#reylo book rec

[frozenoj]

Published Reylo Fics Master List

Everyone knows reylos stay winning, and I have no doubt we'll be one of the most published fandoms of all time. List originally posted on twitter (and actually stolen from an anti lmao) but ported over considering... all that.

(Note: I'm mostly just C&P'ing right now, if you know an author has a tumblr and they aren't tagged please lmk thanks! And ofc lmk if I've missed any or as new things get published.)

Ali Hazelwood Cinematic Universe

Three novels, three novellas, and she's just getting started.

Go Hex Yourself by Jessica Clare

When Reggie Johnson answers a job ad, she’s astonished to find that she’s not applying to work at her favorite card game, Spellcraft: The Magicking. Instead, she’s applying to be an actual familiar for an actual witch.

We'd Know By Then by Kirsten Bohling

Meeting your soulmate triggers "the glimpse"—walking out of Dorothy's house in Kansas and into the colorful world of Oz. The problem is, Brighton has ALWAYS seen in color.

For Love and Bylines by Merrin Taylor

When Ava Thompson is offered an undercover investigative role, she jumps at the chance. But posing as a high school senior proves to be more than Ava signed up for when she meets brooding English teacher, Nico Adams.

Almost Perfect by Charlie Mitchell

Recovering from a brain tumour, Ben has lost confidence in sex & relationships. So he gets in touch with Rey, a specialised sex worker, to help him get over his fears.

Soul Searching by E. A. Blevins

Finding your soulmate is like winning the lottery. They're rare and precious and lead to riding off into the sunset.

They're not supposed to be your high school English teacher or carry baggage that can tear you both apart.

The Hurricane Wars by @theaguanzon

A land ravaged by storms and conquerors…

A refuge across the sea that comes at a price…

A volatile alliance between two bitter enemies…

A growing attraction as dangerous as it is irresistible…

Crossroads by Chaney Banett

Ester lives a simple enough life as a waitress at a truck stop diner, plopped in middle-of-nowhere Minnesota. Her days aren’t boring necessarily. It’s just that they’re one all the same.

She doesn't question life very often. She doesn't question anything at all, actually.

…Until the mysterious regular at booth sixteen starts asking.

Hanukkah at the Great Greenwich Ice Creamery by Sharon Ibbotson

Grumpy Cohen orders a coffee when he goes to deliver a present from his mother at the ice creamery. While there he's immediately drawn to River, the Deaf woman who makes the ice cream flavors.

My Roommate is a Vampire by @jeenonamit

Cassie Greenberg's desperate when she finds a too-good-to-be-true apartment in a beautiful Chicago neighborhood. She knows there has to be a catch—only someone with a secret to hide would rent out a room for that price.

Cassie’s sexy new roommate is a vampire. And he has a proposition for her.

The Rockstar’s Omega by Hannah Haze

Layla won a backstage pass to meet her idol, Ash Canon. What will they do when his scent sends her into heat?

(Does anyone know if Hannah's other works also used to be reylo? LMK!)

The Alpha Nextdoor by Dani Doll

It doesn’t matter how hot the alpha next door is. She’s a beta, and that means it’ll never work between them.

Right?

The Exception to the Rule by Christina D. Ambrose

Violet Dawson is spirited, independent, and definitely not your typical Omega. She's determined not to be drawn to the gorgeous Theodore Chamberlin, senior editor and company Alpha asshole.

They are thrust together to plan an event, and all seems to go well until Violet's workspace floods, and they have to share an office.

What will become of them when their close proximity causes Violet to go into heat?

The Most Titillating Tale of Miss Hall & Dr Black by Jenny Michelle

Miss Charlotte Hall, bored & neglected by her Grandfather, has a shameful problem. Desperate, she turns to his physician for help. But she hadn't expected the help to be quite so…manly.

Antique Magic by Kait Disney-Leugers

Brie St. James is in need of a part-time job. She finds it at Spirit Antiques, owned by the handsome and aloof Ezra. But there's more to the shop than meets the eye. Under the layers of patina and dust, a gateway to the magical world and the shop is the crossroads of goods for the magical residents.

