“Admit it, love, you like it when I’m a little bad…”
One of the best things about the fantasy genre is how writers are free to experiment with tropes that go against the mould. The good guy winning the heart of the damsel in distress is what most readers have come to expect from stories, however, this archetype is, at best, overly-simplified and, at worst, boring. Love is complicated. And sometimes the brooding darkness and layered personality of a villain proves to be equally alluring for a love interest. This is why we here at What We Reading thought we would delve into some of the best fantasy books where the villain gets the girl. Whilst the majority of these reads are YA-focused high fantasy, there may be other genres they cross into; if it ends with the villain winning the heart of their love interest, it’s in. We’ll also attempt to keep things as spoiler-free as possible!
Lothaire (Immortals After Dark #11) – Kresley Cole
Kicking off our list of the best fantasy books where the villain gets the girl is Kresley Cole’s Lothaire. The number one New York Times bestselling Immortals After Dark series picks up with Lothaire, Lore’s most ruthless vampire, plotting to seize the Horde’s crown. Revenge, bloodlust and torture have left him teetering on the verge of madness until he encounters Elizabeth Peirce, the key to his victory.
Growing up in poverty, Elizabeth always yearned for a better life. She never thought she would be convicted of murder, or abducted by an evil immortal that would steal away from death row. But Lothaire is no saviour. He plans on sacrificing her in a month, exchanging her soul for incredible power. But, when Elizabeth begins soothing his tormented mind and unlocking his emotions, Lothaire is forced to choose between a millennia-old vendetta and a future with her.
A Curse So Dark And Lonely (Cursebreakers #1) – Brigid Kemmerer
Cursed by a powerful enchantress to repeat the same autumn of his eighteenth year, Prince Rhen, heir of Emberfall, thought he would be saved if a girl fell for him. That was before he turned into a savage beast. A beast that destroyed his castle, his family, and the last remaining shred of hope he had left.
Nothing has ever been easy for Harper. Constantly underestimated because of her cerebral palsy, her father has passed and her mother is sick, and she has learned she has to be tough to survive. When she helps a stranger in Washington, she is pulled into a magical world, a world where curses and monsters are real. If you’re looking for a slow-burning villain-turned-love interest book, the story of Rhen and Harper in Brigid Kemmerer’s Cursebreakers series is well worth reading!
Falling Kingdoms (Falling Kingdoms #1) – Morgan Rhodes
Another one of the best books where the villain gets the girl is Morgan Rhodes’ Falling Kingdoms series. In the three kingdoms of Mytica, magic has long been forgotten. And while a hard-fought peace still reigns, something deadly has begun stirring underneath the surface. As the rulers of each kingdom jostle for power, the lives of those they rule over are brutally transformed.
Four key pawns in this game, rebels and rulers alike, find their fates forever intertwined. Cleo, Jonas, Lucia and Magnus are all caught in a dizzying world of treachery and betrayal, brutal murders, behind-closed-door alliances and even unexpected loss. The only thing that is certain about the upcoming war is that all these kingdoms are destined to fall. Who will emerge triumphant when everything they know has collapsed?
Not Another Vampire Book (Not Another Vampire #1) – Cassandra Gannon
The only thing worse than editing the stupidest romance book ever written is getting stuck inside it. Karalynn Donnelly has somehow been transported into Eternal Passion at Sunset, a vampire love story full of cliches, anachronisms and run-on sentences. It’s enough to make any self-respecting editor go insane.
To make matters worse, Kara accidentally prevents the story’s hero and heroine from meeting one another. Now Slade, the idiot Vampire King at the heart of the book, thinks that Kara is his destined mate. To find her way home, she must get this story back on track. However, teaming up with Damien, the novel’s super-powered, handsome and alluring bad guy may not be the smartest play…
The Wrath And The Dawn (The Wrath And The Dawn #1) – Renée Ahdieh
Another one of the best YA books where the villain gets the girl comes from Renée Ahdieh in her The Wrath and the Dawn series. Whisking readers to a land ruled by a tyrant boy-king, every morning brings heartache to a new family. Eighteen-year-old Khalid, Caliph of Khorasan, takes a new bride every night, only to have them strangled with a silk cord by the time the sun rises again. When sixteen-year-old Shahrzad volunteers to be his next wife, she embarks on her quest for vengeance.
