Comp Titles — What to Read While You Wait

I get some version of "what do I read until Unclaimed" at least once a week now, so let's actually answer it instead of me just saying "soon" again.

If you're here for the politics

If what hooked you about Unchosen was the court, not just the romance, go read Danielle L. Jensen's The Bridge Kingdom. Same instinct: a woman placed inside a power structure that wants to use her, who ends up understanding that structure better than the people who built it. If you haven't gotten to Sarah J. Maas's A Court of Thorns and Roses or Throne of Glass yet, this is also your sign. Political fantasy with teeth.

If you're here for the danger and the pining

Rebecca Yarros readers, you already know what to do: Fourth Wing and Iron Flame if you somehow haven't. Past that, Carissa Broadbent's The Serpent and the Wings of Night has the same push-pull of a heroine who isn't supposed to trust the person she's most drawn to, and Callie Hart's Quicksilver leans into the same high-tension, high-stakes register. Bring your patience. None of these move fast either.

If you're here for heroines who get sharper, not softer

This is the Jennifer L. Armentrout lane, and if you loved watching Jadira stop apologizing for surviving, you'll want From Blood and Ash. Scarlett St. Clair's A Touch of Ruin and King of Battle and Blood both scratch a similar itch: heroines who get colder and more capable the more the world tries to break them, instead of collapsing under it.

What's actually in my stack right now

Lately I've fallen hard into MC romance, which has nothing to do with dragon-shifter empires and everything to do with why I read in the first place. S.J. Rowe's Chains. Eve Black's Affliction, Treachery, Gluttony, and Perdition. Christine Michelle's The Other Princess. A stack of Nikki Landis across a few different series. And Candice Wright's Carnage series keeps pulling me back no matter how many times I tell myself I'm done for the week. Different world, same pull: found family with teeth, loyalty that costs something, people who'd burn the world down for the one person who chose them.

What's next

None of these are Unclaimed, obviously. But they'll hold you over while I'm in the trenches with Jade's story, and honestly, reading in the genre while I draft is part of how I keep my own instincts sharp. If you finish one of these and want to talk about it, my DMs are open — I mean that.

~ M. Nightwell

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