📚 On My Romance TBR: 8 Books I Bought, Haven’t Started, and Need You to Talk Me Into Reading
The pile of “I swear I’m getting to it” — romantasy, mafia, dark hockey, contemporary, gothic, and one saga I’ve been avoiding for over a year now. None of these have I read yet. All of them are waiting. Which one first?
This post contains affiliate links. If you buy through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you, which helps keep the candles lit around here. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
—BF ♥️
Let me be honest with you, because that is the whole point of this place: my TBR is a crime scene.
I have a system. I read the book, and if I fall, I buy everything — the special edition, the audiobook, the extra paperback for the bonus chapters. The problem with that system is that it assumes I ever start the books.
Reader, I do not always start the books.
Some of them have been sitting on my shelf, fully purchased, waiting patiently for over a year. ACOTAR, I am looking directly at you. So here is my actual TBR: the ones I’ve bought and still haven’t cracked, across every trope I love. I need your help here. Which one first?
Talk me into it in the comments. Wreck my productivity. That is what we’re here for.
No ratings on this list, because I haven’t started any of them yet. These are not reviews. They are confessions — and I need your most persuasive case for which one comes first.
1. A Court of Thorns and Roses — Sarah J. Maas
Trope: Romantasy
Status: Owned. Unopened. Watching me from the shelf.
⚠️ It’s a whole saga — I’m scared, and here’s why.
Okay. I know. I KNOW.
My group chat is genuinely angrier about this than I am. I own it. It’s right there. And I still haven’t started it — because the last romantasy world I fell into emotionally leveled me, and I was not ready to move into another sprawling, multi-book universe so soon after.
And ACOTAR does not feel like “starting a book.” It feels like signing a lease in Prythian, learning everyone’s trauma, losing sleep, developing opinions, and possibly becoming insufferable for several months.
I need to be emotionally prepared.
So tell me: is it time? Will it wreck me in the good way, or in the “now I have no personality except this series” way?
Both. I already know it’s both.
Shop A Court of Thorns and Roses →
2. Phantasma — Kaylie Smith
Trope: Dark fantasy romance
Status: Bought for one very specific reason.
⚔️ If you like deadly games, haunted mansions, and dangerous bargains — this one is staring at us both.
Here’s my confession on why I bought this: I watched Squid Game like the rest of the planet, and then I saw someone describe Phantasma as giving “Squid Game meets ACOTAR” energy — a deadly competition, nine lethal levels, one wish at the end, and only one survivor.
I one-clicked immediately.
Then, true to form, I let it sit on my Kindle.
A necromancer enters a haunted mansion to save her sister. There’s a morally grey phantom offering dangerous bargains, and the rule is don’t fall in love — which, frankly, sounds like asking lightning not to strike.
So, deadly-game people, romantasy people, dark fantasy people: tell me. Is this the one I should open next? Does it deliver on the pitch, or did I let one dangerously good premise whisper me straight into another unread Kindle confession?
3. Fever Dream — Elsie Silver
Trope: Contemporary Western romance
Status: One-clicked on author loyalty. Haven’t opened it. Classic.
📺 If you’ve ever screamed at The Bachelor — this one’s calling us.
Full transparency: I bought this the second it dropped, sight unseen, purely because it says Elsie Silver on the cover.
I fell hard for Chestnut Springs and Rose Hill — she writes contemporary slow burn, tension, passion, and all the feelings better than almost anyone. So when she puts out something new, I one-click first and read the synopsis later.
And then, true to form, I sometimes let it sit on my Kindle and stare at me.
This one kicks off her new Emerald Lake series, set in the same beloved universe as Chestnut Springs and Rose Hill. Which means I am already intrigued before page one, because Emmett and Julia are not exactly strangers to the Elsie Silver orbit: he has that redemption-arc energy, and she is Theo Silva’s little sister.
The premise? A bull rider. A reality dating show. Small-town Western chaos. Forbidden tension. Secret rendezvous. Rivals-to-lovers energy. Basically, it sounds like someone took my weaknesses, put them on a ranch, handed them a camera crew, and said, “Behave.”
They will not behave. Obviously.
If you’ve ever yelled at a dating-show screen like I have, this sounds like the book version of that feeling — except with more cowboy tension and fewer commercial breaks.
Fellow Elsie Silver devotees: talk me into starting it. Is this a return-to-the-ranch situation I need immediately, or should I emotionally prepare before opening the door?
4. Bad Bishop — LJ Shen
Trope: Dark mafia romance
Status: The series I actually want to commit to next.
✅ Interconnected standalones — and yes, I checked. Lesson learned.
I heard book two, Twisted Pawn, might be even better than book one — which is exactly the kind of second-book gossip I live for. Let me explain the theory: book one has to be good. It is the invitation, the first door, the reason we step into the world at all. And if it doesn’t hook me in, I am never reaching for book two.
But the second book? That is where the magic can compound. We already know the world. We already understand the rules. We are already a little too invested. So book two gets to skip the introductions and go straight for the throat — familiar, dangerous, and devastating. That is the sweet spot.
Anyway, my instinct was to dive into this series immediately. But I have learned from my past mistakes — specifically, the emotional damage of falling into an unfinished saga and landing on a cliffhanger. So I checked first. L.J. Shen writes interconnected standalones, so we can read them independently here — no cliffhanger panic required. Bad Bishop is book one of Society of Villains, Twisted Pawn is book two, and Fallen Rook is book three, arriving September 22.
So this might be the safe-to-fall dark mafia series I actually commit to next.
