What to Read Next
Books Like A Court of Thorns and Roses: 9 Picks by Trope
Reading order at a glance: The best books like A Court of Thorns and Roses share its fairy tale bones, not just its hype: An Enchantment of Ravens, Cruel Beauty, Fire and Hemlock, A Curse So Dark and Lonely, Wintersong, Uprooted, Kingdom of the Wicked, Quicksilver and Daughter of Smoke & Bone. Four are standalones; only one series is unfinished.
Finish the fifth book and the same question appears in every reading group: what now? The usual answer is a list of the year’s most popular romantasy titles. That rarely helps. A reader who loved the cursed manor and the masked faerie lord wants something different from a reader who stayed for the politics of book two.
So this guide sorts nine read-alikes by the specific thing each one shares with the series, and gives each pick its publisher, series status as of October 2026, age category and a note on who should skip it. For the series itself, the full order and the two upcoming releases are covered separately.
What are the best books like A Court of Thorns and Roses?
The closest matches are books that borrow the same old stories the series grew from, then add a human heroine, a dangerous faerie or demonic partner, and a romance that takes its time. Wikipedia’s entry on the series notes that the author named Beauty and the Beast, East of the Sun and West of the Moon and Tam Lin as inspirations.
That gives a useful test. A read-alike should match at least one of five draws, and the strongest picks match two or three:
- Fairy tale roots: a bargain, a curse, a captive who is not quite a prisoner.
- Faerie courts: immortal politics seen through mortal eyes.
- Slow burn: attraction that builds over hundreds of pages.
- A morally grey partner: someone feared for good reasons.
- Found family: allies who become the people the heroine fights for.
The nine picks below are grouped by their strongest draw, with publication details from each publisher’s page unless another source is named.
Which read-alikes share the fairy tale roots?
Four books rebuild the same tales the series drew on: Cruel Beauty and A Curse So Dark and Lonely retell Beauty and the Beast, Fire and Hemlock retells Tam Lin, and Wintersong follows a heroine into a goblin realm to bargain for her sister.
Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge
Publisher: HarperCollins (paperback April 2015, 368 pages). Status: a single novel. Nyx has been promised since birth to the demon lord who rules her kingdom, and she arrives at his castle planning to kill him. Why it matches: it is the closest structural twin to the first book, a bargain bride living inside the castle of the being she was promised to. HarperCollins prints a cover quote from the series author calling it a clever retelling. Heads-up: young adult; School Library Journal recommended it for teens who enjoy romantic fantasy. Skip if: sprawling worldbuilding matters more than a tight, single-castle setting.
A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer
Publisher: Bloomsbury YA, the young adult imprint of the same publisher (January 2019, 496 pages). Status: a complete trilogy; Bloomsbury dates the finale, A Vow So Bold and Deadly, to January 2022. Why it matches: a prince trapped in a repeating autumn and a cursed court mirror the masked lord and his blighted lands. Harper, the heroine, has cerebral palsy. Heads-up: young adult, published under Bloomsbury’s teen imprint. Skip if: a fully adult romance is the goal; the romantic content stays within young adult limits.
Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones
Publisher: first published by Greenwillow in the US in 1984 and by Methuen Children’s Books in the UK in 1985, according to Wikipedia; HarperCollins keeps it in print. Status: standalone. Why it matches: it is built on the Tam Lin ballad, the same root as the first book’s final trial, with a young woman who must outwit a Queen of Faerie to save a man bound to her. Heads-up: published for young readers and teens, quiet in tone. Skip if: the romance needs to lead; here it is a slow, puzzling undercurrent, and Wikipedia’s summary notes that the ending depends on how the reader interprets it.
Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones
Publisher: Wednesday Books, a Macmillan imprint (paperback February 2018, 464 pages). Status: a complete duology with Shadowsong. Liesl, a composer, goes into the Underground to win back her sister from the Goblin King. Why it matches: Macmillan pitches it to fans of Labyrinth and Beauty and the Beast, and its human artist drawn to the ruler of a hidden immortal realm parallels the painter at the heart of the series. Heads-up: Macmillan lists an age range of 12 to 18. Skip if: battles and court scheming are the draw; this is an inward, music-driven story.
Which books have faerie courts and a human outsider?
