Here are 14 books that Cursed Hearts fans have personally recommended once you finish the Cursed Hearts series.
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I’ve been a lover and reader of the romance genre ever since I graduated high school and borrowed one of my mother’s paperback novels during our annual beach vacation (which may have been twenty years ago... Yikes!). While I read everything from contemporary to historical, paranormal to fantasy, I’ve always had a particular fondness for stories with a touch of magic—specifically the cursed kind. There’s something extra angsty and tragic about cursed love that makes overcoming obstacles that much sweeter. I hope you fall in love with the books on this list as much as I have.
These books are the most addictive I’ve ever read. I devoured the first six in a week and couldn’t stop. They are dark and twisted and keep you on the edge of your seat. The cliffhangers will shake you to your core and the romance… forbidden, cursed, and dangerous. I will say that the first book is a bit hard to get through. It was my first “bully romance” and the story made me so angry. But when you reach book two and get the boys’ perspectives, everything becomes clear. I’m recommending the fifth book because if you make it that far, you’re a goner just like me. (These books are 18+ and dark. There are a heap of situations that could be triggering, so I would recommend doing some research before you dive in.)
I’ve been a lover and reader of the romance genre ever since I graduated high school and borrowed one of my mother’s paperback novels during our annual beach vacation (which may have been twenty years ago... Yikes!). While I read everything from contemporary to historical, paranormal to fantasy, I’ve always had a particular fondness for stories with a touch of magic—specifically the cursed kind. There’s something extra angsty and tragic about cursed love that makes overcoming obstacles that much sweeter. I hope you fall in love with the books on this list as much as I have.
Hollow Heathens, a hauntingly dark romance, overflows with Fiorina’s poetic prose. This book single-handedly made Fiorina an auto-buy author for me. Dark, forbidden love, a dangerous curse, legends and lore, murder and intrigue, Hollow Heathens will have you falling from the very first page. Seriously, I still dream about Julian x Fallon. I read the NA version, but Fiorina also released a YA version with milder language and fade-to-black spicy scenes so her daughter could enjoy the story as well.
From Amazon's #1 bestselling author in Gothic Romance comes a haunting and forbidden love strong enough to murder fears and break centuries-old curses.
Once upon a time, there lived a girl named Fallon who was taken far away from home shortly after she was born. A home that held more than strange traditions and bizarre superstitions. Twenty-four years later, she returned to Weeping Hollow, a town she'd only heard about in stories during restless nights under a marble moon, to take care of her last living relative. They called the nosy mortician a freakshow-a ghastly thing. They said I couldn't…
I’ve been a lover and reader of the romance genre ever since I graduated high school and borrowed one of my mother’s paperback novels during our annual beach vacation (which may have been twenty years ago... Yikes!). While I read everything from contemporary to historical, paranormal to fantasy, I’ve always had a particular fondness for stories with a touch of magic—specifically the cursed kind. There’s something extra angsty and tragic about cursed love that makes overcoming obstacles that much sweeter. I hope you fall in love with the books on this list as much as I have.
Modern girl finds a cursed ring, goes back in time to the deadly Tudor era, and falls for the king. What could go wrong? This book has everything, cursed rings, time travel, swoon-worthy romance, forbidden love, and a drop-dead gorgeous Tudor King. There’s also a murder mystery as well, which adds so much depth to the plot. And I love, love, love how Murray treated the time travel aspect. There are dire consequences for changing the past and those consequences could be the worst curse of all. EATTK is YA and is suitable for younger readers and the first book in a heart-stopping trilogy.
"This book will grab you and won't let go until you've reached the final page. And then it will leave you wanting more. You've been warned." - YA Books Central
One moment, eighteen-year-old Emmie Grace is writing her final high school history paper before graduation; the next, she's lost in 16th century England, where she meets a dreamy but dangerous Tudor king who is destined for a dreadful fate.
