25 Books to Cure Your ACOTAR Hangover

ACOTAR got me reading again.

Like, actually reading—not buying books with good intentions, downloading something on Kindle and forgetting about it three days later, but reading.

And once I burned through A Court of Thorns and Roses, I immediately ran into the deeply annoying problem of wanting another book that felt exactly like it.

Which is obviously impossible.

But there are a LOT of romantasy books that hit some of the same things: ridiculous fantasy worlds, dangerous men, court politics, enemies-to-lovers tension, magic, drama and varying levels of spice.

Some of these are very ACOTAR-adjacent. Some are weirder. Some are better written. And a few will absolutely drag you into another massive series when you were only trying to find one book to read.

So, if you’ve finished ACOTAR and now have a giant faerie-shaped hole in your reading life, these are the books I’d start with:

Books Like A Court of Thorns and Roses

I am admittedly not a vampire girly.

So nobody was more surprised than me when I finished The Serpent and the Wings of Night and immediately wanted more.

The easiest comparison is probably The Hunger Games meets the trials Under the Mountain in ACOTAR. Oraya has to survive a series of increasingly deadly challenges, and teaming up with Raihn—a powerful vampire from an enemy house—might be her best chance of making it out alive.

Obviously, there is chemistry.

What I really liked about this one, though, was the writing. I actually think I prefer Carissa Broadbent’s writing to ACOTAR. It feels a little older and more mature, and the fantasy world has enough going on that the romance isn’t responsible for carrying the entire book.

It does take a minute to get going. There’s a decent amount of worldbuilding up front, and I completely understand why some people find the beginning slow.

Stick with it.

This is one of those books where I was VERY glad I did.

Read this if you like: deadly competitions, vampires, enemies-to-lovers tension and fantasy romance with an actual plot.

If ACOTAR was your gateway drug into romantasy, Fourth Wing feels like the extremely obvious next bad decision.

Instead of fae courts, we get a brutal military academy where prospective dragon riders are basically allowed to kill each other, dragons have absolutely no obligation to choose you and Violet is physically at a disadvantage from the moment she arrives.

And then we have Xaden.

He’s powerful, morally gray, initially very much not on Violet’s side and exactly the kind of fictional man I suspect a lot of Rhysand fans are looking for when they ask for books like ACOTAR.

The romance is a big part of the appeal, but there’s enough happening outside of it to keep the story moving: dragons, political secrets, friendships, betrayals and an increasingly suspicious version of what Violet has been taught about her world.

It’s also considerably easier to fall into than some massive fantasy series. The worldbuilding is there, but you don’t need to memorize 14 kingdoms and a 600-year history before anything interesting happens.

Read this if you like: dragons, deadly training academies, morally gray men and enemies-to-lovers with actual spice.

Full disclosure: I tried reading From Blood and Ash once and could NOT get into it.

I eventually picked it back up because I suspected that had more to do with what was going on in my life at the time than the book itself. And I’m glad I gave it another shot.

This world is a lot. There are vampire-ish creatures, gods, creepy zombie-like things, religious rules and an entire society built around Poppy’s mysterious role as the Maiden.

It is definitely heavier on the fantasy worldbuilding than ACOTAR.

But if one of the things you’re actually trying to replace is Rhysand, Hawke might be your guy.

He’s charming, suspicious, morally questionable and has exactly the kind of I know something you don’t know energy that should immediately tell Poppy to stay away from him.

She does not.

And unlike some of the slower-burn books on this list, this series is not particularly shy about the spice once it gets there.

Read this if you like: morally gray men, forbidden romance, complicated fantasy worlds and considerably more spice.

If the fae courts, scheming and political bullshit were some of your favorite parts of ACOTAR, The Cruel Prince is absolutely worth picking up.

Just don’t go into it expecting ACOTAR-level romance or spice.

This is YA, and Jude is much more interested in gaining power than finding a boyfriend. Which, frankly, I respect.

