I have had so many people approach me and say that they want to read more Indie books, but have no idea where to start. Well hopefully this list will give you a jumping off point based on your traditionally published favorites. I’m happy to provide more recommendations in the comments in there is something specific you are in the mood for.
This list will primarily focus on the Fantasy genre. I hope to be able to do a separate post for Indie Romance Recs in the future. In the meantime, please enjoy some of my favorite indie/self-published fantasies!
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If you liked Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead, Try Half-Blood (Covenant series) by Jennifer L. Armentrout
How they’re similar:
- contemporary academy setting
- forbidden romance
- fast-paced
- character driven
- good monsters, bad monsters, and the half-bloods that serve them
The Hematoi descend from the unions of gods and mortals, and the children of two Hematoi—pure-bloods—have godlike powers. Children of Hematoi and mortals—well, not so much. Half-bloods only have two options: become trained Sentinels who hunt and kill daimons or become servants in the homes of the pures.
Seventeen-year-old Alexandria would rather risk her life fighting than waste it scrubbing toilets, but she may end up slumming it anyway. There are several rules that students at the Covenant must follow. Alex has problems with them all, but especially rule #1: Relationships between pures and halfs are forbidden.
Unfortunately, she’s crushing hard on the totally hot pure-blood Aiden. But falling for Aiden isn’t her biggest problem—staying alive long enough to graduate the Covenant and become a Sentinel is. If she fails in her duty, she faces a future worse than death or slavery: being turned into a daimon, and being hunted by Aiden. And that would kind of suck.
If you liked The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer, try Æroreh (The Ealdspell Cycle) by Jesikah Sundin
How they’re similar:
- fairytale retellings
- sci-fi elements
- feminist undertones
Princess Æroreh Rosen was faerie blessed before her birth. To promote the New Dawn Era, the Queen coded her daughter with every feminine perfection.
Beauty. Gentleness. Obedience. Musicality. Kindness. Grace. Good cheer.
Hunger and lung sickness plague the Kingdom of Ealdspell. But Æroreh is plugged into The Dream, a program created by a sect of faeries to control the realms through illusions of beauty and contentment. All Æroreh has ever known is blissful servitude to a cursed system, and she believes her realm is prospering. Until a different faerie sect decides to wake her sleeping mind and set her true magic free.
Meanwhile, Félip Batten MacKinley holds a dangerous secret. One made more threatening by the frostbite scar across his cheek. He’s spit on, beaten, and demonized by a community that values a pretty face over all else. With no easy future in sight, he accepts that he’ll die a burden to his foster parents, his true history erased. But a tempting offer from the faerie’s Fate Maker leads Félip to cross paths with the hauntingly beautiful Æroreh—a young woman who represents all he loathes.
Yet only she has the power to awaken a new Dream.
Read my review of Æroreh here.
If you liked Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin, try Blade & Rose by Miranda Honfleur
How they’re similar:
- magic wielders vs non-magic wielders
- enemies-to-lovers romance
- forced proximity
- virgin guy, experienced girl
- medieval inspired fantasy setting
Stuck in a betrothal to a cruel werewolf fiancé, Rielle works for the Divinity of Magic, the one thing keeping her from his claws. And the head of the Divinity knows it, giving her every mission no one else wants and few can handle. When an enemy of the Divinity invades their walls, someone needs to frogmarch him home, with no detours. No mage would ever want to handle a magic-nullifying knight… So, of course Rielle is assigned to do it.
The way to their destination is rife with danger—a civil war is brewing, and tangled somewhere in it is Rielle’s best friend, Olivia. When whispers reveal mercenaries have killed the king, taken the capital, and that no one is coming to help, Rielle can’t leave Olivia in peril. But as infamous mages and deadly assassins hunt her holy knight charge, she can’t leave him unprotected either—especially as she finds herself falling for his strength, his passion, and his uncompromising goodness…
Her past returns to haunt them, her werewolf fiancé stalks their steps, and an ancient evil is gathering, yet the restraints forbidding their love strain and snap one by one. Can they overcome the war in their way, or will trusting a two-faced ally tear them apart, and leave Olivia and an entire besieged kingdom to fray at the ends…?
If you liked Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge, try The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L. Jensen
How they’re similar:
- arranged marriage
- enemies-to-lovers romance
- trained assassin FMC
- mission to save her kingdom
A warrior princess trained in isolation, Lara is driven by two certainties. The first is that King Aren of the Bridge Kingdom is her enemy. And the second is that she’ll be the one to bring him to his knees.
The only route through a storm-ravaged world, the Bridge Kingdom enriches itself and deprives its rivals, including Lara’s homeland. So when she’s sent as a bride under the guise of peace, Lara is prepared to do whatever it takes to fracture its impenetrable defenses. And the defenses of its king.
Yet as she infiltrates her new home and gains a deeper understanding of the war to possess the bridge, Lara begins to question whether she’s the hero or the villain. And as her feelings for Aren transform from frosty hostility to fierce passion, Lara must choose which kingdom she’ll save… and which kingdom she’ll destroy.