Able to travel back to her own time but intensely drawn to King Nick and the mysterious death of his sister, Emmie finds herself solving the murder of a young princess…
I grew up on fairy tales and folklore in the Appalachian Mountains. Stories of adventure and dusty fairy tale books in my grandmother’s attic were my entertainment. The library trips we took “into town” added to my reading. I discovered that the step from fairy tales to classics wasn’t as wide as folks argue. Years later, when I went off to college, I became an English major, then a graduate student, and then started teaching literature at college. From childhood to adulthood, magic and fiction were my life... which led to selling a book of my own. Over the last 17 years, I’ve been writing fantasy.
I had stopped reading children’s and teen fiction for a couple of years, for the first time in my half a century of life, and then I read A Curse So Dark and Lonely.
There’s a different sort of adventure here, and I think I related to Harper a little bit extra because I have a chronic illness and when it flares up, my limp is so very obvious. It felt good to see magic + that realism.
The combination of magic, a protagonist I could connect to, and fairy tale elements made me start opening the covers of other books I’d bought and shelved.
A New York Times bestseller!
"Has everything you'd want in a retelling of a classic fairy tale." - Jodi Picoult
In a lush, contemporary fantasy retelling of Beauty and the Beast, Brigid Kemmerer gives readers another compulsively readable romance perfect for fans of Marissa Meyer.
Fall in love, break the curse.
It once seemed so easy to Prince Rhen, the heir to Emberfall. Cursed by a powerful enchantress to repeat the autumn of his eighteenth year over and over, he knew he could be saved if a girl fell for him. But that was before he learned that at the…
I love reading about monsters as much as I love writing about them. Unfortunately, it also means I’m super picky about the dark fantasy I read. These authors don’t disappoint. Dark fantasy is a genre that I continue to return to, whether it’s aimed at teens or adults. I’ve had to deal with many monsters in my life and I understand that they can take many shapes and forms. These books are some of the very best I’ve read and I hope you’ll enjoy them as much as I have.
Talk about intensive world-building, Lewis takes the cake with her impressive magic and gruesome villains in her novel, Lineage. Nicole Fontane, our protagonist, drew me in with her rage against corporate smoke and mirrors. Then came the incredible magical systems and magic users. And then on top of that, there are deities walking the very earth. Every time I thought it couldn’t get more intense, it did, and it’s a heck of a dangerous ride along the way.
Fusing magick and ominous secret societies, Lineage is the perfect fantastical mystery for fans of Dan Brown and Shayne Silvers.
Smart-mouthed Nicole Fontane has a way of getting herself into trouble.
She’s been fired from every job she’s had but still refuses to work in her father’s apothecary shop because of his practice of Earth Magick.
On Tulare Island where Nicole grew up, Magick has always been a way of life—one she’s determined to avoid at all costs. With less than two hundred dollars in the bank and rent due, Nicole is forced to take a job at Tribec Insurance…
I love reading about monsters as much as I love writing about them. Unfortunately, it also means I’m super picky about the dark fantasy I read. These authors don’t disappoint. Dark fantasy is a genre that I continue to return to, whether it’s aimed at teens or adults. I’ve had to deal with many monsters in my life and I understand that they can take many shapes and forms. These books are some of the very best I’ve read and I hope you’ll enjoy them as much as I have.
Yes, this book is based on the Great Blizzard of 1888, but trust me when I say this isn’t a historical document. Morgan introduces a wicked new twist with supernatural creatures known as the Wanageeska. This book had me gripped from the very first chapter, and in true Morgan fashion, drew me in deep until I was in over my head. This book is gruesome, intense, and fast-paced, serving as a testament to the dangers of mother nature. Morgan easily blends the fantastic with the historical into one incredible tale that I continue to think about years after reading it.
When a day dawns warm and mild in the middle of a long cold winter, it’s greeted as a blessing, a reprieve. A chance for those who’ve been cooped up indoors to get out, do chores, run errands, send the children to school… little knowing that they’re only seeing the calm before the storm.
The blizzard hits out of nowhere, screaming across the Great Plains like a runaway train. It brings slicing winds, blinding snow, plummeting temperatures. Livestock will be found frozen in the fields, their heads encased in blocks of ice formed from their own steaming…
I love reading about monsters as much as I love writing about them. Unfortunately, it also means I’m super picky about the dark fantasy I read. These authors don’t disappoint. Dark fantasy is a genre that I continue to return to, whether it’s aimed at teens or adults. I’ve had to deal with many monsters in my life and I understand that they can take many shapes and forms. These books are some of the very best I’ve read and I hope you’ll enjoy them as much as I have.
