Best Fantasy Books of 2025

The White Octopus Hotel

Author: Alexandra Bell

Year: 2025

Genre: Historical Fantasy

Spice Rating:💋

Age Range: 18+

Plot

This dual-timeline story takes place at a gorgeous hotel in the Swiss Alps, where Eve Shaw, an art appraiser in 2015, is visiting after meeting Max Everly, a man who shares the same name as her favorite composer, born over 100 years earlier.

When she arrives at the White Octopus Hotel, Eve is thrown back in time to 1935 as she tries to undo a mistake from her past, avoid falling in love with Max, and head back to her own time.

Trigger Warnings

Child Death, War, Grief

Why Kirsten loves it

This fantastic novel was steeped in such creative magic that I could vividly picture everything. The Art Deco hotel would have been a treat on it’s own, but adding in the magical paintings, objects, and others items really made it immersive. I was swept away by this charming story.

Find this book in: Hotel Novels / Historical Fantasy Books / Books Like the Night Circus

Silver Elite

Author: Dani Francis

Year: 2025

Genre: Fantasy Romance

More info: New York Times Bestseller

Spice Rating:💋💋💋

Age Range: 18+

Plot

Wren has powerful psychic abilities, but unlike other people who are Modified, her veins do not glow silver when she uses her abilities. This trait makes her one of the most valuable Mods on the Continent to the uprising because having her abilities means death if she is ever found out.

When she makes the choice to save a child with a deadly rifle shot, her mistake costs her dearly. She is brought to enemy territory to be trained with the elite Silver Block. She is now in the hands of the enemy and if they discover her secret, it will cost her her life. She must lie to everyone, to find a way into the elite squad and perhaps be of aid to the uprising. But her commander is the son of the General and he does not miss a thing.

Trigger Warnings

Violence, Death, Torture

Why Jackie loves it

This fantasy romance novel has parts that remind me of the Red Queen and Fourth Wing if they had a book baby. But this story is completely unique and I am a bit obsessed. I listened to this book in about a day (thank you PRH Audio for my advanced listen). I could not put it down. The world-building is amazing, but not so much that it would be off-putting to someone who does not normally read romance.

Find this book in: Best Beach Reads 2025 / The Best Adult Fantasy Romance Books / Best Fantasy Books of 2025

Shield of Sparrows

Author: Devney Perry

Year: 2025

Genre: Fantasy Romance

More info: Instant New York Times Bestseller, In Development as a film with Amazon

Spice Rating:💋💋💋

Age Range: 18+

Plot

Princess Odessa is the Eldest daughter of the king of Quentis. Her younger sister, Mae, has been raised since birth to become the Sparrow- the one to marry the heir of Turah for a treaty. When the prince arrives, he chooses Odessa to be his bride-prize, and she has no choice but to agree. Her father asks her to spy on them and send information on how to find their capital city and orders her to kill the Guardian if she is given a chance.

Now Odessa and her two lady’s maids travel across the sea filled with deadly monsters as she tries to find her place in the new land filled with monsters. Odessa starts to feel a relationship with the people and is torn between her loyalty to her father and her new husband.

Why Jackie loves it

This is a slow-burn romance where the princess becomes more than a damsel in distress. It is filled with surprises, thrills, and deadly monsters at every turn of the page. I could not put it down.

Find this book in: Best Beach Reads 2025 / The Best Books Like Fourth Wing / The Best Adult Fantasy Romance Books / Best Fantasy Books of 2025

A Dance of Lies

Author: Brittney Arena

Year: 2025

Genre: Fantasy

More info: Debut Fantasy Romance

Spice Rating:💋💋

Age Range: 18+

Plot

Vasalie Moran, once a dancer, was imprisoned after being framed for murder by King Illian. He held her in the dungeon for almost two years and offers her freedom in return for spying on him. She must go to a royal gathering, gain access as a dancer, and carry out dangerous tasks that test her loyalty and her ethics. What is she willing to do to gain her freedom?

