By: Ranjan Saekhell

–

–

Opening Quote

“There is a thin line between love and hate, and it grows thinner with every page.”
— attributed to romance fiction convention, origin disputed

–

Key Takeaways: Best Enemies to Lovers Series to Binge

• A great enemies to lovers series does something a standalone can’t — it stretches the tension across books, so the eventual surrender means even more.
• Contemporary, dark, and fantasy romance all have standout series in this trope — the setting changes, the emotional arc doesn’t.
• “Spicy” and “dark” versions push the trope harder, with real stakes and higher heat, so it’s worth checking content warnings before you start.
• Reddit’s romance community has its own favorites, often different from what shows up on bestseller lists — worth exploring both.

–

Introduction

Some enemies-to-lovers series are perfect as one book. Others need room to breathe — a slow burn that can’t be rushed into three hundred pages, because the hatred runs too deep and the trust has to be rebuilt one small moment at a time, book after book.

Picture two rival monster hunters — Mara and Kian — assigned to the same territory by two factions that have despised each other for a generation. 

In book one, Mara would rather bleed out in the snow than admit Kian saved her life. She does admit it, eventually, through gritted teeth, and it changes nothing between them — or so she tells herself. 

That’s the thing about a series: it doesn’t have to resolve the tension in one scene. It can let her keep telling herself that for another three hundred pages.

If you’re looking for a series to disappear into — one where the tension has real room to build — here’s where to start.

–

Best Enemies to Lovers Book Series to Binge Right Now

The Empyrean Series — Rebecca Yarros
Starting with Fourth Wing, this series follows Violet Sorrengail and Xaden Riorson from open hostility — rooted in a generational feud between their families — through a slow, dangerous alliance at a war college where survival depends on trusting the person you were raised to hate. Because it’s a series, the tension isn’t resolved quickly. Every book raises the stakes further, and the relationship deepens in step with the danger around them.

The Folk of the Air Trilogy — Holly Black
Jude and Cardan spend most of The Cruel Prince as genuine adversaries — a mortal girl clawing for power in a cruel faerie court, and a prince who delights in making her life harder. What makes this trilogy so rereadable is how long the hostility is allowed to sit before it cracks, and how thoroughly Black earns every shift in the dynamic across the following books.

From Blood and Ash Series — Jennifer L. Armentrout
A closely guarded, sheltered young woman and the guard assigned to protect her — who turns out to be far more than he appears — anchor this series in secrecy, distrust, and slowly unraveling tension. It’s a longer series, which means the emotional payoff builds gradually across multiple books rather than resolving early.

By the second book in a series like this, readers know exactly what Mara would understand too: the hatred was never really about hatred. It was about not being ready yet.

–

Best Enemies to Lovers Contemporary Romance Books

Not every enemies-to-lovers series needs dragons or war colleges. Sometimes it just needs a small town where everyone already knows everyone’s business, and pretending not to care about someone is nearly impossible when you run into them at the one grocery store in town, week after week.

Chestnut Springs Series — Elsie Silver
Set in a small ranching town, this series follows different couples across each book, several of them built on rivalry, old grudges, or reluctant proximity — the specific, small-town friction of a feud everyone already has an opinion about.

Icebreaker Duet — Hannah Grace
A competitive figure skater and a hockey player, sharing ice time neither of them wants to share, forced into proximity by a shared rink and a coach who won’t budge. The rivalry is sharp and sport-driven, which gives the contemporary setting a competitive edge that mirrors the enemies-to-lovers tension well.

–

Best Enemies to Lovers Books Dark Romance

This is where the stakes stop being metaphorical. If Mara and Kian’s rivalry started as pride, the dark romance version of this trope starts as genuine danger — the real possibility that one of them could be the reason the other doesn’t survive the week.

Kingdom of the Wicked Series — Kerri Maniscalco
A witch investigating her sister’s murder finds herself entangled with a demon prince who may be responsible — or may be the only one who can help her find the truth. The series leans into morally grey territory, genuine danger, and a slow, uneasy trust that never fully lets its guard down.

From Blood and Ash Series — Jennifer L. Armentrout
This one earns a spot here too — beneath the romance is a genuinely dark, high-stakes world, with real threat running underneath the slow-burn tension, which is part of why it’s often recommended in dark romance circles as much as fantasy ones.

(Note: dark romance content varies significantly in intensity — checking content/trigger warnings before starting any book in this category is worth doing.)

–

Best Spicy Enemies to Lovers Books

Heat level is subjective, and what counts as “spicy” varies reader to reader — but a few series consistently come up in this conversation for readers specifically looking for enemies to lovers books with spice: Zodiac Academy by Caroline Peckham and Susan Valenti (fantasy academy setting, high heat, ensemble cast) and Neon Gods by Katee Robert (a modern retelling with a steamy, fast-building enemies-to-allies dynamic). Both lean well beyond a mild heat level, so reading a content warning or reviewer heat-rating first is a good idea if you’re unsure what you’re getting into.

–

Enemies to Lovers Book Series to Binge on Reddit

Ask a thread of romance readers which enemies-to-lovers series they’d recommend, and you’ll rarely get the same answer twice — but a few names keep coming back. Zodiac Academy and The Cruel Prince trilogy both come up constantly in these discussions, alongside From Blood and Ash — all three reward readers willing to commit to a longer series instead of a quick standalone, which tends to be exactly what Reddit’s romance community is looking for when they ask for a “binge.”

–

Which One Should You Start With?

If you want danger and stakes that feel real, start with Kingdom of the Wicked. If you want sharp banter and a slow, satisfying unraveling, The Folk of the Air trilogy delivers it in full. If you want the tension stretched across the most books, with the highest stakes possible, The Empyrean Series asks for the biggest commitment — and pays it off. And if you just want to know how Mara and Kian’s story ends, start anywhere on this list. Every one of them is a version of the same question: how long can two people call each other enemies before the word stops meaning anything?

–

Final Thoughts

A great enemies to lovers series asks something a standalone book doesn’t — patience. It asks you to sit with the hostility a little longer, to watch trust get rebuilt one small scene at a time across hundreds of pages, instead of resolved in one. That’s exactly why these stories are the ones readers tend to binge on a weekend and then immediately want to reread. Mara and Kian didn’t stop being rivals overnight, and neither do the characters in any of the series above — which is precisely the point.

–

Ready to see a slow burn told our way? Explore our own collection of enemies-to-lovers stories.

[Explore Our Enemies to Lovers Story Collection →] STAR WOWEN HEART

–

Closing quote

“Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war; love is growing up.”
— James Baldwin

–

Link

Best Enemies to Lovers Romance BooksNext

25 Best Enemies to Lovers Wattpad Stories

–

Frequently Asked Questions