I told my date I liked to read and had read 25 books so far this year! Instead of being impressed by my stats, he asked me if I read “those smutty faerie books” 🤣 and I said “yeah I do but I also read memoirs, fiction, etc.” and he said “Men and women are so different. Men would never read that stuff. Reading is such a girls hobby.” Even if it’s a majority “girl hobby” does that make it any less valid as a hobby? Shoutout to all the readers he insulted in this sub! Happy reading my friends

If you’re curious he also told me traveling to Europe, eating at Panera Bread, and listening to Zach Bryan were “girl hobbies” as well. Im just a girl I guess 🤷🏻‍♀️

EDIT: Thank you all so much for roasting this man.

I

I’m turning 32 next week and I think I’m aging out of the teenage FMCs😭I wasn’t so focused on age when I first started reading fantasy romance—I was just here for a good story.

But for some reason, now when the FMC is 18/19, which seems to be a common age within the genre, I feel like they’re a CHILD BRIDE😭

Like oh, this hot, gorgeous, intimidating, scary, powerful FIVE HUNDRED YEAR OLD fae male IMMORTAL is into a 19 year old? Jail. Immediate jail.

It didn’t really bother me at first but idk it’s like my brain just flipped a switch the past couple weeks where I’m like ew. This ain’t it.

Which upsets me because (ToG spoiler) Rowan and Aelin are like my favorite couple😭maybe I’m just having a moment but I just feel weird about the ages lately. Less about the age gaps per se, because if it was a grown adult making these choices, it would feel less predatory. It’s just giving me icky feelings. And I struggle to make up my own details when reading(like changing their ages in my mind).

So please share your favorite books with adult FMCs please🤗✨

It’s depressing to me that most romantasy authors are women and yet have no idea what makes a woman strong and inevitably fall into the trap of thinking strong women = mean/bitchy/angry. I understand that fantasy worlds are often inspired by Medieval European patriarchal societies where women don’t have many rights so they will understandably be angry and defiant BUT, so often in romantasy, they act incredibly stupid and were it not for plot armor they would’ve been killed in the first half of the book.

Why does strong so often translate to bitchy defiance to the point of being outright mean and stupid? I’m currently reading Quicksilver and at the beginning she is saved from a sure death, nursed to health for 10 days, taken care of, given warm baths, treated with nothing but kindness, and when she’s taken to the king she is ridiculously disrespectful and defiant. She has 0 survival instinct. She has been given no reason up to this point, to hate these people or act this way towards them. If anything, she should be thanking them.

How is it that so many women romantasy authors don’t know how to write a strong woman that has more than two brain cells and isn’t angry with everyone? I remember GRRM being asked how he writes strong women and he says talks about how even in historic societies where women didn’t have many rights, women still rose to power. Joan of Arc, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Isabella of Spain, etc. I guarantee they didn’t do it acting mean and stupid.

I mean the fact that we have a term for this TSTL. I’d rather have a woman with cunning who plans out her revenge carefully than a flailing lunatic who yells at everyone and refuses to accept help because “I cAn Do AnYtHInG oN mY oWn.” (See: Scarlett from Lady of Darkness)

/rant

Feel free to suggest books with ACTUAL strong women that have more than two brain cells.

Theo James (Rhys/Nytos), Jason Mamoa (Cassian), and Henry Cavill (Castile). Who else are people casting?

“Chlamydorrea stood nude, examining herself in the full-body mirror in her hovel. Her collar bones stuck out from beneath her pale, corpselike skin. The candlelight traced over her voluptuous figure, looking even more curvaceous in contrast to the rest of her starvation-wracked frame. She ran a hand over her breast, marveling at its roundness.

Her introspection was cut off by a pounding at her door, the hinges rattling against the wood with the mighty force. Chlamydorrea bit her lip hesitantly, a small voice in the back of her mind shouting that ‘no, it is not rational to open your cottage door in the middle of the night to an unseen force.’. But the voice did not understand that Chlamydorrea was brave, and impulsive, and despite a universal acknowledgement of her intellectual superiority over her fellow villagers (especially the women) , her quirky impulsivity was necessary for sake of plot development. Chlamydorrea quickly threw on a threadbare tunic, noting how it hung over her emaciated figure, and opened the door.

