 Hello, hello everyone. My name is Laura. This is my channel, Laura's Little Library, and welcome to today's video which are fantasy romance recommendations for Valentine's Day. So recently I have been reading and loving so many really good fantasy books with either strong romance subplots or that are romanticy, fantasy and romance together. And I thought I would recommend some of them for you in case you also love this genre and are looking for some recommendations for this upcoming Valentine's Day. If you are also a fan of contemporary, specifically baking themes, contemporary romance, I did recently post a video with those types of recommendations so I encourage you to subscribe and hit the bell and then you can go back and watch that video as well. But let's jump right into the video. So the first book I have to recommend is one that you've probably heard of because so many people have been talking about it but I recently read this entire trilogy and definitely think that if you haven't read this you really need to so I'm going to recommend it. You know, I'm sure you already know everything about it. Kingdom of the Wicked by Carrie Menescalco. So this is Carrie Menescalco's new trilogy. The third book, Kingdom of the Feared, just came out and I will say first off the first book is definitely a fantasy YA book. You are following a girl and her twin sister. Her twin is brutally murdered and so our main character goes and tries to figure out who murdered her and in doing so she follows in her sister's footsteps and she summons a demon to help her figure this out and lo and behold, she doesn't just summon any old demon. She actually summons one of the princes of hell. But the reason I said that the first book is YA is because the second and third book definitely lean more adult. So I got hooked in the first book and I absolutely loved the second and third book as well but if you're someone who is only interested in YA but know that you can get hooked into a series either know that they're adult going into the next two books or maybe don't if you don't want to read that but if you think that sounds interesting I highly recommend because I like everyone else have read and loved this book and I'm telling you if it even sounds remotely interesting please pick it up because the chemistry between the characters is just amazing. The hate to love, the backdrop of a murder mystery, it all comes together so well and each book just keeps getting bigger and better than the last. And if you love Carrie Madis-Galco's first series, Stocking Jack the Ripper which is another like series with strong romance vibes if you loved that or are interested in that also read it. Anyway, let's move on to the next book because I could just gush about Kingdom of the Wicked for so long. Next up I would recommend An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rodgerson. This is a standalone fantasy, so if you're just looking for one book that is Fantasy Romance for Valentine's Day rather than getting into a whole duology, trilogy series, etc. and so forth I would recommend this one, especially also if you are into Fae Romance, which I suspect a lot of us fantasy romance are into. Thank You Sarah J. Mess But if you're looking for something else, I would recommend An Enchantment of Ravens. This follows our main character who is human and she is such a talented artist and she is a painter and she's really good at painting portraits and so one day and she even paints portraits of Fae and one day she is approached by the Prince of the Autumn Court to have his portrait painted by her. However, she goes and accidentally paints him with a little bit of emotion in his eyes and his facial expression, just ever so slight and this is a huge no-no for the Prince and so she gets in all sorts of trouble. She has to journey with the Prince to the Autumn Court to answer for her crime of painting emotion on the Prince because the Prince is like, no, no, no, no, I didn't have emotion. Mm-hmm. No, not at all. No siree. No emotion here. It's adorable. It is so good. The chemistry between the characters. They're both a little steamy. Anyway, so it is it is a very Autumn Vibe book but they do also pass through the Spring Court and the Spring Court has some very nice spring vibes. So if you're looking forward to Spring, then I think you can still read this book now. Moving on, I recommend This Vicious Grace by Emily Thied. This is like an Italian fantasy-inspired romance. You have the idea of your set in Italy but kind of in this world similar to ours but not actually ours and you have your goddess who is the good and wonderful, pray to the goddess and you have this terrible god and they're kind of constantly at war with each other and so what happens is that there is one person in every generation or so who has the power to amplify the magic of people who have magic, which is not everybody. It's not actually a lot of people. But the catch is that she can only amplify the magic of her like partner, someone she's partnered with, whether it's like best friend, marriage, or just someone like really close to. Everyone else she touches, she actually kills them and so the reason why the goddess gifted the earth with this kind of amplifier person is because the evil god sends this huge army of disgusting creatures every so often to try and wipe out the humans. Rude. So they have to prepare to fight this army of disgusting things and the amplifier is like the only person who can really have enough power to win that war. Every like generation 10 years or so whatever. However, the main character that we are following, she is this like amplifier source. She is, as they say, the Fenestra and she has killed three people trying to find her partner to help her defeat these creatures. So things are not going well for her and people are starting to doubt her and they are starting to question whether she was sent by the goddess or maybe she is a tool for evil. And she's just like, I am so alone and I want to save my people. And it's just so she gets a bodyguard. Very handsome bodyguard. I have to say they this book probably has my favorite lead up of romance out of all of these recommendations. So if you're there for like the pining and the no, I don't love him. He's just my bodyguard, blah, blah, blah. This would definitely be the book for you. I will say this is the first book in a duology and the second book is coming out later in 2023, so you will have to wait to get the next book. And it does have quite an interesting ending. So just be known about that if you're someone who's kind of like hesitant about starting a series or duology without having all the books out, I