September is that delicious month when the air turns crisp, the pumpkin spice cult awakens, and publishers collectively decide that romantasy readers clearly deserve to suffer from TBR avalanches. And oh, suffer we shall.
The romantasy releases of this September are not just a handful of titles casually strolling into bookstores; they’re an all-out parade of gods dripping menace, heroines making questionable choices, and romances that promise to ruin our sleep schedules.
It’s as if the publishing world huddled together in a shadowy tavern and said: “How do we absolutely wreck the souls of romantasy fans in one thirty-day span?”. The result is this dangerously alluring lineup.
But let’s be honest: we don’t actually mind the wreckage. We live for it.
There’s a strange thrill in knowing that September is about to hand us books full of beast-lords with questionable morals, curses that kill romance on sight, and heroines who couldn’t catch a break if they had an entire pantheon behind them. These stories are messy, sharp-edged, and utterly intoxicating, the literary equivalent of pouring red wine over velvet and daring the stain to stay.
So buckle in, dear reader. You might as well pre-order everything now, because pretending you’ll resist is frankly adorable.
Updated
This article has been updated on September 4th, 2025, for accuracy, formatting, and better flow of information.
1. Wild Reverence by Rebecca Ross
Expected publication: September 2, 2025
Rebecca Ross has an uncanny ability to make you feel like her books are whispering secrets in candlelit rooms. In Wild Reverence, she transports us to a kingdom both terrified of and beholden to its gods. The story kicks off with a young woman whose quiet life in a coastal village is shattered when fate decides to drop a divine bombshell on her lineage.
Suddenly, her blood ties to a long-forgotten deity thrust her onto a pilgrimage that is equal parts sacred quest and impending disaster. You know the drill: betrayals simmer like tea left too long on the fire, while romance blooms in the least convenient place possible, right in the crosshairs of destiny.
What makes Ross impossible to resist is her knack for writing characters who don’t just walk off the page; they practically stomp into your heart in muddy boots. The heroine here isn’t a passive chosen one; she wrestles with faith, family, and the small matter of surviving divine wrath.
Ross layers every moment with emotional weight, ensuring that even as you’re swooning over the slow-burn romance, you’re also having an existential crisis about loyalty and belief.
Why we recommend it: Ross’ world is lush, her characters are beautifully flawed, and the romance smolders beneath layers of destiny and duty. Perfect for readers who love slow-burn tension, moral complexity, and heroines who wrestle with both gods and their own hearts.
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2. Damned and Broken Gods by Debbie Cassidy
Expected publication: September 5, 2025
Debbie Cassidy never does “gentle”. She does sharp knives, ragged wounds, and heroines who smile with blood on their teeth. Damned and Broken Gods is her latest playground of chaos, and it’s the second book in the Labyrinth of Gods series, continuing Leela’s story as she discovers her royal Asura bloodline and fights for a throne that could change everything.
Our protagonist, a warrior caught in their cruel web, must survive trials that are explicitly designed to destroy her, but instead of crumbling, she bargains, snarls, and clings to her defiance with the desperation of someone who refuses to be entertainment. Enter stage right: a golden-eyed ally who is both insufferably magnetic and utterly untrustworthy. Romance ensues, of course, but it’s the kind of romance that feels like handling a viper, thrilling and very likely to end badly.
Cassidy’s brilliance lies in how unflinchingly she lets her characters exist in morally murky spaces. Her gods are broken, vicious, and endlessly fascinating; her heroine is a mess of fury and vulnerability.
This isn’t a story that smooths edges; it leans into the jagged, crafting tension that makes you gnaw on your lip until it bleeds. If you want fluff, walk away. If you want a book that will chew you up and spit you out while still making you fall hopelessly in love with its characters, this is your September obsession. Honestly, Cassidy is just out here reminding us that sometimes love stories are best told with ash under the fingernails.
Why we recommend it: Cassidy delights in chaos and morally messy characters, making every twist a thrill. Ideal for readers craving high-stakes romantasy where love is dangerous, witty, and completely unforgettable.
3. Thorn Season by Kiera Azar
Expected publication: September 11, 2025
Nothing says “romantasy classic” quite like a curse that kills anyone who dares to fall in love with the heroine. Thorn Season leans hard into this gothic melodrama, and honestly, bless Kiera Azar for her irresistible debut.