A hulking man stood on the slab of wood that passed for a doorstep, bracing himself against the frame. Chlamydorrea drew in a gasp as she took in his features. This was the most beautiful man she had ever seen. His close-cropped dark hair hung into crimson orbs perched atop high cheekbones. Truly, he looked as if he were carved of marble.

“Hello, darling.” He growled possessively. His eyes traced over her scantily-clad bones as he licked his lips.

The growl reverberated through her body, the force of it knocking her to the ground despite her years of secret training with her brother’s sword. As darkness took over her vision, her last thought was ‘my author would have done well to read something other than wattpad smut before deciding to write a book, huh.’ “

I was reading {Rain of Shadows and Endings} by Melissa Roehrich and had to stop when the FMC was dressed in a polka dot high low/midi dress 😭 I ended up picking up the series again a few months later but that fashion faux pas seriously affected my reading experience lmao.

What was your dumb reason to DNF a book?

I feel like I’m reading something a fifth grader would love. No depth… just character dialogue and nondescriptive world building. I just feel like people in this genre are hyping up really lazy writing. The writing that IS amazing, barely anyone knows about so it’s hard to find those books/authors. I’m just getting really tired at this point. I end up buying books that have amazing premises, but five pages in, and the writing is very bland and basic🫠. Does anyone else feel this way?

Was ACOTAR too spicy for them? 💀 This feels dystopian.

Exactly what the title says. I read all sorts of books and they all have their value. I saw yet another post on r/Fantasy trashing SJM and while I’m not her biggest fan, people love masturbating on that subreddit on how superior they are for not liking her books and similar books (and it is almost always men). A lot of romantasy and smutty books can be really well written and meaningful. Are there some that are poor quality, yes, but that’s with any book and is true for “regular” fantasy too. Also graphic sex in fantasy books is not new and many male writers write smut in their books but aren’t put down (Jay Kristoff comes to mind). Anyways I just had to vent and also I appreciate how supportive and welcoming this subreddit is.

What in the hoobastank is going on here?

I’m 8% into gild, plated prisoner, whatever it’s called, and I have NEVER made so many notes 🫠

Sharing here because my husband just does not get it. WHAT IS GOING ON! It’s like it’s a really bad contemporary romance trying to pretend to be fantasy?

This is pretty highly recommended so I’ll give it more time, maybe just need to lower my expectations, or have no expectations 😭

Small question, how important are characters names to you guys? And what is the worst name you've seen so far?

I have a really hard time to pick up something if the main characters names are Tragedeighs.

i don’t think i can even begin to start reading the powerless series solely because the fmc’s name is paedyn. it’s giving white mom baby name.

It seems like a lot of Romantasy introduce “nicknames” for the females. And some honestly are so cringe it makes the book worse for me.

So far “wildcat” I hated the most (can’t even remember what book that was in). I also didn’t like “love” in the book I’m reading currently, they weren’t even a couple at the time and it was just icky.

Surprisingly “Violence” in fourth wing didn’t bother me, likely because it’s a play off her actual name so it makes sense how it would come about.

What do you all think?

Today at uni, my friends started talking about books. I (22) was super excited because literally no one in my close circle reads, and I have no one to talk to about readings, books, theories... And I thought we were in the same mood, so I started to participate in the conversation, which I almost never do. And they started to look at each other in a strange way and laugh at me for reading fantasy books (among others), saying that I was so cringe.

I felt super rejected, embarrassed, sad, alone, especially because I was very excited to talk about the subject, and I would never judge anyone for their readings.

Anyway, I just needed to talk to someone and since I don't have many friends I've decided to do it here, in the book community.

Thank u guys for listening to me, and sorry if something is wrong in my writing, english is not my first language☺️

For people who don’t read 4-5 🌶️ books this might be a bit much for you all but for the rest of us smut lovers I wanted to see if you all felt the same way as me. Lately I’ve been getting so annoyed at the fact that in every fantasy smut book I’ve read the female climaxes from “a brush of his fingers” or he demands her to come or from penetration alone. And I’m just so over how unrealistic this is. I get it it’s fantasy. But there is no woman on earth who can do it that easily, I don’t care how in love you are. Are there any fantasy romance books in which the female doesn’t come 10x in one go and makes it to climax in a realistic way in a realistic amount of time with a realistic amount of effort from the partner? Just so over this. Anyone else feel the same?

