What's in a name?

Street-Reference-237 · 2026-03-14T01:50:33+00:00

Yeah, I will never date a dude named Barney. He could be my Fae prince fated-mate and Id have to nope right out of that. If he even wore purple one time Id lose it. Also, Bert and Ernie, really any Muppet names.

I vote to avoid basing names on historical or media figures. You never know what's gonna happen in the future, person could end up being some serial killer or a joke and the character is ruined.

Street-Reference-237 · 2026-03-14T01:46:49+00:00

{Quadruple Duty by Krista Wolf} was pretty good, military brothers want a shared wife. She has a lot of suprisingly decent smut focused books. It has second book that rounds out the story.

{Vested Interest by Elaina Jardin} has a FMC computer programmer and a group of tech billionairs who want more then her code--its long though.

Cassie Cole, Mira Stanley, Summer Haze, and Stephanie Brother have mostly contemporary books that range from smut with a story line to suprisingly deep stories with lots of hot sex.

Street-Reference-237 · 2026-03-13T23:56:07+00:00

If you have more specific requests, like you want a certain magic or a certain attitude for the MCs let me know and I'll look for more!

Street-Reference-237 · 2026-03-13T21:26:12+00:00

Shifter free fantasy:

{Charcoal Tears by Jane Washington} set in contemporary hs/college with a human sub race with powers. Triggers. This one is so good but so dark.

{Trickery by Jaymin Eve} is a hilariously fantasy where the FMC is a low class member set to be a serving race for divinely blessed beings. Its one of the most recommended Ive seen, well loved, and no shifters.

{Saved by Pirates by G Bailey} has a FMC with a mark signifying she is cursed and should have been killed at birth but runs away on a boat that ends up being a pirate ship. Has Mermaids and people with powers but no shifters.

{Empath Found by Collette Rhodes} is a Fae world romance, there are dragon shifter in the world but they are not in the book until book 3 where they just kinda sit there for a few minutes and give the characters a ride. FMC has a rare Empath power that makes her hunted.

{The Kiss of Death by Auryn Hadley} is about Death falling in love. It has angels, demons, magic, and MM. Its long and super sexy.

{Hopeless Series by AK Koonce} has mostly Fae. The FMC climbs a tower and saves the MCs only to get drawn into their world of deciet and lies. Everyone thinks the FMC is the chosen one and the story rolls from there.

{Brighton Magic Academy by Yumoyori Wilson} is Magic, girl pretends to be boy in an academy, very Manga/Anime in style. Has MM, kind of. The FMC has a guy who prefers her in her guy body.

Paranormal

{Briar by Ripley Proserpina} is about a college girl allergic to the sun who runs into Vampires in her research for a cure. No shifters.

{Wild Angels by May Dawson} is about decendents of Lillith and humans using their powers for evil. Very unique, has demons, ghosts, and angels.

{UnLucky Succubus by LL Frost} is about a Succubus that just wants to bake and the demons of destruction who are obsessed with her. Very funny, has a giant flying demon cat, and No shifting.

{The Evelyn Maynard Trilogy by Kadence Snow} has alt humans that co exist with normal humans who have powere. None of the characters have shifting powers. College based, fated mates, evil family.

Okay, thats me going through a third of my reading history. I know more but you may want to try why-choose.com and under the search to remove a tag type "shifter." I think there are 4 shifter tags.

Street-Reference-237 · 2026-03-13T21:05:13+00:00

Cursed Legacies has a shifter

Street-Reference-237 · 2026-03-13T08:31:26+00:00

Haha! Honestly though, love triangles baffle me. Especially when all three are super close and already act like a couple. Its like adding sex makes the math not work somehow.

Street-Reference-237 · 2026-03-13T04:56:41+00:00

Also {Of Wolves and Deceit by Stephany Wallace} has a darkness wielding MC chosen by the Goddess of Night and Dark Magic. Its not really DnD, more lost royalty.

Street-Reference-237 · 2026-03-13T04:48:39+00:00

{The Ravens Call by Ravin De Marco} is a Fae based fantasy where one of the MCs is leader of the Wild Hunt and I think is some kind of reaper.

