A princess falls for the wrong woman. A witch’s curse makes love impossible. Two girlfriends commit a little treason in pursuit of a bookshop. Sapphic fantasy romance has range—and finding your next read should be easier than deciphering a prophecy.
These ten picks span romantic fantasy, Gothic fairy tales and cozy adventure, with two epic fantasies at the end for readers who want a much larger world. The deciding question: how much of your next obsession do you want to be the love story?
Quick picks: choose your kind of trouble
- The Honey Witch: Sydney J. Shields. Cottagecore magic and grumpy/sunshine attraction. Adult · Standalone · Romance-forward.
- Malice: Heather Walter. A princess falling for the supposed villain. Adult · Book 1 of 2 · Dark romantic fantasy.
- Bitterthorn: Kat Dunn. Gothic yearning in a witch’s castle. YA · Standalone · Gothic romance.
- A Restless Truth: Freya Marske. Adult romance, magic and a shipboard murder. Adult · The Last Binding, book 2 · Romance and mystery.
- Crier’s War: Nina Varela. Enemies-to-lovers with genuinely opposing loyalties. YA · Book 1 of 2 · Romance and revolution.
- Of Fire and Stars: Audrey Coulthurst. Princesses, forbidden magic and the wrong royal sibling. YA · Series opener · Forbidden romance.
- Faebound: Saara El-Arifi. Fae courts with romance, sisterhood and divided loyalties. Adult · Trilogy opener · Romance and adventure.
- Can't Spell Treason Without Tea: Rebecca Thorne. An established couple choosing a life together. Adult · Tomes & Tea, book 1 · Cozy sapphic adventure.
- The Jasmine Throne: Tasha Suri. Power games, dangerous magic and an uneasy alliance. Adult · The Burning Kingdoms, book 1 · Epic fantasy first.
- The Priory of the Orange Tree: Samantha Shannon. A queen, her secret protector and an enormous dragon epic. Adult · Standalone within The Roots of Chaos · Epic fantasy first.
Choose a title above to jump to its notes and buying links. Retailer links open the storefront shown; editions and availability vary by country. The order below follows reading moods, not a numerical ranking.
When the love story is the reason you’re here
1. The Honey Witch by Sydney J. Shields
Pick it for: Cottagecore magic and grumpy/sunshine attraction. Adult · Standalone · Romance-forward.
Marigold leaves the marriage market behind to become the Honey Witch of Innisfree. Excellent career move; awkward romantic prospects. Her magic comes with a curse that prevents anyone from falling in love with her. Then Lottie, a woman who refuses to believe in magic, arrives and becomes a rather personal challenge.
Choose this for a love story built into the magical problem itself: the more Marigold wants Lottie, the more her chosen independence appears to cost her. Gardens, bees and island life supply the cottagecore setting, but darker magic means this isn’t an entirely peril-free retreat.
Before you commit: Start here if you want witches and longing before armies and dynasties.
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2. Malice by Heather Walter
Pick it for: A princess falling for the supposed villain. Adult · Book 1 of 2 · Dark romantic fantasy.
Aurora is running out of time to escape a lethal curse. Alyce, the despised Dark Grace whose magic makes her useful to the very people who reject her, might be able to help. Sleeping Beauty acquires a much more interesting question when the princess’s connection is with the woman everyone has decided must be the monster.
This is our pick for readers who want their fairy tale angry: attraction tangled with exclusion, power and the temptation to become what people already call you. The romance matters, but the villain-origin framing matters too. Don’t buy the first volume expecting the whole love story neatly tied off.
Before you commit: Read Malice, then Misrule. Bring both books to the emotional negotiation.
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3. Bitterthorn by Kat Dunn
Pick it for: Gothic yearning in a witch’s castle. YA · Standalone · Gothic romance.
Once a generation, a witch takes a companion from Blumwald, and the companion never returns. Lonely, grieving Mina volunteers. What waits in the castle is both a dangerous mystery and the possibility of a connection she could not find at home.
