Books Like Sorcery of Thorns
If you finished Sorcery of Thorns and want more demons, enemies to lovers, slow burn, 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, Sorcery of Thorns is:
Last updated
We may earn a commission when you buy through links on this page. It doesn't change what we recommend. How we make money.
The picks
-
1. Kingdom of the Wicked
Shares: demons, enemies to lovers, slow burn
Sicilian witch summons a prince of hell to find out who killed her twin. Wrath is the best part, and the spice goes up a lot in book two.
- Witches
- Demons
- Enemies to Lovers
- Revenge
Content warnings
Murder, Gore, Death of a loved one
-
2. A Curse So Dark and Lonely
Shares: forced proximity, slow burn
Harper, a girl from DC with cerebral palsy, gets snatched into Prince Rhen's cursed kingdom, where every autumn ends with him turning into a monster. The quiet guard commander Grey steals the whole book. Clean YA, more about duty than kissing.
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Curses
- Forced Proximity
- Slow Burn
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Death of a loved one
-
3. A Dawn of Onyx
Shares: enemies to lovers, forced proximity, slow burn
A healer gets caught fleeing her village and ends up working in the enemy king's castle, and yes, the brooding commander is more than he looks. If you've read ACOTAR, you'll know exactly where this is going, and that's sort of the point.
- Captor and Captive
- Enemies to Lovers
- Forced Proximity
- Slow Burn
Content warnings
War, Graphic violence
-
4. A River Enchanted
Shares: slow burn, enemies to lovers
Jack Tamerlaine comes home to the isle of Cadence after ten years away to help find missing girls, called back by the heiress who used to torment him. The island's spirits of wind, water and earth are the Fair Folk in all but name. Quiet and atmospheric.
- Slow Burn
- Enemies to Lovers
- Fae
Content warnings
Kidnapping, Death of a loved one
-
5. Gods of Jade and Shadow
Shares: slow burn, forced proximity
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
-
6. The Hurricane Wars
Shares: enemies to lovers, forced proximity, slow burn
Talasyn is a soldier on the losing side of a war, and Alaric is the shadow-wielding prince of the empire that's winning. Their magic works best together, which neither of them likes. It started as Star Wars fanfic and still feels like it, for better or worse.
- Enemies to Lovers
- Forced Proximity
- Slow Burn
- Morally Gray
Content warnings
War, Graphic violence, Physical or emotional abuse, Death of a loved one
-
7. Divine Rivals
Shares: enemies to lovers, slow burn
Iris and Roman are rival reporters at the same paper while a war between two gods creeps toward their city. She types letters to her missing brother on a magic typewriter, and someone writes back. Soft, sad and very You've Got Mail.
- Enemies to Lovers
- Slow Burn
- Gods and Mythology
Content warnings
War, Death of a loved one, Drug or alcohol abuse
-
8. Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries
Shares: slow burn, enemies to lovers
Emily is a prickly Cambridge professor who goes to a frozen northern village to study the local Folk, and her charming, lazy rival Wendell Bambleby invites himself along. Told through her field journal. Cozy and very funny, with real faerie menace underneath.
- Fae
- Slow Burn
- Enemies to Lovers
- Deals and Bargains
Content warnings
Kidnapping
-
9. Shield of Sparrows
Shares: enemies to lovers, forced proximity, slow burn
A dutiful princess who was never meant to rule seals an old treaty with her own blood and gets sent across the sea to a husband she barely knows, in a realm the gods filled with monsters. A legendary monster hunter rides along and resents her. Fast, smooth and full of misdirection.
- Arranged Marriage
- Enemies to Lovers
- Forced Proximity
- Slow Burn
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Murder, Death of a loved one
-
10. Sky in the Deep
Shares: enemies to lovers, forced proximity
Eelyn spots her supposedly dead brother fighting for the enemy clan, then gets captured and has to winter in their village. Viking-flavored, short and bloody, with the enemy slowly turning into family. No spice at all.
- Enemies to Lovers
- Captor and Captive
- Forbidden Love
- Forced Proximity
Content warnings
War, Graphic violence, Death of a loved one
-
11. Throne of the Fallen
Shares: demons, forced proximity, enemies to lovers
Envy gets his own book and Maniscalco cranks the spice way past Kingdom of the Wicked. A spin-off you can read on its own.
- Demons
- Forced Proximity
- Enemies to Lovers
- Curses
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Murder
-
12. Quicksilver
Shares: enemies to lovers, forced proximity, slow burn
Saeris is a thief who touches the wrong thing and gets hauled into the fae realm by a very rude fae warrior. Long, crude in a fun way and properly spicy once it gets there.
- Fae
- Enemies to Lovers
- Forced Proximity
- Morally Gray
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Gore, Murder
-
13. For the Wolf
Shares: forced proximity, slow burn
Red, the queen's second daughter, is sent into the Wilderwood as a sacrifice to the Wolf and finds a grumpy Warden named Eammon bleeding into the trees to keep them back. Red Riding Hood meets Beauty and the Beast with forest horror. Slow and tender.
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Curses
- Forced Proximity
- Slow Burn
Content warnings
Gore, Graphic violence
-
14. Immortal Rose
Shares: forced proximity, slow burn
Viola is the illegitimate Rosebourne heir and a perfumer, roped into making the one scent that could save Albion's king while a royal spymaster watches her every move. Regency gloss with some grit underneath. Ends on a cliffhanger, fair warning.
- Court Intrigue
- Forced Proximity
- Morally Gray
- Slow Burn
Content warnings
Murder, Graphic violence
-
15. Night of the Witch
Shares: enemies to lovers, forced proximity
Sixteenth-century Germany, where the witch trials are real and so is magic. Fritzi is a witch, Otto is a witch hunter, and they need each other to find her missing brother. Alternating chapters with real historical dread underneath.
- Witches
- Enemies to Lovers
- Forbidden Love
- Forced Proximity
Content warnings
Torture, Graphic violence, Murder, Death of a loved one
Read more than just Sorcery of Thorns? Tap everything you've loved and we'll build a reading list around all of it, not just this one book.