Her relationship with Cardan is also genuinely antagonistic. This isn’t one of those enemies-to-lovers books where they’re supposedly mortal enemies but start flirting on page 12.

They really do not like each other.

The result is a lot of manipulation, betrayal, shifting alliances and two extremely stubborn people continually trying to get the upper hand.

It’s darker and more political than romantic, but if what you miss about ACOTAR is Prythian itself—the fae, courts, dangerous bargains and beautiful people behaving terribly—this scratches that itch particularly well.

Read this if you like: fae courts, actual enemies-to-lovers, political scheming and ambitious women who are tired of being underestimated.

If what you really want after ACOTAR is more Sarah J. Maas, Throne of Glass is the obvious place to go.

But I would not go into this expecting ACOTAR 2.0.

The series starts noticeably younger and much more YA, with Celaena competing to become the king’s champion. But the world gets MUCH bigger as the series goes on, and what starts as a relatively straightforward competition turns into this giant fantasy story involving magic, war, kingdoms and a ridiculous number of characters you’re eventually emotionally invested in.

The romance also isn’t the main event in the beginning.

There are romantic relationships throughout the series, and things get more mature (and eventually spicier), but this is much more of a commit to the plot situation than a when do these two finally have sex? situation.

It’s also a commitment. There are eight books in the main series, and some of them are absolute bricks.

But if you’re specifically looking for another giant fantasy world to disappear into after finishing ACOTAR, that might be exactly what you want. The original post already flagged that the series becomes more mature as it progresses and that the later books contain the explicit scenes, rather than ACOTAR-level spice throughout.

Read this if you like: badass female characters, huge fantasy worlds, found family and series that completely take over your life.

If Throne of Glass is the obvious recommendation for people who want another giant fantasy epic from Sarah J. Maas, Crescent City is the one I’d point to if you want something more adult.

And I do mean giant.

There is a LOT happening in this world. Magic exists alongside cell phones and nightclubs, there are approximately five million different kinds of magical creatures, and the beginning throws an absurd amount of information at you.

You kind of just have to accept that you don’t understand everything yet and keep going.

At its core, though, the first book is a murder mystery. Bryce is trying to figure out what happened to her best friend, Hunt gets stuck helping her, and naturally the two of them start getting considerably more interested in each other along the way. That’s the setup the original post focused on too.

The series also has more of the things ACOTAR readers are probably here for: powerful magical people, complicated relationships, morally gray characters and more adult romance and spice.

And without spoiling anything, there are some very good reasons ACOTAR fans in particular might want to read this series.

Read this if you like: massive fantasy worlds, murder mysteries, broody magical men and Sarah J. Maas giving you 800 pages of emotional problems.

If you’re looking for something that feels very much like it was made for the post-ACOTAR romantasy reader, Quicksilver is an easy pick.

We have fae. Magic. Another realm. A dangerous man with secrets. And two people who spend a considerable amount of time antagonizing each other while very obviously becoming attracted to each other.

You know the drill.

Kingfisher is also firmly in the morally gray fantasy man category. He’s powerful, sarcastic, occasionally an asshole and absolutely withholding information Saeris would probably find useful.

So, yes. There are some Rhysand-adjacent qualities happening here.

The romance is much more central than it is in some of the fantasy-heavy books on this list, and there is plenty of spice once things get moving.

Is it reinventing romantasy?

No.

But sometimes I don’t need my romantasy reinvented. Sometimes I want magic, danger, banter and a hot fae man making questionable decisions.

Read this if you like: fae, enemies-to-lovers, morally gray men, banter and spicy fantasy romance.

This one is for anyone who wants their romantasy a little darker and weirder.

And I mean that as a compliment.

One Dark Window has this creepy, gothic fairy-tale feeling that makes it stand out from the endless parade of fae kingdoms and shadow daddies in romantasy.

