From the princes and princesses of folk tales to Emma Bull’s 1987 Irish mythology-inspired War for the Oaks, romance in fantasy fiction has existed as long as dragons, faeries, and elves have.
However, “romantasy” as a literary genre has rarely seen the success it enjoys today, generating nearly $1 billion in US book sales in 2025. Its popularity grew massively through BookTok and Bookstagram, the colloquial names for online reader communities.
Highlights
- Tricia O’Malley, bestselling author of ‘A Taste of Magic,’ recently weighed in on why romantasy has become such an appealing genre for modern readers.
- O’Malley, who primarily writes cozy, small-town stories, also explained why people may prefer this theme to traditional high-stakes fantasy.
- This comes amid the ongoing debate over explicit “spicy” scenes in romantasy, popularized by Sarah J. Maas’ ‘ACOTAR’ and Rebecca Yarros’ ‘Fourth Wing.’
As more and more people embrace the genre, a debate has emerged over what makes it so appealing.
Many argue that the steamy encounters increasingly associated with popular romantasy titles are the main draw. Others claim that reducing the genre’s success to its “spicy” content overlooks the worldbuilding, complex characters, political intrigue, and emotional stakes.
As readers keep debating, bestselling romantasy author Tricia O’Malley, known for her Mystic Cove and The Enchanted Highlands series, spoke exclusively with Bored Panda about what makes romantasy a page-turner for modern readers.
Tricia O’Malley reflected on what makes romantasy so appealing
On August 25, 2026, Tricia O’Malley published A Taste of Magic, the second book in The Scottish Charms series, centered on the MacGregor witch sisters in Scotland’s magical village of Briarhaven.
The book explores tropes of found family, sisterhood, and second-chance romance as Lyla MacGregor gets paired with her high school sweetheart-turned-heartbreak ex, Rabbie Barclay, for the reality TV show Bewitching Bake Off.
Early reviews praised the book as a perfect fall read, with one calling it “great for Practical Magic fans.”
On the occasion of the release, O’Malley weighed in on what makes romantasy so appealing to such a large number of readers.
She told Bored Panda that while the genre has become a “broad umbrella term” in recent years, with themes such as paranormal romance or magical realism-adjacent ones also grouped under it, that is exactly what works in its favor.
“For me, that’s part of the fun of the genre, as it can encompass everything from dragons and kingdoms to a witch running a shop in a small town,” O’Malley opined.
The “sense of possibility” the fantasy genre offers is what made her want to tell stories within it in the first place.
“I’ve always loved stories where magic exists alongside the real world,” she told us.
“One of my favorite books growing up was A Wrinkle in Time, and I think I’ve always been fascinated by that idea that the world we know might be only one layer of what’s actually there.”
O’Malley remarked on the growing popularity of cozy, small-town settings over traditional romantasy
As for blending her love for fantasy with the charm of romance, O’Malley said it came naturally, as both genres, in their own ways, are “about possibility.”
“I love being able to take recognizable places, relationships, and everyday problems and then ask, ‘But what if there was magic here too?’” she said.
“So I think I was always going to end up writing stories where someone could fall in love, find a little magic, and discover that the world was more extraordinary than they realized.”
O’Malley primarily writes cozy romantasy in snug, small-town settings—a genre often recommended by book influencers for fall and winter TBR (to-be-read) lists and, at times, even preferred over traditional fantasy.
“I think small-town settings offer this wonderful combination of familiarity and escape,” O’Malley said, explaining the theme’s popularity.
“You get the comfort of returning to a place where you know the shop owners, the neighbors, the local gossip, and characters who start to feel like friends.”
“There’s something really appealing about being able to come back to that world book after book and see familiar faces while still discovering something new,” she added.
“I also love the idea of magic existing within the everyday,” O’Malley went on.
“Instead of having to cross into an entirely different world, you can imagine that there might be something enchanted happening just around the corner, hidden inside a bakery or a little shop on Main Street. It makes magic feel closer and more possible.”
The online reader community has been split over the inclusion of “spice” in modern romantasies
While Tricia O’Malley’s books include only low-to-mild scenes of intimacy, many other romantasy bestsellers include explicit love scenes across multiple chapters in a book and multiple books in a series.
Prominent examples include Sarah J. Maas’ A Court of Thorns and Roses, Rebecca Yarros’ Fourth Wing, and Jennifer L. Armentrout’s From Blood and Ash.
The popularity of these books has sparked an online debate over whether the risqué descriptions add to the plot or serve only sensationalism.
“I’ve read a couple of popular romantasy books, and the intimate scenes do not do much to convince me that the characters are in love at all,” one reader said.
Another wrote, “I have become a professional in skipping spicy scenes. Usually I look up ahead of time the pages that have spice, then I just skim/skip until the scene is over.”
“I think spicy scenes make it very realistic for the readers because that’s mostly the only thing we can actually picture,” a third chimed in.
Most agreed that it depends on the story, context, and how the scenes are presented.
One said, “I need whatever it is to feel real to the characters and the situation. Not a gratuitous scene for the sake of checking the box.”
“Sometimes I like the intimacy scenes, but sometimes it's better if the tension grows before, not like some books that just get into the action. In those kinds of books, I don't feel anything, but if the characters have a deep connection, I really feel it makes a difference,” another spoke their mind.
"I need whatever it is to feel real to the characters," one user said