Talk to me if you’re already in it. Is Bad Bishop the door, and am I right to suspect Twisted Pawn is where the room catches fire?
5. Quicksilver — Callie Hart
Trope: Romantasy
Status: Bought in the fae-fever, still unopened.
⚠️ Trilogy still unfinished — book three arrives September 7, 2027. Not entirely safe to fall yet. I checked.
This rode the romantasy wave hard, and yes, I bought a ticket.
The official premise already has me concerned for my schedule: Saeris Fane is keeping dangerous secrets, picking pockets, stealing where she shouldn’t, and somehow ends up reopening a gateway between realms. One accidental portal later, she’s in a land of ice and snow, tangled in a centuries-old fae conflict, and mistakenly bound to Kingfisher — a powerful fae warrior with secrets, nefarious agendas, and, apparently, a spectacular attitude problem.
So we have: enemies-to-lovers energy, forced proximity, dangerous bargains, razor-sharp banter, a fae world with actual teeth, and a broody MMC named Kingfisher.
Yes. Kingfisher. That is really his name, and honestly? I respect the commitment. That said, fingers crossed she’s just calling out “King.”
It has been glaring at me from the shelf since the hype, but fair warning to my fellow mood readers: this is a trilogy, and the final book is not here until 2027. Which means this is less “safe to fall” and more “make sure you packed emotionally before opening the gate.”
Fantasy people, romantasy people, anyone already ruined by Kingfisher: tell me. Is this worth the plunge, or do I wait until the final book is close enough to catch me?
6. Beautiful Venom — Rina Kent
Trope: Dark hockey romance
Status: On the shelf, approaching with respect and caution.
⚠️ It’s Rina Kent — check every trigger warning. She does not hold back.
Look, I’ve read Rina Kent before — her Legacy of Gods series and Monster trilogy — and I need you to understand: when she says dark romance, she means it.
This one is a dark hockey romance about a girl infiltrating an elite college hockey team’s secret society to avenge her sister. She sets her sights on the charming captain as her way in, then realizes too late that she may have cornered the most dangerous snake in the nest.
So we have: enemies-to-lovers energy, revenge, secret society, dark hockey, and an antihero meeting a girl who bites back.
It is book one in the Vipers series, but it can be read as a standalone — thank you, merciful reading gods. Still, check the content warnings first. Then check them again.
I kept reading Legacy of Gods half in shock, half unable to stop, which is its own kind of endorsement. So yes, I am intrigued. Also cautious. Also absolutely aware that “just one chapter” is how these things begin.
Fellow Kent survivors: prepare me. Is this the next dark little doorway I should open, or do I need snacks, hydration, and emotional supervision first?
7. In Stormy Weather — Chelsea Curto
Trope: Contemporary enemies-to-lovers
Status: Bought, waiting, hopeful.
🌪️ If Twister lives rent-free in your millennial heart — this one’s calling us.
Sometimes you need a break from mafia dons and fae princes and just want something real.
This is the grounded contemporary on my shelf: a brand-new July 2026 release about storm-chasing meteorologists, academic rivals, hurricane season in Florida, and apparently enough weather-adjacent tension to make my inner Twister girl sit up straight.
And yes, the “stormy weather” is both literal and metaphorical. I respect a title that knows exactly what it’s doing.
Here’s the detail that sold me: if the 1996 Helen Hunt/Bill Paxton storm-chasing classic shaped part of your personality — and honestly, for some of us, it did — this sounds like the book version of that itch. Rivals. Banter. Weather chaos. Feelings gathering pressure on the radar. Proof the trope does not have to be dark to hit hard.
New-to-me author. Cautiously optimistic. Storm-chasers and Twister die-hards: sell me.
8. Blackthorn — JT Geissinger
Trope: Gothic dark romance
Status: The most surprising unread book on my shelf.
⚠️ Gothic and dark — check the content warnings first.
I saved the most surprising confession for last.
If you read my enemies-to-lovers list, you already know J.T. Geissinger owns me. Carnal Urges lives rent-free in my head, and Geissinger is one of my rare “buy-the-special-edition-first, ask-questions-later” authors. I mean that with my whole dramatic reader chest.
So even I cannot quite explain why Blackthorn — her standalone gothic enemies-to-lovers romance, which I bought in the deluxe stenciled-edge, foil-stamped edition the moment it dropped — is still sitting on my shelf, unopened.
But that is the mood reader in me: I pick up a book when it calls, and this one simply has not shouted loud enough over others yet.
The premise, though? All mine. A woman returns to her cursed hometown for her grandmother’s funeral, the body vanishes, and a generations-old family blood feud reignites — with the man at the center being both her first love and her worst nightmare. Gothic suspense, dark magic, second-chance-to-enemies, forbidden history, and a standalone.
Bless.
It is deeply dark, so check the content warnings before you step inside. Consider this proof that even the most devoted stan has a shelf full of “soon.”
Tell me I’m not alone: do you have an auto-buy author whose books you still somehow let sit unread?
So — which one first?
That’s my whole shelf of good intentions, fully exposed.
Put the pressure on me: which one do I read first? Drop your vote in the comments — bonus points if you talk me into ACOTAR, because my group chat has been trying for a year and clearly needs reinforcements.
And yes, I know this is a very dramatic amount of emotional preparation for opening a book. But I’m a mood reader. Starting a story is not casual for me. I don’t pick up a book so much as move in, unpack, rearrange my personality, and hope I make it back out with my responsibilities intact.
So tell me, darling: which door am I opening first?
—BF 🌹