understand you. And so this is your warning, but this way you're not super committed to it either, but there will be more. So definitely if you love a good like Italian pining fantasy romance, I would give this one a try. Next up, I have an oldie but a goodie. I mean, it's not that old, but I read it a while ago and I loved it. That is The Shadows Between Us by Trisha Levinthaler. Of course, there has to be a Trisha Levinthaler book on this list. Like, of course there does, of course. So this has a bad ass female main character. She is all about bettering herself, woman empowerment, all those kinds of things. And she loves making fashion for herself just as like a little side hobby, but really what she aims to do. And she says this literally on the first page. She is going to become the bride of the shadow king, kill him and take over the kingdom. Simple, right? Very simple. Shadow King can't have anybody touch him. Who knows why? Who knows why? And like, 1800s style book, but like I said, it's in a complete fantasy world. And The Shadow King is looking for a bride, a bride begrudgingly. He's not super excited about this. He's turning everyone down and then our main character. Manages to capture his eye, not necessarily with her beauty, but with how she stands out and how she presents herself. Because she is not like other girls because she believes in woman empowerment. She believes in wearing pants and being comfortable and doing what you want with your body and your life and everything like that. So she she is a very fun perspective to read from. There is another book coming out. I think it follows a side character. It's not directly after this book, like it's not serious. I think it's like a companion novel. So hopefully there will be more content in this world coming out soon. But for now, it is a standalone by one of my favorite authors, my favorite author of last year, Trisha Levenseller. So this is actually the first Trisha Levenseller book I read by her. And I don't think it's necessarily my favorite of her books, but it is so good. It is really good. So if you have a Red Trisha Levenseller, give her a try. If you have, then you know, you know what I'm talking about. Read the shadows between us. Now, the final book that I have to recommend is the first book in a trilogy of companion novels. So the idea is that each book is happening at the same time, within the same time frame, we're just following three different characters, three friends, and they all come to like the same conclusion in the end, but from different routes and presenting different information. So you read all three and then you finally have the big picture of, oh, my word, this was happening. That's how this person is the bad guy, et cetera, and so forth. So the Glittering Court is a dystopian style fantasy romance. Like if you like the selection or it's a romance heavy dystopian fantasy novel, you would probably like the Glittering Court, because the Glittering Court is the idea that we have this new land. It's kind of it gave me a lot of feeling of like England and kind of Europe discovering the Americas because there's this new land that they are going to. And they need to have like upper class people in that land in order to kind of rule the land, you know, the very, very much like the class system that Old England had with like lords and ladies and then regular people. So the idea is that they take people of lower class, the Glittering Court, the company that runs this, takes these women from lower class, teaches them how to be proper ladies and then tries to get them married to rich men and men of an upper class in this new world because these men need wives, obviously, and they need ladies who are wives who know what they're doing, who can run a household, who can do, who can like order servants around, et cetera, and so forth. And so in the first book, the Glittering Court, you are following our main character, who secretly actually is an upper class lady, but she was getting matched to marry like her distant cousin or something. And she was not thrilled with that idea. So she pretends to be a woman of lower class to get into the Glittering Court to have a better match because in the Glittering Court, you do actually have very little say into who you marry. If you have multiple men who want to marry you, you do get to choose. And it's not chosen for you. And so she believes that with her actual experience of being an upper class woman, she will have lots of prospects of marriages and that she will actually get to choose a decent husband for herself. And then she falls in love and it's so sweet. And it really is kind of like gold rush up near the second half of the book, like it does kind of have a halfway through turnaround in the book when she does fall in love with someone. So I will say that. And I would suggest starting with this one for two reasons. A, because I think it has the most in-depth explanation of the world and the Glittering Court and everything that happens there because it was the first book out in the kind of companion trilogy. But also B, because it is the one that focuses on the romance the most. It is the most romantic of the three books. And so for Valentine's Day, if you're looking for fantasy romance, I would start here with this book. And then if you like it, I would read The Emerald Sea and The Midnight Jewel, which are the other books in the series. Those aren't super romance based, but kind of really dive into the plot and everything happening behind the scenes of the Glittering Court. That's why I think you should read the Glittering Court first. OK, so those are the five fantasy romance books that I have to recommend to you for this coming Valentine's Day. Let me know down below what you plan on reading. If you've read any of these, what your thoughts on them, or I would love to chat with you down in the comments below while you're down there. Give this video a thumbs up if you liked it. Also, feel free to hit the subscribe button and tap the bell so that you're notified when I post videos. Hopefully I will go back to my regular posting schedule of Sundays and Wednesdays soon. But because I am in a new place, things have been a little hectic. But I am still trying to I am reading a lot and I have lots of video ideas. So I will be filming those, editing them, getting them out as soon as I can. So hit the bell to be notified when a video goes up. Otherwise, I also do have bookish social media linked down below in the description so you can follow me there on those social medias to see what I am reading and keep up with me there. But until I see you all in the next video, I wish you happy reading.