Each night, Shahrzad enchants Khalid with stories that ensure her survival. But, whilst she knows each dawn might be her last, she begins to realise that he is nothing like what she imagined. This monster is just a boy with a tormented heart. Even more incredibly, she finds herself falling in love. With plenty of secrets lurking in this palace of marble and stone, can their love survive against all the lives Khalid has stolen?
Entreat Me – Grace Draven
Afflicted by a centuries-old curse, a warlord gradually loses his sense of humanity and gives in to madness. Ballard of Ketach Tor has no hope of escaping his fate until his son returns home one day, accompanied by a woman of incredible beauty. His family believes that her arrival may bring Ballard’s salvation. Until they encounter her elder sister.
Determined to rescue her sibling from her fate, Louvain Duenda pursues her to a decrepit castle and finds a family inside trapped in time. Malevolent sorcerers, dark magic and a climbing rose with a thirst for blood won’t stop her mission. But a proud man with an undying hatred might. Grace Draven’s Entreat Me is a villain-turned-love interest story of vengeance and devotion that follows Louvaen as she grapples with whether loving this man will save him, or destroy him completely.
Deathless – Catherynne M. Valente
Koschei the Deathless is to Russian folklore what devils and wicked witches are to Europeans: an evil, dark figure and the villain of countless stories passed down in words and print from generation to generation. But, in her villain-to-lover story, Deathless, Catherynne Valente paints a new portrait of the legend by pulling it into the modern era and some of the biggest developments of Russian history in the twentieth century.
Deathless is the story of Marya Morevna, a woman who grows from a clever child of the revolution to Koschei’s beautiful bride and, eventually, his final undoing. Across her journey, there are magical quests, intrigue, lust, power and Stalinist house elves. A stunning blend of historical fiction and magical history, it is undoubtedly a must-read if you love stories where the villain gets the girl.
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The Queen Of All That Dies (The Fallen World #1) – Laura Thalassa
Over the past ten years, King Lazuli of the Eastern Empire has taken over the world. Not much is known about the man other than several impossible facts: he wants to rule the world, he cannot die, and his face has aged since the war began. All Serenity Freeman has ever known is bloodshed. The conflict has taken her mother, her home and her safety. As the future emissary of the Western United Nations, she is responsible for bundling together alliances where she can.
But an unconditional surrender appears inevitable. The king can taste it, and Serenity can feel it in her bones. The two must meet face-to-face. For Serenity, it means standing in front of the man who has taken everything from her. For the king, it means meeting the one woman he can’t conquer. Yet Laura Thalassa’s The Queen of All that Dies is a story of how something unexpected occurs when the pair finally encounter one another.
Cruel Beauty – Rosamund Hodge
Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom. All because of a foolish bargain, her father struck. And, since birth, she has been training to kill him. Forced to fulfil her duty, she resents her family and their inability to save her from her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, she abandons everything she has known for a life with the immortal Ignifex. She plans to seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle and end the nine-hundred-year curse he has put on her people.
But, Ignifex is not what Nyx expected. His strange charm beguiles her, and his castle filled with shifting magical rooms enthrals her. As she attempts to save her people by uncovering his secrets, Nyx finds herself unwillingly drawn to the lord. With time fast running out, Nyx must decide whether the man she was never supposed to love or the future of her kingdom are more important in Rosamund Hodge’s Cruel Beauty.
Splintered (Splintered #1) – A.G. Howard
Alyssa Garner hears the whispers of bugs and flowers, which is exactly what landed her mother in a mental hospital years before. This family affliction dates back to her ancestor, Alice Liddel, the real-life inspiration behind Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. She may be crazy, but Alyssa keeps it together. For now.
When her mother’s mental well-being takes a turn for the worse, Alyssa discovers what she thought was fiction is based on terrifying reality. Wonderland is a land far darker than Lewis Carroll ever let on. There, Alyssa must pass a series of tests to save her family that include everything from waking the slumbering tea party, and subduing a vicious bandersnatch to draining an ocean of Alice’s tears. She must also decide who she can trust: her best friend and secret crush, Jeb, or her sexy but suspicious tour guide through Wonderland, Morpheus. A.G. Howard’s Splintered is a book where the villain gets the girl and a wonderfully fantastical retelling of a classic fairy tale.
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Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