The magic system is also genuinely interesting. Magic comes from Providence Cards, with different cards granting different abilities, and Elspeth gets caught up in a mission to find the complete set.

Then there’s Ravyn.

He’s the king’s nephew, captain of an elite group of soldiers and obviously someone Elspeth should not be keeping enormous magical secrets from.

Naturally, she does.

The romance is slower and less dominant than it is in ACOTAR, but there’s plenty of tension, and I really like that the fantasy plot doesn’t feel like something we’re just doing between romantic scenes.

Also: this is only a duology.

Sometimes you want an immersive fantasy series without accidentally committing the next six months of your life to 14 books.

Read this if you like: gothic fantasy, unique magic systems, slow-burn romance and creepy voices living inside people’s heads.

Apparently Jennifer L. Armentrout looked at From Blood and Ash and decided this universe needed even more complicated mythology and hot supernatural men.

A Shadow in the Ember is the first book in the Flesh and Fire series, which is a prequel to From Blood and Ash. But you don’t need to be deeply invested in that series to understand why this belongs on an ACOTAR list.

Sera has spent basically her entire life preparing to assassinate the Primal of Death in the hopes of saving her kingdom.

Then she meets Nyktos.

He’s powerful, dangerous and not nearly as easy to manipulate as everyone expected him to be.

The relationship has that fun romantasy problem where falling for this person would completely screw up the plan, while the fantasy side gives you gods, magic, political maneuvering and plenty of secrets.

And yes, it gets spicy.

If you’re specifically chasing the combination of powerful immortal love interest + capable heroine + elaborate magical world that ACOTAR does so well, this is very much in that lane.

Read this if you like: gods, forbidden romance, assassination plots and extremely powerful men who complicate everything.

There are no fae in The Bridge Kingdom, but we do get one of my favorite romantasy setups: an arranged marriage where one person is secretly planning to betray the other.

Lara has been raised to believe that King Aren and his kingdom are responsible for her people’s suffering. So when she’s sent there as his bride, she fully intends to gather the information her father needs to bring him down.

Except things aren’t quite what she’s been told.

And Aren isn’t quite the monster she expected.

Which becomes a problem when your entire purpose for marrying someone was to ruin his life.

The romance is a slow burn, but there’s plenty happening outside of it. You get political intrigue, espionage, shifting loyalties and a heroine who actually has to reckon with the consequences of the choices she makes.

If court politics and enemies-to-lovers were what you loved about ACOTAR, this is a really good way to get those same elements without reading another fae story.

Read this if you like: arranged marriages, actual enemies-to-lovers, political intrigue and women sent to marry men they’re supposed to destroy.

The Plated Prisoner is another series where I would strongly suggest not judging the entire thing by the first book.

Gild starts dark, and Auren is in a deeply controlling relationship that she doesn’t initially recognize for what it is. A huge part of the series is watching her slowly figure that out, take control of her own life and become considerably more powerful than anyone expected.

Which is probably where the biggest ACOTAR comparison comes in.

There’s a very Feyre realizing that the relationship she thought she wanted might actually be terrible for her thing happening here.

And yes, eventually there is another man.

Obviously.

The romance is a serious slow burn, though. If you’re here exclusively for spice, you’re going to have to wait for it—but once this series gets there, it REALLY gets there.

This one also deals with some much darker material than ACOTAR, so I’d check the content warnings before jumping in if that’s something you care about.

Read this if you like: slow-burn romance, female characters finding their power, morally gray fae men and watching a terrible relationship finally implode.

If The Hunger Games and ACOTAR had a very YA baby, you’d get something pretty close to Powerless.

Paedyn has survived by pretending to be a Psychic, which works reasonably well until she accidentally saves a prince and gets selected for the Purging Trials.

You know, the exact kind of public competition where having absolutely no powers is a bit of a disadvantage.

Then there’s Kai.

He’s a prince, an Enforcer for the king and quite literally responsible for hunting down people like Paedyn.

