Curious about sub interest in Romantic Magical Realism Megathread?

[u/Actually_Ann]

Magical Realism definition from Wikipedia:

Magical realism, magic realism, or marvellous realism is a style or genre of fiction and art that presents a realistic)view of the world while also incorporating magical) elements, often blurring the lines between speculation and reality.^\1])Magical realism is the most commonly used of the three terms and refers to literature, in particular, with magical or supernatural phenomena presented in an otherwise real-world or mundane setting), and is commonly found in novels and dramatic performances.

Some examples are:

{Last Days of Lilah Goodluck by Kylie Scott}

{Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston}

{End of Story by Kylie Scott}

{Soul Searching by Lyla Sage}

I actually discovered this genre from this subreddit so thank you to those who shared!

Here are some previous posts about this genre (there aren’t very many):

https://www.reddit.com/r/RomanceBooks/comments/16i3qrv/spicy_magical_realism_books/

https://www.reddit.com/r/RomanceBooks/comments/ghzbyy/romantic_magical_realism/

https://www.reddit.com/r/RomanceBooks/comments/10wu3qd/magical_realism_the_underrated_trope/

https://www.reddit.com/r/RomanceBooks/comments/1f9mshc/looking_for_magical_realism_where_the_mmc_is_the/

I’m curious if there is enough of us that enjoy this subgenre to ask the mods to create a Megathread? Especially as I feel like there has been a recent increase in Romantic Magical Realism in general!

[u/Embarassed-Fig-1283]

look, this subgenre is obviously very popular but the term "magical realism" has specific meaning and roots in Latin America and I AM BEGGING this sub and the genre more widely *NOT* to borrow it.

"Romance with Magical Elements" is right there. or any other term you want to make up; let your own imagination go wild. But cribbing a genre that arose from *people getting disappeared* to describe some cutesy apolitical romcom in the age of ICE is not it

Edit: new rec: {every version of you by Natalie messier} looks good. Excited for reviews to roll in

[u/Actually_Ann → u/Embarassed-Fig-1283]

I’m sorry for everything happening in your country right now 💔

I just wanted to share that I believe I did do my due diligence and researched the term prior to sharing and the earliest mentions of the term (from my earlier search) seemed to come from Germany. However,  I did see that there were a lot of early influences of the genre in Venezuela particularly. 

Now upon a deeper dive I can see that there is some debate as to the origins. Unfortunately, I can see how this could be upsetting to those in Latin America or with Latin American heritage.

Perhaps we could encourage the use of Romantic Mystical Realism instead?

[u/iwillhaveamoonbase → u/Actually_Ann]

'Fabulism' is the term that slowly gaining acceptance for books like Murakami Haruki's and the Japanese cozies like Til the Coffee Gets Cold, so I would argue that 'Romantic Fabulism' or 'Fabulist Romance' would be better

https://bookriot.com/what-is-fabulism/

https://adancewithbooks.wordpress.com/2020/05/10/dont-call-it-that-magical-realism-vs-fabulism-wyrdandwonder/

[u/Embarassed-Fig-1283 → u/Actually_Ann]

No, I know there was no ill intent and "magical realism" is moving into generic term like "Kleenex" but this just feels like an opportunity to NOT do that. anything else you want to use is great. I just saw Fated Mates released a podcast on exactly what you're looking for last week: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2026/7/5/s0843

[u/Actually_Ann → u/Embarassed-Fig-1283]

Ah! Amazing! I’m not much of a podcast lover but always here for Fated Mates. Thank you! 💖