Books Like The Cruel Prince
If you finished The Cruel Prince and want more fae, enemies to lovers, court intrigue, 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, The Cruel Prince is:
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The picks
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1. A Deal with the Elf King
Shares: fae
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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2. House of Hollow
Shares: fae
Three sisters vanished as kids and came back with black eyes and no memories. Now the oldest is missing again. Gross, glittery body horror with a fae core. YA but not soft.
- Fae
- Curses
- Fairy Tale Retellings
Content warnings
Gore, Kidnapping, Murder, Harm to children
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3. The Stolen Heir
Shares: fae, court intrigue, morally gray
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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4. Gild
Shares: fae, morally gray, enemies to lovers
Auren is King Midas's gilded favorite, living in an actual birdcage and calling it love. Then raiders grab her on the road and a fae commander named Rip becomes her problem. Gild is slow and mostly setup. Glint is where the series takes off.
- Captor and Captive
- Fae
- Slow Burn
- Morally Gray
Content warnings
Sexual assault, Human trafficking, Physical or emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Murder
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5. These Violent Delights
Shares: enemies to lovers, 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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6. Darkfever
Shares: fae, morally gray
Mac goes to Dublin to find out who killed her sister and finds out she can see the fae. They're nothing like the stories. The romance with Barrons takes several books and gets very dark. This was dark fae before dark fae was a shelf.
- Fae
- Morally Gray
- Slow Burn
- Possessive Hero
Content warnings
Murder, Graphic violence, Death of a loved one
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7. Fortuna Sworn
Shares: fae, morally gray, enemies to lovers
Fortuna is a Nightmare who can see the fears of anyone she touches, and when her brother goes missing she ends up a prisoner of the Unseelie Court. Getting out costs her something very fae. Bleak, messy, and the love interest debate is half the fun.
- Fae
- Captor and Captive
- Deals and Bargains
- Morally Gray
Content warnings
Physical or emotional abuse, Torture, Kidnapping, Human trafficking, Graphic violence
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8. Losing Wendy
Shares: fae, enemies to lovers
Peter Pan retold as a mystery, with Wendy Darling, winged fae, mating marks and something killing in Neverland. Enemies to lovers on a very slow fuse. Darker than the premise sounds, and not everyone liked where it takes Wendy.
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Fae
- Fated Mates
- Enemies to Lovers
Content warnings
Murder, Graphic violence
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9. The Shadows Between Us
Shares: court intrigue, morally gray, enemies to lovers
Alessandra plans to seduce the Shadow King, marry him and kill him. He's got plans too. YA and clean, but the heroine is delightfully ruthless.
- Villain Gets the Girl
- Court Intrigue
- Morally Gray
- Enemies to Lovers
Content warnings
Murder
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10. This Monster of Mine
Shares: enemies to lovers, revenge, morally gray
A legal thriller in a Rome-inspired city. Four years after someone threw Sarai from a tower, she's back as a Petitor who can hear lies, assigned to Tetrarch Kadra, the feared judge whose voice sounds exactly like her attacker's. She works with him by day and plots against him by night.
- Enemies to Lovers
- Revenge
- Morally Gray
- Court Intrigue
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Torture, Murder, Physical or emotional abuse
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11. Tithe
Shares: fae, court intrigue, morally gray
Kaye is a sixteen-year-old living out of her mom's band van in New Jersey, and the faeries who used to visit her as a kid have plans for her. Grungier and more 2002 than The Cruel Prince, but you can see where Jude came from.
- Fae
- Court Intrigue
- Forbidden Love
- Morally Gray
Content warnings
Drug or alcohol abuse, Murder, Physical or emotional abuse
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12. A Broken Blade
Shares: fae, court intrigue, enemies to lovers
Keera is the King's Blade, a half-fae spy who drinks to forget what she's done for a human king. Hunting a rebel called the Shadow drags her back toward the fae lands she abandoned. Indigenous-inspired and slower than the hype. Readers rate the first two books highest.
- Assassins
- Fae
- Court Intrigue
- Enemies to Lovers
Content warnings
Self-harm, Suicide or suicidal thoughts, Drug or alcohol abuse, Murder, Sexual assault
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13. Faebound
Shares: fae, enemies to lovers, court intrigue
Two elven sisters, a disgraced soldier and a fortune teller, get exiled and stumble into the fae everyone said were extinct. The main romance is sapphic.
- Fae
- Forbidden Love
- Enemies to Lovers
- Court Intrigue
Content warnings
War, Graphic violence, Death of a loved one
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14. House of Earth and Blood
Shares: fae, morally gray
Urban fantasy Maas: phones, clubs, angels and a half-fae party girl hunting whoever killed her best friend. The first 200 pages are a slog and the last 200 are a sprint.
- Fae
- Demons
- Morally Gray
- Slow Burn
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Gore, Murder, Drug or alcohol abuse, Death of a loved one
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15. Kingdom of the Wicked
Shares: enemies to lovers, revenge
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
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