Reverse Harem Romance Novels: A Beginner's Guide - Book Riot

Articles

• Audiobooks
• Children's
• Comics
• Horror
• Mystery/Thriller
• Nonfiction
• Romance
• Sci-Fi/Fantasy
• Young Adult
• Read Harder

Listen

• All The Books
• Book Riot: The Podcast
• Read or Dead
• When In Romance
• Zero to Well-Read

• Receive Newsletters
• Get Book Recommendations
• Join All Access
• Enter Giveaways
• Get Book Deals
• Watch Bookish Content
• Get Book Riot Merch

• About Book Riot
• Advertise
• Join Us
• Contact
• Staff & Contributors
• Community Guidelines

• 
• 
• 
• 

Log In Menu ✕ This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Namera Tanjeem

Staff Writer

Namera is currently an English student at the University of Cambridge who loves romance novels, Harry Potter, true crime stories, and cats. You can find her over at her blog, The Literary Invertebrate. She can be contacted by email at [email protected].

View All posts by Namera Tanjeem

What are Reverse Harem Romance Novels?

Q: What do chameleons have in common with books about polyamory? A:  The ability to change and rebrand themselves, of course! Here’s what I mean. Books featuring a single heroine and multiple men, all of whom she is in a committed relationship with, are hardly new. You’ve probably come across them before: badly photoshopped covers, usually published by Siren, and without exception rated ‘XXX Adult.’

Exhibit A. I actually kind of like this book, but my God, THAT COVER.

Sometimes the writing was good; sometimes it was as awful as you’d expect from covers like that. These books didn’t really have a specific genre name beyond plain old ménage. They certainly weren’t mainstream. Their golden years were from roughly 2000 to 2010, give or take a few years. So what changed? From a sociological perspective, there are a couple of things I could discuss – the increasing acceptance of alternative lifestyles, the new ease with which indie authors can get themselves recognised, etc., etc. Manga of course gets an honourable mention. Harems are common there, and from that we get the shiny new genre name: reverse harem. Suddenly, these books have managed to rebrand themselves. They aren’t smutty secrets anymore. They’re actually so popular that they show up in USA Today articles. This is all a recent phenomenon; you won’t see the term ‘reverse harem’ before about 2016. One reason behind this sudden surge is that the reverse harem genre has managed to diversify. It isn’t strictly adult anymore: YA and even that hard-to-pin-down NA have gotten involved. It’s also no longer mostly contemporary, with fantasy and paranormal becoming common settings. In many books the men now have relationships with each other as well as the female. To put the cherry on the icing, there are sometimes other women in the harem too!

Reverse Harem Vocabulary

As the genre has gotten more complex, so too has the language involved. Gone are the days when a simple ‘ménage’ referred to any book where the heroine had more than one partner. Nowadays, it’s taken back its original implication of à trois and is used exclusively to mean that she has only two partners. A reverse harem means that she will have more than two partners. Here are a couple of other definitions: Polyamory: the technical term for reverse harem relationships. Polyandry: the woman is married to multiple men. Polyfidelity: the concept that sex is restricted to within the group – this isn’t a free-for-all, and cheating can still exist within a reverse harem context.

Must-Read Reverse Harem Romance Novels

As with any genre, there are the absolute gems…and the non-gems. To help out anyone new to reverse harem, I present you with the following, all of which I highly recommend:

Trickery (Curse of the Gods #1) by Jaymin Eve & Jane Washington

This is my absolute favourite series, and well known to every reverse harem fan out there. You could say it’s a genre classic. In this fantasy world, ultra-clumsy Willa Knight accidentally sends herself to Blesswood Academy, a school for sols: she, as a lowly peasant dweller, must serve the sols, who are training to be gods. All hell breaks loose when she’s assigned to be the personal dweller-servant for the five sol Abcurse brothers. Willa is absolutely hilarious. The brothers are all extremely well defined, and they have their own distinct personalities. (As you can imagine, making sure the heroes don’t blur into each other is where some reverse harem authors fall short, but Jane and Jaymin are a winning combination). The series straddles the line between YA and NA, with the steam level increasing in later books.