So naturally, those two start developing feelings for each other.

This is definitely more YA than ACOTAR, and the romance relies heavily on tension rather than spice. But there’s banter, yearning, deadly competitions, political bullshit and a love interest who is very much supposed to be the enemy.

Is any of this particularly good for Paedyn’s long-term survival?

Absolutely not.

Read this if you like: deadly competitions, forbidden romance, lots of banter and falling for the one man who absolutely cannot find out your secret.

If you want to take a temporary break from fae without giving up magic, powerful men and extremely inconvenient romantic tension, A Fate Inked in Blood is a very good option.

Freya has been hiding the fact that she possesses a drop of a goddess’s blood, which gives her an ability that makes her VERY politically valuable. Once that secret gets out, she’s basically transformed from unhappy fishwife into unwilling weapon.

And then there’s Bjorn.

He’s a warrior, the son of the man currently controlling Freya’s future and, crucially, someone she is very much not supposed to fall for.

Obviously, that’s going to be a problem.

The Norse-inspired setting also makes this feel different from a lot of the other romantasy books on this list. There are gods, prophecies, battles and political maneuvering, but the romance still gets plenty of room to do its thing.

Basically, if ACOTAR made you realize you enjoy watching a woman discover she’s significantly more powerful than everyone told her she was while simultaneously making terrible romantic decisions, welcome.

Read this if you like: Norse mythology, forbidden romance, magical heroines, warriors and prophecies that make everyone’s lives considerably more complicated.

Apparently the romantasy genre looked at regular kidnapping and said, but what if the kidnapper were a hot fae king?

And thus, we have The Ever King.

Erik has a long-standing grudge against Livia’s family and fully intends to use her to get what he wants. Livia, understandably, isn’t particularly thrilled about being dragged into his kingdom as leverage.

Their relationship starts out genuinely hostile, which gives this one plenty of enemies-to-lovers tension before things inevitably get more complicated.

The setting is also fun because we’re not just heading into another vaguely medieval fae court. Erik rules a dangerous world connected to the sea, with pirates, magic, ships and warring kingdoms giving the whole thing a slightly different flavor.

It’s definitely romance-forward, and Erik checks plenty of the boxes ACOTAR readers tend to enjoy: powerful, dangerous, morally questionable and considerably softer toward one particular woman than he’d probably like anyone to know.

A tale as old as romantasy time.

Read this if you like: fae kings, kidnapping plots, enemies-to-lovers, pirates and dangerous men developing inconvenient feelings.

If you want romantasy without committing to another enormous fantasy world and seven-book series, Bride is a fun change of pace.

This is paranormal romance rather than epic fantasy, so we’re dealing with vampires and werewolves living alongside humans instead of fae courts and sprawling magical kingdoms.

But the ACOTAR-friendly ingredients are very much present.

Misery and Lowe enter an arranged marriage designed to keep the peace between their people, neither particularly trusts the other and Misery is hiding the real reason she agreed to the whole thing in the first place.

And Lowe is, naturally, a giant intimidating supernatural man who becomes increasingly protective of his wife.

Because of course he does.

The book is much more romance-forward than ACOTAR, and it doesn’t take itself nearly as seriously. There’s political tension and mystery happening in the background, but you’re primarily here to watch two supernatural people who are supposed to dislike each other become increasingly bad at doing that.

Read this if you like: arranged marriages, vampires and werewolves, forced proximity and intimidating men who become extremely attached to one woman.

If you’re starting to feel like every romantasy kingdom has the exact same magic system with slightly different names, The Foxglove King is a nice change.

Lore’s magic is connected to death, and the same ability that makes her dangerous also makes her useful to the people in power. She’s sent to court to investigate Prince Bastian after villages begin mysteriously dying—and she’s very much there under threat rather than because she suddenly developed an interest in royal politics.

Naturally, the prince she’s supposed to investigate is charming, complicated and considerably more interesting than would be convenient.

