Mark your calendars and clear your TBR. These are the romantasy releases readers are counting down to this year — new series, long-awaited sequels, and debut authors to watch.
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The Year Romantasy Keeps Growing
If 2023 and 2024 were the years romantasy broke into the mainstream, 2025 is the year the genre proves it wasn't a fluke. Publishers have responded to the demand with an enormous slate of new series, long-awaited sequels, and debut authors trying to capture some of that same dragon-and-fae-court magic. Here's what's actually worth clearing your schedule for.
Sequels Everyone Is Counting Down To
The next Empyrean installment. After the ending of Iron Flame, readers have been in a state of collective distress. Whatever comes next in Rebecca Yarros's series is guaranteed to be one of the year's biggest releases, with preorders climbing before a single chapter is public.
The continuation of the Crescent City series by Sarah J. Maas. Maas remains the genre's most consistent bestseller, and each new installment reshuffles bestseller lists on release week alone. Expect the usual: sprawling world-building, a dense cast, and callbacks that reward longtime readers.
More from the Flesh and Fire world. Jennifer L. Armentrout has built one of the most binge-friendly backlists in the genre, and each new entry in her expanding universe tends to sell out preorder editions within days.
Debut Authors to Watch
Beyond the established names, 2025's debut romantasy class is deep. Watch for authors blending less-common mythologies — Slavic folklore, West African-inspired magic systems, and Norse-adjacent world-building — into the genre, a welcome shift after a few years of fae-court saturation. Readers hungry for something that doesn't feel like an ACOTAR retread have plenty to look forward to, and several 2025 debuts have already picked up early buzz from advance reader copies circulating on BookTok.
Standalones Worth Prioritizing
Series dominate romantasy, but 2025 has a genuinely strong crop of standalones — a good option if you want the genre's tropes and payoff without a three-book commitment. Look for morally grey heist-adjacent fantasy romances and academic-setting standalones that wrap their entire arc (world-building, romance, and resolution) in a single satisfying volume.
How to Actually Keep Track
With this many releases, a simple strategy helps: pick two or three series you're already emotionally invested in and preorder those the moment dates are announced (romantasy preorders sell out bonus editions fast — special sprayed edges and exclusive covers routinely disappear within hours). For everything else, let your library holds list do the work; most major library systems now stock romantasy heavily given demand, and holds lists move faster than you'd expect for a genre this popular.
The Bottom Line
2025 is shaping up to be one of the strongest years romantasy has had — bigger print runs, more debut diversity, and publishers finally treating the genre with the seriousness (and marketing budgets) its sales numbers have demanded for years. Whatever your subgenre preference — dragon academies, fae courts, gods-and-mortals mythology retellings — there's a 2025 release with your name on it. Keep this list bookmarked and update your TBR accordingly; you're going to need the space.
