A reading list you can check
FaeShelf is an independent site that recommends romantasy and fantasy romance by trope, by “books like” and by series. Every release date, rating and spice level on the site links to where it came from.
What we cover
- Trope lists: enemies to lovers, fated mates, slow burn, forced proximity, monster romance
- "Books like" lists, split by what you loved about the original
- Series reading order, with the next release date from the publisher
- Spice level and content notes for each book, with the source named
- Finished series and standalones for readers who hate cliffhangers
- New romantasy releases each month
Where the facts come from
- Publisher pages (Penguin Random House, Macmillan and Tor/Bramble, Entangled/Red Tower, Hachette/Orbit) and author websites for release dates, series order and blurbs
- NYT and USA Today bestseller lists
- Goodreads and StoryGraph figures, always with the date we checked them
- romance.io for public spice ratings, quoted with a link
- Reader threads on r/Fantasyromance and r/RomanceBooks, quoted word for word with a link
Every article has a source table behind it. A fact that cannot be matched to a source is cut, not guessed. We never write as if we read a book ourselves: reader reactions are quoted from real, linked posts.
The FaeShelf spice scale
Spice levels use the 0 to 5 scale below. We take the rating from a named public source (usually romance.io), quote it as published and place it on this scale. Content notes (violence, dark themes) are listed separately from spice.
- 0
- Closed door. No sex on the page.
- 1
- Kisses and tension, scenes fade to black.
- 2
- Some sensual scenes, not explicit.
- 3
- Open door. One or more explicit scenes.
- 4
- Several explicit scenes that are a notable part of the book.
- 5
- Frequent, very explicit scenes central to the story.
Who writes FaeShelf
FaeShelf Editorial: FaeShelf recommends romantasy and fantasy romance by trope, by "books like" and by series. Each article starts from a source file of publisher and author pages, bestseller lists, dated reader-rating figures and public spice ratings, and every fact in the article maps to a linked source. Spice levels name the source they come from. When the data is thin, the article says so. FaeShelf does not claim to have read a book unless a linked source is quoted.
FaeShelf fact-check: Before publishing, each fact in a FaeShelf article (release dates, series order, ratings counts, spice levels, content notes) is matched to a row in the article's source file and the quoted passage is checked on the live source page. Facts that cannot be matched are removed. Ratings show the date they were checked.
Drafts are written with AI assistance and checked against the source table before publishing. We do not publish sponsored content or accept payment for coverage, and FaeShelf is not affiliated with any publisher or author.
Contact
Spotted a wrong date or spice level? Email [email protected] with the link and we will fix it and note what changed.