There exists a peculiar enchantment in tales where love blooms where it ought not to—where hearts reach across the very chasms that should keep them apart. And so, dear reader, I have gathered for you the most delicious forbidden romances the realms of fantasy have to offer, stories as impossible and inevitable as starlight falling in love with the sea.
What Makes Forbidden Love in Romantasy So Irresistible?
The magic of forbidden romance lies not merely in the obstacle, but in what that obstacle reveals. When a vampire and his enemy find themselves drawn together, when a prince discovers his heart belongs to one his kingdom would destroy—ah, then we see the truest measure of love. It is rather like watching children who have been told not to enter the enchanted wood; the prohibition itself gives the journey its meaning.
The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent
In the shadowed courts of vampires, where mortals are merely prey, young Oraya has carved her survival through cunning and steel. Adopted daughter of the Nightborn vampire king, she remains stubbornly, defiantly human in a world that would devour her without thought. When she enters the Kejari—a tournament held by Death herself—she must ally with Raihn, a dangerous rival whose very existence threatens her father’s crown.
What unfolds between them creeps in as slowly and surely as dawn, an enemies-to-lovers tale that allows these two guarded souls to truly know one another before admitting what their hearts already understand. War brews in the House of Night, and nothing, dear reader, is more deadly than love.
This Woven Kingdom by Tahereh Mafi
Imagine, if you will, a servant with eyes like secrets and a destiny like thunderclouds gathering on the horizon. Alizeh hides in plain sight, a disposable nobody who is, in truth, the long-lost heir to an ancient Jinn kingdom. Crown Prince Kamran cannot shake her from his thoughts, even as prophecies whisper that this strange, magnetic woman will uproot his entire world.
Inspired by Persian mythology and the epic Shahnameh, Tahereh Mafi has woven a tale where political intrigue tangles with longing, and where two people on opposite sides of destiny find themselves reaching toward one another across an impossible divide. The prose itself gleams like silk threads catching light.
The Book of Azrael by Amber V. Nicole
A thousand years past, Dianna surrendered her mortal life to save her dying sister, and a monster far worse than nightmares answered her call. Now she serves Kaden as an Ig’Morruthen—a creature of nightmare and shadow—hunting celestial artifacts at his command.
Samkiel was once called the World Ender. King of Gods, myth to his enemies, he has hidden himself away since the Gods War shattered everything he knew. When fate throws these two together, something utterly forbidden begins to stir. For love between celestials is celebrated, but between the King of Gods and a monster? Such things are simply not done. And yet, and yet.
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was meant for the quiet life of a scribe, surrounded by books and history. Instead, her mother—the commanding general—has thrust her into Basgiath War College, where she must bond with a dragon or die. Most cadets would happily kill her to better their own chances, including Xaden Riorson, whose father her own mother executed.
He is rebellion incarnate, marked by the crimes of his bloodline, and he has every reason to want Violet dead. The romance that kindles between them is as dangerous as dragonfire itself—an enemies-to-lovers slow burn set against military intrigue and soaring flight. The dragons, it should be noted, do not bond with the fragile. They incinerate them instead.
Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan
In the kingdom of Ikhara, where demons rule and humans serve, Lei is taken to become one of the king’s eight Paper Girls—concubines chosen for their beauty and their disposability. Within the gilded cage of the palace, she meets Wren, closed-off and mysterious, and something impossible begins.
Their forbidden romance intertwines with revolutionary fire, for Lei must decide how far she will go for justice, for vengeance, and for love. Natasha Ngan has crafted a slow-burn sapphic romance rare in fantasy, where tenderness blooms in the most dangerous of places.
A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St. Clair
Persephone, Goddess of Spring, has never quite managed to make anything grow. Flowers shrivel at her touch, a secret shame she carries into her new mortal life as a journalism student in New Athens. She has one rule: associate with no gods whatsoever.
Then she meets Hades.
