this series gets worse with every addition. But Wizard's First Rule is good enough to get the series included on the list. It's probably more of a Spice Girls type of 90s nostalgia than an OK Comput...

Secret Texts (The Secret Texts)

by Lisle, Holly

For a romantic fantasy with a mix of politics, magic, romance, and betrayal, Lisle’s Secret Texts trilogy is a must read. Lisle is not as well known as some of the other fantasy authors out there, despite the fact that s...

Outlander (Outlander) Start here

by Gabaldon, Diana

Claire is on her second honeymoon in 1945 when she walks through an ancient stone circle and right into 1743. This series is part portal fantasy, part historical novel, and part romance.

In the Outlander series, Diana Gabaldon reinvents the use of time-travel in fantasy and historical fiction, crafting a thrilling drama set in the 18th and 20th centuries. The series follows Claire Randall, an ex-comb...

The Last Dragonlord

by Bertin, Joanne

These are 100% fantasy romance and make no apologies about it. Sometimes you want subtle romance with a great plot and a cast of interesting characters. And sometimes, you want a bodice ripping, over-the-top,  non-apolog...

The Dragon Prince

by Rawn, Melanie

This series is not for everyone, but there are enough romantic elements in this epic fantasy series to make those looking for a good romance fantasy cry with joy. Rawn does a pretty good job with her world-building, crea...

Sword-dancer (Tiger And Del) Start here

by Robertson, Jennifer

If you are looking for some classic sword and sorcery that combines action and romance in equal spades, The Sword Dancer series delivers on this. The characters evolve dramatically over the series, there’s a lot of roman...