To Have & to Hold by Avery Crow

When Clara’s work visa is denied, she figures that’s the end of the road for her. Until her boss offers to marry her.

The idea of going back to cold, gloomy London and the dark past that haunts her is only slightly worse than having to somehow convince her friends and coworkers that her new marriage is authentic, and that there is any sort of love between them.

But Andrew Morrow is full of surprises, and Clara soon finds herself in over her head and pining for a man who is, after all, only doing her a favor.

Kirsten S. Blacketer

Kirsten has a ton of books, like omg a ton! Looks like at least 7 different series/collections? I don't know how many of them were reylo originally (could be all, could be just a few) but check them out.

[jessread-s]

✩🌗⚔️Review:

What this book lacks in world-building it makes up for in the all-consuming enemies-to-relcutant allies-to-lovers plot. 

“The Hurricane Wars” follows Talasyn and Prince Alaric, two bitter enemies with opposing magical abilities, as they are thrust into an uneasy alliance to bring an end to the Hurricane Wars. But a greater threat is coming, and the searing passion they find in each other could either save their world or destroy it. 

As a huge Star Wars fan, I thoroughly enjoyed Guanzon’s debut novel! I found great enjoyment in identifying connections between “The Hurricane Wars” and the films (7-9) as well as the ways in which Guanzon branches out to build the relationship dynamic between Alaric and Talasyn (inspired by Kylo Ren and Rey). I went feral over the addition of the arranged marriage trope that Guanzon incorporated into her storyline and really like how she infused Southeast Asian culture into Talasyn’s background. I wasn’t originally a Reylo shipper, but Guanzon has successfully converted me. 

For readers picking this one up without having seen Star Wars, this book has its pitfalls. The magic of fanfiction is that writers can create an alternate universe where beloved characters that may not have otherwise been romantically attached can get together. Very minimal world-building is needed because the assumption is that the target audience is already familiar with the source material. The problem is that traditionally published novels don’t work that way. Readers aren’t always part of certain fandoms and, in my opinion, “The Hurricane Wars” (part of the fanfic-to-romance pipeline) suffers from assuming everyone is a Star Wars fan. I came into this book with a full understanding of the characters, the magic system, and the conflict. I can see how others who have not seen the films could easily become lost because at the end of the day, the goal of this book is for Reylo to get together, even if it is to the detriment of the world-building,  plot, and conflict. I think that is why part I felt so rushed to me. Part I is not as developed as part II because only the bare minimum is done in terms of developing the world and magic system to establish that Alaric and Talasyn are enemies. Part II was much more interesting because that is where the sexual tension, angst, and banter between the characters finally comes into play. It is clear that the romance is what drives this book in comparison to the war that is going on or the magic that is present. 

I didn’t mind this, which is why I’ll likely pick up “A Monsoon Rising”. I’m ultimately glad I stuck with this book despite getting bogged down by part I because I absolutely devoured part II. And hey, if this is the book that convinces more people to watch Star Wars, I’m willing to look past its shortcomings. 

Cross-posted to: Instagram | Amazon | Goodreads | StoryGraph

[chanelslibrary]

🌙𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰🌙

✨and Pub Day!!✨

The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon

@theaguanzon

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Talasyn has always been a soldier in the Hurricane Wars. Growing up without her family has taught her to fight for her country, but to hide her light magic. Alaric is the heir and prince of the Night Empire, which has sought to conquer and destroy Talasyn’s home for the past decade. His shadow magic is the equal and opposite of hers, and in a deadly battle both of their powers converge and create a greater force. Will these two sworn enemies survive when they are faced with an impending threat to their world, or will joining Light with Shadow be the only way to end this war?

