Six of crows is great if ur trying to get into fantasy and you’ve probably heard this one before but fourth wing is also great to start with!! I also really loved babel but that’s a bit of a longer and heavier fantasy read. Same goes for priory of the orange tree, but that’s also more in the romantasy direction. If you like mythology related books, Circe is amazing. On the romance side I’m always a fan of anything Jane Austen, and would highly recommend the seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo!
Yeah those are the same ones people never shut up about. If you want some books that are definitely not those, I could recommend: 1. The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir (adult sci fi fantasy mystery with some romance) 2. An Ember in the Ashes series by Sabaa Tahir (YA/NA dark fantasy romance) 3. Green Creek series by T. J. Klune (adult/NA modern fantasy romance) 4. Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas (YA modern fantasy murder mystery romance)
Fantasy: Jace city (political fantasy, Asian inspired), the will of the many (one of my all time favs!), Babel (AMAZING but I wouldn’t recommend as first ever fantasy), vicious (superpowers), darker shade of magic, cruel prince (some consider romantasy… tbh it’s more of a political fantasy with romance subplot), tress of the emerald sea (princess bride retelling), a song to drown rivers (yearning and longing but not a romance), this is how you lose the time war (love story, more sci fi)
Romance: anything Hannah Bonam young, Emily Henry, Julie Soto, BK Borison, Ashley Poston (magical realism). Thank you for listening by Julia Whelan (recommend the audio- Whelan is my fav narrator!), chestnut springs series (cowboy), Windy City series (book 1 is mid rest are amazing), I hope this doesn’t find you (YA- one of my fav romances ever), this time it’s real (YA), not in my book People also love but I personally don’t: Hannah grace, Tessa Bailey, Abby jiminez, and Ali hazelwood
Oh boy okay here we go. A few of the titles above are lgbtq+ (The Unexpected Series has an all queer cast, Harley LaRoux writes exclusively bisexuals, and SP Wytch’s is wlw). For mm vamp romance, Silver Blood by TL Morgan. For mm and trans (sometimes w horror elements), check out Kellen Graves. Also try MN Bennet, Morgan Dante, and AE Bennet for romance and/or horror. Tempered in Ash is great wlw fantasy. And Rita A Rubin has a few mm and wlw fantasy romances.
For horror, PANE by Bailey Elizabeth is sapphic cosmic horror fun w college student characters. Sleeping Among Wolves by Royal Poff is one of my fav mm horrors. Chuck Tingle’s Camp Damascus is YA ish queer horror. MonsterManorBooks on Instagram is about to host a MASSIVE pride summer on Nune 13th sale with 117 lgbtq+ romance and horror authors featured, so I hugely recommend checking them for upcoming recs!!