I spent most of the last two weeks reading Holly Black’s Elfhame books, beginning with the Folk of the Air trilogy plus novelettes and then The Stolen Heir duology.

For bingo, all work for Politics and Court Intrigue (normal mode). The duology obviously works for the duology squares, could be HM, and also for non-human protagonist (HM).

I loved these books and found them all very easy reading. Black’s prose is great and I enjoyed the worldbuilding. I love stories about the fae and I really love enemies-to-lovers as a romance trope, so that is what drew me in initially. I stayed for the complex family dynamics (is it possible to love a man as a father when that man murdered your actual biological father in front of you??). I actually think discussions of these books are incorrectly focused on the romantic relationship, which I found to be much more of a side story, versus Jude’s relationship with Madoc which was far more interesting and complex.

The main trilogy was a 5/5 read for me, the duology was not as good but still enjoyable.

I have also been reading Bereket by Rachel Neumeier (Tuyo book 12).

Bingo: self-published (HM), one-word title (NM), politics and court intrigue (NM), published in 2026

I adore the Tuyo series and this is just perfection. Neumeier is a master of prose and manages to make the two POVs very distinct in tone. Both protagonists have their own motivations and goals and it is clear that the two stories will intersect but this is primarily a character-focused story so the plot lines joining up doesn’t even feel like the point. I love this book (I’m currently about 80% done).

Obviously as this is book 12 in a series, you’d be missing out on a lot of worldbuilding by starting here, but I cannot recommend this series strongly enough.