Books Like A Tempest of Tea
If you finished A Tempest of Tea and want more vampires, found family, forbidden love, start here. Each pick shares at least two tropes with it, and we've rated every one for spice and darkness so you know what you're getting into.
For reference, A Tempest of Tea is:
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The picks
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1. Vampire Academy
Shares: vampires, forbidden love, found family
Rose is a half-vampire bodyguard in training, and her best friend Lissa is a Moroi royal. They get dragged back to St. Vladimir's after two years on the run, and her mentor Dimitri is extremely off limits. Mean girls, compulsion and blood, all very 2007.
- Vampires
- Academies and War Colleges
- Forbidden Love
- Found Family
Content warnings
Self-harm, Dubious or non-consent, Graphic violence
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2. Caraval
Shares: morally gray, forbidden love
Scarlett finally gets her invitation to Caraval, a magical week-long game, and her sister vanishes the night they arrive. Julian the sailor is her very unreliable partner. Dreamy and purple, and you won't know what's real, which is either the point or the problem.
- Deadly Trials
- Deals and Bargains
- Morally Gray
- Forbidden Love
Content warnings
Physical or emotional abuse, Kidnapping
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3. Clockwork Angel
Shares: found family, forbidden love
Tessa sails to Victorian London to find her brother and gets taken by the Dark Sisters, who force her to learn she can shapeshift. The London Institute's Shadowhunters pull her out, and Will and Jem become the love triangle Clare fans cry about most.
- Demons
- Love Triangle
- Found Family
- Forbidden Love
Content warnings
Kidnapping, Death of a loved one, Graphic violence, Drug or alcohol abuse
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4. The Darkest Part of the Forest
Shares: found family, forbidden love
In Fairfold, tourists come to gawk at a horned boy asleep in a glass coffin in the woods. Then Hazel finds the coffin smashed and empty. Two romances, one of them queer, and a brother-sister story that hits just as hard.
- Fae
- Curses
- Found Family
- Forbidden Love
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Physical or emotional abuse
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5. A Discovery of Witches
Shares: vampires, forbidden love
Diana is an Oxford historian and reluctant witch who calls up a bewitched manuscript at the Bodleian, and suddenly every creature in town is watching her, including the very old vampire Matthew Clairmont. Lots of wine, research and yoga. Slow, and people love it anyway.
- Witches
- Vampires
- Forbidden Love
- Possessive Hero
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Murder, Stalking
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6. City of Bones
Shares: forbidden love, found family
Clary watches three teenagers kill something in a New York club that nobody else can see, and that's her introduction to the Shadowhunters, Jace in particular. Snarky and very 2007, and the book's infamous twist fueled a decade of forum fights.
- Demons
- Love Triangle
- Forbidden Love
- Found Family
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Murder, Kidnapping
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7. Crave
Shares: vampires, forbidden love
After her parents die, Grace moves to her uncle's boarding school in Alaska, which is full of vampires, witches and dragons. Jaxon is the brooding one. Long and very Twilight, and the guy most fans actually ship doesn't show up properly until book two.
- Vampires
- Academies and War Colleges
- Forbidden Love
- Possessive Hero
Content warnings
Death of a loved one, Murder, Kidnapping
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8. Hush, Hush
Shares: forbidden love, morally gray
Nora's new lab partner Patch is a fallen angel, though she doesn't know that yet, and he's frankly a creep about it. This was the dark paranormal YA boyfriend of 2009. It hasn't aged well, and lots of readers still remember it fondly.
- Forbidden Love
- Possessive Hero
- Morally Gray
- Stalker Romance
Content warnings
Stalking, Murder, Graphic violence
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9. Once Upon a Broken Heart
Shares: morally gray, forbidden love
Evangeline Fox makes a deal with Jacks, the Prince of Hearts, to stop the wedding of the boy she loves. The price is three kisses, collected whenever he likes. Sugary fairy-tale prose with a hero who is absolutely not a hero.
- Deals and Bargains
- Curses
- Morally Gray
- Forbidden Love
Content warnings
Murder, Death of a loved one
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10. The Last King of Faerie
Shares: forbidden love, found family
Dru Blackthorn gets kidnapped from a nightclub and held prisoner in Faerie by Ash Morgenstern, while Kit and Ty have to stop sulking at each other long enough to go on a quest. The start of the last Shadowhunters trilogy. YA heat, out November 3.
- Fae
- Captor and Captive
- Forbidden Love
- Found Family
Content warnings
Kidnapping, Graphic violence
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11. The Stolen Heir
Shares: morally gray, forbidden love
Suren, the runaway child queen of the Court of Teeth, has been living feral in the New England woods when Prince Oak turns up asking for help on a quest. Set after The Folk of the Air, sadder than Jude's books, and Oak is far more slippery than he looks.
- Fae
- Court Intrigue
- Morally Gray
- Forbidden Love
Content warnings
Physical or emotional abuse, Graphic violence, Murder
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12. These Violent Delights
Shares: forbidden love, morally gray
Romeo and Juliet in 1926 Shanghai. Juliette is heir to the Scarlet Gang, Roma is heir to the rival White Flowers, and a contagion is making people tear their own throats out. Atmospheric and gory, with a monster in the Huangpu River.
- Enemies to Lovers
- Forbidden Love
- Morally Gray
Content warnings
Gore, Graphic violence, Murder, Suicide or suicidal thoughts
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13. From Blood and Ash
Shares: vampires, forbidden love, morally gray
Poppy is the Maiden, veiled and untouchable, and her new guard Hawke is far too interested in her. Very talky, very horny, and the twist lands if you don't see it coming.
- Vampires
- Enemies to Lovers
- Forbidden Love
- Morally Gray
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Murder, Physical or emotional abuse, Kidnapping
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14. A Cursed Kiss
Shares: morally gray, forbidden love
Keelynn's sister died from a Gancanagh's cursed kiss, so she teams up with a witch and the half-fae Tadhg to bring her back. Irish folklore all the way down. There's a lot of miscommunication, but Tadhg carries it.
- Fae
- Curses
- Enemies to Lovers
- Morally Gray
Content warnings
Death of a loved one, Murder, Graphic violence
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15. Assistant to the Villain
Shares: forbidden love, found family
Evie needs a job, and the Villain needs an assistant who won't flinch at heads on spikes. It started as the author's TikTok skits and reads like it: an office comedy that's goofy, cozy and not remotely dark despite the title.
- Villain Gets the Girl
- Slow Burn
- Forbidden Love
- Found Family
Content warnings
Graphic violence
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