If you are anything like me, the moment I turned the last page of Fourth Wing I was left completely speechless, utterly obsessed, and asking only one question: “What on earth do I read now that will even come close?!” 😭❤️‍🔥

Rebecca Yarros created something absolutely incredible here: a world full of danger, rules you have to break, fierce competition, secrets buried deep, magical creatures, and a romance that builds with so much tension you feel it in your bones. We fell in love with Violet — a girl everyone thought was too small, too weak and too unfit to survive Basgiath War College, who proved to everyone that strength is about so much more than muscle. And let’s be honest… we all fell completely head over heels for Xaden Riorson: dark, powerful, feared by everyone, carrying the weight of the world, and loyal to the death.

It is such a specific, addictive, perfect mix — and honestly? It is really hard to find books that hit exactly those same notes.

But after so much reading, searching and testing things out, I have found them 📚✨ These three are hand‑picked, compared carefully, and chosen specifically because they share every single thing you fell in love with: deadly trials, survival mode, enemies‑to‑lovers perfection, characters you trust no‑one, hidden power, epic world building and twists that will leave you screaming.

Here are your perfect next reads 🖤

📖 1. The Serpent and the Wings of Night — Carissa Broadbent 🐍🌑

✅ THE CLOSEST MATCH POSSIBLE — YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE HOW PERFECT THIS FITS 🤩

If your favourite parts of Fourth Wing were the Threshing, the combat classes, the danger around every corner and having to be smarter, faster and sharper than everyone else just to stay alive… this is literally written for you.

We follow Oraya — the only human alive hidden deep inside a world ruled by vampires. To them, humans are nothing more than prey, weak, useless and worthless. She has spent her whole life trying to prove she belongs, but no‑one sees her as anything other than small and fragile. To change her fate, earn respect and finally claim her place, she enters the Kejari — an ancient, legendary tournament where contenders must hunt, fight and kill each other. Only one survives. Everyone else dies.

To even stand a chance, she strikes a deal with the most dangerous, ruthless and hated rival in the competition: Raihn. A man she has been taught to fear and hate her whole life. A man who holds secrets that could destroy everything she knows.

💛 WHY IT GIVES YOU EXACTLY THAT FOURTH WING FEELING:

⚔️ DEADLY TRIALS & SURVIVAL:
Exactly like life inside Basgiath. Rules are cruel, nothing is fair, one wrong step or bad decision means the end. You feel that same constant adrenaline, that same “I have to make it through somehow” energy that Violet had every single day.

🧠 THE UNDERESTIMATED HEROINE:
Oraya is Violet through and through. Everyone looks at her and sees weakness. They see something small, soft and easy to kill. They underestimate her, they mock her, they try to break her… and slowly, cleverly, brutally she proves every single one of them wrong. She uses her brain, her skills and her heart to win battles no‑one thinks she can even fight.

🖤 THE LOVE INTEREST — XADEN’S TWIN:
I am not exaggerating when I say: Raihn is literally Xaden Riorson in another story.
Feared by everyone. Thought to be cold, cruel and heartless. Powerful beyond measure. Carrying secrets and burdens he cannot share. Doing bad things, making hard choices, protecting things people don’t understand… and behind it all? Fierce, absolute, ride‑or‑die loyalty to the person he cares about. The way he goes from enemy, to threat, to protector, to the only person she can trust? Chef’s kiss perfection.

❤️‍🔥 ENEMIES → LOVERS DONE RIGHT:
Hatred, distrust, sharp words, threats and wanting each other dead… turning into understanding, shared secrets, and that all consuming “I would burn the whole world down before I let anything happen to you” kind of love. The slow burn here is so good it hurts 🥵

🕵️ SECRETS, LIES & BETRAYAL:
Nothing is what it seems. History has been hidden. People you trust turn against you. People you hate become your only safe place. Huge reveals change everything you thought you knew.

✨ MY VERDICT: If you only pick one recommendation from this whole list — make it this one. You will thank me later 🐍🔥

📖 2. The Cruel Prince — Holly Black 🗡️

✅ PERFECT IF YOU LOVED THE RIVALRY, THE RANKS & THE POWER GAMES 🖤

If what you enjoyed most was the hierarchy at Basgiath, how everyone ranked each other, how people schemed, fought for status, out‑manoeuvred each other and played dirty to get ahead… this hits that spot perfectly.

Set in the beautiful, dangerous, immortal world of Faeries — where nothing is as it looks, promises mean nothing, and being human makes you the weakest thing alive.

Jude was seven years old when her parents were murdered and she and her sisters were taken away to live among the fey. Ten years later, all Jude wants is to belong there. To be strong. To have power. To not be looked down on just because she is human. But almost everyone around her sees her as nothing more than an insect, a toy or a slave. Especially Prince Cardan — the youngest, cruelest, most beautiful and most hated son of the King. He makes it his mission to make Jude’s life impossible.