There’s also Gabriel, a duke-turned-monk tasked with watching Lore, because apparently one complicated man was insufficient.

The romance isn’t as dominant as it is in ACOTAR, though. There’s a lot of political intrigue, religion, death magic and mystery happening around it, which makes this a good pick if you want the court drama and magical worldbuilding without needing the love story to carry everything.

Also, if you’re a sucker for messy romantic tension involving multiple people making questionable choices, there is plenty to work with here.

Read this if you like: dark magic, royal courts, forbidden powers, political intrigue and complicated romantic triangles.

If what you want after ACOTAR is more fae, more magic and more suspiciously attractive men who clearly know things they’re not telling you, What Lies Beyond the Veil has you covered.

Estrella has grown up in a world where the fae are treated as monsters and the Veil separating the two realms is basically sacred. Once that protection disappears, everything she thought she understood about her world starts falling apart.

Then she meets Caelum.

He’s protective, dangerous and approximately 900 red flags stuffed into the body of an attractive man.

Which is obviously excellent news for us.

The romance is much more central here than it is in some of the fantasy-heavy books on this list, and the series leans darker and spicier as Estrella gets pulled deeper into the world beyond the Veil.

There are definitely familiar romantasy ingredients at work, but sometimes familiar is exactly what you want when you’re trying to fill an ACOTAR-shaped hole in your life.

Read this if you like: fae, forced proximity, possessive men, hidden identities and darker fantasy romance.

If your favorite ACOTAR ingredient is powerful fae man with questionable morals and an intense interest in one specific woman, allow me to introduce you to Desmond Flynn ad Rhapsodic.

Callie has known the Bargainer since she was a teenager, calling on him whenever she needed help and accumulating a magical bracelet full of beads representing everything she owes him.

Then he disappeared from her life.

Years later, Des shows back up ready to collect on those debts—and needing Callie’s help with a much bigger problem involving his own kingdom.

So we get two timelines: Callie and Des in the present, plus the history of how their relationship developed and why everything went spectacularly sideways in the first place.

This is definitely more romance-forward than ACOTAR, and the fantasy plot largely exists alongside the central relationship rather than overpowering it. But there are fae courts, magic, dangerous bargains, mysteries and a morally gray fae king, so we’re not exactly wandering far from home.

It is also an older romantasy series, and there are parts that feel more dated now than they probably did when it came out. But if you’re specifically hunting for that Rhysand-ish romantic dynamic, I understand exactly why this series keeps ending up on ACOTAR recommendation lists.

Read this if you like: fae kings, second-chance romance, magical bargains, morally gray men and relationships with a LOT of history.

Caraval is another book on this list that isn’t particularly ACOTAR-like on paper, but makes sense if what you loved was being dropped into a magical world where you never quite know who—or what—to trust.

Scarlett enters Caraval expecting an elaborate game. Instead, finding her missing sister becomes part of the competition, and she’s forced to navigate clues, performers, magic and an increasingly blurry line between what is real and what is simply part of the show.

There is romance, including the mysterious and deeply untrustworthy Julian, but it’s not the primary reason I’d recommend this one to ACOTAR readers.

The atmosphere is.

Everything feels theatrical, magical and slightly dangerous, and the story constantly makes you question whether Scarlett should believe what she’s seeing. It has that same I’ve entered an entirely different world and apparently nobody is going to explain the rules properly feeling that makes fantasy so much fun.

This is also YA, so don’t come here expecting spice. Instead, we’re here for the elaborate magical game, family drama and pretty people who are almost certainly lying about something.

Read this if you like: magical competitions, mysterious men, elaborate fantasy worlds and never knowing who the hell you’re supposed to trust.

I appreciate a heroine who arrives with a plan.

Alessandra isn’t accidentally swept into court politics or reluctantly discovering that she’s secretly powerful. She wants power, she knows exactly how she intends to get it and she’s perfectly comfortable murdering a king if that’s what the situation requires.