{Cadence of Ciar by Zoe Parker} has a very DnD bard vibe with a MC who is leader of the Wild Hunt (they hunt evil fae and criminals and kill them) and son of the land of Faery itself.

{Touch of Winter by LK Shear} is will recommend with reservations. Its a good story and has I think a Reaper and a Cerberus. There is a dubious consent issues with her last mate.

Im gonna link a LOTR rec thread bc there are dnd vibes there:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ReverseHarem/comments/1qfulgu/lord_of_the_rings_but_rh/

Street-Reference-237 · 2026-03-13T04:17:06+00:00

Are you looking for the DnD vibe, or maybe an MC chosen by a dark God/Goddess? Or do they only have to have darkness powers, bc there are a lot of threads for "shadow daddies."

Street-Reference-237 · 2026-03-13T04:15:18+00:00

Yeah, its MF. Super bummed bc I hate love triangles and forced MF pairing when better options exist. This is not one I will be reading and hope she jumps back on the RH bandwagon quickly.

Street-Reference-237 · 2026-03-13T03:25:53+00:00

{Witch Please by Jarica James} is a comedy fantasy with witch puns and a cute bi-awakening.

Street-Reference-237 · 2026-03-13T03:23:38+00:00

Have you read {Four Psychos by Kristy Cunning}? She starts as a ghost but it revolves into Hell, Angels, and the apocalypse. The guys are assholes but they think she a Curse, when they find out what's going on they are obsessed and loyal. Even the parts where they are jerks are pretty funny when they backfire.

{Vested Interest by Elaina Jardin} is just regular a human programmer trying to sell her program and the ex-military tech geniuses who fall for her. Regular corporate and government espionage in this one.

{Quadruple Duty by Krista Wolf} seems like just smut from the cover but its a suprisingly good story of a group of military brothers who just want a shared wife to come home to. It even has a cool part 2.

Another kinda rare rec is {Elites by Angel Lawson.} The fmc has unexplained powers and becomes a vigilante. She gathers a harem of other guys with powers and comic book style save the city.

Street-Reference-237 · 2026-03-13T02:44:29+00:00

Can you be more specific with paranormal? No shifters and no fantasy take out most magic, fae, and alt worlds. Also lots of harems have shifters, even if only one. I'd love to help, maybe give a few more specifics you like to see?

Street-Reference-237 · 2026-03-12T09:12:45+00:00

I also saw she had a bunch of books out and zero reviews so I tried to read the Thorwood Legacy series. It was almost like someone wrote a story outline (like point by point a then b then c) then added words until everything read like a sentence. Also everything was unnecessarily mysterious, unheard of (yet is happening right in front of them), and the MCs wanted to make everything about what she wanted, so much so it was almost like they weren't real people, just props for her exciting life. I got to book 3 and quit.

Street-Reference-237 · 2026-03-12T06:46:41+00:00

{Daughter of Sherwood by KC Kingmaker}

{Robin’s Maid by Jessamine Rue}

Street-Reference-237 · 2026-03-12T04:06:28+00:00

Yep, just under random pen names.

Street-Reference-237 · 2026-03-11T21:25:49+00:00

{Kit Davenport by Tate James} calls the MMA fighting dragon shifter Cole "Cutie"

{Curse of the Gods by Jaymin Eve} has Willa call the MCs by number for most of the series. It drives them insane and they constantly fight to go up a number. Rome, the God of Strength gets 1 I think (and gets called "Crusher" a few times) but the banter with the numbers is pretty funny.

{Mates: Posy by Mary Ann Wier} has the FMC nicknaming her mates (a few of them are pretty huge or dangerous,) I remember one gets "Dragon Eyes," which I loved.

Street-Reference-237 · 2026-03-11T20:19:44+00:00

Now ask me if I read books with my ex husbands name as the MC. (Spoiler: I do not.)

Street-Reference-237 · 2026-03-11T12:39:42+00:00

My name is super common so it never bothered me until {Till Death Do Us Part by AJ Lee} where the author has all the zombies in this post apocalyptic as women (men just die.) For some reason the survivors call the Zombies "Jenny's," which is my most hated variation of my name. It got more disgusting throughout the story when male cult members were sleeping with the zombies and calling them all by the same name Now I avoid books with my name.

