Bestselling Author Unveils Shocking Truth Behind Romantasy’s “Spicy” Scene Craze—What Readers Never Expected

“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.”

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“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

Sarah J. Maas

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.

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“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.

Rebecca Yarros

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.