If you liked Uprooted by Naomi Novik, try Heart of the Fae by Emma Hamm
How they’re similar:
- Beauty and the Beast retellings
- magical elements
- lyrical writing
When a plague sweeps across the emerald hills of Uí Néill, Sorcha makes a deal with a dangerous Fae to save her people. Now she must travel the sea, explore merrow and kelpie lands, and find a forgotten king on a crumbling throne.
Born king of the Seelie Fae, Eamonn fought battles unnumbered to uphold honor, duty, and freedom…until his twin brother sank a blade between his shoulders. Crystals grew from the wound, splitting open skin and bone. His people banished him to a cursed isle for his disfigurement, where he now rules as a king of outcasts and criminals.
With the help of brownies, pixies, and will-o’-the-wisps, Sorcha battles to break through his crystalline shell and persuade him to take back his stolen throne. But can this determined beauty come dangerously close to stealing his beastly heart…or will his enemies kill her first?
If you liked Sky In the Deep by Adrienne Young, try Beasts of the Frozen Sun by Jill Criswell
How they’re similar:
- Viking inspired
- forbidden love
- enemies-to-lovers
- common enemy
- fierce FMC
Every child of Glasnith learns the last words of Aillira, the god-gifted mortal whose doomed love affair sparked a war of gods and men, and Lira of clan Stone knows the story better than most. As a descendant of Aillira and god-gifted in her own right, she has the power to read people’s souls, to see someone’s true essence with only a touch of her hand.
When a golden-haired warrior washes up on the shores of her homeland – one of the fearful marauders from the land of the Frozen Sun – Lira helps the wounded man instead of turning him in. After reading his soul, she realizes Reyker is different than his brethren who attack the coasts of Glasnith. He confides in her that he’s been cursed with what his people call battle-madness, forced to fight for the warlord known as the Dragon, a powerful tyrant determined to reignite the ancient war that Aillira started.
As Lira and Reyker form a bond forbidden by both their clans, the wrath of the Dragon falls upon them and all of Glasnith, and Lira finds herself facing the same tragic fate as her ancestor. The battle for Lira’s life, for Reyker’s soul, and for their peoples’ freedom has only just begun….
If you liked A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas, try Rhapsodic by Laura Thalassa
How they’re similar:
- calling in a bargain trope
- bat boys!
- hate-to-love
Callypso Lillis is a siren with a very big problem, one that stretches up her arm and far into her past. For the last seven years she’s been collecting a bracelet of black beads up her wrist, magical IOUs for favors she’s received. Only death or repayment will fulfill the obligations. Only then will the beads disappear.
Everyone knows that if you need a favor, you go to the Bargainer to make it happen. He’s a man who can get you anything you want … at a price. And everyone knows that sooner or later he always collects.
But for one of his clients, he’s never asked for repayment. Not until now. When Callie finds the fae king of the night in her room, a grin on his lips and a twinkle in his eye, she knows things are about to change. At first it’s just a chaste kiss—a single bead’s worth—and a promise for more.
For the Bargainer, it’s more than just a matter of rekindling an old romance. Something is happening in the Otherworld. Fae warriors are going missing one by one. Only the women are returned, each in a glass casket, a child clutched to their breast. And then there are the whispers among the slaves, whispers of an evil that’s been awoken.
If the Bargainer has any hope to save his people, he’ll need the help of the siren he spurned long ago. Only, his foe has a taste for exotic creatures, and Callie just happens to be one.
If you liked The Cruel Prince by Holly Black, try A Deal With the Elf King by Elise Kova
How they’re similar:
- human girl brought to faerie world against her will
- enemies-to-lovers romance
- grumpy royal with emotional walls
- FMC finds her place in the world
The elves come for two things: war and wives. In both cases, they come for death.
Three-thousand years ago, humans were hunted by powerful races with wild magic until the treaty was formed. Now, for centuries, the elves have taken a young woman from Luella’s village to be their Human Queen.
To be chosen is seen as a mark of death by the townsfolk. A mark nineteen-year-old Luella is grateful to have escaped as a girl. Instead, she’s dedicated her life to studying herbology and becoming the town’s only healer.
That is, until the Elf King unexpectedly arrives… for her.
Everything Luella had thought she’d known about her life, and herself, was a lie. Taken to a land filled with wild magic, Luella is forced to be the new queen to a cold yet blisteringly handsome Elf King. Once there, she learns about a dying world that only she can save.
The magical land of Midscape pulls on one corner of her heart, her home and people tug on another… but what will truly break her is a passion she never wanted.
If I’m completely honest, many of the aforementioned books could be read by fans of A Court of Thorns and Roses. However, I tried to pick books that were a little different. If you have any other Indie favorites, I’d love to add them to my never-ending TBR! Drop your recommendations or requests in the comments!