The Shadow King isn’t exactly an innocent party, either. He’s feared, powerful and surrounded by his own collection of secrets and enemies, which means the two of them are actually pretty well matched.

The fun is watching Alessandra’s carefully constructed plan become increasingly complicated as she gets closer to him—and realizes she may not actually want him dead.

Whoops.

The Shadow Between Us is YA, so it’s lighter on the spice than ACOTAR, and it’s more of a quick, romance-forward fantasy than a massive world you need to spend three books learning. But if you liked Feyre when she became more confident, politically savvy and willing to play the game, Alessandra takes that energy and starts there.

Read this if you like: morally gray heroines, court politics, marriage plots and women who consider murder a perfectly reasonable career move.

Lightlark is another good option if the trials and competitions were some of your favorite parts of ACOTAR.

Isla is the ruler of the Wildlings, a realm cursed alongside five others centuries ago. To break those curses, the six rulers have to participate in the Centennial, a game filled with alliances, secrets and the minor complication that one of them may need to die.

So obviously everyone is extremely trustworthy.

Isla enters already hiding things, and it quickly becomes clear that everyone else has their own agenda too. There are shifting alliances, betrayals, magical kingdoms and multiple powerful men who may or may not be interested in helping her for entirely selfish reasons.

The romance also gets messy, with more than one potential love interest in the mix, so this is a good pick if you enjoy spending part of a fantasy book trying to figure out who the heroine is actually going to end up with.

It leans more YA than ACOTAR so there isn’t much to speak of in regards to actual “spice,” but the magical realms, deadly competition and constant can we trust this hot man? problem put it firmly in the same general reading neighborhood.

Read this if you like: deadly games, magical curses, love triangles, secret agendas and attractive people who should probably stop trusting each other.

I have a slightly complicated relationship with A Kingdom of Stars and Shadows because there are things about this book that drove me absolutely nuts.

But I also kept reading it.

Which, frankly, counts for something.

Adara is the Starblessed, and she’s basically been promised to the fae crown prince because her magic makes her politically valuable. She’s brought to the fae court to prepare for a marriage she doesn’t particularly want, only to become considerably more interested in Evren—her future husband’s brother.

Excellent decision-making all around.

This is very much a romance first, fantasy second kind of book. There’s magic, court politics and a larger conflict happening, but the real reason you’re turning pages is the tension between Adara and Evren.

And if you’re coming straight from ACOTAR looking for fae, forbidden attraction, a powerful magical heroine and another dangerous man you’re clearly supposed to become obsessed with, it understands the assignment.

I wouldn’t come here expecting incredibly elaborate worldbuilding. I would come here because sometimes you want a relatively quick, spicy fae romance where everyone makes choices that are obviously going to cause problems.

Read this if you like: fae courts, forbidden romance, lots of spice and falling for the extremely wrong brother.

If The Serpent and the Wings of Night convinced you that Carissa Broadbent might be worth following into another fantasy world, Daughter of No Worlds is the obvious next stop.

Tisaanah isn’t looking for adventure or accidentally stumbling into some grand destiny. She has a very specific goal: become powerful enough to go back for the people she couldn’t save when she escaped.

To do that, she needs training.

Enter Max, an extremely reluctant mentor with a complicated history of his own. Their relationship develops slowly from teacher and student into friendship and eventually something more, and I really like that the romance has time to actually earn that progression.

This is also much more epic fantasy than straightforward romantasy. There’s war, politics, magic, trauma and some genuinely heavy material, with the relationship developing alongside a much bigger story rather than becoming the entire story.

So if you’re looking for another Rhysand clone, this probably isn’t the book I’d hand you first. But if ACOTAR made you realize you like sprawling fantasy series with powerful women, emotional relationships and characters you can get extremely attached to, this is absolutely worth a look.

Read this if you like: slow-burn romance, powerful heroines, grumpy mentors, found family and fantasy stories with much bigger problems than who is sleeping with whom.