Our protagonist is essentially toxic romance incarnate: every kiss is lethal, every suitor doomed, every romantic gesture laced with tragedy. But the curse isn’t quite what it seems. Alissa Paine is a Wielder, born with a magical specter that can caress or kill, and she’s summoned to the palace for Rose Season, where secrets bloom like poisoned flowers.
Enter a foreign ambassador who looks at her thorn-laced destiny and basically says: “Challenge accepted”. Cue the two of them stumbling into an alliance that is both politically volatile and romantically catastrophic. Court intrigue, betrayal, and the threat of discovery loom like storm clouds, and the air smells perpetually of roses and doom.
Azar revels in aesthetic gloom. You can practically hear the wind howling through castle battlements as you read, and you’ll find yourself muttering “don’t go into the moonlit garden” even though, of course, the heroine goes into the moonlit garden.
What makes Thorn Season delicious isn’t the inevitability of suffering (though there’s plenty of that), it’s the allure of a romance that dares you to hope despite knowing better. This is not happily-ever-after territory. This is “I will bleed for you and probably die tragically, but at least the kiss was unforgettable” territory. In other words, peak romantasy vibes.
Why we recommend it: Azar weaves tragedy and desire into a thorny tapestry that rewards readers who savor doomed romance and gothic atmosphere. Recommended for those who adore romance that bites as much as it seduces.
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4. Wicked Beasts by Shelley Leigh Crane
Expected publication: September 18, 2025
Monsters in shadows? Overdone. Monsters ruling the courts and demanding your hand in marriage? Now we’re talking.
Wicked Beasts drops us into a realm where being human isn’t the default; it’s practically a liability. Set on the island of O’ahu, this gothic paranormal romance follows Amara Rose, who takes a job at Black Manor and finds herself entangled with two enigmatic brothers, Mr. Black and Dr. Shadow.
She’s meant to be a personal assistant, but if you’ve read any romantasy ever, you already know “pawns”, so to speak, rarely stay on their squares. Instead, she claws her way into relevance, discovering that maybe she isn’t quite as “tame” as everyone believed.
Crane thrives on twisting tropes into something feral and slightly unhinged. Forget the beauty-and-the-beast taming narrative; this book insists that sometimes the beauty is just as monstrous, if not more so.
The romance here is feral, raw, and borderline unsettling, in the best way possible. September is bringing us plenty of angst, but this book? This one’s pure carnivorous delight.
Why we recommend it: Crane flips the “beauty and the beast” trope on its head with feral, untamed romance. Perfect for readers who enjoy morally ambiguous heroes, dark politics, and love that’s messy but irresistible.
5. What Fury Brings by Tricia Levenseller
Expected publication: September 23, 2025
If you’ve ever wanted your romantasy laced with equal parts sarcasm and murder, Tricia Levenseller has heard your cries. What Fury Brings introduces us to Olerra, a warrior princess in a matriarchal kingdom where noblemen are scarce and husbands are kidnapped from rival nations.
She’s trying to secure her claim to the throne by trying to abduct the second-born prince of her greatest enemy, Sanos, who’s sweet, docile, and absolutely not ready for this level of chaos. Their dynamic is peak chaos: she’s trying to secure her claim to the throne, and somewhere in the middle, sexual tension rises like smoke from a bonfire.
Levenseller’s charm is her refusal to take herself, or her characters, too seriously. Yes, the stakes are life-and-death, but there’s always room for biting banter and one-liners that make you snort-laugh in public. Beneath the humor, though, lies a story about vengeance, justice, and the blurry line between the two.
If you loved the swagger of Daughter of the Pirate King but wished it came with more supernatural wrath and morally questionable flirtation, this book is about to scratch that itch with a dagger.
Why we recommend it: Levenseller combines biting humor, vengeful spirits, and sizzling chemistry in a story that’s as sharp as it is fun. Ideal for readers who enjoy sarcastic heroines and romance that’s chaotic in all the right ways.
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Subscribe to our weekly newsletter6. The Primal of Blood and Bone by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Expected publication: September 23, 2025
Jennifer L. Armentrout has made a career out of feeding our romantasy addictions, and she’s not about to stop now. The Primal of Blood and Bone expands her sprawling mythos of gods, mortals, and primal forces that apparently enjoy toying with fragile human hearts. This is Book 6 in the Blood and Ash series, and yes, the stakes are higher than ever.