As she uncovers dark truths about Illian, Vasalie turns to his rival, the King of the East, for help. Caught between two powerful brothers, Vasalie begins to realize that Illian’s plot extends much further than she could have ever imagined and there may be no way out for her.

Trigger Warnings

Psychological abuse, chronic illness

Why Jackie loves it

For anyone who is new to fantasy, this book is the perfect introduction to the genre. There are not many fantasy elements and yet the story still has a fairy tale feel. For those who are huge fantasy fans, like me, you will love the pace of this book and the characters. Who can Vasalie trust and will she ever gain her freedom? I could not put this down. I listened to this book in about a day. Gifted by PRH Audio.

Find this book in: Books About Ballet / Best Fantasy Books of 2025

The Knight and the Moth

Author: Rachel Gillig

Year: 2025

Genre: Fantasy Romance

More info: The Stonewater Kingdom #1, Bestselling author of The Shepherd King Duology

Spice Rating:💋💋💋

Age Range: 18+

Plot

Sybil Delling is a Diviner who receives visions from “Omens”. She can predict things before they happen when she is drowned in the river before being revived. The six Diviners are revered throughout the kingdom. They are all female orphans who give ten years of service. Six (Sybil) is coming to the end of her ten years of service when a Knight arrives at the Cathedral.

She sees only bad omens when she divines for the king. Shortly after, the other Diviners start to go missing, and Sybil must seek the help of the king’s knight. He seemed to be the only one who questioned the diviners and does not fit with her idea of a knight.

The Knight, Sybil, and a gargoyle set out from the cathedral to find answers and defeat the gods.

Trigger Warnings

Drowning, Religious abuse

Why Jackie loves it

I loved the Shepherd King books, so I had high hopes for this book and it did not disappoint. Gillig weaves her stories to feel like they are familiar tales, and yet, the plot of this book is completely unique. I love how so many parts of this story come together and I cannot believe I have to wait for the next book. I am unsure if this will be a duology or a trilogy.

Find this book in: Best Beach Reads 2025 / The Best Adult Fantasy Romance Books / Best Fantasy Books of 2025

The Listeners

Author: Maggie Stiefvater

Year: 2025

Genre: Literary Historical Magical Realism

Spice Rating:💋

Age Range: 16+

Plot

It’s 1942 and June Porter Hudson is the general manager of the Avallon Hotel in West Virginia, but everything changes when the family who owns the hotel makes a deal with the state department. Now, the hotel takes in captured Axis diplomats and suspected spies while the various countries negotiate for their safe return.

Tasked with keeping the hotel running while tensions rise, she must convince her staff to serve enemies of war. As FBI Agent Tucker Minnick listens for secrets, June faces a dangerous choice that could put everything at risk. Meanwhile, the literal undercurrent of the hotel, the sweetwater, is a magical stream that feeds off the emotions of those who interact with it. June needs to figure out how to keep the sweetwater balanced as well as her guests.

Trigger Warnings

War

Why Kirsten loves it

The subtle magical realism of the sweetwater helps to heighten the tension of the already elevated stakes of the story. Read the author’s note where it’s clear the incredible amount of research Stiefvater did for this story and the wonderful way she incorporated real historical events into the novel.

The dynamics of the hotel guests, the love triangle, the sweetwater, and the incredible characters all combined to create a narrative unlike any other.

Find this book in: Historical Fantasy / Hotel Novels / Best Fantasy Books of 2025

The Rose Bargain

Author: Sasha Peyton Smith

Year: 2025

Genre: YA Fantasy Romance

More info: Cruel Prince meets The Selection

Spice Rating:💋

Age Range: 16+

Plot

Think of this book as The Selection but with Fae! The queen has ruled for hundreds of years after she ended a war. Now, every citizen in England is granted one wish from the fae queen. Girls bargain for a gift to help them make a good match and men bargain for wealth and status. However, with each gift comes a price (like the tip of a pinky finger or a few teeth). This year the stakes are the highest because the fae prince is looking for a wife.

