This Rec League request comes from Claire. Thanks, Claire!
I’m looking for a GOOD magical academy/other paranormal school romance. Preferably, but not necessarily, poly. I enjoyed the Cimmerian Cage by Cate Corvin but I felt like it was kind of rushed and I wanted a little more Sarah J. Maas-style SUFFERING before she began to find her power. Also, Corvin set up a *delicious* dynamic with the professor of Discipline but then they only had like two kinky interactions and after that it was just banging. The other magical academy stuff I’ve looked at frankly hasn’t been very good– I’m looking for well-developed characters, not just bland badasses or Mary Sues. I really don’t enjoy bully romances or ones where the heroes are just straight up awful (hence Zodiac Academy not working). Also, quality prose would be nice. Doesn’t have to be fancy just evocative and well-proofread.
To sum up: magical academy please. Good writing. I love a romance with a professor. I love a kinky professor. I love a slow burn or a drawn-out, torture-the-reader journey to *sexy world domination*. I much prefer adult or New Adult rather than young adult (no high schools please) and I would like it to be sexy even if there is limited boinking. I know this is a lot but if you have anything that fits just a few of those, I would be delighted!
Sarah: On behalf of our departed friend Catherine I want to suggest the Celia Lake books. She LOVED the series and it’s both slow burn and also teachers at a magic school.
There’s a guide to the world building as well.
Then there’s the Magic University series by Cecilia Tan. The magic is sex magic. So it’s v. sexy.
The first one is The Siren and the Sword ( A | BN | K | AB ).
A bit of a toughie! Got any recommendations?
FOURTH WING by Rebecca Yarros was great—dragons, school, and sexytimes. Basically, if Sarah J. Maas met Eragon.
Naomi Novik’s Scholomance series might also fit the bill (though I thought the third book in the trilogy was a bit of a letdown after the first two.)
Also throwing out Tracey Deonn’s LEGENDBORN. It’s actually set at UNC, but is layered with Arthurian legend and a secret society. The romance angle isn’t the strongest part of the series (two books so far), but the creativity is amazing.
As someone who would also prefer magic school books to be slow burn, kinky, and not high school, I am verrry interested in this thread.
I did like Rainbow Rowell’s Carry On series and Maggie Stiefvater’s Raven Boys, despite high school, but largely because AO3 can (and does) fix that. AO3 also does a lot with Professor Snape.
It’s been a while since I read the Hex Hall series by Rachel Hawkins but I remember enjoying the four books (and I don’t really “do” YA). I don’t recall much about any possible sexy times, but I do remember it being different and interesting enough to keep me invovled–for reasons. At the time, I’d just finished watching the British series HEX, set in a gothic boarding school in the English countryside. It starred Micahel Fassbender (REASON!) as a fallen angel who seduces the heroine in order to have a child. There were LOTS of sexy times in the series and I have an inkling that the Hex Hall series was the original basis for the TV show. Anyway, after watching the show, I tumbled across the books. Yeah, yeah, TMI for an HABO. However, if you can find that series streaming somewhere, watch it! Here’s the blurb for the first book, HEX HALL:
Three years ago, Sophie Mercer discovered that she was a witch. It’s gotten her into a few scrapes. Her non-gifted mother has been as supportive as possible, consulting Sophie’s estranged father—an elusive European warlock—only when necessary. But when Sophie attracts too much human attention for a prom-night spell gone horribly wrong, it’s her dad who decides her punishment: exile to Hex Hall, an isolated reform school for wayward Prodigium, a.k.a. witches, faeries, and shapeshifters.
By the end of her first day among fellow freak-teens, Sophie has quite a scorecard: three powerful enemies who look like supermodels, a futile crush on a gorgeous warlock, a creepy tag-along ghost, and a new roommate who happens to be the most hated person and only vampire student on campus. Worse, Sophie soon learns that a mysterious predator has been attacking students, and her only friend is the number-one suspect.
