I’ve put together a Dramione collection on AO3 called Peak!Dramione. A collection of stories featuring Peak!Draco and Peak!Hermione being their best selves. Light on angst and high on chemistry. Showcasing their intelligence, wit, and compatibility. It’s got many of the recent popular favorites, but I’ve been digging back through the archives to add some of my favorites from years past, too. It’s an open collection so feel free to add to it if you know of any great stories..now at 50 and counting :)
My Peak!Dramione collection now has 122 bookmarked items and 78 accepted fics. I compiled this list by going through my author response notification emails from AO3. This was so helpful for finding some of the absolutely fabulous fics that don’t make it to the top 50 pages of a sort-by-kudos search. I have to mention @scullymurphy whose Universal Truths was the inspiration for this whole collection. This was one of my comments to her at the time: The best thing about this not-so-slow burn is that they were truly burning all the way here. Each interaction more delicious than the last. I love their characterizations so much. Cool, confident, living as their best selves. Peak Draco and peak Hermione.
It was through Universal Truths that I came to realize that while I love all forms of Dramione, including high-angst and Voldy wins and one or the other starts out as an a-hole, my heart really soars when both Draco and Hermione get to be their best selves. They went through so much as kids! They deserve fun and fulfillment! @scullymurphy is also the most featured artist in this collection, having authored many Peak!Dramione stories. Including one of my favorite one-shots of all time, Seeing You.
I truly love all the authors I featured! If you’re a newer Dramione fan I hope this helps you find some lesser-known titles that you are sure to enjoy. And if you’re a longtime fan I hope it helps you find some gems you may have missed!
And Universal Truths inspired you to start it! <CRYING!> I’m really touched, truly.
For everyone who wonders about fics that maybe aren’t the ones rec’ed over and over, but are well-written, sharp and romantic AF, THIS IS YOUR LIST. I am freaking bookmarking it for future reading myself.
Hey loves! My ask is very vague, I’m sorry. All I remember is that they were in universities and I think the names were the houses. I think she did time travel but I’m not fully sure🖤🖤
Tom Riddle: secret, brilliant heir to the biggest company in the world, VoldeMart. Hermione Granger: sent to his prestigious school on full scholarship because VoldeMart outsourced her parents’ jobs to China. Bridges burn. Sparks fly. M for language.
I do! I am not as well-read in fantasy or romance books as I’d like to be. I read a lot in my youth, completely abandoned “reading for pleasure” throughout college and grad school because I was working the whole time, and then for the first few years of teaching was too overwhelmed with grading to read on the side. I’m FINALLY getting back into it. But here are some book recs I’ve checked out recently that have fantasy, romance, or both :)
I feel like if you’re on my blog at all that you’re at least aware of Leigh Bardugo’s work and the Grishaverse, so I won’t recommend those. But I will be comparing some of the pairings to Darklina, so I hope you have that frame of reference. And of course, if you haven’t read those, get on it!
First off is the Ember in the Ashes series by Sabaa Tahir. It’s a fantasy that follows three main characters–Laia, Elias, and Helene–and the war they’re involved in. It’s got lots of high fantasy goodies and at least two really good ships. I loved it and cried many times reading it. It hasn’t even been a year since I finished and I’m already considering a reread. Definitely my favorite thing I’ve read in the last couple years!
Right now I’m reading Uprooted by Naomi Novik. It’s a standalone fantasy where a young girl is sent to live with an immortal sorcerer as payment for his protection of her village. A fun fantasy atmosphere and slow-burn enemies-to-lovers romance. I’m absolutely loving it. The ship really reminds me of Darklina so I’m completely sold.
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by VE Schwab. This is a standalone fantasy about a woman who is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets. It has a dark romance in it and is a really fun and original concept. I liked this book but did find it really slowed down after the opening. Give it time, though! I think the author’s style is really beautiful and when I was put on the spot to recommend a book to Ben Barnes, I picked this one lmao.
Normal People by Sally Rooney is not a fantasy but IS a really realistic and heartfelt romance that just enthralled me and broke my heart. I read it in a day and instantly binged the Hulu series. Highly recommend.
From Blood and Ash by Jennifer Armentrout. Ok so my recommendation of this one has some caveats. I’m absolutely obsessed with the first book. Like it’s just amazing and so addictive and sexy. The second book is also good. But by the third book I’ve found her writing to be unbearably repetitive. I haven’t been able to finish the third book and it’s planned as a six-book series. Idk how to feel about that. But her characters and world are really interesting and the smut is delicious. The first book at least is absolutely worth a read.
The Folk of the Air series by Holly Black. Another fun fantasy romance with enemies-to-lovers goodness. It’s set in a faerie world and combines the modern world with a fantasy world, which is a trope I really like. The characters are great–especially the POV heroine–and the romance is really cute and intriguing.
A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray. This one is definitely more of a teen/YA (though a few others on this list are, too. This one just really FEELS like it) but I really liked it. It’s not fantasy so much as sci-fi, with an enemies-to-lovers romance. The MC’s parents develop the technology to jump between different dimensions. When her parents are murdered, she has to chase the suspect from dimension to dimension but along the way she starts to see him differently and fall in love with him. It’s a trilogy.
I’m also gonna tell you what I have on my TBR because these are things that have been highly recommended to me by people whose taste I trust haha. Every one of these is either a fantasy or sci-fi romance series or standalone:
The Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden (this is what I’m reading next. Came highly recommended when I asked for something like Darklina but with a better ending haha).
The Winner’s Trilogy by Marie Rutkowski
Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik (standalone)
These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong (currently two books are out)
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (standalone)
Defy the Stars by Claudia Gray (trilogy)
Blood Heir by Amélie Wen Zhao (currently two books are out, will be a trilogy)
I’ve been meaning to put this together for a while, so I’m finally sitting down and doing it. Asterisks indicate it’s a story I’ve reread at least a half-dozen times.
One Shots
T Rated
He Becomes by @abromaposts. Rated: T. Draco fosters bunnies in the hopes that it will impress Hermione. It is the cutest, funniest concept. Just delightful to read.
***Brave Little Gryffindor by scifichick774. Rated T. Fred and George dare Hermione to kiss Draco.
The Intricacies of Marriage by kirsant. Rated: T. I don’t usually like marriage laws, but this one is all about Draco and Hermione trying to kill each other. It’s quite funny.
Amateur Cartography by worksofstone. Rated T. Hermione has reoccurring one-night stands with Draco while trying to convince herself they don’t mean anything.
Out of Order by worksofstone. Rated T. Pining Draco trapped in the lift with Hermione.
Angst
Bird’s Eye View by Optimise. Rated T. Told from Scorpius’ perspective as his parents’ marriage falls apart. Its so sad! I still hurt from this. So I’m sharing my pain.
I’ve been working on figuring out my bookmarks for AO3 so this is a VERY short garbage list of things that I have so far grabbed upon fixing my bookmarks ( I was marking things as for future reading if they were things I wanted to keep, and bookmarking things I just wanted to read ). Now, I’m quite certain I missed a few things, and I DEFINITELY missed some classics, but, these are the particular ones that I think everyone should read / should be reading, because they’re great!
Please note, if I linked one thing from the Author, all their things are great, and so I recommend everything, but this is what is sticking out in my mind right now.
Please note, there’s not a lot on my WIP list at present because I have gotten SUPER BEHIND on my reading. Which is… part of why I’m trying to fix my bookmarks on AO3. But these? These are all great.
You can also always check out my fic rec tag, but that’s all of my ships!
