While writing The Lavender Blade, I kept circling the same questions: What does it mean to trust someone when you’ve built your whole life on lies? What does power look like when it’s all smoke and mirrors? And how do you hold onto your identity when the world keeps demanding a version of you that doesn’t quite fit? It’s a book full of drama and demons, banter and betrayal — but underneath it all, it’s about confidence. Sometimes real, sometimes performed. Sometimes both.
These books live in the same deliciously complicated space: full of sharp dialogue, heightened stakes, a bit of magic, a bit of blood, and characters who wield charm like a weapon. Whether they’re falling in love or falling into disaster (usually both), they’re all navigating the messy overlap between identity, loyalty and survival — with style.
The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee
Monty’s meant to be a proper gentleman, but he’s much better at being a disaster. This book is an unhinged European tour featuring pirates, ancient artefacts, and one very long case of romantic denial. Monty is reckless, Percy is too good for this world, and their dynamic is both absurd and devastating. If you like your queer romance chaotic, charming and undercut by actual danger, this one delivers.
These Witches Don’t Burn by Isabel Sterling
Hannah’s an elemental witch with ex-girlfriend drama, blood magic problems, and a city to protect — not necessarily in that order. This book is fast, fun, and surprisingly sharp, mixing high school stakes with real magical consequences. It’s a great reminder that being powerful doesn’t stop life from being messy, especially when you’re queer and trying to survive something nobody’s trained you for. Think: late-night spells, bad decisions and at least one ex who won’t stay in the past
A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
There are four Londons. One’s dying, one’s dead, one’s dangerous and one is ours. This is fantasy that feels like a knife in a velvet sheath — elegant on the surface, but the danger’s always there. Kell is a blood magician with a coat full of secrets, and Lila Bard is a thief with a talent for self-preservation and stabbing people who get in her way. Their chemistry is electric, the world is brutal and beautiful, and it’s full of people pretending they’re not as lonely as they are.
A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske
Magic, manners and mutual pining — this is Edwardian fantasy with a razor hidden in the lace cuff. Robin is a perfectly respectable government worker who accidentally inherits a post overseeing magical affairs, and Edwin is the prickly, brilliant magician assigned to keep him alive. What follows is a slow-burn romance tangled in curses, secret societies, and just enough emotional repression to make the payoff incredibly satisfying. The prose is lush, the magic system is intricate, and the sexual tension is exquisite. Come for the conspiracies; stay for the library scene.
Malice by Heather Walter
Alyce has been called a monster her whole life, and now she’s finally asking: what if I just was? This is a fairy tale villain origin story with teeth — and longing. Her romance with Princess Aurora is sweet, bitter, and doomed in all the best ways, and the slow build into something darker is incredibly satisfying. If you’ve ever wanted to watch a girl embrace the power she’s been punished for, and burn it all down with a kiss, Malice is for you.
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
You already know how this ends, and it doesn’t matter — it still ruins you. This is the story of Patroclus and Achilles, told with tenderness and inevitability, as they stumble toward the tragedy we all saw coming. It’s beautiful, gutting, and full of moments where love and grief blur so completely you stop trying to separate them. There’s no trickery here, no happy ending. Just devotion, and the terrible things it makes people brave enough to do.
