To be totally addicted to romantasy books?

20-30 years ago it was vampire hunters shagging vampires. Anne Rice, Anita Blake, Sookie Stackhouse, all that.

Then it was dystopias - Hunger Games, Divergent, Maze Runner etc etc.
Plus ça change.

I liked Holly Black's Cruel Prince series, pretty much anything by Naomi Novik (more fantasy than romantasy) and have just started Fourth Wing.

I am afraid I read ACOTAR and thought it was absolutely awful. I found the number of times she blathered on about how she would paint him (or rather wouldn't be able to) was Dan Brown levels of stupid. But if that doesn't grate I'm sure it's fine.

Who cares what you read if you like it? My mum used to dismiss my Georgette Heyer addiction as trash, but she's stood the test of time!

Wonderful thank you just downloaded it. I usually read police / killer / thriller / horror and am getting a bit bored so going to try this new genre!

I'm currently working my way through a lot of Golden Age crime from the 1930s, mixed in with a lot of fantasy. Have read most of Seanan McGuire's October Daye series as well as the Incryptid novels. Also Ilona Andrews Kate Daniels and Innkeeper series.

Absolutely cracking stuff. I think people should read whatever they like.

I believe many of us were hooked by A Court Of Thorns And Roses (ACOTAR) so that’s a good place to start. Even if it’s not the best book in the series, it makes you want to read more. I started there then, A Throne Of Glass, then Crescent City which are all by Sarah J Maas.

Any that work well for a beginner and I also like audio books

Having said I don't read much romantasy, I've recently read The Diary of Derek Drummond by Katelyn Emilia Novak. It's a gothic/fantasy/romance, so not quite a "romantasy". There were no fairies. No porn. I don't remember any sex scenes at all.

But it was brilliant. A rare 5 star read for me.

I'm not the PP, but I have an English degree. I can tear through most books in a handful of hours. Also, are couples not allowed separate hobbies anymore? I read while DP games, or runs, or goes to the gym, or sleeps, or wrangles the children in exchange for me wrangling them while he does his own hobbies.

I've never even heard of them. Is it all goblins and fairies which I don't think I'd likr. But I''m tempted to give them ago. What should I start with.

How often does your DP read? I read romance of one kind of another basically every day. I wouldn't take advice on what to read from people who read less! Reading is primarily for fun. Making it have to be worthy is exactly how people end up with kids who don't read.

Well either their such light reading you can tear through a book in a handful of hours, or you're spending hours reading. If it's the latter, what's getting neglected in the meanwhile? If he spent the same amount of time playing phone games do you think he was fully committed to making your marriage work?

I am utterly obsessed since a friend recommended ACOTAR at the start of the year. Previously, I had always read crime fiction.

I used to devour the Merry Gentry books!

I have, yes. I read a lot of JD Robb / Nora Roberts books until I just kind of had enough. I’m very impressed by how prolific she is.

If you like whimsy, The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy is fun. Ditto Villains and Virtues. Also any of TJ Kingfisher’s books, the Paladin series and Swordheart, are very light and funny, and often with female characters in their 30s and with average sort of bodies and builds. I like Clarissa Broadbent’s various series too.

Have you read any J.D. Robb? Her Eve Dallas books are among my favourites, I have them all. If we're going to throw portmanteaus at them I suppose they're scicrimance novels. No, on second thoughts let's not.

Because I see them as a subgenre in their own right - treats for the brain. There's research that suggests watching soaps is good for mental health. The same applies to pacy, well-written enjoyable books which do not have literary pretences. Like a pp I read widely - crime, horror, fantasy, science fiction, historicals, steampunk and so on. I actually agree with Jay Kristoff (and read his books) that there's an inherent sexism in how smut is judged depending on the sex of who writes it (he does pretty good smut). When I use the word 'trashy' that doesn't imply a negative judgment - it's my way of confronting people with their own judgement.

Me too OP but I listen to audiobooks instead of reading them. I’ve been through all the well known ones! Can’t wait for ACOTAR 6. I try other books but keep going back to Romantasy. Which amuses anyone who knows me as I don’t have a romantic bone in my body!

It's not a genre I know, but agree with others about ignoring the judgement and snobbery.

A dear friend kept me supplied while in hospital with sepsis with the Dr Ruth Galloway crime series, I literally read my way through the whole thing, obsessively. The Wesley Peterson novels got me through the sleepless, painful aftermath and the Phil Rickman Merrily Watkins the incipient heart issues that followed.

If anyone had handed me Doestoevsky, I wouldn't have been grateful!

ETA have discovered I really like historical/crime crossover!

😂😂 a tough but enjoyable task. I always love revisiting the Night Court 😉

Just to clarify, I wasn't referring to SJM as easy reads. I haven't read them so have no idea if they are easy or not.

My point was that it's ok to read books that others think are trashy. Its ok to read books that you think are trashy. If you enjoy them then thats what matters.

I read a lot. I've had people tell me that my "easy read/trashy" novels (the kind set in the war about a group of women who become land Girls/barrage balloon handlers and so on) dont "count". They do. They are easy read fiction. I can almost guarantee some plot points. But I still like them.

Likewise, if you read 1000 Romantasy books a year then you read 1000 books. It doesn't matter that your DP think they are boring/derivative/smutty/ whatever. You read them and enjoyed them.

As a Gen X-er I grew up reading Flowers in the Attic, Lace, Riders etc. I'm in my 50s and romantasy is just an extension. If you're in your late 30s I imagine some people started with the Twilight series yonks ago and now like the sex aspect of these newer books.

I've got all sorts on my bookcase, if anyone wants to judge me they can bog off.

*As an aside, my autocarrot doesn't recognise 'romantasy 'and wants to change it to 'Roman tasting' 🤣 perhaps that could be another series of books ....

As are the later Throne of Glass books. And then when you start to consider how the whole Massverse interconnects it’s quite something!