Here are 100 books that These Violent Delights fans have personally recommended if you like
These Violent Delights.
Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.
I’ve always loved reading young adult fantasy books with forbidden romance and lush worldbuilding and classic fairytale elements like princesses, dancing, pretty clothes, and delicious food spreads. All these books offer fresh takes and twists, and tug at your heartstrings with the angst, the betrayals, the secrets, and the love. These are all immersive stories that transport you far away, to a different time, to a different land, which is exactly what you need sometimes to get away from this world and its craziness.
Nyx will do anything to save her people, including marrying the terrible Ignifex, the evil ruler of her kingdom. But there is more to Ignifex than she initially imagined, and as Nyx falls in love with him, she fights to find a way to save both her people and her love. This book portrays such fun banter between Nyx and Ignifex and poses a truly difficult riddle that is bound to break your heart.
If you're excited about the upcoming Disney film Beauty and the Beast, starring Emma Watson, don't miss Cruel Beauty. The romance of Beauty and the Beast meets the adventure of Graceling in this dazzling fantasy novel about our deepest desires and their power to change our destiny. Perfect for fans of bestselling An Ember in the Ashes and A Court of Thorns and Roses, this gorgeously written debut infuses the classic fairy tale with glittering magic, a feisty heroine, and a romance sure to take your breath away. Betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom, Nyx has always known…
I’ve been drawn to LGBT+ characters and themes long before I knew that was a thing that a person could be—and longer still before I realized that it was something that might apply to me. Science fiction and fantasy helped me to explore identities and ways of existing within the world that were fundamentally different from my own and that instilled a love of the genre that I’ll always treasure.
I like to think I’m pretty good at guessing where a book is going to go—this is not the case with Gideon the Ninth. Every time I thought I had a grip on what was going on and where we were going, it took a turn. Every time I thought I had an idea of how I felt about a character, new lore dropped, and I fell in love (or in hate, or in a complicated love/hate thing that I have yet to figure out).
By the time I finished, I was torn between picking up the second book in the series to learn what happened next or rereading the first just to see how different it would be once I had a better understanding of the book.
15+ pages of new, original content, including a glossary of terms, in-universe writings, and more!
A USA Today Best-Selling Novel!
"Unlike anything I've ever read. " --V.E. Schwab
"Lesbian necromancers explore a haunted gothic palace in space!" --Charles Stross
"Brilliantly original, messy and weird straight through." --NPR
The Emperor needs necromancers.
The Ninth Necromancer needs a swordswoman.
Gideon has a sword, some dirty magazines, and no more time for undead nonsense.
Tamsyn Muir's Gideon the Ninth, first in The Locked Tomb Trilogy, unveils a solar system of swordplay, cut-throat politics, and lesbian necromancers. Her characters leap off the page, as…
When I was nine years old, my first poem was ‘published’ in my elementary school’s annual creative writing booklet. It was such a thrill to see my poem in print and to know lots of people would be reading it. I was hooked on writing, but it would be many, many years before I was published again. While I know it’s never too late to publish a book, I regret how long I waited. Young writers, don’t be afraid to go for it and don’t ever feel you’re not old enough for your words to matter. Readers need your unique, fresh vision.
I love that this book was the result of a dare! In 1816, eighteen-year-old Mary Shelley and three friends held a contest to see who could write the scariest story. Mary’s story—like her monster—has since taken on a life of its own and today permeates all forms of storytelling.
I find it amusing that my favorite version of the monster is the one Mel Brooks gave us in Young Frankenstein. I wonder what Mary Shelley would think if she knew how much her acceptance of a dare would change storytelling forever.
I like to revisit the original story from time to time to savor the gothic drama and flowery writing. If I’m reading it on a dark and stormy night, all the better.
One of the BBC's '100 Novels That Shaped Our World'
'That rare story to pass from literature into myth' The New York Times
Mary Shelley's chilling Gothic tale was conceived when she was only eighteen, living with her lover Percy Shelley on Lake Geneva. The story of Victor Frankenstein who, obsessed with creating life itself, plunders graveyards for the material to fashion a new being, but whose botched creature sets out to destroy his maker, would become the world's most famous work of horror fiction, and remains a devastating exploration of the limits of human creativity. Based on the third…
A breathtaking journey across Iran where war and superstition, jealousy and betrayal, and passion and loyalty rage behind the impenetrable walls of mansions and the crumbling houses of the Jewish Quarter.
Against the tumultuous background of World War II, Dr. Yaran will find himself caught in the thrall of the…
I’ve always loved a good crime drama/suspense thriller novel–the way they keep you glued to the pages, and you think you’ll just sit down for a quick couple of chapters before dinner, and the next thing you realize, it's 12am, and you’re on the last chapter. The depth of the character studies that you get with this genre is the other reason I enjoy it so much, there’s nothing worse than having main characters that are one dimensional and unreachable as a reader. I have always tried to create this kind of character depth and gripping narrative in my own books.