The God of the Dead has built a gambling empire in the mortal world, and when Persephone unwittingly enters a bargain with him, she must create life in the Underworld or forfeit her freedom forever. What grows between them instead is a love both captivating and terrifying—the original forbidden romance, retold with heat and shadow.
Slave to Sensation by Nalini Singh
In the year 2079, three races share the world: the emotionless Psy, who have conditioned all feeling from their minds; the passionate changelings, who shift between human and animal; and ordinary humans caught between. Sascha Duncan is Psy, and she hides a terrible secret—she feels. To reveal her flaw would mean rehabilitation, the complete psychic erasure of everything she is.
Lucas Hunter is alpha of a leopard changeling pack, investigating the murder of changeling women by a Psy killer. Sascha becomes his key into their guarded society, but neither expected the impossible: that ice and fire might find each other across the chasm between their kinds. Love between Psy and changeling is utterly forbidden, and utterly undeniable.
Powerless by Lauren Roberts
In the kingdom of Ilya, only the extraordinary belong—the Elites, gifted with supernatural abilities by the Plague that ravaged the land. Those born Ordinary are criminals by birth, banished or worse. Paedyn Gray survives by pretending to be something she is not, posing as a Psychic while hiding her devastating truth.
When she accidentally saves a prince and finds herself thrust into the deadly Purging Trials, she must compete against the very Elites trained to hunt and kill her kind. The slow-burning tension between Paedyn and Prince Kai crackles with forbidden possibility, for he represents everything that would destroy her, and she represents everything he has been taught to despise.
Anticipated 2026 Releases: Forbidden Romances on the Horizon
The Faithful Dark by Cate Baumer
In a holy walled city where sin becomes visible through touch, Csilla was born without a soul—worthless to the Church that raised her. But when murders corrode the sacred magic protecting the city, she is sent to assassinate a heretic with divine blood. The heretic makes a counter-offer: help clear his name, and he will grant her a soul of her own.
Ava Reid calls this gothic fantasy “twisty and beguiling,” and the slow-burn romance between Csilla and her angelic target promises to challenge everything she believes. Angels, demons, serial killers, and a fantasy Vatican await in March 2026.
Dragon Cursed by Elise Kova
When dragons returned, they brought hellfire and a terrible curse. In Vingard, the last human city, being “Dragon Cursed” means slowly transforming into the very beasts that hunt humanity. Isola survived a dragon attack as a child by wielding magic thought long lost, and now she is hailed as their savior returned.
Her shadow is Lucan—part protector, part tormentor, keeper of unfathomable secrets. The romance between them burns slow and inevitable, set against a world where dragons have won and humanity clings to survival. Arriving January 2026.
The Salt Bind by Rebecca Ferrier
On the Cornish shore in 1779, Kensa becomes the wise woman of her village, making a Pact with the Folk to chain herself to the land and keep monsters at bay. When her mentor falls ill, she must strike a dangerous bargain with the Bucka, a storm god bound to the sea.
This lyrical tale of coastal witchcraft, forbidden deals, and desperate choices seeps into the bones like salt spray. Perfect for those who savored The Bear and the Nightingale, The Salt Bind promises atmosphere thick enough to taste.
How to Choose Your Next Forbidden Romance
The beauty of forbidden love in romantasy lies in its infinite variety. Should you crave vampires and deadly tournaments, The Serpent and the Wings of Night awaits. For mythology reimagined with modern heat, A Touch of Darkness offers Hades himself. Those seeking revolution alongside romance will find kindred spirits in Girls of Paper and Fire and Powerless.
The forbidden calls to something deep within us—a whisper that love, true love, will not be contained by walls or laws or the decrees of gods. These books answer that call magnificently.
Final Thoughts
There is something rather wonderful, I think, about stories where love refuses to behave itself. Where hearts leap across the very boundaries meant to separate them, where the impossible becomes not only possible but inevitable. These forbidden romances remind us that the greatest adventures often begin where we are told we must not go.
May your reading be as reckless and brave as the lovers within these pages.