Thea Guanzon has truly outdone herself!! I have been a fan of hers since she first started on AO3, so I was SO excited when she announced her first book. THW is every bit Reylo mixed with Filipino culture/setting and enemies to lovers that Thea is so great at writing!! It does take about 5-7 chapters to get the world building out of the way, but it’s worth it to dive into Talasyn & Alaric’s story. The banter, sexual tension, and Filipino influence are my favorite parts (plus every reference to Alaric looking like Adam Driver🤤). The Hurricane Wars is out now, so run to your bookstore and get it!

Read if you love:

⚔️: Romantasy

🖤: Enemies to Lovers

🛶: Southeast Asian inspired setting

💍: Arranged Marriage

✊🏽: Brown representation

Thank you @harpervoyagerus for gifting me with an arc! 💜

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[whimsyandbooks]

The Hurricane Wars: A Stellar 10/10 True Enemies to Lovers Adventure In "The Hurricane Wars" by Thea Guanzon, the lush tale of a fantastical realm is vividly portrayed. Within this richly woven narrative, the story revolves around Talasyn, the last known light weaver on the continent, and Alaric, the formidable Prince of Kesath and an adept Shadow Weaver. Their world, torn apart by the devastating power of storms wielded by ships, is brought to life with intricate detail. As their paths collide and their magic clashes in unexpected ways, a tale of profound enmity, unexpected alliances, and the delicate balance between love and hate unfolds. Against the backdrop of a nation, Sarodivia, struggling under the oppressive rule of Kesath, these characters come alive, their complexities adding layers to a story that weaves together themes of identity, freedom, and the intricate dance between darkness and light. Join Talasyn and Alaric on a mesmerizing journey where the battlegrounds of the heart mirror the stormy conflicts of their world.

The story begins in the heart of Sarodivia, a nation ravaged by the power and greed of Kesath, whose ships wield the power of storms, giving rise to the name The Hurricane Wars. Talasyn, a Sardovian orphan, emerges as last known light weaver on the continent, her very existence a testament to a power believed long ago eradicated by Kesath. Her nemesis is Alaric, the Prince of Kesath, and a powerful shadow weaver, becomes joined in her fate. When their magic clashes, an unexpected confluence happens between light and dark, and their lives become intertwined in ways neither ever expected. This leads them to the secluded vibrant world of Nenavar, inspired by the Philippines, where even the dragons draw from South-Asian mythology. War-time weddings really are all the rage. Guanzon crafts a complex tale of identity, ancestral Mythologies, the fight for freedom, the nuances of nationhood, along with the passionate tension between love and hate that hinges the precarious balance of the fate of the world.

Guanzon's writing style is eloquent and lush, painting detailed pictures with her words. The pacing keeps readers engaged, although I found myself slightly thrown off by the absence of a world-changing cataclysmic twist in the final 100 pages. However, this might be due to my recent dive into Sarah J. Maas' books, which are known for their intense plot twists. The end of the book is still incredibly satisfying, as well as perfectly having set the gears in motion for epic twists and turns to happen in the following books of the series. The character development is subtle yet profound; both Talasyn and Alaric learn to navigate their brash hot-headedness and gradually understand each other. Themes of opposites, enemies to lovers, dark vs light, war, politics, and destiny intricately intwine throughout the narrative, creating a captivating tapestry.

The world-building in this book is extraordinary. While it began as an epic fan fiction, Guanzon has masterfully crafted a unique world with intricate political systems, customs, and mythos. Guanzon's academic background in international politics shines through, adding depth and realism rarely seen to the fantastical elements of the story.

The romance in "The Hurricane Wars" is a slow burn of the highest order. Guanzon expertly entwines romance and spice, making the reader cheer for these two oblivious souls falling for each other amidst the chaos.

This book is a treasure for fans of slow-burn enemies-to-lovers stories set in a meticulously crafted fantasy world of magic and politics. I wholeheartedly recommend it, rating it 10/10 stars. "The Hurricane Wars" is an excellent book, a testament to Guanzon’s exceptional writing. I loved it and greedily anticipate the next installment.

