With the new year having just started, you may be taking stock of all the books you read in 2024 and coming up with a new reading goal for 2025. If you’re looking to read more romance-fantasy books this year but have exhausted all of the typical Booktok recommendations, here is a list of lesser known novels of that genre to add to your 2025 TBR. Along with being off the beaten path, these books contain unique elements that add something new to the overdone Romantasy tropes you’ve read a thousand times!
1. A Dawn of Onyx by Kate Golden
I could never make a list of Romantasy novels without including at least one enemies-to-lovers romance. A Dawn of Onyx follows a healer who is taken prisoner by the Onyx King and is forced to heal his soldiers. In order to plan her escape, she works with a wily and dangerous fellow inmate… who might just steal her heart in the process. You will not want to put down this addicting read where nobody is quite who they seem to be. Though this novel reads like a typical Romantasy more than any other on this list, it does so in a way that doesn’t feel hackneyed but rather makes it a prime example of its genre.
2. Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan
Based on Chinese mythology, this novel follows the daughter of a goddess as she tries to navigate the mortal plane, having to keep her identity a secret as she becomes close with the empirical prince. The world and plot of this novel feel very fresh and unique, with a lyrical writing style that brings the story to life. If you’re looking for a strong female main character, a forbidden romance, and international politics in a world with magic and dragons, look no further.
3. Juniper and Thorn by Ava Reid
Though romance is definitely a main part of this novel, most people would label it as a gothic horror fantasy, as its primary focus lies in the horror elements. It transforms the fairytale "The Juniper Tree" into a sinister thriller with twists and turns that you will not see coming. Despite the bleakness of the situation, the romance itself is pretty cute and incredibly unique. If you’re looking for something truly different from stuff you’ve read before, Juniper and Thorn is definitely the way to go.
4. For the Wolf by Hannah Whitten
Though the title and cover make this novel seem like a "Little Red Riding Hood" retelling, it really follows more of a "Beauty and the Beast"-type storyline. In order to save her kingdom, the second daughter of the king must be sacrificed to the infamous Wolf of the Wood. However, when she reaches his manor in the middle of the forest, she realizes he’s not so scary and that the reality of the situation in the kingdom is nothing like what she’s been told. The story contains a lot of intrigue and unanswered questions along with the romance, and you will want to keep turning page after page until you get to the bottom of it.
5. Daughter Of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
An art student in Prague lives with a monster as her guardian, who has a mysterious collection of teeth that has begun to run low. When she meets a winged stranger, the two seem inexplicably drawn together and begin to fall in love, but both of their pasts and the truth of the present are not what you think. With a creative fantasy world that you won’t soon forget, this novel will grip you from the get-go, then shock you with its insane third act twist.
6. Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
Everything by Leigh Bardugo has massive amounts of hype around it, making her novels anything but unknown. However, Ninth House is the most slept-on of all her novels, my favorite of hers and maybe one of my favorite fantasies in general. The romance definitely stays a bit on the back-burner in this novel but that doesn’t make it any less enticing. The narrative follows a girl who gets a scholarship to Yale because of her ability to see ghosts, where she gets onboarded into an organization that makes sure Yale’s magical secret societies don’t tear an irreparable hole between the human world and the world of the dead. If you like books set in college or anything dark academia, this book is for you.
Happy reading!