Iron Flame
One or two intimate scenes, fade to black or lightly described.
Euphemistic. Softened or poetic language, little direct anatomy.
Estimated from the blurb. Five agreeing votes make it confirmed.
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Blurb
“The first year is when some of us lose our lives. The second year is when the rest of us lose our humanity.” —Xaden Riorson Everyone expected Violet Sorrengail to die during her first year at Basgiath War College—Violet included. But Threshing was only the first impossible test meant to weed out the weak-willed, the unworthy, and the unlucky. Now the real training begins, and Violet’s already wondering how she’ll get through. It’s not just that it’s grueling and maliciously brutal, or even that it’s designed to stretch the riders’ capacity for pain beyond endurance. It’s the new vice commandant, who’s made it his personal mission to teach Violet exactly how powerless she is–unless she betrays the man she loves. Although Violet’s body might be weaker and frailer than everyone else’s, she still has her wits—and a will of iron. And leadership is forgetting the most important lesson Basgiath has taught her: Dragon riders make their own rules. But a determination to survive won’t be enough this year. Because Violet knows the real secret hidden for centuries at Basgiath War College—and nothing, not even dragon fire, may be enough to save them in the end.
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Fourth Wing
Start where Violet did: same brutal dragon-rider academy and enemies-to-lovers pull, with a bit more heat and a first-book setup rather than mid-war stakes.
A Court of Thorns and Roses
Another forbidden slow burn with a lethal, powerful love interest and torture-heavy trials, but fae courts and captivity replace military academy drills.
Tower of Dawn
Wartime stakes, found family and a careful slow burn, though the pace is quieter and healing-focused instead of combat training.
Red, White & Royal Blue
Another forbidden enemies-to-lovers slow burn where loving the wrong person is politically dangerous, only contemporary, funnier, and no battlefield body count.
Twisted Hate
Keeps the antagonistic banter and forbidden pull of Violet and Xaden, but trades war college brutality for a much spicier, explicit contemporary.
In the Likely Event
Same author's voice and military trauma, second-chance instead of enemies-to-lovers, with no dragons and a contemporary, grounded setting.