Book picks similar to
Bound to the Dark Elf King by Jessica Grayson


fantasy
paranormal-romance
fantasy-romance
arranged-marriage-moc

Mismatched Mates


Melody Tyden - 2021
    So when the quarterback of the football team turns out to be her mate, she's not interested, and she assumes he won't be interested in her either. After all, what would a self-proclaimed bookworm and a dumb jock ever have in common?She predicts a quick and easy rejection, and they can both move on.Little does she know that Oliver has other plans. They may not seem like an obvious pairing, but Oliver wants her anyway. Can she hold off his advances, or will this mismatch turn out to be a perfect match after all?Part college romance, part werewolf drama, and utterly irresistible!Intended for mature audiences.

To Carve a Fae Heart


Tessonja Odette - 2020
    According to the ridiculous treaty, two human girls are sent to the faelands as brides for the fearsome fae king and his devilish younger brother.Not me. I was supposed to be safe. Two girls were chosen from my village already. But when they are executed for offending the king, my sister and I are sent in their place.What a mess. Then again, maybe it’s not so bad. The younger brother I’m paired with doesn’t seem as monstrous as I’d expected. He’s delightfully handsome too. But nothing compares to the chilling, dangerous beauty of the fae king. And when my sister flees the castle and her terrifying husband-to-be, I’m left to marry him instead.If I go through with this, I might not survive my wedding night. If I don’t, no one is safe, neither human nor fae. An ancient war will return, bringing devastation we haven’t seen in a thousand years. Can I sacrifice myself for the good of my people? Or will a dangerous desire be the death of me first?If I don’t lose my heart, the king will certainly lose his. I’ll carve it out with an iron blade if I have to.To Carve a Fae Heart is an enemies-to-lovers fantasy, perfect for fans of The Cruel Prince, ACOTAR, and The Iron King. If you like snarky fae, brooding fae royals, sizzling romance, and fierce heroines, you'll love this breathtaking fae fantasy.

The Faerie Games


Michelle Madow - 2019
     Growing up on the magical island of Avalon should be great... but I have no magic to speak of. And my parents forbid me from leaving. So when I sneak out to Earth for a night and meet a hottie named Julian with ice blue eyes that leave me breathless, of course I say yes to a date with him. But when Julian pulls me through a magical portal, I realize he isn’t human. He’s a half-blood faerie sent to bring me to his realm of the Otherworld. Because apparently, I’m a half-blood faerie, too. And I’ve been chosen to compete in the annual Faerie Games—a brutal, gladiator-like competition where half-bloods fight to the death. Too bad I can’t get my new magic under control. But with all eyes on me, I only have two options: Die in the Faerie Games, or win and earn my freedom. Now the other players—including Julian, who still captivates me even though I should hate him—better watch out. Because I’m determined to get home. And I’ll fight anyone blocking my path to get there. Full of magic, mythology, adventure, and romance, The Faerie Games is the first book in an addicting young adult urban fantasy series by USA Today bestselling author Michelle Madow that will keep you reading late into the night!

Slumber


Samantha Young - 2011
    Now Haydyn, her best friend and the one person she does trust, is dying and only Rogan can save her.Setting off on a journey to retrieve the plant that will cure Haydyn and subsequently the ills that will befall them all if she dies, Rogan is stuck in close quarters with a protector she distrusts above all others.Wolfe Stovia.The son of the man who destroyed Rogan’s family.At a constant battle of wills with the handsome Captain of the Guard, Rogan just knows this adventure together will be fraught with tension. She never imagined, however, that the quest would be so dangerous… not least of all when she finds herself falling for a man she could have sworn was her no.1 enemy…

Little Fire


Hollee Mands - 2021
    He's scarred from a past he can't forget.Declan can kill with a blink of his eye. Jaded and cold, he rules his kingdom the same way he does his heart—with merciless pragmatism. So why does he risk all to protect a little mortal during a slave-trade uprising? Now stuck in the Shadow Realm, the loss of his powers are the least of his troubles. The woman may have a frustratingly tender heart, but she has enough fire in her soul to thaw the ice in his veins.He could take her by right, but he wants more than acceptance. He wants her willing surrender...Evangeline is chained by a past she can't remember. Her fractured memories keep her shy and single. When she is thrust into a demon realm in the arms of an indomitable archmage, he becomes her only chance of survival. But soon, she realizes her unnerving protector may not be as callous as he appears, and her heart may be as much at risk as her life. His desire for her is no secret, but she wants more than scalding lust. She wants his icy heart...Can they survive the Shadow Realm long enough to break down each other's walls?Author's Note: Little Fire is Book 1 in The Warriors of the Five Realms fantasy romance series. If you love the works of Laura Thalassa, Sarah J Maas and CL Wilson, then you will love this.Little Fire is a standalone, with a guaranteed HEA. Mature themes and possible triggers of sexual abuse. Intended for readers aged 18+.