Our heroine, Poppy, now fully awakened and wielding ancient power, must face the consequences of her transformation, while the realm is in danger.
The Blood Crown has fallen, but what rises in its place is a threat so vast, even the gods have awakened. Cue sparks, doom, and the kind of longing that makes you want to scream into a pillow.
Armentrout’s signature is the way she balances epic stakes with painfully intimate romance. Battles and kisses carry the same world-ending weight, and every revelation feels like a personal betrayal.
She knows how to keep her fans dangling on a string, begging for one more chapter even as she gleefully ruins us. If you thought your September was safe, think again; this book will devour it whole. And yes, the fandom will be in collective meltdown mode. Stock up on tissues.
Why we recommend it: Armentrout balances epic stakes with intimate, pulse-raising romance. Perfect for readers who want passion, peril, and characters who will haunt your thoughts long after the last page.
7. Shaedes of Beasts by Jenny Grimes
Expected publication: September 23, 2025
There are books that whisper promises, and then there are books that stride confidently into your life, smack you across the face with a leather-bound glove, and say, “Prepare yourself”. Shaedes of Beasts looks very much like the latter.
Jenny Grimes has crafted a romantasy series filled with forbidden beings and tangled, emotionally charged relationships that merge the smoky allure of forbidden creatures with the kind of intrigue that makes you want to leave your phone on airplane mode just to keep the world at bay while you read.
This is Book 3 in the Soul Magic series, and if you haven’t met Opal yet, half-fae, soulweaver, and chaos magnet, you’re missing out.
The story, from what we know, dances through shadows and transformations, territory that romantasy devourers like us can’t resist. But beyond the tropes, what makes this release sparkle is the promise of layered relationships: romance that burns at both ends and beasts that are far too clever to simply roar and vanish.
Grimes clearly understands that a romantasy isn’t just about magic, it’s about survival, hunger, and the dangerous thrill of falling for the last person you should.
And let’s be honest: there’s something deliciously primal about a book that doesn’t pretend to play nice. If Shaedes of Beasts leans into the raw, the violent, the exquisitely messy, then sign me up twice.
Romantasy thrives on the in-between spaces, on the jagged edges where attraction meets danger, and where desire is never clean-cut. This one seems destined to make us question whether loving a beast is self-destruction or salvation. Expect a release that turns September’s soft autumn evenings into something sharp, breathless, and dripping with shadows.
Why we recommend it: Sometimes you don’t want a gentle fantasy with polite magic and cozy tea breaks; you want claws, shadows, and a heroine who makes you question whether you should be rooting for her or running the other way. Shaedes of Beasts is perfect for readers who crave morally tangled romantasy with bite, fans of darker urban fantasy atmospheres, and anyone who secretly enjoys when the “monster” gets the spotlight.
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8. Bitten by Jordan Stephanie Gray
Expected publication: September 30, 2025
Bitten introduces us to Vanessa Hart, a girl who thinks her biggest problem is getting through high school, until, on the night of her seventeenth birthday, she loses everything she loves: her best friend, Celeste, her father, and the illusion that her world is safe.
Bitten by a werewolf, she is imprisoned, transformed into a werewolf herself, and dragged into the enchanted halls of Castle Severi, where she’s told to swear her life to the Wolf Queen or die. Naturally, she chooses option three: vengeance. And oh, how deliciously messy that vengeance becomes.
Vanessa is the first werewolf with violet eyes (yes, violet, because why settle for ordinary?). Prince Sinclair Severi, the Wolf Queen’s son, wants her, but he’s already promised to Princess Evelyn Lee of the Asian Court.
Even Calix Severi, the prince’s enigmatic cousin with a stare that could melt silver and a past stitched together with shadows, might be interested in her. But Vanessa? She wants answers…and maybe a little revenge-flavored romance on the side.
Why we recommend it: It’s perfect for readers who crave morally complex heroines, beastly love interests, and a world where power is as intoxicating as passion. Gray’s debut is not just a story, it’s a transformation, the kind that leaves claw marks on your soul and lipstick on your nightmares, and we’re absolutely here for it.
