Must Read Romance Books

Article | Mar 2025

Romance and in particular, Romantasy, is the hot genre. In 2024, the romantasy genre made up half of the top 10 bestselling books for the year and, as you can guess, is a blend of romance and fantasy into one genre.

The origins of the term ‘romantasy’ are unclear, even though Bloomsbury has taken credit for popularising it as a way to describe Sarah J Maas’s work in recent years. The trending BookTok hashtag, on social media platform TikTok, has also popularised the term by recommending books that fit into the romantasy genre. Readers of this genre can expect a romance-heavy plotline with a magical setting. But the blending of romance with the fantastical is not a new concept. The fantasy genre has roots that can be traced back to mythic folktales, epics, and fairytales that also combined elements of the fantastical with romance. If you love reads that feature swoony fae, vampires, gods, and mythology, then romanatsy just might be for you.

Notably, the rise in romantasy has in turn revived and reignited a love for the romance genre more broadly that was once heavily sneered at. From its early Mills & Boon days through to Fabio with his ripped abs – the romance genre has long been a constant for many readers, as well as many critics. But today it has a legion of unwavering and committed fans. And we have TikTok to thank for this.

Back in the dreaded COVID lockdown days in early 2020, many people sought refuge in the pages of romance novels – where happy endings abound, and where you could escape the walls of your house by living vicariously through characters.

#BookTok began trending and with it many emotional videos of people reacting to swoon-worthy reads. Since then, sales of romance books have continued to steadfastly grow. Just over the last year romance and erotic fiction has seen an increase in sales of 9.8 per cent and 18.1 per cent respectively.

The genre is filled with a litany of subgenres – ranging from modern, rural, historical, erotic through to queer romance reads. And what’s more, it’s all at your fingertips, with no slowdown in sight from publishers. So, if you’re keen to escape into magical worlds, outback stations or indulge in an enemies-to-lovers story then check out the following romance reads.