What I enjoyed most about this book was the story and plot that the author wove together.
This story takes thrilling, unexpected twists that kept me engaged with the characters and the plot. Its intensity is matched by its excellent pacing, delivering surprises at every turn.
Just when I thought I'd figured out where it's headed, it veers in another direction.
'An epic drama reminiscent of the best classic Hong Kong gangster films but set in a fantasy metropolis so gritty and well-imagined that you'll forget you're reading a book' KEN LIU
'Gripping!' ANN LECKIE, author of Ancillary Justice and The Raven Tower
'Lee's astute worldbuilding raises the stakes for her vivid and tautly-described action scenes' SCOTT LYNCH, author of The Lies of Locke Lamora
*****Shortlisted for the Nebula Awards, the Locus Awards, the Aurora Awards, the Sunburst Awards and an Amazon.com Best Book of the Month*****
Long before I was an author of romantic fantasies, I was an avid reader of all things romance. Genre romance. Fantasy Romance. Romantic Fantasy. Romantic suspense. An adventure where the characters smile at each other for a heartbeat longer than usual. Give me even a hint of attraction between two characters, and I’m hooked. Give me life-or-death stakes and a first kiss that takes hundreds of pages, and I’m addicted. As a psychologist, helping young adults sort through real-life romance dilemmas is one of my favorite parts of the job. Now that I get to write these stories, I’ve made it my mission to devour all the best high-stakes YA romances I can find—or write.
Jane Eyre retelling in Ethiopa with magic—need I say more? Rich, quirky Magnus lives in a seriously haunted house, and the only exorcist willing to help him is broke, blunt Andromeda. I could not love these two more. Magnus is a beautiful weirdo who has been haunted and spoiled for far too long, and Andromeda puts him in his place. The banter, the creepiness of the house that is literally trying to kill them—no wonder Reese Witherspoon picked this one for her book club!
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER REESE'S BOOK CLUB FALL 2021 YA PICK
"Lauren Blackwood’s can’t-miss debut is a magical, Ethiopian-inspired remix of Jane Eyre." - Harper's Bazaar
What the heart desires, the house destroys...
Andromeda is a debtera―an exorcist hired to cleanse households of the Evil Eye. She would be hired, that is, if her mentor hadn’t thrown her out before she could earn her license. Now her only hope of steady work is to find a Patron―a rich, well-connected individual who will vouch for her abilities.
When a handsome young heir named Magnus Rochester reaches out to hire her,…
I love to read (and write) books about badass heroines who do the saving. They’re not passive. They’re not dragged along by the alpha a-hole, swooning over his muscles and domineering personality. They take charge. They wield the sword, or the gun, or their fists and rescue the dude in distress, who may act the monster but is really just a secret cinnamon roll who wants to be loved. These heroines are the real role models, the women I want to be like. Their stories are the ones I get lost in and remember long after I’ve put the book down.
This book is still one of the best enemies-to-lovers books I've read. Cardan may not be a literal monster, but he has a monstrous soul. I don’t usually like books where the male love interest is an a-hole, but I love when we get to see behind Cardan’s cruel exterior to the vulnerability and suffering beneath. And when Jude ties him to a chair? *Chef’s kiss.
I found the whole series to be brilliant and well worth a read. I loved the beautiful imagery the author creates.
"Lush, dangerous, a dark jewel of a book . . . intoxicating" - Leigh Bardugo, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Six of Crows
Of course I want to be like them. They're beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.
And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.
One terrible morning, Jude and her sisters see their parents murdered in front of them. The terrifying assassin abducts all three…
A spy school for girls amidst Jane Austen’s high society.
Daughters of the Beau Monde who don’t fit London society’s strict mold are banished to Stranje House, where the headmistress trains these unusually gifted girls to enter the dangerous world of spies in the Napoleonic wars. #1 NYT bestselling author…
As we watch the news–the increasing number of earthquakes, volcanoes, wars, inflation, the rapid progress of AI, unelected elites deciding they know best for the world, and more–we don’t know how to process it all, and it leaves us feeling anxious. My passion for helping my readers not just escape but actually live better fuels me. I created this retelling of the Book of Revelations from the POV of celestial warriors and fallen angels in the unseen realms of our world to allow my readers to “make more sense” of the world and be at peace.
Ee, the author, presents a very different image of angels, which is what I love about it. We usually see angels as protective of humans, willing to help us out of jams. In this series, Ee puts angels in the role of destroyers who hunt humans down to kill them.
I fell in love with the main characters. The story features a courageous girl raised by a “whacko” mother who must rescue her wheelchair-bound sister from angels who have abducted her. She encounters a fallen angel who has had his wings hewn off, and together, they form an unlikely alliance, overcoming their own inner demons on the way to “saving the world.” I loved both of their defiant spirits and unwillingness to quit despite the odds.