Two picks put a mortal woman among faerie rulers who could destroy her: An Enchantment of Ravens, a short standalone about a portrait painter and an autumn prince, and Quicksilver, a long adult novel about a thief bound to a faerie warrior. They match the courtly danger of the series more than its retellings.
An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books, part of Simon & Schuster (paperback September 2018, 320 pages). Status: standalone. Simon & Schuster describes a skilled painter who must stand up to the faerie courts while falling for a faerie prince. Why it matches: a human artist, immortals who crave human craft because they cannot make anything themselves, and an autumn prince are three of the first book’s core ideas in one compact novel, as the publisher’s teen site describes it. Heads-up: grades 9 and up per the publisher; no explicit content. Skip if: the five-book scale is part of the appeal; this one resolves in a single volume.
Quicksilver by Callie Hart
Publisher: Forever, part of Hachette Book Group. Status as of October 2026: two of three books are out, with Brimstone following Quicksilver, and Hachette lists the untitled third book for 7 September 2027. Saeris, a thief with secret alchemical power, opens a gate between realms and finds herself bound to a powerful faerie warrior. Why it matches: a faerie warrior who, in Hachette’s words, will use her secret magic to protect his people echoes the second book’s partnership arc, and the bargain is central. Hachette reports more than three million copies sold across the series. Heads-up: adult, with mature romantic content; both books run long, the deluxe first volume to 640 pages. Skip if: an unfinished series is a problem.
Which picks deliver the slow burn and a morally grey love interest?
Three picks spread attraction across hundreds of pages and give the heroine a partner with a frightening reputation: Uprooted, an adult standalone set beside a malevolent wood; Kingdom of the Wicked, a trilogy pairing a witch with a prince of Hell; and Daughter of Smoke & Bone, a war across worlds with a chosen family at its centre.
Uprooted by Naomi Novik
Publisher: Del Rey, part of Penguin Random House (May 2015, 480 pages). Status: standalone; Wikipedia records that it won the 2015 Nebula Award for Best Novel. A village girl is taken to serve a cold wizard in his tower, then discovers her own magic as a corrupted forest spreads. Why it matches: the tower opening plays like Beauty and the Beast, which reviewers noted, and the cold, prickly wizard is a grey partner earned slowly. Heads-up: adult fantasy with dark, frightening forest scenes. Skip if: a faerie court is essential; the magic here comes from Polish folklore, not faerie lore.
Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco
Publisher: JIMMY Patterson Books, part of Little, Brown and Hachette (October 2020, 384 pages). Status: a complete trilogy, with Kingdom of the Cursed in October 2021 and Kingdom of the Feared finishing the run. A witch in nineteenth-century Palermo investigates a string of murders on her island and makes an uneasy alliance with Wrath, one of the princes of Hell, as Hachette’s description and Publishers Weekly’s review set it out. Why it matches: the enemies-to-allies slow burn and the descent into an infernal court track the move from Spring to the darker courts. Heads-up: Hachette suggests the final book for ages 16 and up, and the romantic content grows more mature as the trilogy goes on. In one r/Fantasy thread, a reader said a writers group objected to how much of the later books centred on that content (read the discussion). Skip if: the plot matters more than the pairing.
Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor
Publisher: Little, Brown, part of Hachette (first published 2011). Status: a complete trilogy, published from 2011 to 2014. Karou, an art student in Prague raised by chimaera, falls for Akiva, an angel from the other side of an old war. Why it matches: it is the strongest pick for the found family and the war of books two and three, and the heroine who sketches monsters is another artist at the centre. Heads-up: young adult, with war violence. Skip if: war violence is unwelcome; the conflict drives the later books.
Why are the usual suggestions not at the top of this list?
The most repeated suggestions are the author’s other two series, a dragon war-college book, a vampire-gods series and Holly Black’s The Cruel Prince. They share popularity and heat, but most drop the fairy tale structure that makes the first book work.
- The author’s other series: the natural next step for readers who want the same prose and pacing. See every series by the same author, in order, and the three ways to read the assassin saga.
- The dragon war-college route: Fourth Wing shares the morally grey partner and the war, not the faerie bargain.
- Faerie intrigue for younger readers: The Cruel Prince matches the courts and the scheming but runs on rivalry rather than a curse or a bargain.
Which books similar to ACOTAR are adult, and which are young adult?
