Books Like Radiance
If you finished Radiance and want more arranged marriage, slow burn, 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, Radiance is:
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The picks
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1. A Feather So Black
Shares: forbidden love, slow burn
Fern is a changeling who never fit at the human court that raised her, and the Otherworld is calling her back. Built on Irish myth with a love story that should not happen. Gorgeous prose, and a pace you have to be in the mood for.
- Fae
- Forbidden Love
- Slow Burn
- Court Intrigue
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Death of a loved one
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2. Bride of the Shadow King
Shares: arranged marriage, slow burn
The shunned princess nobody notices gets picked as the Shadow King's bride instead of her golden sister, and goes off to a fae kingdom that may not want her either. More yearning than heat, and very soft-hearted for a book with this title.
- Fae
- Arranged Marriage
- Slow Burn
- Court Intrigue
Content warnings
Graphic violence, War
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3. Serpent & Dove
Shares: arranged marriage, forbidden love
A witch on the run ends up married to a witch hunter. It's exactly as chaotic as it sounds, with a dark streak that shows up in the back half.
- Witches
- Arranged Marriage
- Enemies to Lovers
- Forbidden Love
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Murder, Physical or emotional abuse
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4. A Deal with the Elf King
Shares: arranged marriage, slow burn
A village healer gets claimed as the elf king's bride. Softer than most on this site, but it's a full fae-bargain story in one book.
- Fae
- Arranged Marriage
- Deals and Bargains
- Curses
Content warnings
Death of a loved one
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5. A Discovery of Witches
Shares: forbidden love, slow burn
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. Belladonna
Shares: forbidden love, slow burn
Signa can't die, which is how she ends up orphaned at a gloomy Victorian estate where a ghost wants her to solve her own poisoning. Her love interest is Death himself, mostly in shadow form. Cozy-spooky and very October.
- Forbidden Love
- Slow Burn
- Gods and Mythology
Content warnings
Murder, Death of a loved one
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7. Seraphina
Shares: forbidden love, slow burn
In Goredd, dragons can fold themselves into human shape, and the treaty keeping the peace is barely holding. Seraphina is a court musician hiding exactly what she is. The romance with Prince Lucian is slow and sweet, and the prose is gorgeous if you don't mind a gentle pace.
- Dragons
- Forbidden Love
- Court Intrigue
- Slow Burn
Content warnings
Murder, Physical or emotional abuse
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8. Stolen Songbird
Shares: arranged marriage, forbidden love
Cécile is kidnapped and dragged under the Forsaken Mountain to marry Tristan, a troll prince whose people are cursed to stay buried there. These trolls are beautiful and vicious, closer to fae than fairy tale ogres. The rebellion subplot is the sleeper hit.
- Captor and Captive
- Arranged Marriage
- Forbidden Love
- Court Intrigue
Content warnings
Kidnapping, Physical or emotional abuse, Graphic violence
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9. The Bridge Kingdom
Shares: arranged marriage, slow burn
Raised to be a spy, married off to the enemy king she's supposed to destroy. Tight and fast. Great if you like your heroine competent and in over her head.
- Arranged Marriage
- Enemies to Lovers
- Assassins
- Court Intrigue
Content warnings
Graphic violence, War, Physical or emotional abuse
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10. Wicked
Shares: forbidden love, slow burn
Ivy Morgan hunts fae in the French Quarter, and the Order's new transfer Ren Owens is way too charming to trust. New Orleans urban fantasy with classic Armentrout banter, lighter than Blood and Ash and more fun about it.
- Fae
- Forbidden Love
- Slow Burn
- Touch Her and Die
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Murder, Death of a loved one
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11. A Fate Inked in Blood
Shares: slow burn, forbidden love
Viking romantasy. Freya is a shield maiden with a prophecy on her head and a jarl's son who is very much not her husband. Feels like Vikings meets a political chess game.
- Gods and Mythology
- Slow Burn
- Forbidden Love
- Court Intrigue
Content warnings
War, Graphic violence, Physical or emotional abuse
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12. Ash
Shares: forbidden love, slow burn
Cinderella with a fairy named Sidhean who wants to take Ash away forever, and the King's Huntress Kaisa, who teaches her to love the woods again. A quiet, lyrical sapphic retelling where the fae are cold and the human is warm.
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Fae
- Forbidden Love
- Slow Burn
Content warnings
Physical or emotional abuse, Death of a loved one
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13. Assistant to the Villain
Shares: slow burn, forbidden love
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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14. Daughter of No Worlds
Shares: slow burn, forbidden love
A former slave with a talent for magic gets recruited into an order of warriors. Broadbent before Nyaxia, and the slow burn here is properly slow.
- Slow Burn
- Forbidden Love
- Found Family
- Deadly Trials
Content warnings
Physical or emotional abuse, Graphic violence, War
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15. Gods of Jade and Shadow
Shares: forbidden love, slow burn
Casiopea scrubs floors for her awful grandfather in 1920s Mexico until she opens an old chest and frees Hun-Kamé, the Maya god of death. They road-trip to get his throne back. More fable than romance, with a bittersweet ending.
- Gods and Mythology
- Forbidden Love
- Slow Burn
- Forced Proximity
Content warnings
Physical or emotional abuse, Graphic violence
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