Margaret Rogerson is an American writer of young-adult fantasy and a New York Times bestseller, working away near Cincinnati, Ohio. She made her debut in 2017 with the fae romance An Enchantment of Ravens, studied cultural anthropology at Miami University before that, and now sees her books read in more than a dozen languages.
She is best known, and rightly, for Sorcery of Thorns — a world of living grimoires, candlelit libraries and found family that stays warm even when the gothic trimmings come out. If you like a story that loves books as much as you do, with a slow-burning romance and a cast you'd happily move in with, she is very much your author.
Her best-loved book is also the easiest place to begin, and the only one of hers that grows into a small connected series. Everything else stands alone, so once you know the reading order for the Sorcery of Thorns corner you can wander the rest in any direction you please.
On our shelves
Living BooksEnemies To Lovers
Sorcery of Thorns
Elisabeth grew up in a great library where the grimoires whisper, growl, and occasionally turn into monsters if mishandled. Framed for sabotage, she falls in with a sardonic young sorcerer and his far-too-courteous demon. Bookish, swooning, and just the right amount of gothic. Read it when you want ink, candlelight, and a slow enemies-to-lovers.
Where to start
Start with Sorcery of Thorns. It is her most popular and most-searched book, and it reads as a complete, self-contained standalone — so a newcomer gets the full bookish, found-family adventure she is best known for. The later novella Mysteries of Thorn Manor and the free short story A Winter's Favor are bonus extras in the same world, to be enjoyed afterwards if you can't bear to leave.
Margaret Rogerson’s books
Elisabeth, an orphan raised among the living grimoires of a great magical library, is framed for sabotage and must throw in her lot with the sorcerer Nathaniel and his demonic servant Silas. Gothic on the surface, but bookish, romantic and found-family warm underneath — and it stands entirely on its own.
On our shelves →
A cosy, low-stakes novella in which a temperamental magical house locks Elisabeth and Nathaniel inside Thorn Manor in the days before a midwinter ball. A short, snug second helping of the same world.
A free Christmas short story Rogerson released on Archive of Our Own, set about a week after Sorcery of Thorns and narrated entirely from Silas's point of view. A small gift for anyone who lost their heart to the demon.
Her standalone debut: Isobel paints portraits for the immortal fair folk and is spirited away to the autumn court after she paints human sorrow into the eyes of Prince Rook. A romance-forward fae standalone.
Artemisia, a nun-in-training who can speak to the dead, bonds with a powerful revenant to defend her land when the dead begin to rise. Darker and grittier than her other books — read it when you want more shadow than candlelight.
Her forthcoming standalone romantic fantasy, scheduled for April 2027: a cursed girl trapped in a tower must choose between a prince who promises to free her and an immortal knight kept magically emotionless. One to look forward to.
Good questions
Only the Sorcery of Thorns world is a connected series. Read Sorcery of Thorns (2019) first, then the free short story A Winter's Favor (set about a week later, from Silas's point of view), then the novella Mysteries of Thorn Manor, which is numbered 1.5. Her other books are unconnected standalones you can read in any order.
It's a complete, self-contained standalone — you can read it and stop perfectly happily. If you want more of that world, the novella Mysteries of Thorn Manor and the free short story A Winter's Favor are bonus extras rather than a continuing plot.
It's published as young-adult fantasy, so the romance is a slow, swooning enemies-to-lovers rather than anything explicit — bookish and candlelit, not steamy.
No — Vespertine is a separate standalone, and a darker, grittier one, about a nun-in-training who can speak to the dead. An Enchantment of Ravens and the forthcoming Knight Eternal are also unconnected standalones.
Knight Eternal is a standalone romantic fantasy about a cursed girl trapped in a tower, caught between a prince who promises to free her and an immortal knight kept magically emotionless. It's scheduled for April 2027.
Stay in Rogerson's own world first with Mysteries of Thorn Manor and A Winter's Favor, then try her fae standalone An Enchantment of Ravens. For more of the same bookish, found-family warmth, our cosy-fantasy shelves are where we keep it.
The Cosy Corner →Autumnal Classics →Strange & Beautiful → ← All authors Browse every book →