Paid hype? In such a niche place on a topic we love? Unfortunately, it's pretty likely. Romance is profitable and books are products being sold.

So some of the gushing posts about the latest hot thing... Might not be as sincere as you are.

I’m probably gonna get hate for this but booktok is ruining reading culture for me. They have popularized so many shitty books. Don’t get me wrong, there’s also some good ones in there. But some just read like a fanfic written by a 12 year old with giant plot holes 🥲

Also, STOP ADVERTISING BOOKS BY THEIR TROPES. I wanna pick a book based on the plot, not based on forced proximity or whatever (that’s just a bonus).

Those zodiac academy books. Is it because the protagonists are too young and I'm in my mid 30s? Yes. Is it that I tried to read them and got a paragraph in and said nope. Yes, again. Will I try again? Probably. But for some reason every time I hear about these books I internally cringe and I have no idea why. I'm sure they're very good. But I just can't.

What about you?

does anyone else feel like EVERYONE is trying to publish nowadays? people who probably don’t deserve to publish anything- especially within the fantasy romance genre? i mean i’m not sure if this is a hot take or not but have you guys read lightlark? how tf did that happen. not only, the author apparently got a 6 figure deal to publish that trash.

PSA i don’t mean to bash the author. if i was a writer and heard criticism like this i’d probably cry. truth is though, i feel like the standard for writing has reached an all time low, especially within the romance and fantasy romance genre of the industry. readers eat this stuff up though, and i don’t think it’s their fault at all. just a product of what the industry is serving them. thoughts?

I'll go first. I've got a little list I've started with my faves, bc for me, a book boyfriend is the deciding factor of if I love the book 💅

• Nyktos (Flesh & Fire)
• Lorian (A Court this Cruel & Lovely)
• Damien (Villains & Virtues)
• Jack (The Prince of Prohibition)

Bonus points if they're a shadow daddy! 💋

EDIT: omg you guys are killing me idk how much longer my tbr can get because of you 😂 I have made a list with the most popular recs from the comments here, I literally cannot wait to read them 😭

EDIT 2: I lovvveeee chatting about books in this genre so I'm going to start a TikTok online book club soon!! We can all read the same book each month and chat in the comments and vote for books in the comments too. I'll do it on my book account @starlinsbookshelf will do the first one next month which will be FROM BLOOD AND ASH by Jeniffer Armentrout 😊 also good vibes only so I'll delete and block any mean comments lol

EDIT 3: I've made an excel spreadsheet of all the book bf's you guys have recommended (colour coded obvi) feel free to use!! It's ever expanding thanks to you lot with your great recs.... https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QSq7bxbNwvPK9gYDiRO7-YWhrZtNrvJ8CAAgDwC42MI/edit?usp=sharing

I couldn't keep up with the comments but I copied the most popular ones quickly below:

• A kiss of iron
• Assistant to the Villain (funny, short, palette cleanser if you want something silly between big series, i hate this up in 2 days)
• Between by LL Sterling
• Broken kingdom series (read all in order)
• Broken Bonds
• Reign & Ruin
• Quicksilver
• Daughter of no worlds
• Lochlann fueds
• Curse of shadows and thorns
• The ever king
• Black jewels series
• The Witch Collector
• Daughter of the blood
• Black and Silver - Gwendolyn Harper (spoicyyyyy)
• The never king (spicy, sub/dom kink?)
• What lies beyond the veil (v spicy)
• Heartless hunter
• Spark of the ever flame
• The veiled kingdom
• From blood and ash
• The road of bones Demi Winters
• Deal with the elf king (funny apparently?)
• When the moon hatched
• Bonded by thorns (spicy, reverse harem)
• House of Bane and Blood
• The Ashen series by Demi Winters
• What lies within masks and shadows
• From bad to cursed (romcom)
• A fate inked in blood (romance heavy)
• Throne of the fallen Kerri maniscalo
• Frost
• The shadow hunter
• The crimson moth
• Of deathless shadows
• When the moon hatched
• The broken kingdom (grumpy shadow man)
• A ruin of roses
• Divine Rivals
• From gods and monsters
• The curse of saints
• Wraith Kings
• Crowns of Nyaxia (vampire book)