The Night Realm


Annette Marie - 2017
    But as the illegitimate daughter of the nymph king, she's stuck in the human world, exiled until she can earn a place in the royal family. Then her half-brother offers her a chance to prove herself. All she has to do is acquire some magic … by stealing it from the most dangerous spell weavers in the Underworld.Lyre prefers to go unnoticed, which is a tricky objective for an incubus. He can’t hide his looks or his coveted spell weaving skills, but he's learned to mask his true intentions. As an unwilling pawn of the tyrannical Hades family, he stays alive by keeping one step ahead of his masters.Now he's been assigned to watch over a visitor from the Overworld—one who's definitely hiding something. And with her unholy talent for triggering chaos and catastrophe, his job just keeps getting more perilous. Clearly, she'll never survive this world.The thing is, he's no longer sure he can survive it either.

Promise of Darkness


Bec McMaster - 2019
    Tribute. Sacrifice. Is she the one prophesied to unite two warring Fae courts? Or the one bound to destroy them?In a realm ruled by magic, the ruthless Queen of Thorns is determined to destroy her nemesis, the cursed Prince of Evernight.With war brewing between the bitter enemies, the prince forces Queen Adaia to uphold an ancient treaty: she will send one of her daughters to his court as a political hostage for three months.The queen insists it’s the perfect opportunity for Princess Iskvien to end the war before it begins. But one look into Thiago’s smoldering eyes and Vi knows she’s no assassin.The more secrets she uncovers about the prince and his court, the more she begins to question her mother’s motives.Who is the true enemy? The dark prince who threatens her heart? Or the ruthless queen who will stop at nothing to destroy him?And when the curse threatens to shatter both courts, is her heart strong enough to break it?A fairytale twist inspired by the Hades and Persephone myth.

Chaste Blood (Repressed Royals, #1)


Brittni Chenelle - 2020
     As a princess in the Shadow Court, Sinna lives a painfully sheltered life. Like all immortals, she has but one weakness… Love strips away an immortal’s power, leaving them vulnerable to attack. So when her fellow mages peer into the future and learn she is destined to love a rival king, they see an opportunity to seize power.Sent to infiltrate the Blood Court of vampires, Sinna must seduce their king, and steal his immortality. But the price of failure is high. A thousand lifetimes of torture and imprisonment await her if she's discovered--not to mention the enslavement of her people. Maddox, the Vampire King, is no fool. But despite his initial suspicions, he longs for the company of his fated mate. So when Sinna enters his realm and challenges his restraint, he's eager to test his limits--and hers. But lurking in the background, darker forces seek to make pawns of them both. And when Sinna's own feelings are compromised, she starts to wonder if she has been the target all along.

Rejected


Jaymin Eve - 2020
    One I’m left paying for. As a wolf shifter growing up in a strong pack, I should be living my best life. But after my father tried to kill the alpha, I’m labeled an outcast, traitor, less than dirt.When I can't take pack life any longer, I run, but apparently they don't like losing their punching bag. Torin, the alpha’s son, drags me back before my first shift... a shift that will reveal my true mate.I never could have predicted who mine would be, but the moment my wolf looks upon him, I’m filled with hope for a brighter future. After all, no one ever rejects their true mate, right?Wrong. Very wrong.When the wolves attack, my soul screams for vengeance, and somehow I touch the shadow world. Somehow I bring him to our lands.The Shadow Beast. Our shifter god. The devil himself. Turns out being rejected by my mate was only the beginning.

A Pebble for Lewis


Amy Bellows - 2019
     Omega penguin shifters aren’t allowed any physical contact with an alpha until their Pebble Gifting Season, when alphas present a pebble to their desired mate. Lewis has always followed the rules. Until he meets Todd. A polar bear shifter. Everyone knows that polar bear shifters are unreliable players who don’t mate for life. But Todd is breathtakingly beautiful, with a body as big as a mountain and a head of thick, white hair. Lewis can’t manage to look away. In Anchorage Alaska where penguin shifters and polar bear shifters have been at odds for over a century, even a friendship between Todd and Lewis is forbidden. But as Lewis’s Pebble Gifting Season draws closer, their forbidden friendship turns into a passion neither of them can ignore. A Pebble for Lewis is a 37,000-word best-friends-to-lovers romance with a size difference, knotting, and MPreg of the penguin egg variety. It’s set in the same world as the Heron Manor series, but it stands alone.

