Hi, I’m back with my favorite type of recommendations: finding alternatives for popular books we already love!
Books Like The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
The Ruin Kings by Jenn Lyons
Kihrin, a thief raised on legends is suddenly claimed as the lost heir to a treasonous prince and dragged into a world of political machinations, gods, prophecies, and dark magic. As he grows into his new identity, he must decide whether he’s meant to save the empire or destroy it. Being the chosen one might not guarantee victory or goodness.
Similarities: epic fantasy, politics, identity, morally gray characters, vast worldbuilding
She Who Became The Sun by Shelley Parker Chan
This book reimagines the rise of the Hongwu Emperor in 14th-century China. Born with a prophecy that she will achieve nothing, the heroine takes on her deceased brother’s identity, and rises from obscurity to lead armies during the Red Turban Rebellion.
Similarities: strong female protagonist, vast worldbuilding, themes of destiny and power
The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri
Malini, an exiled princess trapped under her brother’s rule and Priya, a servant girl hiding forbidden powers find their fates intertwined as they try to reshape the empire that imprisoned and betrayed them
Similarities: imperial system, multiple POVs, rich worldbuilding, morally gray characters
Black Sun by Rebecca Roaanhorse
This book is set in a world inspired by pre-Columbian cultures. During a rare celestial convergence, tensions rise across the holy city of Tova as political and spiritual forces shift. We follow Serapio, a young man marked by destiny, Xiala, a disgraced captain with magical Song powers and Naranpa, a Sun Priest facing dissent.
Similarities: rich worldbuilding, multiple POVs, prophecy, cosmic threat
Books Like The Foxhole Court by Nora Sakavic
Fence by C.S. Pacat
A queer YA graphic novel series about Nicholas Cox, a scrappy teen fencer trying to make it to the elite Kings Row fencing team while navigating rivalry and unexpected attraction with fencing prodigy Seiji Katayama.
Similarities: queer, sports setting, enemies-to-somethings
Empty Net by Avon Gale
Spartanburg Spitfires’ captain and goalie Isaac Drake finds his world upended when rival goalie Laurent St. Savoy joins the team.
Similarities: queer, sports setting, found family
Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid
Professional hockey stars Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov are rivals on the ice, masking a long-standing secret romance.
Similarities: queer, sports setting, rivals to lovers
Wolfsong by TJ Klune
Ox Matheson has lived a quiet, lonely life until a family of werewolves moves to town. With his newfound family, Ox must confront his past when it returns.
Similarities: loyalty, self-acceptance, found family
Books Like Alchemised by Sen Lin Yu
King of Flesh and Bone by Liv Zander
Ada, a widowed midwife must survive in the decaying Pale Court ruled by Enosh who embodies rot and violence.
Similarities: dark fantasy romance, morally gray characters, survival, ruined world
Land of the Beautiful Dead by R. Lee Smith
In a post-apocalyptic world where undead “Eaters” ravage humanity, Lan ventures to the walled city of the dead to confront Azrael, ruler of the undead, to end the nightmare enveloping the world.
Similarities: ruined world, survival, morally gray characters
Anathema by Keri Lake
Maevyth Bronwick is forced into the haunting world beyond the Eating Woods, where cursed souls and dark magic loom. There, Zevander Rydainn, the feared Scorpion, must protect her from a prophecy..
Similarities: dark fantasy, morally gray characters, dark magic, slow-burn
Feathers So Vicious by Liv Zander
In a war-torn world where humans and raven shifters are enemies, Galantia finds herself at the mercy of the raven leaders, especially Malyr.
Similarities: dark fantasy, morally gray characters, enemies to lovers
Books Like The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay
This is an epic historical fantasy set in an alternate version of 8th-century China. Shen Tai, a warrior seeking solitude after years of honoring the dead of a great battle, is unexpectedly gifted 250 priceless Sardian horses by a rival kingdom — an honor that thrusts him into the heart of imperial politics, court intrigue, and looming rebellion.
Similarities: historical, politics, themes of fate and duty
The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart
The Phoenix Empire is ruled through dark magic in which bone shards taken from citizens animate constructs that maintain the realm. Lin, the emperor’s daughter who has lost her early memories, must master this bone shard magic to claim power and possibly reform her father’s cruel rule. Across the islands of the empire, a smuggler chasing his lost wife becomes involved with rebels. Their world will collide for rebellion.