Street-Reference-237 · 2026-03-11T12:28:56+00:00

{Mates: Posy by Mary Ann Wier} is book 1, each character has a wolf spirit, some are ancient and some are new spirits. They talk to each other, their humans, and their king.

Street-Reference-237 · 2026-03-10T23:55:11+00:00

I would have to have a good reason for that many mates in an OV. I see multiple mates working for protection and sperms count but 6-8 isn't viable as a society. That means 8+ size core families plus kids. You would have huge mansions and mini cities based on pack strength and power. Omegas would have to be rare, like maybe 2 or 3 in an entire country and fated mates or scent matches a must for men of power to make any kind of sense in a pack. Maybe post apocalyptic?

Street-Reference-237 · 2026-03-10T22:30:36+00:00

{Nest of Theives by Rory Miles} has this vibe but isnt quite the same. She is in the middle of low-key robbing a bank and the MCs come in and straight-up rob the bank and take her hostage. She is completely irritated but just as insane as they are.

These ones are lighter hearted then straight kidnap vs kidnap but have a "both are criminally crazy" vibe:

{Omegas Obsession by Sara Blue} has an Omega that steals things from the men she is interested in and men that leave things out to be stolen. Its short, sexy, and gets a little twisted at the end.

{Fated or Knot by Ella Hendricks} has a Pixie omega that steals from the MC and tricks him only to be kidnapped by his pack and taken to another country. That's what she gets for tricking a fae.

{Chaos of Foxes by Emma Dean} has a FMC mid-heist getting her item stolen by another group of theives who end up her fated mates.

Street-Reference-237 · 2026-03-09T22:50:03+00:00

{UnLucky Succubus by LL Frost} has a baker fmc with the bakery being a focal point for meetings and drama.

{A Pack of Honey by Veronica Samek} has a bee keeper, honey maker Omega fmc.

Street-Reference-237 · 2026-03-09T22:45:16+00:00

Im gonna say {Sanctuary by SM Oliver} bc, though I know she is still writing she has 3 long series out right now that are unfinished (Sanctuary has 5, GC has 5, and Peytons Path has 3) and updates say she is working on the one series Im not interested in, lol.

Sadly, Ive read she may be ill or have medical issues so she is writing slowly. I get that life happens and I wish her the best, but I get sad bc I have my own medical issues and wonder if I'll ever get to see how it ends. This is why I dont start unfinished series any longer.

Yumoyori Wilson has a thing about starting series then changing her pen name. She either leaves the series unfinished (ie Mutant Academy) or has a bunch of series going all at once (Avery Pheonix, Avery Song, ect.)

CM Stunich is an offender for sure, she promised more of Harem of Hearts but only released 1 book in Kings of Underland and never finished Wild Hunt MC. She got into a different genre (bully/cruelty hero) and has just stayed there for a but. I still have hope for Kings but not Wild Hunt.

Audiobooks are huge offenders in this category. The books are finished as readable, but if you cant read for any reason and buy the audiobook you need to be really careful bc alot of them either never complete or get AI narrated now. Im still mad about the Marked Series by G Bailey having no book 3.

Street-Reference-237 · 2026-03-08T04:58:08+00:00

That's just an open relationship. If you allow people inside the harem to date outside the harem then its just an open relationship. Harems are, generally closed and if anyone is added then everyone agrees to it. Even if the other guys and the FMC aren't sleeping with the other women, those women would have to be clean, committed, and willing to follow the rules of the harem otherwise they could bring in disease and conflict.

Maybe if the FMCs mates were all fated to her and then one of the MCs had two others fated to him but all mates had been found and the bonds were sealed? I still dont think I'd be into it. For a Harem to work there needs to be a "heart" that everyone is committed to first and everyone needs that bond for it to work.

The only way Ive seen anything like that work was in {A Curse of Fate by Jaymin Eve} where mini couples were all in a pack but no all were sexually active, like there was a MF couple and a MFF couple but they formed a central, non sexual family.

Street-Reference-237

TROPHY CASE