Salacious Escapes From Earthly Men

Written By Joselyn Martin

High Fantasy 

  • Circe by Madeline Miller

    • Also one of the best writers of our time;

    • Honorable mention: Song of Achilles;

    • You will cry;

    • You will rage, at times;

    • You will leave feeling hopeful;

  • Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

    • What a strange little book this is;

    • At first you don’t know what’s going on, but if you can relax into that feeling it’s quite wonderful;

    • I think about this book a lot;

  • Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel

    • This is high fantasy;

    • Epic fantasy;

    • Happening on a whole other level here;

    • Allows you to feel sadness about something other than your own life;

  • The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

    • Oof. It’s good;

    • It’s heavy in the best way;

    • Best of all time? Possibly;

    • Also so fucking sad I’ve had to take a break from this series;

    • I will be back;

Fantasy Romance

    • Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri

      • All hail Tasha Suri, the best fantasy writer of our time;

      • This book will bring you into a different world;

      • Strong characters, especially the women;

      • Unique magics;

    • Reign and Ruin by J.D. Evans

      • This is serious fantasy. With sex;

      • Good series which shifts slightly in tone between books, in the best way;

      • Forget ACOTAR and Wings, this is the shit;

      • FMC is the Sultan’s daughter and set to take the throne except all the men on the board are like “ew, a vagina” and want to forcer her to marry one of their sons but then a warrior fleeing a bordering kingdom arrives and things get…complicated;

      • And there’s magic! 

    • Swordheart by T. Kingfisher

      • This is sweet and not at all that serious;

      • FMC  is 36 and not skinny (thank you gawd)

      • Sweet;

      • If you are intimidated by the idea of reading sex, start here;

    • Immortal Longings by Chloe Gong

      • Blade Runner meets Hunger Games vibes;

      • Dystopian, class war, people have swords but also computers;

      • Your heroine is a killer;

      • Really cool magics;

      • Strong writing, sex is just okay;

    • Radiance by Grace Draven

      • Dark, cozy, arranged marriage between human FMC and gray, clawed, fanged, very tall and strong and sweet MMC;

      • They think each other is terribly ugly. Until they don’t;

    • The Fell Queen by Camille Dwight

      • Evil fire-breathing conqueror takes over her kingdom but twist, he’s sweet on her;

      • Murderous devotion from MMC;

      • Downright hostility from FMC;

      • Morally gray and epically good;

Romance Fantasy (Romantasy)

  • Subgenre: men who are so babygirl, actually

    • Throne in the Dark by A.K. Caggiano

      • This author is SO FUN;

      • There are three books in this series, just buy all three at the same time because it’s really just one big ol’ book;

      • It’s playful, it’s deities and demons, enemies to lovers;

      • You will laugh, you will worry about these characters;

      • The sex is…excellent;

      • MMC is a half demon half human who needs to free his father from the human king and his quest brings him into the path of our FMC, a sweet woman who’s brightness and cheery nature are in direct conflict with our brooding prince of the underworld;

      • Needless to say, hijinks ensue;

    • Bride by Ali Hazelwood

      • Do. Not. Judge. Me.

      • Deeply, deeply unserious;

      • Vampires, werewolves, humans;

      • Arranged marriage, enemies to lovers;

      • Don’t take it too seriously and you will enjoy;

      • MMC is a werewolf big shot who marries a vampire daughter of someone important for an alliance and they spend a good part of the story hating each other and simultaneously trying very hard not to have sex with each other; 

    • Halfling & Ironling by S.E. Wendel

      • They’re half orc half humans

      • They’re big and strong and so babygirl

      • Human woman is kidnapped by orcs and it’s gonna be real bad until our MCC half orc helps her escape and it’s through this whole escape that they become…close;

  • Subgenre: possessive, power dynamic, mine mine mine

    • Captive of the Horde King by Zoey Draven

      • Human FMC lives in a kind of barren settlement of another specie’s planet and is taken by that specie’s leader, our MMC, who is head of his tribe of seemingly exclusively big burly shirtless males with tales;

      • Yes, I said tales;

      • Don’t let the camping throw you off, these are solid if slightly problematic books;

    • The Horde King of Shadow by Zoey Draven

      • Less camping, more dragons

    • Desire in His Blood by Zoey Draven

      • It’s like if a man (like a MAN) had bat wings, vampire fangs, horns and a huge mansion;

      • Then he revenge marries the daughter of his enemy;

      • Then they’re both kinda like “huh. Yer hot.”

    • Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon

      • Oh to be abducted and then rescued from this terrible earth;

  • Subgenre: Historical Romance (still fantasy because these men don’t exist)

    • The Highwayman by Kerrigan Byrne

      • Outlander who? 

      • All humans here;

      • But also, not because he’s big and strong and kind of a bad guy, but only to other bad guys and he doesn’t believe he deserves love but he really wants to deserve it;

      • And she’s sweet, but also works for Scotland Yard, but also her life is in danger and she’s whisked away by the aforementioned brute who is just so grumpy and she does not like him and is not sexually attracted to him at all but like he’s hot, sure, but she would never, but also if she doesn’t she’s just gonna die;

      • The audiobook is chef’s kiss;

  • Subgenre: modern workplace romance

    • The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

    • Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood

Joselyn Martin
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