Best Romantasy Books of 2026: A Court of Splintered Harmony and 14 More New Releases
The best romantasy books of 2026 end the year on the biggest release the genre has had in five years: A Court of Splintered Harmony, the sixth ACOTAR book, lands October 27, 2026. It caps a year that also brought Rebecca Yarros back to the Empyrean, a magical Beauty and the Beast from Talia Hibbert, a Carissa Broadbent book with a vampire prince in it, a new Raven Kennedy duology and the finale of Nalini Singh’s Guild Hunter series. Below are 15 romantasy books published in 2026, grouped by what you came for (the blockbusters, fae courts and gods, dragons and rivals), with a premise check and a heat rating on each. At the end, four high-heat fantasy romances from our own shelf.
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The 2026 Romantasy Blockbusters
A Court of Splintered Harmony by Sarah J. Maas (October 27, 2026)
The first new ACOTAR novel since A Court of Silver Flames, and book one of a back-to-back pair: A Court of Forgotten Melody follows on January 12, 2027. If it has been a while since you visited Prythian, our ACOTAR recap refreshes every book and loose thread, and our Sarah J. Maas books in order guide lays out all three series.
Heat: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Explicit
See A Court of Splintered Harmony on Amazon →
Threshing Day by Rebecca Yarros (September 29, 2026)
Not Empyrean book four, but thirteen short stories about Threshing Day, the moment a dragon chooses its rider, from riders across the Empyrean, Xaden Riorson among them. It fills in earlier moments rather than moving the story past Onyx Storm, and the next confirmed Empyrean release is Fourth Wing: The Graphic Novel, Volume One, on April 6, 2027. Our Rebecca Yarros books in order and Fourth Wing spicy chapters guides cover the series so far.
Heat: 🌶️🌶️ Mild (expected)
See Threshing Day on Amazon →
The Last Thorn by Talia Hibbert (July 1, 2026)
Hibbert’s first brand-new adult romance in about five years. In a post-civil-war alternate modern Britain, Serenia stands trial before the magical council and Casimir is a war hero struggling with his past. A sexy Beauty and the Beast retelling with enemies-to-lovers stakes.
Heat: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Explicit
See The Last Thorn on Amazon →
The Lion and the Deathless Dark by Carissa Broadbent (August 4, 2026)
Kyrene is a bounty hunter with a blessed sword. She makes a deal with the vampire prince Septimus to hunt the gods, and finds an unexpected kinship with him. An uneasy alliance and a revenge plot set in the world of The Serpent and the Wings of Night; our Crowns of Nyaxia reading order shows where it fits.
Heat: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ Open door
See The Lion and the Deathless Dark on Amazon →
The Sweetest Fiend by Raven Kennedy (September 22, 2026)
Book one of the Played by the Piper duology, a dark romantasy loosely inspired by the Pied Piper. Nine monstrous Banes broke the world and the fae slew them, but every death left a plague behind. The narrator is half fae and half Bane, hated by both sides, and when the Piper clears the plague from her city he takes 130 people as payment, her included. He won’t let her go home. Not connected to Plated Prisoner; our Plated Prisoner reading order has the backlist.
Heat: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Explicit
See The Sweetest Fiend on Amazon →
Fae Courts, Gods and Bargains
Throne of Nightmares by Kerri Maniscalco (February 10, 2026)
Prince Sloth and librarian Lore Brimstone get pulled into her favorite novels, which have all turned dark, and have to stop the Book of Nightmares before gods and mortals collide. Book-world adventure with a prince of Hell for a hero; our books like Kingdom of the Wicked list covers the rest of the demon-prince shelf.
Heat: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Explicit
See Throne of Nightmares on Amazon →
The Heir and the Spare by Harper L. Woods (February 3, 2026)
Queen Mab uses the narrator’s bond with her sister Estrella against her and manipulates her into a betrothal to the God of the Dead at the Summer Court. Arranged marriage, sisters, and a groom who rules the dead.
Heat: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Explicit
See The Heir and the Spare on Amazon →
Crown of War and Shadow by J.R. Ward (February 17, 2026)
Sorrel is a cursed outcast who has to cross the Badlands to return the queen’s crown. The mercenary Merc will get her there for a price: one night in his bed. Kingdoms of the Compass, with the bargain trope at Ward’s usual heat.
Heat: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Explicit
See Crown of War and Shadow on Amazon →
Archangel’s Eternity by Nalini Singh (May 5, 2026)
The Guild Hunter finale. Elena and the Archangel Raphael, whose love was always meant to last a millennium, face a coming change that could upend their world while political tension builds toward war.
Heat: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Explicit
See Archangel’s Eternity on Amazon →
Prince of Storms by Kit Rocha (June 16, 2026)
Born to Sea & Storms #2. Naia the water nymph, Aleksi the god of love and Einar the pirate lord return to their icy kingdom after surviving a kidnapping, and a hidden enemy targets the triad. A polyamorous romantasy where the three lovers stay together and their love is the weapon.
Heat: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Explicit
See Prince of Storms on Amazon →
Dragons, Rivals and War
Dawn of the North by Demi Winters (February 3, 2026)
Silla Volsik is the returned Volsik heir, carrying a god’s shard in her mind while she tries to win over the northern jarls. Her sister Saga is a captive of King Ivar Ironheart, who wants to marry her. Norse-flavored romantasy with forced marriage and a warrior love interest.
Heat: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Explicit (expected)
See Dawn of the North on Amazon →
Queen of the Night Sky by Amalie Howard (March 17, 2026)
Sura, the Starkeeper, is carried off by an azdaha to Everlea, where the deadly Night King Darrius may be her soulmate, while the king she left behind, Roshan, grows corrupt. Dragons, prophecy and a fated pull toward the wrong side.