But Jude is done being weak. She learns to play the games. She learns to lie, cheat, outsmart and fight back. And as she gets deeper into the dangerous politics of the kingdom, she finds herself standing right against the people in power — including Cardan himself.

💛 WHY IT GIVES YOU EXACTLY THAT FOURTH WING FEELING:

✨ “I HAVE TO BE SMARTER, FASTER & TOUGHER” ENERGY:
Violet said it best: “I don’t have to be the strongest, I just have to be strong enough.” Jude lives by exactly the same rule. She cannot beat them with strength, so she beats them with her mind, her will and her determination. Everything she earns, she earns through blood, sweat and hard choices.

⚔️ RIVALRY & HIERARCHY:
Just like the wings and ranks inside the college — status is everything. People treat you differently depending where you stand. Everyone is trying to climb higher, everyone is trying to push you down. Betrayal is normal, trust is rare.

🖤 MORALLY GREY EVERYTHING:
No‑one is purely good. No‑one is purely evil. You will find yourself thinking “I hate him… but also I kind of want him to win” over and over again. Exactly how we felt about so many characters in Fourth Wing.

❤️‍🔥 THAT SPECIFIC TENSION:
Him making your life miserable, you making his life difficult, absolute hatred turning into absolute obsession. Cardan is the blueprint for every arrogant, infuriating, gorgeous leader you love to hate 🖤

✨ MY VERDICT: Dark, addictive, twisted and absolutely impossible to put down. Perfect if you loved the politics and competition side of things 🗡️

📖 3. A Court of Thorns and Roses — Sarah J. Maas ✨

✅ PERFECT IF YOU LOVED THE TRIALS, THE MAGIC & THE PROTECTIVE LOVE 🖤❤️‍🔥

You have probably heard of this one, but if you haven’t read it yet — or if you didn’t realise just how close the match is — let me show you 🥹

Feyre is a human girl living in poverty, hunting every day just to feed her family. She is poor, uneducated, seen as nothing special, and underestimated by absolutely everyone. When she kills a wolf in the woods that turns out to be a faerie in disguise, a terrifying creature comes to collect payment: she must leave everything behind and go live forever inside the magical, dangerous land of the High Fae.

At first, she is miserable, afraid and certain she is going to die. She is surrounded by beauty, but also by threats, secrets and rules she does not understand. But slowly, she starts to see there is more going on here than anyone is telling her. And when a curse threatens to destroy everything, she is the only one who might be able to stop it… if she survives the trials meant to break even the strongest warriors.

💛 WHY IT GIVES YOU EXACTLY THAT FOURTH WING FEELING:

🛡️ TRIALS THAT BREAK YOU TO BUILD YOU:
Remember the parapet? Remember the tests where they pushed Violet past every limit she thought she had to prove she belonged? Exactly this. Feyre is put through challenges that hurt, terrify and break her… and through it all she finds strength and courage she never knew she had.

🖤 THE DARK, GRUMPY, PROTECTIVE LOVE INTEREST:
Rhysand. Everyone fears him. Everyone says he is evil, cruel and wicked. He acts like he doesn’t care. He teases her, challenges her, pushes her… and underneath? He sees her. He knows exactly what she is capable of. And he will destroy anything or anyone that tries to hurt her. If you loved Xaden? You will absolutely lose your mind over Rhysand 🥵

🧠 UNDERESTIMATED BUT POWERFUL:
Everyone looks at Feyre and sees just a simple human girl. Weak. Small. Worth nothing. Until she changes everything. Until she shows them that heart, will and bravery are power all of their own.

❤️‍🔥 FROM DISTRUST TO EVERYTHING:
She thinks he is her enemy. He acts like he is her enemy. Slowly, painfully, beautifully everything shifts and you realise: they are the only safe place each other has.

✨ MY VERDICT: Huge world, incredible magic, trials that make you hold your breath, and a romance that becomes the standard you measure every other book against ✨

📝 FINAL THOUGHTS

All three of these stories share exactly what made Fourth Wing take over our lives:
✅ Danger everywhere you look
✅ Characters who have to fight for every single thing they get
✅ Love stories built on trust, secrets and shared survival
✅ Heroines who rewrite the rules and prove everyone wrong
✅ Worlds you never want to leave 🐉

If you read any or all of these, or if you have found something else that gave you that exact same feeling — please tell me! I am always hunting for my next obsession 🫶

Have you read any of these yet? Or are you adding them straight to your list? Let me know in the comments! 📚👇

Love&Pages,

J💛