There is something about a great dark fantasy book that just makes me giddy with excitement. Maybe it’s the morally gray characters that shift between heroes and villains within a few pages, or maybe it’s the sizzling romance that gets my heart a flutter. Honestly, it is both that make me want to pick up a gorgeous book and dive deep into it.Â
The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller is just that: a handsome Shadow King with immense power, a clever main character determined to marry and then kill him for the throne, and the dangerous and romantic banter that checks off each of my romance needs.Â
It’s a dangerously perfect combo for my Slytherin heart.
But after you devour this book in one sitting – which you totally will do – you may be wondering what should I read next? To continue on the sensuous dark fantasy path, these YA books will appease to your reading needs.Â
Here are five great dark fantasy books that are the perfect thing to pick up next.Â
Serpent & Dove by Shelby MahurinÂ
What happens when a witch and a witch hunter become bound in holy matrimony? It becomes a truly delicious read. This first book in the Serpent & Dove series has some of everyone’s favorite tropes including a marriage of convenience and enemies to lovers.Â
But this book doesn’t stop there. Mahurin’s world building is fantastic and plays off both the France of yesteryear and French mythology and fairy tales. There are a variety of witch covens that may or may not get along with each other, and twists and turns that you’ll try to guess at and the answer will be something you did not see coming.Â
It’s truly a delight.Â
Fortunately, the fun does not stop there: the next book in the series, Blood & Honey, will be released later in 2020.
The Beautiful by Renée Ahdieh
History lovers, this one’s for you. Ahdieh is a queen of fantasy romance in the YA world and she does not disappoint with this new duology. In 1872 New Orleans, Celine Rousseau has arrived after fleeing Paris and is taken in by an Ursuline Convent with other girls.Â
When she begins to explore the glamourous underground known as La Cour des Lions, we get to meet the swoony Sébastien Saint Germain. But then a string of murders begins to pop up around the city and it looks like Sébastien might be behind it.Â
Ahdieh really does being vampires back in the best way, and the New Orleans we visit in her prose is magically perfect, diverse, and well-rounded. Pick this first book up and read it before The Damned is released later this year.Â
Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson
If you loved Rogerson’s An Enchantment of Ravens, you are going to adore Sorcery of Thorns. It’s darker than her debut but it has all of the heart and gorgeous lyrical feel we love from Rogerson’s writing.Â
Elisabeth is such a strong character who falls for a sorcerer –– even though she has been told all her life are evil. But as a librarian, duty comes first in order to protect the kingdom from the dark books known as grimoires. When she is falsely accused of a crime, Elisabeth’s world is turned on its head in this lush dark fantasy that will make you fall in love with Nathanial Thorn.
This standalone will make you love your local library and its enchanting characters.
Bone Crier’s Moon by Kathryn Purdie
What would you do if you had to sacrifice your true love in order to protect the world around you? Aliesse is challenged with this as she is a Bone Crier expected to take up the leading role of protecting her world from the dead.Â
Bone Crier’s Moon is the first book in the Bone Grace series by the author of the Burning Glass series and it features a truly devious doomed romance. As this story unravels the relationship between Aliesse and Bastien, Aliesse will have to challenge all that she knows in order to determine if love is worth sacrificing for.Â
It’s sequel, Bone Crier’s Dawn, will be available in 2021.