For readers whose idea of romance involves an ominous forest and a terrible decision, this is the invitation. The appeal is the uneasy intimacy: Mina has chosen to go, but she does not know what happened to the people before her. Expect loneliness, secrecy and a slow-burning attachment rather than cozy potion-shop banter.
A compact choice for Gothic atmosphere without a multi-book commitment. It was shortlisted for the Nero Book Awards.
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4. A Restless Truth by Freya Marske
Pick it for: Adult romance, magic and a shipboard murder. Adult · The Last Binding, book 2 · Romance and mystery.
Maud Blyth boards an ocean liner to help investigate a magical conspiracy. A murder makes the crossing considerably less relaxing. So does Violet Debenham: actress, magician and spectacularly unsuitable object of Maud’s attention. There is also a parrot. Naturally, it is no help with the decorum.
This is the choice for readers who want sexual tension with somewhere to go, alongside a proper mystery. The confined ship gives attraction and suspicion the same limited space to operate. Historical manners may be restrictive; the adult intimacy is not. It’s a useful alternative to another royal court or enchanted woodland.
Before you commit: Start the wider plot with A Marvellous Light, then read A Restless Truth and A Power Unbound. This middle volume centres the sapphic couple; the surrounding books feature other couples.
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5. Crier’s War by Nina Varela
Pick it for: Enemies-to-lovers with genuinely opposing loyalties. YA · Book 1 of 2 · Romance and revolution.
Ayla enters Lady Crier’s world intending to kill her. Crier belongs to the ruling Automae, the Made beings who have subjugated humanity; Ayla has lost her family to that world. Falling for the person you came to assassinate is hardly a minor conflict of interest.
The reason to choose this enemies-to-lovers setup is the actual conflict between the women’s positions. Attraction cannot simply erase who has power and who has been harmed. Come for the forbidden connection; stay for the question of whether love can survive the politics that made the two enemies.
Before you commit: Read Crier’s War, then Iron Heart. A two-book commitment, with the revolution and relationship continuing into the sequel.
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6. Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst
Pick it for: Princesses, forbidden magic and the wrong royal sibling. YA · Series opener · Forbidden romance.
Princess Denna is betrothed to a prince. His sister Mare is supposed to teach her to ride. You can see the diplomatic problem developing. Denna is also hiding forbidden fire magic, while a royal assassination gives the two women a reason to work together beyond the riding lessons.
Choose this when the relationship you want is the one everyone’s carefully arranged future has failed to account for. Political duty gives the attraction weight, and the horse-riding premise lets the princesses get to know one another outside ceremonial niceties. It’s a particularly approachable route into courtly sapphic fantasy.
Reading order: Of Fire and Stars, then Of Ice and Shadows. A third book is not currently scheduled.
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7. Faebound by Saara El-Arifi
Pick it for: Fae courts with romance, sisterhood and divided loyalties. Adult · Trilogy opener · Romance and adventure.
Exiled warrior Yeeran and her sister Lettle encounter the fae, who were supposed to belong to legend. Captivity in their world forces both sisters to reconsider what they owe their homeland, each other and themselves. Yeeran’s sapphic romance is part of that larger tangle; this is a dual-perspective story, not one couple in isolation.
Pick this if you want the fae-court promise with a broader family and political plot. It has the dangerous new world, magical creatures and competing allegiances that make the category appealing. Readers wanting every chapter devoted to one romantic pairing should choose something more tightly focused.
Begin with Faebound, then Cursebound; it opens a trilogy. The first book is a national bestseller and British Book Awards Page-turner winner.
Explore Faebound on Sappho’s Arc
Cozy adventure with a relationship already worth protecting
8. Can't Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne
Pick it for: An established couple choosing a life together. Adult · Tomes & Tea, book 1 · Cozy sapphic adventure.