[theghostwrites]

Reading The Foxglove King and I'm sorry but

[bribliography]

books read in 2023

— you, again. by kate goldbeck. ‪‪★ ★ ★ ★ ½

""Maybe being in love is knowing that you’d live it all over again—every part, suffering included—to get right back to the place where you’re standing."."

goodreads review | books read in 2023

[echoofawind]

I'm in that empty void that is the last sentence of a book I didn't't ever want to end. If you need me I'll be lying down staring blankly at the sky.

[scionshtola]

another thing that gets me about complaints about fan fiction turned into books and booktok is you do not have to read those books and you also do not have to go on booktok.

[notebookqueenofnarnia]

I have searched high and low and no where can I find satisfying

Book Recs for Percabeth fans

please I’m begging you

Is it because no other book couple can compare to Percabeth?? Is their five book long slow burn the key??? Or is it the whole ‘yeah I’ll go to hell for you no hesitation, what about it’ thing??? Are you telling me middle age white man uncle rick is the only one who understands Romance??? Is it because I’m just used to all the Reylo-esque books getting published and my expectations are that precise????

please

I just wanna feel like I’m reading fanfic without reading fanfic

Does anyone get that?

[gatheringbones]

queer book recs list:

published homestuck fanfiction

published game of thrones fanfiction

published genderswapped reylo fanfiction

high school romance between children

romance novel between upper middle class cisgendered adults (trigger warning: six year age gap, one sentence reference to the existence of homophobia)

fantasy book by a closeted person who is terrified of being queer and makes being queer in the book feel like having leprosy or facing a firing squad

fantasy book by an assimilationist person who makes being queer feel like fitting in at a gated country club for well-adjusted eugenically pure normies

book by straight man

book by straight woman

book by straight man or woman but after it was published the author revealed one of the characters was queer.

[clonerightsagenda]

How to Bite Your Neighbor and Win a Wager by D.N. Bryn is a gay vampire romance I enjoyed (has plot and a couple other books after it)

Then the Honey Badger Chronicles by Shelly Laurenston are really fun shifter but are straight and a little repetitive (Tons of fun ideas, but I didn't enjoy trying to pick up her other books as much)

If you want a Yuri manga romance Run Away with Me Girl by Battan has no fantastical elements but is very good story

Aaaaaaand if you are looking for more recommendations then Kingdom of Thirst is a podcast that talks about romance books

Was perplexed by this ask also before I realized it was probably in response to my complaint about all the reylo reskins.

To be clear, I do not seek out romance to read personally. I work at a library and finalize collection development decisions, so I farm out genre recs to my romance reading-coworkers since I'm not a good judge. (We're a college but we're buying more fiction these days because hey, at least something circulates.) However I suppose I can investigate these titles as potential additions to our collection. They look more like one of my other coworker's cup of tea, so I'll ask her about them.

[ceilidho]

dearest ceil!!! first of all, good morning/night wherever it is you are, i hope you’re having a lovely day 🫶 im sure you’ve done smth similar in the past, but if it’s not too much trouble could u please give a few book recs?? feels like an age since the last time i read a new book😭

hi!!! it's morning for me now so hello good morning!!

hmm depends what kind of book you want, but here's a very quick recommendation list:

romance love on the brain, ali hazelwood (im still a reylo at heart and i love ali's books)

fiction severance, ling ma

nonfiction underland, robert macfarlane

[badatjokezz]

Dear tumblr sweethearts, i need recs, movies/series/books whatever, with the real def of enemies to lovers trope. Not just rivalry, bickering enemies to lovers. something like all of us villains, reylo, WHATEVER. Queer straight pairings idc i wanttttt them all im thirsty

[kyliafanfiction]

Lol this is a slight confession to make, but I just found your blog and when I find a HP blog I always first things first search "dramione" in there because people are so weird about dramione as a concept, and it's so refreshing to see a person who is actually not lost in the dramione sauce (is not constantly regurgitating the same 10 tiktok fics reccing them ad nauseum) and is also defending the ship from all the stupid bullshit people spew on it.

