Shifter Romances To Keep You Up Late
I realized this week I have read a significant number of shifter romances. So you know what that means, listicle time! I’m shocked you didn’t see that coming.
Shifter romances are great. They marry together so many things that are just delicious. Fated mates. YES please. Primal attraction and connection. Don’t mind if I do. Protective, gruff, demanding alpha males. You betcha. And our heroines are usually a little feisty, sassy or just in so much peril you’ll ask yourself if they are simply TSTL (to stupid to live).
Here are some recommendations that you might like.
A Hunger Like No Other by Kresley Cole
Immortals After Dark is some God Tier series sh*t for me. Kresley Cole is a queen, and deserves all the best things in the world. This is book 1 of a 18 book series that is equal parts, funny, erotic, heart wrenching, and brilliant. The world building is so fantastic and her characters are uniquely wild, weird and wonderful.
This book is between Lachlain MacRieve (leader of the Lykae clan) and half Vampire half Valkyrie Emmaline Troy. Lachlain, is currently being help captive enduring centuries of torture by a Vampire King (sworn enemies of the Lykae). He is bleeding, and keeps being brought back to life only to endure unfathomable pain and torture. Scenting Emma (his mate) he literally gnaws his own leg off to break free and find her. And like, ladies if your man isn’t gnawing his own leg off to find you, is he really worth it?
Emma is so sweet and sheltered, and (canonically) young that when moments from death Lachlain finds her, she (naturally) freaks right out. This book sets up so many amazing ongoing plots, and characters arcs, but the love and romance is just as central to the lore and world building. If you’re like me, you will just come to love these wild Lykae and their singular quest to find (and treasure) their mates.
Wicked Deeds on a Winter’s Night by Kresely Cole
Immortals After Dark is some God Tier series sh*t for me. Kresley Cole is a queen, and deserves all the best things in the world. This is book 3 of a 18 book series that is equal parts, funny, erotic, heart wrenching, and brilliant. This picks up right after the events of book 2 and finds us with Bowen MacRieve Lykae prince that has been on a singular mission to find a way to resurrect his slain mate. But when he has to cross paths with a ‘wee witch’ Mariketa the Awaited, everything he thinks he’s sure of gets completely turned upside down.
Bowen is one of my favourite IAD hero’s. He is flawed, absolutely. But he’s also loyal, brave, protective and sexy as hell. Seeing both him and Mariketa struggle with their attraction, including her struggle with Bowen’s resentment and ultimately his undying love was really something else. And who wouldn’t want a Lykae familiar? No really, show me who, I will fight them.
Dreams of a Dark Warrior by Kresley Cole
Immortals After Dark is some God Tier series sh*t for me. Kresley Cole is a queen, and deserves all the best things in the world. This is book 10 of a 18 book series that is equal parts, funny, erotic, heart wrenching, and brilliant. Oh Reign. By now, series stand-out smart ass and general tough girl Rein the Radiant is due for her happily ever after. But my word, how she goes about getting it shredded my soft lil romantic heart.
Without spoiling the ever-loving f*ck out of this one: it does feature an Aiden (predictable for me yes), but also reincarnation. Freya and Odin lore, including more background on the Valkyries and Beserkers, and one man’s never ending quest to keep coming back to be with the love of his life. Y’all, I cried so much reading this book. It was so much. So much depth. Love. Pain and more pain™. The love Rein has for Aiden, how many times she had to live through losing him and then having to come to terms with Declan, is just, whew. Get ready to have your heart smashed to absolute bits with this one, but fear not, Kresley gives them (and us) a really perfect happily ever after.
The Rogue King by Abigail Owen
I can’t remember if this was an Apple Books auto generated you may also like, or it was from some other source but, my lord am I happy I stumbled upon this brilliant 4 book shifter series from Abigail Owen. The magic and world building in this shifter universe immediately hooked me, right from when Brand meets our girl Kasia, in a treatment hospital for shifters.
As the story evolves we learn what both Brand and Kasia are, who they are to each other and what danger is await them at every turn. I loved the mated bonds, that Abigail created, especially seeing the different types of dragons and their clans. Plus literal 🥵🔥 fire.
The Warrior King by Abigail Owen
Book three in the Inferno Rising series (see book 1 above) has another Amon sister, this time tech savvy Meria and (lowborn) enforcer of the Black Clan Samael. This has ALL the angst and pining across perceived dragon class divides. Will Samael, give Meria up because he is unworthy based on his birthright?
The romance between these two was immensely sweet, and seeing where Meria has been hiding all this time (with gargoyles!) was a really amazing addition to the already brilliant world these characters
Dragon Bound by Thea Harrison
Oh Dragon Bound, how I love you. This was a recommendation from a fellow redditor, and I could not be more thankful to have found this brilliant, 9 book series from Thea Harrison. The lore and world-building in this book is really fantastic, and you get to understand broadly the world, species and specifics of the magic that permeates the wyrkind.
Pia and Dragos (king and most feared dragon of the elder races) meet under stressful circumstances, but their connection and growth together is something to behold. The characters that make up Dragos’ corporation and kingdom are so fantastic, and by the end of this one you’ll be itching to get to their stories too.
Hot and Badgered by Shelly Laurenston (Free on KU)
I don’t even know where to start with this book. It is equal parts hilarious, sweet, sexy, suspenseful, and deeply, deeply chaotic. This the first in a deeply interconnected 3 book series following the MacKilligan sisters who are hybrid-shifters that all share a common honey-badger ancestry.
This book follows Charlie, the eldest sister who is half wolf, half honey badger. You’ll meet younger sisters Max and Stevie and learn all about their hybrid genes, idiosyncrasies, and their shared hatred for their father (well deserved imho) and follow them all through various fast moving insanity that moves the plot along, quickly.
You’ll also meet all the other shifters that permeate this truly brilliantly crafted world Shelly has created. For instance, the Dunn triplets. Three grizzly shifters who happen to live next door to where our three badgers end up settling, including Berg Dunn who is so smitten with Charlie, right from the get go. These books are so deeply insane, and I mean that in the MOST kind way. The romance might not be over the top but the stories are so brilliant that you wont find yourself missing out on anything.