Heat: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ Open door (expected)
See Queen of the Night Sky on Amazon →
The Winged Game by Sophie Kim (June 30, 2026)
Taissa Cho is a disgraced sports star whose career was ruined by her rival, Kion Locke. Her redemption offer comes with a catch: a fake relationship with Kion during Carriwitchet, a violent sport played on winged beasts. Slow-burn rivals to lovers with fake dating.
Heat: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ Open door (expected)
See The Winged Game on Amazon →
The Knave and the Moon by Rachel Gillig (September 1, 2026)
Sybil Delling is King Benji’s captive bride, pushed to beat him in a series of tournaments. A nameless knave with no memory may be the key to winning. Gothic, eerie and slow, from the author of One Dark Window; our books like One Dark Window list fits the mood.
Heat: 🌶️🌶️ Mild
See The Knave and the Moon on Amazon →
The Exquisite Torment of Loving Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightly (July 7, 2026)
Osric is an assassin of the Fyren Order. Aurienne is the Haelan healer who secretly treats his wounds every full moon. As feelings neither should have start to grow, a deadly plague pulls them into the same fight. Enemies to lovers, assassin and healer.
Heat: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ Open door (expected)
See The Exquisite Torment of Loving Your Enemy on Amazon →
Queer romantasy had a big year too: C.L. Polk’s The Feywild Job, T. Kingfisher’s Daggerbound, Sara Raasch’s The Fake Divination Offense and Máire Roche’s Bromantasy are all 2026 releases. On the 2027 calendar so far: A Court of Forgotten Melody (January 12), Scarlett St. Clair’s Coiled at the Roots (March 2), Devney Perry’s Seven and the Swift (March 9), Olivia Rose Darling’s Ashes of the Fallen (March 30) and the Quicksilver finale, which Callie Hart moved to September 2027.
Before the Quicksilver finale, our Quicksilver spicy chapters guide is a fast refresher, and From Blood and Ash spicy chapters covers Armentrout’s series.
Read Next: Hotter Picks From Fractal Enigma
Most romantasy makes you wait 400 pages and then gives you two scenes. These run hotter on our five-chili scale: a sealed god, a dragon’s vault, a cursed pirate king and a coven that keeps one woman every thirty years.
The Shadow Sovereign — Draven Moore
Vesper Ashford has spent ten years as an invisible servant in the mansion of the man who ordered her father’s execution, waiting for the moment to strike. Then she finds something in the basement: a sealed god, starving in the dark, who offers her power beyond imagination in exchange for one simple thing. Dark fantasy revenge for The Sweetest Fiend and Throne of Nightmares readers.
Heat: Inferno 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Tropes: Morally Grey Hero, Touch Her and Die, Forced Proximity, Power Exchange, He Falls First
Start reading The Shadow Sovereign →
Hoard of the Dragon — Draven Moore
Elara Vance has seventy-two hours to save her sister. The plan: break into the Gilded Trust and steal the legendary Heart of Smaug ruby. She can handle guards, lasers and biometrics. She can’t handle the dragon who owns the vault. She came to steal a ruby and became the treasure. Dragon’s Sanctuary #1, free with Kindle Unlimited.
Heat: Inferno 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ · Kindle Unlimited
Tropes: Fated Mates, Dragon Shifter, Captive Romance, Size Difference, Knotting, Breeding Kink
Start reading Hoard of the Dragon →
The King of Tides & Ruin — Draven Moore
Rourke Thorne was once the Empire’s most feared witch-hunter. Now he is the Salted King, a pirate captain slowly turning into a statue of living crystal. Sera Blackwood is a healer who can cure any curse, but only by taking it into herself, and the Salted King has just captured her. Pirate romantasy for Prince of Storms readers.
Heat: Scorching 🌶️🌶️🌶️
Tropes: Curse Breaking, Captive Romance, Morally Gray Hero
Start reading The King of Tides & Ruin →
The Coven’s Last Human — Maeve Hollow
Every thirty years, the town keeps one woman. This year it chose Anya Serrano, an investigative reporter hunting a missing friend in a too-kind Vermont town, with a recorder that never stops running. Then she falls for the witch at the center of it. Sapphic, gothic and new this fall, with a 390-year age gap and a witch who always asks first.
Heat: Inferno 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Tropes: Witch × Reporter, Immortal × Mortal, Age Gap, Ice Queen, Small-Town Secrets, Gothic, She Always Asks First
Start reading The Coven’s Last Human →
FAQ: Best Romantasy Books of 2026
What is the biggest romantasy release of 2026?
A Court of Splintered Harmony by Sarah J. Maas, out October 27, 2026, the first new ACOTAR novel in five years. A Court of Forgotten Melody follows on January 12, 2027.
Is Threshing Day Empyrean book four?
No. Threshing Day (September 29, 2026) is a collection of thirteen Threshing stories from across the Empyrean. Book four has no title or date yet; the next confirmed release is the Fourth Wing graphic novel on April 6, 2027.
Which 2026 romantasy is the spiciest?
Of the trad picks, The Last Thorn, The Heir and the Spare, Crown of War and Shadow and the ACOTAR books run hottest, at four chilis. The Knave and the Moon and Threshing Day are the mildest. The Fractal Enigma picks are Inferno except The King of Tides & Ruin, which is three.
Do I need to read the series in order?
For ACOTAR, Guild Hunter, Born to Sea & Storms and the Empyrean, yes. The Last Thorn, The Lion and the Deathless Dark, The Sweetest Fiend and The Winged Game are good fresh starts.
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