Three picks are adult (Uprooted, Quicksilver and, by its later books, Kingdom of the Wicked) and six are young adult. That split matters because the series itself moved: Wikipedia notes it was first published as young adult in 2015 and is now classified as new adult, with romantic content that grows across the books.
Readers come at this from both directions. In a widely upvoted r/Fantasy thread, a reader halfway through the second book said the characters felt written like teenagers and asked for something more adult; one popular reply argued that many readers avoid calling books they love young adult even when most of the book follows young adult conventions (see the thread). The safe rule:
- For a more grown-up read: Uprooted first, then Quicksilver.
- For the first book’s tone: Cruel Beauty, An Enchantment of Ravens or A Curse So Dark and Lonely.
- For a teen reader: check the age guidance in the table below.
The trope-match table
Series length as of October 2026; age categories follow the publisher’s listing where one exists.
| Book | Shared trope | Series length | Standalone? | Age category |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cruel Beauty | Bargain bride, demon lord’s castle | 1 book | Yes | Young adult |
| A Curse So Dark and Lonely | Beauty and the Beast, cursed court | 3 books, complete | No | Young adult |
| Fire and Hemlock | Tam Lin, faerie queen’s bargain | 1 book | Yes | Young adult, older children |
| Wintersong | Immortal ruler, human artist | 2 books, complete | No | Ages 12 to 18 |
| An Enchantment of Ravens | Painter heroine, seasonal faerie court | 1 book | Yes | Grades 9 and up |
| Quicksilver | Faerie warrior, binding bargain | 2 of 3 out | No | Adult |
| Uprooted | Slow burn, grey wizard | 1 book | Yes | Adult |
| Kingdom of the Wicked | Grey prince, infernal court | 3 books, complete | No | 16 and up (final book) |
| Daughter of Smoke & Bone | Found family, war, artist heroine | 3 books, complete | No | Young adult |
Which pick fits which reader?
Choose by the part of the series that stayed with you. Four standalones let a reader test a style in a weekend before committing to a trilogy.
- Loved the cursed manor and the masks: Cruel Beauty, then A Curse So Dark and Lonely.
- Loved the painter and the faerie seasons: An Enchantment of Ravens.
- Loved the final trial of the first book: Fire and Hemlock.
- Loved the slow burn with a difficult partner: Uprooted, then Kingdom of the Wicked.
- Loved the war and the chosen family: Daughter of Smoke & Bone.
- Wants another long faerie series right now: Quicksilver, accepting the wait for book three.
- Wants music and melancholy: Wintersong.
Waiting for the next instalment of the series itself? Bloomsbury dates book six for 27 October 2026, so a standalone from this list fits neatly into the gap. More lists live in the read-alike guides section.
Series questions
Which pick is closest to the second book rather than the first?
Quicksilver and Kingdom of the Wicked. Both centre on a partnership with a feared immortal and a darker court, which is the shape of the second book.
Which pick is the shortest commitment?
An Enchantment of Ravens. Simon & Schuster lists the paperback at 320 pages, and it is a standalone, so the story closes in one volume.
Are any of these picks being adapted for screen?
Hachette’s page for Quicksilver states that a feature film is in development with Netflix, as of October 2026. No adaptation of the other eight picks has been announced on their publishers’ pages.
Are the author’s other series set in the same world?
Each series can be started on its own, in its own world. The single point where they connect is covered, with spoiler warnings, in the cross-series reading order linked above.
Is there an unfinished series on this list?
Only one. Quicksilver has two books out, and Hachette lists the third for September 2027. Every other series here is complete, and four picks are standalones.
The safe answer
For most readers, the best books like A Court of Thorns and Roses are the ones that share its fairy tale skeleton: start with Cruel Beauty or An Enchantment of Ravens for the first book’s feel, Uprooted for an adult slow burn, and Daughter of Smoke & Bone for the found family. Quicksilver is the pick for a long faerie series, with a wait attached.
Whatever the choice, match the trope rather than the cover, and check the age category first.
Titles, order and adaptation news were confirmed with publisher and studio announcements before publishing. Machine drafting was used for structure only.
Sources: encyclopedia series entry, publisher series page (upcoming release dates), bargain-bride novel page, cursed-prince trilogy page, ballad retelling entry, goblin realm novel page, painter heroine novel page and its teen imprint summary, alchemy trilogy finale listing, enchanted wood novel page, infernal court finale page, chimaera trilogy opener page