Similarities: imperial system, rebellion, multiple POVs
The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang
In a Japanese-inspired fantasy empire known for its elite warriors, the Matsuda family faces rising threats as war approaches their homeland. Fourteen-year-old Mamoru trains to uphold his legacy but an outsider makes him question everything he’s been taught. Meanwhile, his mother Misaki, a former fighter turned housewife, must confront the violence she tried to leave behind to protect her family.
Similarities: war, Asian-inspired, trauma, politics, imperial system
The Grace of Kings by Ken Lui
We follow two unlikely companions: Kuni Garu and Mata Zyndu. They rise from rebellion against an oppressive empire to become leaders with very different visions for its future.
Similarities: war, Asian-inspired, moral complexity
Books Like Verity by Colleen Hoover
The Ghost Writer by Alessandra Torre
Helena, a once-successful romance author facing a personal crisis, hires a reluctant ghostwriter to help her tell a final story before she dies. As the ghostwriter works through Helena’s memories and unpublished manuscript material, shocking revelations about her past begin to surface.
Similarities: unreliable narrator, writing, uncovering past
The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen
Vanessa, recently divorced from Richard, becomes obsessed with his new fiancée, Nellie. Convinced something is going wrong, she’ll try to stop the wedding.
Similarities: marriage & betrayal, secrets, unreliable narrator
The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins
Jane, a broke dog-walker, becomes involved with wealthy widower Eddie Rochester, whose wife is presumed dead. As Jane grows closer to Eddie and his affluent world, she’s haunted by what really happened to Eddie’s wife.
Similarities: mystery about the wife, unreliable narrator
The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine
Amber Patterson is a master manipulator who thinks she deserves a life of luxury. She targets Daphne Parrish—a wealthy socialite and philanthropist—with the goal of befriending her, usurping her life, and becoming the next Mrs. Parrish. However, as Amber gets closer to Daphne’s husband and their glamorous world, she realizes that the "perfect" life she’s trying to steal contains secrets she didn't bargain for.
Similarities: « perfect » husband, wife/husband/employee, dual POV, revenge
Books Like Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross
The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen
Hart, a lonely marshal patrolling the magical wilds of Tanria, clashes constantly with Mercy, who runs her family’s undertaker business—until they start writing letters to each other without knowing.
Similarities: pen pals, war
This is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone
Red and Blue are rival agents on opposite sides of a time war, leaving messages for each other that slowly become affectionate—even as their empires demand loyalty over love.
Similarities: pen pals, war, forbidden romance
The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shafter & Annie Barrows
After WWII, writer Juliet Ashton begins exchanging letters with residents of Guernsey Island about life under German occupation and travels to meet them and learn how books and human connection brought people together in hard times.
Similarities: pen pals, war, healing
Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer
After her mother’s death, Juliet Walker begins writing letters to her mother at her gravesite but they are secretly read by Declan, a boy dealing with his own guilt and loss.
Similarities: pen pals, grief
Books Like A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson
Reluctant Immortals by Gwendolyn Kiste
Two forgotten women from classic literature, Lucy from Dracula and Bertha Mason from Jane Eyre are undead immortals living in 1967 Los Angeles, still haunted by their tormentors. When Dracula and Rochester return, the pair must confront both literal monsters and their pasts to claim their lives on their own terms.
Similarities: vampires, gothic, struggling with unwanted immortal life
House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson
Marion leaves poverty to become a bloodmaid serving noblewomen whose survival depends on drinking human blood. At the infamous House of Hunger, she is drawn into a seductive but deadly world where disappearing girls threaten her life, forcing her to learn the brutal rules of this gothic blood-driven society.
Similarities: vampires, gothic, historical, seduction
The Wicked and the Willing by Lianyu Tan
In 1920s colonial Singapore, a maidservant becomes entangled with a demanding vampire mistress and another woman who seeks to save her.
Similarities: vampires, gothic, struggling with unwanted immortal life, seduction
Silver Under Nightfall by Rin Chupeco
Vampire hunter Remy must investigate a spreading corruption with two powerful vampires.
Similarities: vampires, gothic, dark fantasy, moral ambiguity
If you want more book recommendations based on novels you already like, check:
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