Lord of Ice

by Kate William

Like Damien and Miranda, your protagonists here are locked in a battle of wills that masks a desperate attraction—but Thorne sets the tension in a Manhattan publishing office rather than a country estate. The banter has that same electric quality where every conversation crackles with subtext, and you get to watch two people who've built walls discover they're actually mirrors of each other's loneliness.

by George MacDonald

This is my surprise pick for you—it's fantasy with court intrigue, but what makes it sing is how Addison explores a traumatized, isolated protagonist learning to trust and connect with others in a hostile environment. Like Damien, your main character must navigate society while carrying deep wounds, but Addison focuses on the quiet moments of kindness that actually heal rather than just the grand romantic gesture.

by C. J. Carella

Levenseller writes that same dangerous attraction between two people who could destroy each other—a girl sent to seduce and murder a shadow-wielding king discovers he's far more complex than her mission allows. The moral ambiguity and the way both characters are forced to confront who they actually are beneath their roles echoes what Miranda does for Damien, but with higher stakes and darker magic.

by Diana Gabaldon

Published in 1991, this gives you that earlier decade perspective while delivering the same sweeping historical romance with genuine emotional weight. Gabaldon, like Foley, doesn't shy away from showing how trauma shapes her characters, and the way Claire and Jamie's relationship develops—where intimacy becomes the path to healing—mirrors Damien's arc beautifully, just across a much larger canvas.

by Larry Cothren

Ward builds her paranormal romance around a brooding, damaged male lead who's convinced he's unworthy of love—sound familiar? But she layers in genuine danger and a found-family dynamic that gives the emotional stakes real weight beyond just the romance. The way she writes a man learning to accept tenderness while still maintaining his edge will feel very comfortable territory after Damien.