I left the community and the ship actually because it felt like both reader and writers changed in those years. Readers especially with their awful entitlement, but that also changed the writers too who became very metric obsessed.

I wish dramione wasn't exposed to so many people because I feel like most of the writers utterly don't understand what the ship is about and the readers welp they don't care they see a rec on tiktok and read the fic like it's an enemies to lovers book from booktok.

Its sad really.

Sorry for yelling into your askbox randomly about this.

I don't spend a lot of time in Dramione spaces, and I go through spurts of actually focusing on Dramione fics to the exclusion of other stuff and then not touching Dramione for months for a while, so I can't really speak to this.

I'm aware a lot of recent popular romance stuff is written by former Dramione writers, but Reylo and Bella/Edward and so many other ships have had that happen too, so it's hardly a Dramione issue.

Nor, in the last time I read recent Dramione fic, had I felt like there was a lot of 'metric driven' stuff or 'not understanding the ship'. Certainly there are people whose take on the ship or their dynamic does not line up with mine - a lot of newer Dramione fans do have a different take on the ship and on Draco than an older class, and the older class has changed over time, but I'd hesitate to call it wrong, and it's hard to articulate exactly what the difference is.

Dramione, like any popular ship, does suffer from an overly tropifying of the characters, and overuse of archetypes and too many fusion/genre AUs where characters are wedged into roles, but that happens. You filter through and read the stuff you like.

Which is one reason I like the sheer size of the fanficdom, because there's always something good to find, and even if it's a less common trope (like Hermione topping Draco, or better yet, her pegging him) there's still a decent amount of it out there.

I do appreciate that it can be annoying to have a shipdom wildly disagree with your interpretations, or keep seeing the same 'ten tiktok recs', but I can't really relate to that experience. That said, your experience is valid, and I'm always up for hearing about other people's POVs.

[peppershark]

Self-rec time! What are your favorite five fics that you've written and why? After replying to this ask, feel free pass on to five other writers to spread the love. 💗

Wolfer -- The old-timey inflection and language in Tom's POV is my absolute favorite. It's been super fun combining the wizarding world with California gold rush history. We're just getting to the mountains scenes and I can't wait to write about all the gorgeous places they're gonna bone.

Gloss -- One of my favorite things is when someone who hates baby-related fics tells me they loved gloss. This is another setting-heavy one, but I think the biggest example of 2000s energy is just how melodramatic Tom is. He's literally walking around the whole fic, ruining Hermione's life and imagining the Knights of Cydonia blasting in his wake.

The Price of Water -- I think what I'm learning here is that my favorite thing about writing is world-building. I love a good A/B/O but I like more of a brat/Daddy dynamic than regular Dom/sub so I swapped the usual designations (inspired by but not exactly like the reylo Flip Side by PastelWonder). I just love a good fake relationship plot smothered with unresolved sexual tension.

Gilded -- This is my only canon setting fic, I think! I'm really tempted to expand on this because I think Tom competing in the Triwizarding Tournament during the Golden Trio era is just so fun. I like the idea of Hermione as his dirty little secret.

Keep Me On Fire -- I dump-wrote this Everlark oneshot after re-watching the Hunger Games and it makes me happy. It's a brief peek into a day in the life (what am I saying, it's PWP) between the end of the story and the epilogue scene we get in the book series. I just loved thinking of all the details and what it would imply about how the characters might have lived with the experiences they had in the story. Blah blah blah mushy bullshit.

[mermaidsirennikita]

No please talk about how people are weird about Manacled because I see this too and yet nobody seems aware of this?

--I see multiple big name book bloggers refer to this as one of their favorite "books" when it is literally, in no way, legally or in the simple conventional definition of a book, a book. Like, I am literally this close to unfollowing someone whose recs I sometimes like because they also proudly own a professional bind-up of this book.