Ivy needs that match more than ever. Her sister made a bargain she cannot remember, and it has nearly destroyed her family. To save her family from ruin, Ivy will compete with other women to win the prince’s heart.

Why Jackie loves it

I immediately wanted to read this when I heard “The Selection”, but this book is sooo good with its unique storyline. I love the alternate English history rather than a dystopian setting. The characters in the book are fun to read and I could not put this book down. There were some unpredictable elements in the story that made it even more fun and I am already dying to read the next one.

Why Kirsten loves it

This is everything my ballgown-loving heart wanted it to be. I swooned over the romance, hated the main villian, and was utterly gobsmacked by the ending. I can’t wait for the sequel!!

Find this book in: Books Like The Selection / Adult and YA Fae Books / The Ultimate List of YA Fantasy Books / Books With Flowers in the Title / Best Beach Reads 2025 / Best Fantasy Books of 2025 / Books Like The Night Circus

Wild Reverence

Author: Rebecca Ross

Year: 2025

Genre: Fantasy

More info: Bestselling Author, Set in the world of Divine Rivals

Spice Rating:💋💋

Age Range: 16+

Plot

Matilda is a young goddess with the magic to be a Herald between the human, Underling, and Skyward realms. When Vincent, a mortal, dreams of her, she is drawn to him first as a child, and later as a young woman.

Now, more than a decade after Vincett wrote to Matilda on the darkest night of his life, she comes into his bedroom window with a letter for him and unexpectedly ends up offering her aid in a battle for his kingdom. This may be the chance for Matilda to change the violent ways of the gods and learn about her inner strength.

Why Kirsten loves it

Rebecca Ross is a fantasy writer like no other, and despite not having yet read the Divine Rivals, the prequel, Wild Reverence, absolutely captivated my imagination. I couldn’t put this mystical tale down. The worldbuilding was incredible, but not overwhelming. Vincent and Matilda’s love story was a slow-burning friendship to lovers tale that changed the course of the gods. I ate it up and am now dying to read Divine Rivals! #gifted by Saturday Books

Find this book in: Best Fantasy Books of 2025

The Women of Wild Hill

Author: Kirsten Miller

Year: 2025

Genre: Fantasy

More info: Best-selling author of The Change

Spice Rating:💋💋

Age Range: 16+

Plot

I love that authors this year are writing badass women who are fighting the patriarchy. Kirsten Miller tackles that theme with this tale of modern witches on Wild Hill, Long Island, where the ghost of a witch burned at the stake barred everyone from her land until Sadie from Scotland arrived.

For generations, Sadie’s descendants thrived on Wild Hill as each generation’s power grew. Now, Brigid, Phoebe, and Sibyl have been called back to Wild Hill to deliver a reckoning to mankind – and specifically the billionaires who treat the earth like their playground with little consequence for the disastrous impact on people and planet.

Brigid can see death, Phoebe can heal with her plants and the sisters have always been close until their mother’s untimely death when they were ripped apart. Decades have passed without the sisters speaking and without them stepping foot on Wild Hill. Phoebe’s daughter, Sibyl, knows nothing of her heritage, her mother’s powers, or even that she has an aunt.

But when they are all called back by their descendants, they must work through their differences and learn to trust one another to change the trajectory of the world.

Why Kirsten loves it

I could not put this story down. If you liked The Change, this is set in the same world – with small callbacks to that plot – but on a much larger scale. I was blown away by Kirsten’s ability to weave such an intricate story that was both intimate and global in scheme. A favorite of the year for me without a doubt. #gifted by William Morrow.

Find this book in: Best Fantasy Books of 2025 / Novels About Weather / Best Witch Books / Giftable Books