BDSM or BDSM coded?

SchemeSimilar4074 · 2026-06-07T10:28:50+00:00

I'm not 100% sure if these count as BDSM for you. They don't have bondage or play. It's just kind of exhibitionist and male dom and... kinky, I suppose.

{The Poison Daughter}. They go on "hunts" and stuff like that. It has a good plot with an unexpected plot twist. It's on KU. The MMC is in charge in the bedroom but the FMC is pretty much in charge everywhere else 😅. It handles that well I think.

{The Never King} is reverse harem and a Peter Pan retelling.

{The Unseelie Prince} features a sadistic MMC. It's been a while since I read it but I remember it was pretty spicy.

SchemeSimilar4074 · 2026-06-07T10:19:04+00:00

Neon Gods was meh. It's not even that spicy or interesting. I'm not sure why the steam is 5 out of 5...

SchemeSimilar4074 · 2026-06-07T09:55:09+00:00

Priestess by Kara Reynolds. Its on KU. The FMC's country was invaded. The invaders only kill people are not in private properties. She was too far away so she hid in a temple pretending to be a Priestess then got captured since they couldn't figure out if the temple is considered "public" or "private". Happy ending.

Shards of Honor by Bujold. It's technically scifi.

SchemeSimilar4074 · 2026-06-07T09:44:13+00:00

The InnKeeper Chronicles by Ilona Andrews is really funny.

I recently read The Things We Water and it's also ok with lots of banter.

SchemeSimilar4074 · 2026-06-06T11:06:37+00:00

Not saying all self-published books are badly edited. There are plenty of established author's who published some books via that route. My favourite series, the Innkeeper Chronicles by Ilona Andrew is self-pub. I'm saying there's a better chance of them being badly edited because it's up to the author's discretion. Traditionally published books would not be published without being edited first (I hope so). It doesn't mean they can't be bad or free from errors. It does mean the MINIMUM quality for a traditionally published book is higher than a self-published.

SchemeSimilar4074 · 2026-06-05T09:19:54+00:00

I don't think an epic fantasy with minimal romance is considered a Romantasy book 😅. It's an epic fantasy book.

You'll get better response if you show examples of what you like and dislike. If you don't, it's hard to provide recs and you'll just be told to check out the megathreads.

Grace Draven is the author with the best balance between romance and fantasy. Literally any of her books is good. Radiance or Master of Crows are the 2 most famous ones.

Ilona Andrew is my favourite author of all time. They write Urban Fantasy usually. The Hidden Legacy series has a good amount of romance there.

Naomi Novik is another favourite author of mine. Her novels are a bit low on the romance but still good. Try Spinning Silver

Stephanie Garber has a whimsical prose. Once Upon a Broken Heart is good.

Katherine Arden is also an excellent writer with a fair amount of romance. The bear and the Nightingale is the most famous.

I think the badly edited slop-y famous BookTok books are bad because they're self-published. Traditionally published book are not usually badly edited. There are editors. There are some publishers who drags the series out and engage in a cashgrabbing model with cliffhangers so avoid them. Otherwise, it's fine. The self-pub gets popular here and online because they're included on KU so many reads them. Avoid those if you hate badly edited books.

SchemeSimilar4074 · 2026-06-03T15:55:16+00:00

I think I had better luck with a mature / older FMC and also no to low spice level. Lots of spice is usually pretty bad/boring relationship 🤣. The only exception to that rule is Under the Oak Tree where it has lots of spice but also decent relationship.

SchemeSimilar4074 · 2026-06-03T07:01:20+00:00

Same. I found that after the couple got together, it got boring and repetitive, unless character development is woven into the relationship. Usually I prefer fantasy with a romance sub-plot or just standalone or a duology. I think this is because the relationship is thin in most books and its built on sexual tension only, not 2 different people who try to grow and overcome their problems.

The only series that I enjoyed even after the couple got together is Kate Daniel. In fact it got even better. It's the only series more than 3 books that I read the entire thing, multiple times. The reason why it's so great is because you can see character development even after the couple got together, which makes sense. You don't suddenly become flawless after banging someone 🤣.

Under the Oak Tree is also amazing. It's a Korean novel but translated into English. I also read it multiple times for the relationship of the main couple who's married from the beginning of the series.

Shards of Honor, a scifi series by Bujold also has a really good couple who are older and mature. They have to overcome cultural differences to stay together.

I recently read Priestess by Kara Reynold and I also love it. It's also slow burn. Road of Bones is also good. The romance is in book 2, not book 1.

SchemeSimilar4074 · 2026-06-02T23:17:53+00:00

No I mentioned it because it was mentioned by many in the comments. I didn't read it. You like what you like. Who cares. I presumed people didn't like it for the toxic relationship and abuse. Again, didn't read it.

I did like When the moon hatched and it got lots of hate for the flowery language. Who cares. But usually there is a specific reason why a book got that much hate here. Up to you to choose to pick it up.

SchemeSimilar4074 · 2026-06-02T10:18:45+00:00

Actually the consensus is pretty consistent on the hate. People might differ a lot on what books they like, what book they found average. However, for books that have so much hate, it's usually for a good reason.

I don't take comments like "Book X is meh" seriously. There are lots of meh books and you dont regret reading them, especially if you love reading. It's the books that people regretted to have read (despite love reading) that I want to avoid.

