9 Romance Books Featuring Rival Families
When Love Blooms Between Blood Feuds
There’s something irresistible about lovers caught in the crossfire of generations-long rivalries. These are the stories where passion flares like a match in a powder keg—dangerous, explosive, and completely addictive. The stakes are higher when hearts are pulled toward the very people they’re supposed to hate, and every stolen glance, every whispered promise, is laced with risk.
Whether it’s centuries-old family feuds, warring empires, or cutthroat business dynasties, the tension between love and loyalty takes center stage in these tales. Here are 9 romance books where rival families threaten to tear soulmates apart—yet love, stubborn and wild, refuses to yield.
1. These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong
🔪 1920s Shanghai. Two rival gangs. One forbidden love.
Juliette Cai and Roma Montagov were once childhood sweethearts—until betrayal and bloodshed ripped them apart. Now on opposite sides of a brutal gang war, their feelings resurface just as a mysterious plague begins to consume the city.
Why it captivates: A glittering, dangerous reimagining of Romeo and Juliet that blends historical fiction, fantasy, and seething tension between enemies who can’t stop wanting each other.
2. The Wrath & the Dawn by Renée Ahdieh
🌙 A murderous king. A bride who seeks revenge. Love was never part of the plan.
Shahrzad’s best friend was one of the many brides executed by Khalid, the boy-king. To avenge her, Shahrzad marries him—planning to kill him herself. But as dawn after dawn passes and she survives, the truth becomes more complicated… and her heart betrays her.
Why it captivates: This lush retelling of One Thousand and One Nights simmers with slow-burn tension and secrets that blur the line between hate and love.
3. Twisted Love by Ana Huang
💼 She’s the sunshine. He’s the storm.
Alex Volkov is a ruthless businessman hiding a dark past. When his best friend goes abroad, he’s left in charge of watching over Ava—sweet, curious, completely off-limits. But Ava’s family and Alex’s secrets are entangled in ways neither of them can ignore.
Why it captivates: Forbidden attraction meets icy control in this enemies-to-lovers tale with secrets, scandal, and a deep emotional payoff.
4. Prince of the Skies by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
🕊️ Two pilots. One woman. A rivalry that spanned continents and decades.
Inspired by real events, this historical love triangle centers on two rival aviators whose feud is as legendary as their shared love for one extraordinary woman. Through the backdrop of revolution and war, their fates twist together in devastating ways.
Why it captivates: Rich with poetic melancholy, it’s a story of ambition, betrayal, and a love that defies borders—and loyalty.
5. Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin
🔥 A witch and a witch hunter forced into marriage.
Louise is a witch on the run; Reid is a devout witch hunter bound by duty and sacred law. When they’re forced into a political marriage, they must deny everything they believe… and everything they feel.
Why it captivates: Sparks fly as faith, magic, and blood feud collide in a romance that balances wicked humor with devastating heat.
6. The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L. Jensen
🏰 She was raised to destroy him. Then she fell in love.
Trained from birth to be a weapon, Lara is sent to marry the king of a rival kingdom—only to betray him. But what begins as duty turns into desire, and soon she must choose between her mission and the man who’s stealing her heart.
Why it captivates: It’s enemies-to-lovers at its finest—full of political intrigue, steamy tension, and impossible choices.
7. The Borgia Confessions by Alyssa Palombo
💔 A forbidden love in the heart of one of history’s most infamous families.
Francesca is a lady-in-waiting in the deadly, decadent world of Renaissance Rome. Caught in the web of the Borgia family’s ruthless ambition, she finds herself drawn to Cesare Borgia—a man as alluring as he is dangerous.
Why it captivates: History pulses through this passionate tale of courtly intrigue, forbidden love, and the deadly cost of defying powerful bloodlines.
8. Where the Stars Meet the Sea by Heidi Kimball
🌊 A noblewoman, a commoner, and a forbidden summer.
Juliet Graham has one chance to escape a loveless engagement. When she meets the brooding and brilliant Isaac, she finds herself torn between duty and desire. But Isaac belongs to a family that her own cannot tolerate—and the past threatens to repeat itself.
Why it captivates: With a regency backdrop and aching slow-burn romance, it’s a tender, sweeping story of love that dares to cross class and family lines.
9. The Romeo Catchers by Alys Arden
🌪️ Voodoo, ghosts, and a love destined for destruction.
In the haunting streets of New Orleans, two families—one steeped in voodoo, the other in centuries-old secrets—find themselves entwined in a dark prophecy. At the heart of it are Jules and Dane, soulmates who might be each other’s ruin.
Why it captivates: Gothic magic and intergenerational curses mix with a fated love that defies reason and threatens everything.
Final Word:
There’s a raw, undeniable thrill in love that defies family, fate, and history. When everything says you shouldn’t love this person—and yet you do—the result is a romance that hits deeper and burns longer. These stories will pull you into worlds where loyalty is tested, hearts are betrayed, and love is the ultimate rebellion.
So if you crave tension, danger, and passion that crackles across enemy lines, these 9 books of rival-family romance will leave you breathless. 💘🔥📚