Reyna is tired of protecting a queen who treats her as disposable. Her girlfriend Kianthe, a powerful mage, would much rather they opened a bookshop serving tea. They leave for a town near dragon country. Unfortunately, leaving royal service does not mean the royal problems agree to stay behind.
The draw here is a relationship that already exists. Instead of waiting for the women to admit they like each other, you get the shared-life question: how do they protect the future they actually want? Bookshop comfort, mutual care and adventure make this a different proposition from courtship-heavy romantasy. Cozy does not mean nobody gets hurt.
Before you commit: Start with this book, followed by A Pirate’s Life for Tea. It begins the four-book Tomes & Tea series.
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Two epic fantasies for when you want the whole world, too
These next picks make room for significant sapphic relationships inside larger political and magical stories. Choose them for that breadth; the romance shares the stage.
9. The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri
Pick it for: Power games, dangerous magic and an uneasy alliance. Adult · The Burning Kingdoms, book 1 · Epic fantasy first.
Imprisoned princess Malini wants revenge. Priya, a servant concealing formidable secrets, wants to protect the people she loves. Their alliance brings attraction into a struggle over an empire. Neither woman has the luxury of treating trust as a purely personal matter.
This belongs in the fantasy-first corner of the guide. The political ambitions, religious structures and competing loyalties need as much room as the relationship. Choose it when you want two women with agendas, not a fantasy backdrop that politely disappears whenever they are alone. Its World Fantasy Award for Best Novel is another reason to take a look.
Reading order: Read The Jasmine Throne, The Oleander Sword and The Lotus Empire, in that order.
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10. The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
Pick it for: A queen, her secret protector and an enormous dragon epic. Adult · Standalone within The Roots of Chaos · Epic fantasy first.
Queen Sabran faces pressure to produce an heir while assassins threaten her life. Ead, an outsider at court, secretly protects her with forbidden magic. Across the sea, dragonrider-in-training Tané has her own dangerous choices to make. This is a world-sized story with a sapphic relationship woven through it.
Save this for when you want to move into a fantasy world, not just visit for the kissing. Ead and Sabran offer the intimacy of trust under scrutiny, but multiple viewpoints, divided cultures and dragons keep the canvas wide. That breadth is the appeal—and the reason we would not make it the automatic first recommendation for someone asking only for romance.
Before you commit: You can start here without reading A Day of Fallen Night first. That book is a standalone prequel, not prerequisite homework.
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How we chose these books
This researched discovery guide balances established reader interest, critical recognition and specific reading moods. The recommendations focus on premise, relationship dynamics and series commitment; they are not firsthand book reviews.
A few things worth knowing before you buy
Is sapphic fantasy the same as sapphic romantasy?
Not always. “Sapphic fantasy” can describe a sweeping adventure with a queer protagonist or relationship; “romantasy” usually signals a stronger blend of romance and fantasy. The labels are used inconsistently, so this guide describes the actual setup and emphasis rather than promising every book follows genre-romance rules.
Which picks are YA, and which include adult intimacy?
Crier’s War, Of Fire and Stars and Bitterthorn are the YA selections here. The others are adult titles. A Restless Truth is a good option if adult intimacy matters to your choice; an adult label alone does not tell you how explicit a book will be. Neither YA nor cozy automatically means a story is free of distressing themes.
Which can I read without committing to a series?
The Honey Witch and Bitterthorn are standalones. The Priory of the Orange Tree also works as a self-contained entry in a wider world, though it asks for a larger reading commitment. Malice and Crier’s War each begin a two-book story. A Restless Truth is already book two, so start its wider plot with A Marvellous Light.
For detailed sensitivities, use Samantha Shannon’s content guide for Priory and check author guidance or a sample before buying the darker selections. The plot descriptions above stop short of revealing the endings.
More stories for your next reading mood
Prefer your romantic complications with fangs? Try our sapphic vampire romance book guide. For fresh additions to your shelf, browse new sapphic books in November 2026 or browse our book directory.