--Speaking of bind-ups (and when I say "professional"... book binders should not be binding fics; they are potentially opening themselves up for legal trouble, and I know that when someone offers to pay you hundreds of dollars for a bind-up of a fic it's gotta be tempting, but for the love of God do NOT do it and also don't request one, because you are also opening yourself up for some quagmires, and you do not want to get into it with JKR or her publishers or for that matter Margaret Atwood/Hulu/whoever currently has control of The Handmaid's Tale because this is in fact a fic of two different things) I personally find it incredibly wasteful to bind a fic, but that's just my personal snobbery. I cannot IMAGINE paying that much money for a bind of something I can read for free on my phone.

Like... I have respect for book-binding, it's a beautiful art form. I've seen beautiful binds of that fic. But beyond all of the risks I mentioned above, it's just honestly such a goober thing to do in my mind lol. You can spend your money how you want. I totally get why people re-bind their old copies (or new copies) of paperbacks they own and love... for themselves. And do not sell them. (Honestly, don't really know how that would work for the fic--binding it yourself and not selling it could be okay?) If I could do it, I would.

But for the love of God. I am begging people to get real with themselves about what fic is and what fic isn't.

--I really don't get how this is going to work as a reworked fic, tbh. One of the reasons why I do respect the process of converting a fic to a book in many cases, and consider that a valid form of getting a book... is that for all intents and purposes? The vast majority of these fics were essentially people writing original works and slapping vague physical features and names onto their characters. The Love Hypothesis has absolutely nothing to do with Reylo in terms of world or character development. As much as I loathed Wallbanger as a book--that is not Edward and Bella. To me, it sometimes feels like these AU fic writers wake up and go "oh, I wrote a book?"

And there is still work that goes into reworking. I read the fic that was the original form of You, Again by Kate Goldbeck. Honestly? You can see the rewrite in a big way. She did the work.

Manacled basically took a huge chunk of its world DIRECTLY from The Handmaid's Tale. And that's fine! For a fic. The fic is not an "all normal humans" AU. It's not a historical AU. It's not even a high fantasy AU. These people are witches and wizards and Voldemort won and there is a Handmaid's Tale angle. I do not know how she's going to take that into a completely different place without essentially just writing a new book lmao.

Which is the one issue I do have with fic to books, and there's no way of getting around it, and it's not immoral, it's just irritating that we dance around it in these conversations, and it is especially irritating when you get the "dur dur fic is better than original books". A hit fic does not require the same amount of effort that a hit original book does. When you read the fic you think is better than book... 9 times out of 10, you are reading it because you are a part of that fandom. You are receptive, preemptively, to that world. In fact, I would argue that you are probably more inclined to like it, subconsciously, because you are sliding into something that is familiar, or is coded to be familiar even when it's an AU.

This isn't to say that there isn't art to writing a great fic. It's not to say that there isn't a true accomplishment to writing a fic that really sticks with your audience. But the reality is that you did have a pre-set audience, "bought" by the original work that created your fandom, and that is something a truly original book does not have. When a truly original book (or, I'll give, a book based off a more obscure fic that doesn't tout itself as fic to book--and a lot of people did not do that as much back in the day, because of stigma surrounding it) hits big... That's because it did the original seduction of the audience. The author did the promo. The premise got people to open it. The book was good enough, or at least had enough "it factor", for word of mouth to kick in. I will ALWAYS give that credit to popular original books, because it is not easy to make an original work hit, and while it may not be easy for fics to hit, it is easier. And that built-in audience does travel to known fic to books.

So, because Manacled is so dependent on that HP/Handmaid's Tale world, the author is going to have to really go in on tearing it apart, and I wouldn't be surprised if it's pretty unrecognizable. It should be. And the only reason why the Manacled label will remain is that built-in audience. Which is technically fine, and I guess I should hate the game versus the player here. But it gives me the ick, I guess.

There are gray areas, I guess. I liked The Hurricane Wars, and that does owe more to SW than The Love Hypothesis or You, Again. However, I do appreciate a lot that Thea did make clear changes, and did curb the world around culture influence Southeast Asian influences. That last part especially is a big distinguisher even though a lot of the fans don't seem to acknowledge it at all but whatever.

I just don't get it, tbh.