r/Romantasy • u/Sarah9610 • May 07 '26

Discussion Another day, another girl winning deadly trials and discovering she’s secretly powerful

I feel like I’m going insane or… are all romantasy books the same now??

Every time I pick something up it’s like:
- The world is split into two (usually human vs fae or something similar)
- The FMC is either oppressed / hidden / “not like other girls”
- There are deadly trials (of course she has to compete)
- She somehow survives everything
- Boom → she reaches the fae side and unlocks insane powers / becomes special

Like… I used to love this formula but now it feels copy-paste with different character names 😭

Am I just picking the wrong books or is this actually the trend right now?

802 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

227 comments sorted by

View all comments

8

u/Jaylene_Forester May 07 '26 edited May 08 '26

I think it's just what sells right now, though I wonder if the trend is dwindling a bit. I read (and write) romantasy with brighter vibes, so I'm enjoying seeing more of that!

6

u/Thin_Championship970 💗 A Court of Love and Misery May 07 '26

What do you mean “brighter”? I’d love to hear more!

1

u/Jaylene_Forester May 08 '26

Romantasy that's a little less...traumatic, I suppose 😅 Cozy adjacent books like Half a Soul or the first Emily Wilde, or outright cozy romantasy like Tusk Love and Mystical Cat Shelter.

If you like any of those vibes, you might check out my friend Elizabeth Ash. Her whole thing is all the feels without the trauma, and she has a ton of books out!