Divine Rivals is considerably softer than a lot of the books on this list, but it’s also a nice option if what you actually loved about ACOTAR was getting emotionally invested in the characters and their relationships.

Iris and Roman are workplace rivals, and their face-to-face relationship starts with plenty of competition and mutual irritation.

Meanwhile, they’re unknowingly building a completely different relationship through anonymous letters.

Well, Iris doesn’t know.

Roman figures it out.

Which makes the whole situation significantly more complicated.

The fantasy here is more understated than ACOTAR. There are gods, magic and an actual war happening, but this isn’t packed with magical creatures, elaborate court politics or powerful fae men. The emotional story and the romance are much more important.

It’s also YA and not spicy, so this isn’t the book I’d choose if that’s specifically what you’re trying to replace after ACOTAR.

But if you want yearning, beautiful writing, magical correspondence and two people slowly falling in love while everything around them goes spectacularly to shit, Divine Rivals is a very good choice.

Read this if you like: rivals-to-lovers, secret letters, yearning, magical wars and romance that’s more emotional than spicy.

If ACOTAR has convinced you that all fictional fae are supposed to be devastatingly attractive men with wings and excellent flirting skills, Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries would like to remind you that traditional faeries are actually weird as hell.

And potentially terrifying.

Emily is an academic who studies faerie folklore, so she approaches magical creatures less like potential boyfriends and more like wildlife she’s trying to document without getting herself killed.

Wendell is basically her opposite. He’s charming, social, dramatic and far more interested in making himself comfortable than Emily thinks any serious researcher should be.

Their relationship is a much gentler slow burn than most of the romances on this list, and the book itself feels more like cozy fantasy with dangerous folklore lurking around the edges.

So no, this isn’t going to replace the spice or giant battles of ACOTAR.

But if Prythian left you wanting more fae—and you’d like to see a completely different interpretation of what faeries can be—this is a really fun place to end up.

Read this if you like: faerie folklore, cozy fantasy, academic rivals, slow-burn romance and magical creatures that are allowed to be genuinely strange.

So, What Is ACOTAR?

If you somehow made it to a list of books like ACOTAR without actually reading ACOTAR, here’s the deal.

A Court of Thorns and Roses starts with Feyre, a human woman who kills a wolf in the woods and gets dragged across the wall into Prythian as punishment.

Except the wolf wasn’t really a wolf.

And the guy who takes her isn’t exactly human.

The first book has a definite Beauty and the Beast thing going on, but that’s really just the entry point. The series gets MUCH bigger from there: fae courts, curses, war, found family, political drama, magic and an unreasonable number of attractive men with serious emotional baggage.

And then there’s Rhysand.

I’m not going to explain Rhysand to you. You need to experience that situation for yourself.

There are currently five published books, and I will give you one piece of advice if you’re starting the series for the first time: do not judge ACOTAR entirely by the first book.

It’s good.

But book two is where you suddenly understand why people have made this series their entire personality.

So, What Should You Read Next?

Okay, but 25 books is not exactly helpful when you just want someone to tell you what the hell to read next.

If you want the closest thing to filling the ACOTAR-shaped hole in your life, I’d start with The Serpent and the Wings of Night. It has the fantasy world, dangerous competition, romance and morally questionable man situation we’re looking for—and it’s one of my favorites on this list.

If you’re primarily here for the romance, try Quicksilver. If you want dragons and a book that’s ridiculously easy to inhale, go with Fourth Wing. And if you want another massive fantasy world to disappear into for the foreseeable future, Throne of Glass is probably your best bet.

For something darker and a little different, I’d pick One Dark Window. And if you’ve had enough fae for the moment but still want the enemies-to-lovers tension and political drama, go with The Bridge Kingdom.

Basically, you have options.

Unfortunately, none of them will let you read ACOTAR for the first time again.

I’ve checked.

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