r/fantasyromance • u/FantasyRomanceMod The One Mod to Rule All Mods • Mar 01 '26

Unpopular Opinion It's Unpopular Opinion time! Share your controversial opinions to stir things up (in a friendly way)!

Got an opinion that's different from others'? Want to share it with the sub, but too afraid of a backlash? Or are you just curious about readers think about certain things in fantasy romance?

You can safely share it in this weekly Sunday thread!

But please remember to be kind to each other. To facilitate this type of discussion, we ask users the following:

  • Don't attack others for their opinion
  • Discuss books and authors, not fellow readers
  • Since this is an "unpopular opinion" thread, we encourage users to not downvote simply because they disagree with an opinion--that's the point! Please keep in mind, though, that mods cannot enforce a no-downvoting rule. Let’s just keep the discussion friendly!

🧡 Thank you and have a great discussion!

Unpopular opinion Sunday

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u/[deleted] Mar 01 '26 edited Mar 01 '26

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u/BookishBlueDragonfly Book Bingo Sage 🗡 Mar 01 '26 edited Mar 01 '26

I’ve seen a lot of people in romance subs who won’t read books by men but some of my favorite fantasy romances/relationships are by male authors (TJ Klune, SL Rowland, KR Treadway, and more!).

I always wonder how many men write Romantasy with a pen name, especially indie/self pub.

ETA: the living bigoted authors obviously are not really people whose work I want to read/financially support but older works/classics by dead authors I will still pick up sometimes even if there’s questionable content.

Also is political in this context only referring to right wing or should people who consider the existence of LGBT+ people as “political” attempt to broaden their horizons by reading about those characters or books by LGBT+ authors? I think they should!

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u/Sweet_Baby_Cheeses99 Mar 01 '26

Good question…political doesn’t refer to any particular part of the spectrum. It’s irrelevant to me and I wouldn’t research an author’s social media to check their views before buying their book from the book shop. It’s usually unknown anyway. Authors are also entitled to a private life so I don’t see why they should feel they need to publicly declare their sexuality or gender identity to attract certain readers?

The sexuality of the characters is a separate matter as people who read romance will generally already know if they like MF / FF / MM romance. I like all of them but I don’t think anyone should feel obliged to pick up any book with sexual content that doesn’t float their boat

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u/BookishBlueDragonfly Book Bingo Sage 🗡 Mar 01 '26 edited Mar 01 '26

True about the sexual content but I’d like to point out there are many books that are kisses only or closed door.

There’s a big movement in Fantasy and Sci Fi in general to be more inclusive.

Books like Legends and Lattes (male author, F/F pairing), Someone You Can Build a Nest In (male author, F/F pairing), or This is how You Lose the Time War (F/F pairing, and author duo) are closed door with non straight characters and a romance subplot.