Stop What You're Doing and Read The Unweaver by Elizabeth Zoba. Then come back and recommend me a book!
I've been in a deep, cavernous book slump. The rinse and repeat of check-the-box tropes, predictable writing, and bad world-building is killing me. For context of what could cause my slump, I really loved the Lady of Darkness series and the Legacy series by Melissa Roehrich, Gods and Monsters series by Amber V. Nicole (Book of Azrael is first), What Lies Beyond the Veil series by Harper L. Woods, and, until the most recently published book in the series, The Legacy of the Nine Realms by Amelia Hutchins. Now. I just read The Unweaver by Elizabeth Zoba and I devoured it in a single day because I could. not. put. it. down.
The world-building is awesome and very creative, the gothic 1920s London background is moody and perfect for secret mages to be running around, and the characterization of our mc, Cora, is excellent. It's a little murder mystery, a little romance, a little gang violence, and a very realistic portrayal of a woman who grew up subjected to trauma. Plot heavy, slow burn, and most importantly, not predictable! Also, in an age of 18-21 year old protags, Cora is 30. Her love interest is 35. It's excellent!
If anyone has recs similar to this or the series above I would love to read them. Plot HEAVY please! The only bad part about reading the Unweaver was finding out it was released last month :'(
If you have recs for me please share. I've read SO MUCH romantasy. I put the title of the first book in the series or the title of the series below for what I've read. If it's on there I read the series. PLEASE if you have a rec for me that will rock my socks and I haven't read it helppp meeeeeee! (Bonus if it's magic of any kind, enemies to lovers but I REALLY want them to be enemies, strong OP mcs, and morally grey everybody).
Kushiel's Dart
From Blood and Ash
Immortals After Dark Series
Crescent City
The Gild Series
Harrow Faire Series
ACOTAR
Serpent and the Wings of Night series
TOG
When the Moon Hatched
Rhapsodic
The Four Horsemen
Wicked Tides
Flame Cursed Fae
Fae of Woodlands & Wilds
On Wings of Blood
Queen of All That Dies
A Sword of Shadow and Deceit
Bewitched
The Hidden of Vrohkaria
Throne of the Fallen
Anathema
King of Storms and Feathers
The Death King
Stalked by Seduction and Shadows
Gods and Monsters (Quinn Blackbird)
A Crown of Star and Ash
The Mortal Fates
The Wild Hunt
Dark Fae Apocalypse
The Court that Bleeds Gold
Fae of Alastríona
Court of Winter
The Road of Bones
A Broken Promise/A Simple Truth
Atonement of the Spine Cleaver
The Ever King
A Court of Thieves and Traitors series
Kingdom of Lies series
Feathers so Vicious
Shadows of the Tenebris Court
Bones of Benevolence
Nectar of the Wicked
The Unmarked Witch
Blood & Steel
The Umbra King
Throne in the Dark
Rise of the Dawnbringer
A Kingdom Scarred: A Fantasy Romance (Fae of Tíria Book 1)
Trial of the Sun Queen
The Enchanter's Blood (Arsyn Morgan)
City of Night
Trick (Dark Seasons: Foolish Kingdoms Book 1)
Bound & Barbed (The Fated Creations Trilogy)
House of Beating Wings
Untainted
The Osseous Chronicles
The North Wind
Daughter of No Worlds
Broken Bonds (The Bonds that Tie)
A Kingdom of Stars and Shadows
The Song of the Marked
Age of the Andinna
Maze of Shadows
A Ruin of Roses
A King so Cold
Zodiac Academy
Shadow Beast Shifters