A dystopian novella that seems confusing at first but makes sense as you continue along. It requires piecing together broken memories, broken friendships, and flashes of emotion that are rarely understood. Each glimpse lasts only eight minutes and thirty-two seconds. It’s quite an incredible feat of storytelling. I read this in one sitting with the sun setting outside and me barely even noticing that time existed. I was fortunate enough to know and work alongside Salomon before his recent passing and this was a book I was privileged to provide a blurb for. I was blown away by the story that unraveled before me. I promise you will be too.
Over eight billion people died when the world ended. Two survived.L and M don’t know why they’re alive. They don’t remember what happened. Addicted to a drug that kills them for eight minutes and thirty-two seconds, they risk the end of humanity in order to learn the truth.
I’ve been intrigued with dark fantasy ever since I was a child, whether it was watching horror movies or fantasy with dark aspects such as Return to Oz or Legend. Growing up, I started reading dark fantasy pretty young, starting with Goosebumps or Scary Stories, and the style stuck with me through my adulthood, so much so that I started writing the genre myself.
I’m a fan of revenge stories, so when I picked up The Hollow Girl, I didn’t know it would be as addicting as it was. The romance in this one was super sweet, but boy does the rest get dark, and oh how I relished in all of it. There are some very unpleasant things that go down, but seeing the main character grow and deal with these in the way she did had me rooting for her. And the witchy things were just plain awesome!
For fans of Asylum, Anna Dressed in Blood, and The Haunting of Sunshine Girl comes a new feminist horror novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Mary: The Summoning.
Five boys attacked her. Now they must repay her with their blood and flesh.
Bethan is the apprentice to a green healer named Drina in a clan of Welsh Romanies. Her life is happy and ordered and modest, as required by Roma custom, except for one thing: Silas, the son of the chieftain, has been secretly harassing her.
One night, Silas and his friends brutally assault Bethan and a…
I’ve always loved horror stories, right from when I was a kid, and I first watched Friday the 13th, the ultimate scary movie. The jump scare moment was everything. I spent time studying great suspense writers like Alfred Hitchcock, Stephen King, and R L Stine. I was in awe at how they had me turning the pages, unable to look away! I think more and more children are discovering the fun and thrill of scary stories, and I love nothing more than making sure I try and implement some of these rules, adding in my own originality, too!
This is more suited to the YA market with an appealing darkness that had me gripped from page one.
An allure of illusions, rich description, and magic. I loved this book! Every sentence was beautiful and intriguing–it was quite unlike anything I’ve ever read before. Add in the mystique of a carnival, and this makes for a remarkable read.
Scarlett was a strong female protagonist, and her desperate need to escape had me reading this long into the night.
WELCOME TO CARAVAL, WHERE NOTHING IS QUITE WHAT IT SEEMS . . .
Scarlett has never left the tiny isle of Trisda, pining from afar for the wonder of Caraval, a once-a-year week-long performance where the audience participates in the show.
Caraval is Magic. Mystery. Adventure. And for Scarlett and her beloved sister Tella it represents freedom and an escape from their ruthless, abusive father.
When the sisters' long-awaited invitations to Caraval finally arrive, it seems their dreams have come true. But no sooner have they arrived than Tella vanishes, kidnapped by the show's mastermind organiser,…
I’ve been intrigued with dark fantasy ever since I was a child, whether it was watching horror movies or fantasy with dark aspects such as Return to Oz or Legend. Growing up, I started reading dark fantasy pretty young, starting with Goosebumps or Scary Stories, and the style stuck with me through my adulthood, so much so that I started writing the genre myself.
Love in a Time of Monsters is a book I read several years ago, but no matter what other dark fantasy books I read, this one continues to stick with me. It isn’t your standard falling-in-love story, although the romance is epic and unforgettable, but it’s more than that. It’s about the main characters finding themselves and growing in this crazy fantasy world. And seriously, the monster aspects were excellent.