9. Every Spiral of Fate by Tahereh Mafi
Expected publication: September 30, 2025
Tahereh Mafi has always had a talent for making prose feel like it’s dripping straight from a fever dream, and Every Spiral of Fate looks ready to double down on that gift. Here, fate isn’t some distant concept you whisper about in philosophy class: it’s a choking vine that twines tighter around the heroine with every choice she makes, every word she dares to speak, every heartbeat that betrays her fear.
This is Book 4 in the This Woven Kingdom series, and the stakes have never been higher. Alizeh, the Jinn queen, is preparing for a wedding that feels more like a funeral. A blood oath tethers Cyrus to Alizeh; Cyrus must die by Alizeh’s hand as prophesied by an ancient prophecy.
The world is brutal, dazzling, and mercilessly intricate: threads of destiny loop into labyrinths, alliances break like glass underfoot, and the kind of romance that blooms here feels less like roses and more like sharp-edged thorns demanding blood in exchange for beauty.
And then there’s the romance, the real gravitational pull of Mafi’s work. It simmers in unexpected corners, like a dangerous secret waiting to unfurl, a half-whispered promise of tenderness in a narrative that otherwise delights in breaking you apart.
Love here is fragile but unrelenting, the kind that feels almost illogical in its persistence, a candle burning stubbornly against a storm. And yet, that’s what makes it all the more devastating when you realize how much you want these characters to succeed, even as fate (and let’s be honest, Mafi herself) seems hell-bent on shredding them into pieces.
Why we recommend it: Sometimes you want a romantasy that doesn’t just tug at your heartstrings, it yanks them into knots and sets them on fire. Every Spiral of Fate is for readers who love lyrical prose, impossible choices, and a romance that feels both doomed and irresistible. If you’ve ever craved beauty laced with devastation, this one’s practically tailor-made.
10. The Sleepless by Jen Williams
Expected publication: September 30, 2025
Elver, a poison-skinned guardian of a monster-haunted forest, was saved by a god and lives untouchable, until she meets Artair, one of the Sleepless who shares his body with the dark spirit Lucian and alone can survive her deadly touch. Drawn together by clashing missions and the interference of ruthless gods, the trio form an uneasy alliance that forces survival, trust, and attraction into constant conflict.
And of course, because narratively convenient chaos is a staple of romantasy, he eventually steps into her waking life, and suddenly every boundary between fantasy and reality collapses like a house of cards in a hurricane. Williams crafts these moments with such tension that you almost feel the insomnia creeping into your own brain, leaving you jittery, anxious, and entirely unwilling to put the book down.
But it’s not just the curse or the stranger that makes this novel so addictive. Williams’ real genius lies in how she uses sleeplessness as a metaphor for unrelenting desire, emotional vulnerability, and the merciless pull of fate. Artair, the stranger, is one of the Sleepless, sharing his body with a dark spirit named Lucian, and their twisted triangle with Elver is the kind of morally tangled dynamic that romantasy readers devour.
The romance is slow, simmering, and occasionally terrifying; it creeps in like a shadow you didn’t notice at first, only to consume every corner of your attention.
You find yourself rooting for the heroine even as you quietly panic over the impossible stakes, marveling at how intimacy and danger intertwine so seamlessly. If your ideal September evening involves curling up with a book that keeps you wide-eyed and breathless until dawn, then this is the curse, and the delight, you’ve been waiting for.
Why we recommend it: If you thrive on tension, desire, and dream-haunted suspense, this is your literary adrenaline shot. Perfect for readers who enjoy psychologically charged romantasy and heroines who refuse to rest, even metaphorically.
September Belongs To Romantasy
From Rebecca Ross’s lyrical Wild Reverence to Jordan Stephanie Gray’s deliciously unholy Bitten, this month is nothing short of a love letter to romantasy fans who crave passion tangled in myth and danger. And honestly, could we want it any other way?
So here’s my advice: clear your September calendar, because you’re not going to want to miss a single release. Stock up on tea (or wine, no judgment), sharpen your page-flipping fingers, and prepare to be swept into romances so intense they’ll linger long after the final chapter.
These ten titles don’t just promise escapism, they promise obsession, heartache, laughter, and that little spark of danger that makes romantasy the gloriously addictive genre we can’t quit. Consider yourself warned, your September is booked solid.