I dreamed of being a fairy tale princess at a young age, and although I never received my glass slipper, I still have a highly active imagination. This is probably why fantasy books are my favorite, and I’ve read extensively in this space. I’m also a huge Disney and Harry Potter nerd. While I might not win a trivia competition on these topics, I could definitely hold my own. To be honest, immersing myself in another world is my favorite form of escapism and the number one way I relax and unwind after work. I’ve read many, many books in my life and can quickly tell you the ones I love the best.
This book can be described in one word: Fun. From a ship crewed by female pirates to a quest for treasure, it has all the witty dialogue and adventure to match the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, but instead features a fierce, female captain named Alosa who has mad skills and a way of looking at the world that will make you laugh out loud and cheer her on.
This is the first in a duology, so it’s also not too much of a commitment to read, unlike some longer series. Both books are equally fast-paced and enjoyable. If you’re like me, you’ll be ready to grab your pirate hat and strap on your sword by the end of this book.
If you want something done right...When her father, the ruthless Pirate King, discovers that a legendary treasure map can be found on an enemy ship, his daughter, Alosa, knows that there's only one pirate for the job - herself. Leaving behind her beloved ship and crew, Alosa deliberately facilitates her own kidnapping to ensure her welcome on the ship. After all, who's going to suspect a girl locked in a cell...But Alosa has skills enough for any three pirates, and has yet to meet her match. Although she has to admit that the surprisingly perceptive and unfairly attractive first mate,…
I was an avid reader growing up, but I never saw myself reflected unless it was a book about the Holocaust. Those are crucial stories to tell, but I wanted a Jewish girl going through a wardrobe to a secret land or having magical adventures. So, I decided to write those stories for women and combine them with steamy romance, because I love that, too. All my main characters are Jewish, and I draw from Judaism and Jewish folklore for my worldbuilding and magic systems. It's also important for me to showcase my diverse hometown of Vancouver. To that end, my characters are of varying ethnicities and sexual identities.
Neely has an incredibly interesting magic power as a telepath spiker, but stays under the radar running a Mexican bakery with her uncle. I was swooning as much for her delicious pastries as for the sexy alpha werewolf. It’s great to see a proud Afro-Latina woman take the lead in an urban fantasy, and the authentic cultural touches that Rider brings to her storytelling immerses us fully in her worldbuilding. The author does a great job with Neely’s growth as she becomes more and more confident as a badass, reclaiming the hero status in her own life instead of hiding in the shadows.
My name is Neely and I'm a telepath-spiker. Not only can I read a person's thoughts, I can also spike deadly power straight into their brain.
But don't worry, I have strict rules about that sort of thing.
I'm hiding again. This time in a California desert truck stop town run by Lucas Blacke, a tiger shifter and alpha leader who's as handsome as Lucifer and twice as slippery. I've been running from alphas like him my whole life. They either want to own me or kill me—there is no middle ground.
In May 1941, Bartlesville, Oklahoma, hums with talk of spring flowers, fishing derbies, and the growing war in Europe. And for the residents of a quiet neighborhood boarding house, the winds of change are blowing.
Self-proclaimed spinster, Bessie Blackwell, is the reluctant owner of a new pair of glasses. The…
Growing up, I've always been attracted to the fantasy genre; I've been obsessed ever since my teacher introduced me to it in the first grade. What started as innocent fairy books evolved to dark, spicy fantasy romance/romantasy. Now, in addition to staying up way past my bedtime reading, I'm a teenage author of my own YA fantasy romance book, Masks of Faded Dreams. This genre has truly changed my life. As cliche as that sounds, it's true; it's both my form of escapism and an eye-opening experience into worlds I'd never known existed.
Dance of Thieves...more like Thieves of My Heart. Seriously, this book stole my heart.
From the first few pages, I knew there was something incredibly special about this story. Kazi and Jase embody that rich x poor dynamic and warmed my heart instantly. They both deal with so many personal issues that they handle in different ways; I love how it shows how there are many ways to grieve, and seeing as I was going through a difficult time while reading, it was a part of my healing journey.
The angst was on a whole other level. Although it was a bit political intrigue-heavy, the romance DID NOT disappoint. It left me staying up well past midnight to finish their story.
'Mary E. Pearson is a fearless storyteller' Stephanie Garber
A reformed thief and the young leader of an outlaw dynasty lock wits in a battle that may cost them their lives, and their hearts, in a new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Remnant Chronicles.
When the patriarch of the Ballenger empire dies, his son, Jase, becomes its new leader. Even nearby kingdoms bow to the strength of this outlaw family, who have always governed by their own rules. But a new era looms on the horizon, set in motion by a young queen, which makes…
