Romance readers are series readers. The genre's structure — found family, ensemble friend groups, small-town neighbourhoods, royal courts, sports teams — practically invites books that follow one couple to their HEA and then hand the next book to a supporting character. The best romance series build an entire universe across five, eight, ten or twenty books, and reading all of them feels like visiting old friends. Here are the series worth the commitment, organised by subgenre.
Romantasy
The Empyrean — Rebecca Yarros
The series that took romantasy mainstream. Dragon-riding war college, enemies-to-lovers, rebel politics. Each book is 500-800 pages of commitment. (See our full Empyrean reading-order guide.)
A Court of Thorns and Roses — Sarah J. Maas
The series that built the modern romantasy audience. Fae courts, faerie politics, the most-quoted mate bond in romance fiction. Book 2 is the one that made the series famous.
Crescent City — Sarah J. Maas
Maas's adult, urban-fantasy-tinged series. Modern cityscapes, shifters, angels, demons. Darker and more explicit than ACOTAR.
From Blood and Ash — Jennifer L. Armentrout
Faster-paced and steamier earlier than ACOTAR. Now a sprawling universe: the six-book Blood and Ash main series (Poppy and Casteel), plus the four-book Flesh and Fire prequel series set centuries earlier (which begins with A Shadow in the Ember).
Historical
The Bridgertons — Julia Quinn
The benchmark Regency series. Eight siblings, eight books, the most-adapted romance series of the 2020s. Read the main eight first, then branch into Queen Charlotte and the Rokesby prequels. (Full Bridgerton reading-order guide here.)
The Wallflowers — Lisa Kleypas
Four Regency-era friends scheming their way to the altar. Devil in Winter (book 3) is widely considered one of the greatest romance novels ever written.
Outlander — Diana Gabaldon
Genre-defying historical romance with time travel, Scottish Highlands, and a decades-spanning love story across continents. The largest commitment on this list — tens of thousands of pages — but one of the most devoted readerships in genre fiction. (More in our historical romance guide.)
Dark / Spicy Contemporary
Twisted — Ana Huang
The BookTok gateway series for the darker end of contemporary romance. Billionaires, morally grey love interests, and an interconnected friend group. (See our Ana Huang reading-order guide.)
Kings of Sin — Ana Huang
Huang's follow-up universe — seven wealthy, powerful heroes, each themed on one of the seven deadly sins (Wrath, Pride, Greed, Sloth, Envy, Gluttony, Lust). Can be read standalone from Twisted.
Devil's Night — Penelope Douglas
Four friends with a dangerous history. Revenge, enemies-to-lovers, and Penelope Douglas's signature cruel-to-tender arc played out across four books. (More in our dark romance guide.)
Contemporary Rom-Com / Drama
Emily Henry's Connected Universe
Emily Henry's books aren't a series in the strict sense but her characters cameo across titles. Read in publication order — Beach Read, People We Meet on Vacation, Book Lovers, Happy Place, Funny Story, and Great Big Beautiful Life — for the full effect.
Windy City Series — Liz Tomforde
Sports contemporary centred on Chicago professional athletes, now complete at five books. Mile High (hockey) and The Right Move (basketball) are the fan favourites. Tomforde is one of the most-recommended voices in sports romance.
Sports
Off-Campus / Briar U — Elle Kennedy
The college-hockey benchmark. Sharp, funny, steamy, binge-able. Off-Campus is the original four books; Briar U continues the universe. (More in our hockey romance guide.)
Maple Hills — Hannah Grace
The BookTok hockey series. Lighter and less plot-heavy than Elle Kennedy's work, but delivers the trope-forward grumpy-sunshine formula cleanly.
Brooklyn Bruisers — Sarina Bowen
Pro-hockey romance with unusual emotional depth. Bowen is the pro-hockey equivalent of what Elle Kennedy does for college.
Paranormal
The Black Dagger Brotherhood — J.R. Ward
The longest-running active paranormal romance series. Vampire warriors, interconnected mythology, each book following a different brother. A twenty-year commitment that rewards you with one of the most developed fictional worlds in romance. (More in our paranormal romance guide.)
Mercy Thompson — Patricia Briggs
Urban fantasy with a central romance. Coyote-shifter mechanic in the Pacific Northwest, werewolf Alpha neighbour, pack politics and genuinely earned slow-burn.
Immortals After Dark — Kresley Cole
Vampires, Valkyries, Lykae, witches and demons all in one interconnected world. For full chronological order start with the novella The Warlord Wants Forever, or jump straight into A Hunger Like No Other, the first full-length novel. Fated mates, paranormal politics, and the archetype-defining paranormal series of the 2000s.
How to Pick Your Series
If you want the biggest current cultural moment: The Empyrean (Fourth Wing). Commit to all three published books; the fourth is still being written, with no release date confirmed yet.
If you want the series that will outlast you: Black Dagger Brotherhood. Twenty-plus books and counting.
If you want to binge four or five books fast: Ana Huang's Twisted series (4 books, each under 400 pages, steamy contemporary).
If you want the most critically-respected: Emily Henry's connected universe. Six standalones that read like a series.
If you want classic Regency: Julia Quinn's Bridgertons. Start with The Duke and I, make it to Romancing Mister Bridgerton (book 4) — the fan favourite.
If you want the deepest world-building: Sarah J. Maas's universe. ACOTAR → Throne of Glass → Crescent City, in that order, builds a 15-plus-book arc.