If Heated Rivalry has you in a chokehold with its intensity and the rivalry that borders on obsession, the longing that feels dangerous, the chemistry powered by spite and admiration in equal measure, then queer fantasy has some absolute masterpieces for you.
These books deliver forbidden alliances, enemies who can’t stay away from each other, political and magical danger, and tension off the charts.
If you want the Heated Rivalry emotional violence, but set in worlds of magic, curses, necromancy, gods, kingdoms and war, here are 10 queer fantasy novels that will ruin you beautifully.
1. The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri
If you love: the slow, devastating shift from “sworn enemies” to “I’d burn the world for you.”
Malini and Priya are the sapphic equivalent of two people who should hate each other, do hate each other a little, and yet are irresistibly drawn into each other’s orbits.
Malini is a princess imprisoned by her tyrant brother. Priya is a maidservant hiding forbidden magic. Their relationship begins with distrust, fear and secrets in a way that is very Heated Rivalry coded, but as they’re forced into alliance, the sparks turn into something frighteningly powerful.
This is political, angry, feminine, ruthless and a slow burn built on rebellion and trauma. If you want one of the most forbidden sapphic power couples in modern fantasy, this is it.
2. Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
If you love: rivals who insult each other constantly but would kill for each other.
Gideon and Harrow are not a romance in the conventional sense. They’re the “I want to scream at you, shake you, kiss you, fight you and maybe resurrect you” type. Gideon is a sarcastic swordswoman; Harrow is a terrifying bone sorceress. They start with pure hatred. Hatred with history.
Locked together in a deadly necromantic trial, they form an alliance that’s as sharp and messy, and emotionally violent as two people on opposite ends of a rivalry trying not to drown in accidental feelings.
It has the Heated Rivalry energy of two people who push every button the other has and somehow keep choosing each other anyway.
3. This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone
If you love: the “we are on opposite sides but I can’t stop thinking about you” destructive yearning.
Two enemy time-traveling agents leaving each other letters across centuries?
It’s basically forbidden epistolary seduction.
Red and Blue start as rivals, the kind who try to out-maneuver each other with poetic flair and slowly fall into a love that feels dangerous and world-ending. This is short but hits every “rival trained to destroy you but now obsessed with your existence” nerve that Heated Rivalry fans adore.
4. A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland
If you love: tension, restraint, protective intensity and “we can’t do this” chemistry.
Not classic enemies, but absolutely forbidden.
Kadou, a prince with anxiety and a tender heart, is assigned a stoic, rigid bodyguard who does not think much of him at first. Their dynamic is quietly charged, slow, intimate, full of unspoken rules, stolen glances and the kind of tension where maybe even a single touch feels like betrayal.
If you wanted more Heated Rivalry moments where a single scene with two men just breathing near each other feels like a federal offense, this book gives it in a fantasy palace setting.
5. The Never Tilting World by Rin Chupeco
If you love: two people on opposite sides of everything, forced to work together.
This story follows two young women whose nations were split by a catastrophic magical event. They’ve been raised to distrust each other, enemies by worldview and history.
When they’re forced to journey together to save a dying planet, the hostility slowly melts into admiration, attraction and then something more dangerous.
It’s the “enemies because of the world, lovers because of each other” trope that hits the same emotional notes as Ilya and Shane.
6. Malice by Heather Walter
If you love: forbidden longing that feels doomed from the start.
A dark fairytale retelling of Sleeping Beauty where the villainess falls in love with the cursed princess she’s supposed to destroy. It’s decadent, tragic and morally grey. The romance blossoms under circumstances that make it basically a capital crime.
If Heated Rivalry’s forbidden edge and emotional stakes made your heart hurt, Malice takes that and turns it gothic and sapphic.
7. Dark Rise by C. S. Pacat
If you love: that Pacat-style sharp, obsessive, intense queer tension.
From THE master of queer tension.
Pacat is known for crafting relationships built on rivalry, power imbalance, destiny and slow volcanic tension. Dark Rise is packed with that exact flavor with chosen ones, old prophecies, enemies fated to clash and a rivalry with queer undertones so loud you could hear them screaming from another genre.
If you loved Heated Rivalry’s intense eye contact, this is the right fodder for you.
8. Empire of Light by Alex Harrow
If you love: outlaw × law-enforcer tension you’re not supposed to root for.
A rebel thief and the mage-hunter chasing him get forced into alliance. Their dynamic is literally the “I was trying to arrest you five pages ago but now we’re sharing a bedroll in the woods” trope.
The tension is delicious. Sharp. A little unhinged. Perfect for readers who love when two men who shouldn’t be in the same room without weapons are suddenly forced to trust each other with their lives.
9. The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas
If you love: two boys competing with everything on the line and the feelings that slip out anyway.
Inspired by Mexican mythology, this story revolves around demigods competing in deadly trials. Rivals. Jealousies. Complicated crushes. Bonds forming in spite of ambition.
If you want the Heated Rivalry flavor of “I want to beat you but also I’d die for you,” this hits it in a bright magic-filled YA way.
These queer fantasy novels amplify the Heated Rivalry brand of tension and chemistry with war, magic, curses, gods, politics and destiny.
Rivals. Enemies. Forbidden love. Magnetic attraction that ruins plans and rewrites fates.
If that’s the energy you crave, this list holds your next obsession.