Reborn Yesterday


Tessa Bailey - 2020
    It was a night like any other for funeral home director Ginny Lynn, until the exceptionally handsome—and unfortunately deceased—young man on her embalming table sat up, opened his emerald eyes and changed the course of her life forever, making her feel quite fluttery while he was at it.Humans aren't supposed to know Jonas Cantrell, or any vampire, exists. It's kind of a major rule. Despite his instantaneous bond with perfectly peculiar Ginny, he has no choice but to erase her memories of their one and only meeting.That was the plan. Before a reluctant Jonas can wipe Ginny's mind clean, she reveals a secret that brings their worlds crashing together. Human and vampire. Past and present. Darkness and light. And while their love is strictly forbidden, it might be the only thing that can save them… Reborn Yesterday is a standalone paranormal romantic comedy with a happily ever after.

Court of Bitter Thorn


Kay L. Moody - 2020
    Under the terms of her bargain, she can’t go home to the mortal world until Prince Brannick becomes the next High King.Or until he’s taken out of the running…Sabotaging Brannick’s chance at the crown will be much faster than helping him win. The fae prince may be charming, powerful, and wickedly handsome, but that won’t stop Elora from selling his secrets to the highest bidder.By day, she uses her master sword skills to train the prince, while ignoring her growing attraction to him. By night, she conspires with a rival king in a nearby court whose plans could destroy half of Faerie.If she gets caught, Brannick will kill her. But what’s life without a little bit of danger?

The Fiera Princess


Emilia Finn - 2021
    Over four hundred years ago, Malachai Noble’s family murdered mine.Days ago, he personally ordered the death of my best friend, and in doing so, stole whatever future Roman DeLuca and I were tiptoeing toward.Now I’m Malachai’s prisoner, with no way home, and nowhere to go but forward.He’s my escort toward execution.But I go willingly, because the moment I step on to enemy territory, I intend to avenge centuries of sins committed upon my people.My name is Tallulah Aurelia Della Katarina King, and soon, I’m to be crowned queen of Luméa—but first, I must prove I don’t need a king.If only the long days, and steamy nights I’ve spent with my enemy in this bloodthirsty forest weren't making me doubt myself.

The Pages of the Mind


Jeffe Kennedy - 2016
    The population is beset by shapeshifters and portents, landscapes that migrate, uncanny allies who are not quite human…and enemies eager to take advantage of the chaos. Dafne Mailloux is no adventurer--she's a librarian. But the High Queen trusts Dafne's ability with languages, her way of winnowing the useful facts from a dusty scroll, and even more important, the subtlety and guile that three decades under the thumb of a tyrant taught her. Dafne never thought to need those skills again. But she accepts her duty. Until her journey drops her into the arms of a barbarian king. He speaks no tongue she knows but that of power, yet he recognizes his captive as a valuable pawn. Dafne must submit to a wedding of alliance, becoming a prisoner-queen in a court she does not understand. If she is to save herself and her country, she will have to learn to read the heart of a wild stranger. And there are more secrets written there than even Dafne could suspect…

Trial of Thorns


Stacey Trombley - 2021
    But when I learn my homeland is in peril, I strike a bargain.The Trial of Thorns will decide a champion to save the realm from a terrible plague, and secure the winner fame and fortune. I could care less about the money or notoriety--I'm playing for freedom. If I win, I will earn a full pardon. And I intend to win.But I don’t account for Reveln being one of my opponents. We've got...history. And ten years later, he's even hotter than I remember. Oh, right, he also hates me.Only one of us can win, and Rev will do everything in his power to make sure I don’t make it out of the trials alive.Because ten years ago, I killed his brother.And Reveln never forgets.TRIAL OF THORNS is the first book in the WICKED FAE series, featuring kick-ass women, fated mates, and a slow burn, enemies to lovers romance. Readers of Holly Black's Cruel Prince, Sarah J Maas' A Court of Thorns and Roses and Audrey Grey's Evermore Academy will love this book!