As a series of blood-curdling mysteries starts to converge, Sophie prepares for the biggest threat of all: an ancient secret society determined to destroy all Prodigium, especially her.
Other paranormal, and basically our world with a slight twist: Kaydence Snow’s THE EVELYN MAYNARD TRILOGY: set at a university, heroine turns 18 in chapter 2. Mostly set at a university for people with a gene mutation that gives them special powers.
HAVENFALL HARBOR by Albany Walker: MFM among teachers at a supernatural school.
I do enjoy this kind of story, but most of them are indeed only okay, rather than very good.
Two more series that popped into my head and might be interesting, but less of a recommendation than the fist two:
INKHAVEN ACADEMY by Tove Madigan and Kenna Bardot – intriguing worldbuilding, but bullying, also quite a large group by the end
FEATHERSTONE ACADEMY by K.C. Kean (I think) – not really paranormal now that I think about it, but bloodlines of a different kind, but fun and all the usual magic academy tropes
Also, there is one series that actually has both m and f love interests for the heroine, but I cannot recall the name (sorry). Going through my KU list didn’t jog my memory either.
The Harwood Spellbook series by Stephanie Burgis features a lady magician who sets up her own school of magic for women. Not an exact match for your request since it’s more of a closed door book, but the tension and romance between Cassandra and Wrexham is very satisfying (and they are so supportive of each other – swoon!).
I really loved the Great Falls Academy books by Alex Lidell. They’re reverse harem, and I thought the writing was really excellent. They’ll make more sense if you first read the prequel trilogy, starting with Power of Five.
Just dropping in to say that tv show Hex is unrelated (and came before) the Hex Hall series. Really excellent show though and definitely fits the HABO. I believe it’s streaming on Freevee.
@noseinabook—I was trying to remember if there was a school angle to SNOWSPELLED and couldn’t so I didn’t list it, but I LOVED it. The slow burn between Cassandra and Wrexham is marvelous! (And I don’t like slow burn.) My only complaint about it is that it isn’t longer. I wanted more time with the characters!
I just read The Twelfth Enchantment by K L Noone and it mostly fits the brief. It’s an adult m/m romance about an exhausted wizard trying to start a school of magic who just doesn’t understand why the local (annoyingly handsome) prince keeps showing up to help. It’s slow burn, culminating in hot but vanilla sex. The writing is good, but does have a kind of fairy-tale quality to it. It’s maybe cozier than you’re looking for but I really enjoyed it.
It’s the prequel to The Magician, which I haven’t read. There’s no mention of a magic school in the blurb but according to a GR review there is a lot of sex.
Laura Greenwood has several different magical academy series, and one of them is poly. I haven’t read it though, so I can’t weigh in on the heat level!
I remember flying through the Vampire Academy books years ago, and I do think there is a student/teacher relationship, but I don’t know where they fit on the YA/New Adult continuum, nor do I remember the heat level…
I would suggest The Librarian’s Coven series by Kathryn Moon, the first is called Written. A girl who thinks she has no magic goes to work at a university library and some professors think she is the final member of their coven coven=very much sexy times
So far I’ve only read the first three or four Celia Lake books. But, judging by those and the blurbs of the others, most of them aren’t actually set at Schola (the national magic school of Albion), although some of the ones that aren’t do involve scenes set there and/or various Schola professors’ assistance or consultation on magical mysteries the government officials in charge of such things are attempting to deal with. I also have the impression that most, if not all, of Celia Lake’s books are pretty much closed-door and not what most romance fans would consider kinky.
I haven’t read it myself, but I’ve good things about The Academy Journals series by Garrett Robinson.
Thank you all so much for these recs! They look amazing.
Halo! You could take a look at Caroline Peckham’s Zodiac Academy series and R.L. Smith’s The Scholomance. But if you’re up for stuff more similar to Cimmerian Cage, several poly/ Reverse Harem books use the magical academy settings — try J. Bree’s Broken Bonds, Jayce Carter’s Larkwood Academy series, and Michelle Hercules’ Gifted Academy series.