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If Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer made you crave masked mercy, dangerous politics, and trust under threat, read Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli next.

Curated by NextBookAfter Editors. This read-alike match weighs tone, themes, pacing, character dynamics, and emotional payoff rather than genre alone. See how recommendations are chosen.

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Why It's Your Next Read

  • Tessa's midnight mercy returns as Rune's witch rescues
  • Corrick's feared enforcer becomes Gideon's relentless witch hunter
  • Dual viewpoints again turn attraction into moral revision
  • Palace suspicion tightens into a reciprocal courtship trap
  • Choose hotter cat-and-mouse romance over medicine-driven injustice
Heartless Hunter Cover
★★★★☆ 4.16 • Goodreads

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If Tessa's split life—apothecary apprentice by day, masked agent of mercy by night—made every act of care feel thrillingly illegal, Heartless Hunter recreates that tightening vise with Rune Winters. Rune passes as a frivolous socialite while secretly rescuing witches from execution, then courts Gideon Sharpe, the notorious hunter pursuing her alter ego, to steal intelligence. His answering courtship is also a trap. Because their alternating viewpoints reveal two people shaped by opposite sides of a bloody revolution, flirtation never gives either of them a morally safe place to stand.

She courts the hunter who would execute her—and he is hunting the woman beneath her mask.

This match trades the source's medicine shortage for a more romance-forward purge, so readers attached most strongly to Tessa's hands-on healing will lose that concrete public-health engine. In return, reciprocal deception intensifies everything else: the feared enforcer has his own wounds, every intimate confidence can expose a secret identity, and the brisk cat-and-mouse plot keeps tenderness attached to mortal danger. Choose it when Corrick and Tessa's changing judgments mattered even more than Kandala's fever.

They fall for each other while sharpening the trap.

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What Readers Are Saying

"They're both hunting & being hunted by each other. It was like a steamy game of cat and mouse." — Ali Goodwin, Goodreads

What Readers Are Saying

"I love it when a story grabs you right off the bat, and Heartless Hunter does just that." — Yun, Goodreads

What Readers Are Saying

"the characters are fully developed, the plot is engaging, the writing is spot-on, and the overall vibe is entertaining." — jessica yeung, Goodreads

Awards & Recognition

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Two more ways to follow the feeling

Go Deeper—or Sideways

Cover of The Last Bloodcarver by Vanessa Le

Under the Radar

The Last Bloodcarver

by Vanessa Le

Forbidden Healing Behind Elite Doors

Nhika survives on the margins of industrial Theumas while hiding her ability to alter human biology with a touch, a gift her society treats as monstrous rather than healing. After she is captured and sold to a wealthy family, she must heal the comatose last witness to its patriarch's murder; the investigation draws her toward the infuriating physician's aide Ven Kochin and into a world of glamour, intrigue, and concealed motives .

  • Tessa's healing hands return as Nhika's forbidden bloodcraft
  • Elite suspicion again makes every intimate choice dangerous
  • Dark urgency shifts from rebellion to murder mystery
  • Choose medical ethics over the source's palace politics
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Cover of Anatomy: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz

Wildcard Pick

Anatomy: A Love Story

by Dana Schwartz

Gothic Medicine, Class-Crossed Hearts

In a gothic version of 1817 Edinburgh, aristocratic Hazel Sinnett defies the profession barring her from surgery and teams with working-class resurrection man Jack Currer for bodies to study. As Roman Fever returns and poor people disappear, their covert medical work becomes an intimate investigation of who receives care and whose body society treats as expendable .

Why it’s a wildcard: The historical-gothic setting and corpse-stealing initially look far removed from Defy the Night's secondary-world court rebellion, but the reading posture is strikingly close: a headstrong young healer breaks rules to treat poor patients during a lethal fever, an unequal partnership crosses class boundaries and slowly turns tender, and clandestine medicine exposes cruelty protected by respectable institutions.

  • Tessa's clandestine care becomes Hazel's forbidden surgical ambition
  • Class-crossing trust again grows through dangerous night work
  • The fever's injustice returns in gothic Edinburgh
  • Choose macabre mystery over propulsive palace rebellion
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What to read after Defy the Night

Readers searching for books like or similar to Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer usually want young adult fantasy romance with qualities like enemies to lovers, dual perspectives, secret identity, and witch hunter romance.

If you like Defy the Night and want to know what to read next, start with Heartless Hunter. It is the closest NextBookAfter match for readers who want a book like Defy the Night with the same core appeal.

Heartless Hunter is a similar next read for fans of Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer because it shares enemies to lovers, dual perspectives, secret identity, and witch hunter romance while moving through romantasy and political fantasy.

Books like or similar to Defy the Night: quick answers

What should I read after Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer?
Start with Heartless Hunter. It is a close NextBookAfter match for readers who want young adult fantasy romance with a similar mood, pace, and emotional payoff. It is especially useful if you want enemies to lovers, dual perspectives, and secret identity.
If I like Defy the Night, what should I read next?
Read Heartless Hunter next if you want another young adult fantasy romance pick with overlapping tone, themes, pacing, and reader payoff.
What is a book like Defy the Night?
Heartless Hunter is the closest readalike here because it preserves the core appeal readers usually want after Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer.
What are good books similar to Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer?
For young adult fantasy romance readers, Heartless Hunter is a strong book similar to Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer because it keeps the same read-alike appeal while moving through romantasy and political fantasy.
Is Heartless Hunter similar to Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer?
Yes. Heartless Hunter is recommended here because it carries readers from Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer into romantasy and political fantasy while preserving the core read-alike appeal.
Why recommend Heartless Hunter for fans of Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer?
The recommendation is based on overlapping appeal signals: tone, themes, character dynamics, pacing, and the specific payoff readers look for after Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer.

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