5 Free Fantasy Romance Books on my Kindle Unlimited 'To Be Read' List

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When it comes to genre fiction (and fantasy / paranormal romance in particular) I love reading self-published work (especially when the books are free): 

Partially because I think a lot of self-published authors are pushing beyond what traditional publishing houses are capable of taking on these days and partially because I think that self-publishing has a lot to contribute to conversations about twenty-first-century tastes.

 It's also a good place for more of the same. Sometimes I just want to sink into a book with familiar conventions that doesn't require me to think too hard.

I also see it as place to go when I want a break from academic and "literary" books that I associate with my day job. Not to mention that now that I've gone through the process of publishing via KDP, I'm even more interested in seeing what KU has to offer.

And okay, are Kindle Unlimited books *actually* free? No, not really. But if you pay ten dollars a month, you get to read an unlimited number of books in the program, so it feels free enough if you're a voracious reader (which, let's be honest, most romance readers are).

Here are five guilty-pleasure books I plan to read very soon through the Kindle Unlimited subscription:

1. Three Mages and a Margarita (The Guild Codex: Spellbound Book 1) by Annette Marie

I'll probably be tackling this one pretty immediately. I love sassy heroines and humorous paranormal/urban fantasy stories. But I think what I'm looking forward to most is that while this book has a bunch of 'swoon-worthy' dudes, it doesn't seem particularly focused on romance. I've read a few of Marie's books, so I'm looking forward to seeing what she's got in store for this new series.




2. Court of Shadows: A Demons of Fire and Night Novel (Institute of the Shadow Fae Book 1) by C.N. Crawford.

C.N. Crawford is a power pair of writers who publish a ton of urban fantasy and do so frequently (so frequently that it's actually really intimidating). And if I like this one as much as I think I will, I'll probably end up reading the second one almost immediately after (I'm a major book binger and am weirdly terrible at revisiting a series, so I like to devour it all in one go).



3. A Kingdom of Exiles by S. B. Nova

This book has excellent ratings and a pretty big online following. With how popular authors like Sarah J. Maas and Holly Black are these days, I'm interested in seeing the self-publishing side of fae lore. Plus the cover is stunning. Like seriously, I think it will be on my currently-reading list for a while because I don't want to stop looking at the cover.




4. A Gift of Poison by Kate Avery Ellison

I'm reading this book as part of a KU book group with a friend. I'm a sucker for YA fantasy that deals with compelling power hierarchies so I'm excited to check this one out. Not to mention that the blurb mentions it's a great read for fans of the An Ember in the Ashes trilogy, which is one of my faves.




5. Unleashed: A Reverse Harem Shifter Urban Fantasy (Dark Moon Shifters Book 1) by Bella Jacobs

I generally have a problem with the phrase "reverse harem" just because I think it romanticizes a term that has a really complex and problematic cultural history (seriously, WHY can't authors use polyandry instead??), but I'm looking forward to this book because I think it challenges a lot of the more conventional tropes within this genre. From what I can tell from the first chapter, it picks up climate issues and I'm a HUGE cli-fi nerd, so I'm looking forward to that. Plus it takes place in Seattle and since my own novel is a Seattle-based urban fantasy, I'm obviously pretty partial towards my fellow Seattleite books.




See what else I'm reading this week!

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