Four Psychos (The Dark Side #1) by Kristy Cunning

Another gem. The heroine, as far as she can tell, is an invisible ghost: with no name or memory of her past life, she spends all her time watching the four men who live in her house. (Yes, she even watches what they do in the bedroom). But what happens when she suddenly turns visible? The heroine is adorably sarcastic. The men are arseholes, but engaging ones. Even the underlying plot line is interesting. Steam rating: max. If you need extra inducement, Kristy Cunning is actually the pen name of popular contemporary romance author C.M. Owens.

The Vixen’s Lead (Kit Davenport #1) by Tate James

Kit Davenport is a thief. Not just any thief – she’s the Fox, an internationally renowned criminal. Her day job is being a demure boarding-school student. And then one day, a host of men show up, tasked with catching the Fox… This is another very popular paranormal reverse harem series. I do think the later books slip a little bit in terms of plot quality, but the earlier books are great – the heroine is super sassy without being annoying.

Queen Takes Knights (Their Vampire Queen #1) by Joely Sue Burkhart

Shara is a lost vampire queen who’s spent her life running from the monsters after her. One day, they catch up with her – only for her knights to appear and save her. She has to learn to control her powers in an effort to fend off all the people who want to kill her. So this is obviously another paranormal, but it’s the only one I’ve named so far which really makes full use of the whole ‘polyamory’ thing. Shara’s harem consists of both men and women, and there is both MM and FF action. Warning: this is messy. They are vampires, after all.

Idol Thoughts (H3RO #1) by J.S. Lee

This has got to be one of the most unique premises I’ve ever encountered. Holly, a Korean-American, discovers that she’s actually the heir to a K-Pop company; she’s given a band of idols to manage, and falls in love with them in the process. This is definitely a new spin on the tried-and-tested trope of having a rock band harem! K-Pop has been taking off in the Western world lately, and the book has a plot line like a K-Drama too.

#WHYCHOOSE?

This is only a tiny selection of the vast number of great reverse harem novels out there. And there’s more nearly every day! Check out some manga reverse harem recommendations here. And let us know of your favourites!

You Might Also Like

• What Books Showed Up Across All The "Best Of 2025" Lists? Let's Dig In!
• The Most Popular Books on Libby (Plus, a Gothic Sci-Fi Surprise)
• The NEW YORK TIMES' Best Under the Radar Books of 2025
• The Bestselling Books of the Week, According to All the Lists
• The Best Books of 2025, According to The Atlantic
• YA Has Entered Its Awkward Adolescence and It's Teens Who Are Losing Out

Namera Tanjeem

Staff Writer

Namera is currently an English student at the University of Cambridge who loves romance novels, Harry Potter, true crime stories, and cats. You can find her over at her blog, The Literary Invertebrate. She can be contacted by email at [email protected].

View All posts by Namera Tanjeem

Alex Baker

Staff Writer

Alex is not only the Executive Director of Technology, but also an avid drummer in Skull Practitioners and game hobbyist.

View All posts by Alex Baker

×

Sign up for the Book Riot newsletter for the latest book buzz, smart commentary, and must read picks… and be entered to win a library cart!

Sign me up! No thanks Sweepstakes open to legal residents of the 50 United States, DC, and Canada (excluding Puerto Rico, all other US territories, and Quebec). Entries accepted until 11:59pm ET, Jan 4, 2026. Winner randomly selected. Complete rules and eligibility requirements available here. First Name

You’re entered! But wait…

You’ve unlocked a free trial for 3 Free Audiobooks from Audiobooks.com. A free deal is the best deal!

Claim Now No Thanks

**New subscribers only. 30-day free trial, then $14.95/month after trial. Plan automatically renews until cancelled. Terms apply.