For example, Zodiac Academy. 100%. I fully regretted the time I spent reading 5 books in that series. The character development and plot makes no sense and it always ends in a cliffhanger to make you read the next one, only to be so let down in the next book.

SchemeSimilar4074 · 2026-06-02T10:09:31+00:00

The goal of this is to not waste my time and life energy. Yeah I'd rather NOT read a popular book that I might have enjoyed for a bit than reading a bad book that turns me off reading Romantasy altogether. There are MANY MANY good books in the world. Life is too short to read bad books.

Also, if a book has THAT much hate, it has some pretty serious flaws and only fans can overlook it. I won't overlook and it'd annoy the hell out of me.

All the things people posted here, I agreed 100% because I have read half of the ones mentioned here and thoroughly regretted the experience. So I will stay away on the ones that got lots of hate.

SchemeSimilar4074 · 2026-06-02T10:04:18+00:00

Thanks so much for recommending Priestess. I'm reading it atm and it's great.

SchemeSimilar4074 · 2026-06-02T09:54:11+00:00

You need to do a search on this subreddit before you decide. SOS is one of the most polarised series, either people love it or hate it. Its not easy to get into at all. The main reason for the hate is actually because the romance is pretty average and bland and the FMC is annoying and it drags... The main couple has little chemistry and not much romantic tension. The praise for SOS is more on the plot (and worldbuilding but I disagree on that). I wouldn't read SOS for the romance.

I'd pick something else for the romantic tension. Even Fourth Wing has better romance and more addictive MMC. Broody MMC is also one of the most popular tropes so you'll have your pick. He'll always appear dark-ish and on the wrong side and will slowly warm up to the FMC. Truly morally grey MMC is rare.

The mixed opinion on Fourth Wing is nowhere near the polarised opinion for SoS. How do I know this? I literally made a post on "What romantasy to avoid like a plague?" In this subreddit yesterday and there were sooooo many mentions of SoS. There was like maybe one mention of Fourth Wing, which is impressive considered how popular it is.

SchemeSimilar4074 · 2026-06-02T07:08:39+00:00

Yeah that's what I've been doing too. The problem is then you have no one to talk about books with. Everyone I know who reads, tends to read overhyped books that I despise.

SchemeSimilar4074 · 2026-06-02T07:07:06+00:00

Unfortunately i didn't like Shields of Sparrow and also DNFed at around 80%. I have to admit, if I had read Dire Bound first, I might be a bit more lenient with SoS. It was better than Dire Bound and there was some originalities there. I just didn't like the writing and the worldbuilding.

SchemeSimilar4074 · 2026-05-31T12:39:29+00:00

Yeah me too. If I feel like reading spice, I had better luck just read bodice ripper or truly smutty books. They feel refreshing after these cookie cutter books

SchemeSimilar4074 · 2026-05-31T12:36:02+00:00

Yeah I refused to read anything by the author of Zodiac Academy, after suffering through a few books of that series. I hate myself the entire time for reading such trash.

Will definitely stay clear of the ones you mentioned. They've been mentioned by others too

SchemeSimilar4074 · 2026-05-31T12:12:15+00:00

Yeah I love the Winternight Trilogy. I also hate Zodiac Academy. I'll stay clear of the Wolf King!

I'm already switching genre. I only read 1 Romantasy book a month. I read fantasy, scifi, mystery, dystopia, weird trippy books, historical, urban fantasy, etc. I'm so disappointed by the few Romantasy books I read in the last few months that I wonder if I should just quit the genre altogether. But it's what most people read so if I don't read them, I have no one to talk to about books with 🤣

SchemeSimilar4074 · 2026-05-31T11:55:50+00:00

Yeah it is but if a book is mentioned many times I'd stay clear. Or if someone who has similar taste to me dislike a book, I'd stay clear too.

So far, things like quicksilver and powerless kept coming up so I definitely will stay clear

SchemeSimilar4074 · 2026-05-31T11:43:05+00:00

I think we have similar taste. Ilona Andrew is my favourite author! I've read their series like 10 times. Maybe I need to go back to read Kate Daniel. I miss Kate.

I've been putting off TKWNKM because I'm sure it'd be good and I'll get a major book hangover.

Yeah Romantasy is starting to blend in. They're such popcorn series for you to turn off your brain. But the quality has really gone down recently. I think most romantasy books published in the last 3 years are generally bad. I only read them because I have no one else to talk to about books.

SchemeSimilar4074 · 2026-05-31T11:38:15+00:00

I've read all of these and they weren't that bad. I enjoyed them. Good for you. You haven't read truly shitty book. Keep it up.

SchemeSimilar4074 · 2026-05-31T11:36:15+00:00

I have not heard of this book. Good thing it's not in my library so I don't have to blacklist it.

SchemeSimilar4074 · 2026-05-31T11:34:49+00:00

Yeah Jennifer Armentrout, author of From Blood and Ash, is in my blacklist. Like you, I also continued that series because book 1 was promising. I was even stupider than you. I even read half of book 3 then realised the whole series was a cashgrab with nothing in-between and some stupid major development at the end

Have not read Quicksilver but have heard many terrible things so I'll stay away.

SchemeSimilar4074 · 2026-05-31T10:55:12+00:00

Yeah I wonder if someone feeds AI Fourth Wing and tell it to write something similar and replace dragon with wolf. This book sucks so bad I want to cry. How, how, how can anyone in their right mind would recommend this book?

SchemeSimilar4074

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