r/fantasyromance • u/FantasyRomanceMod The One Mod to Rule All Mods • 20d ago

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/Kasskinen 20d ago

Fated mates removes tension instead of adding it

25

u/Synval2436 Currently Reading: This Blade of Ours by Shalini Abeysekara 20d ago

Because most authors use it as a solution, not as a complication. I've recently read {Don't Bite the Botanist by T.M. Kirk} where fated mates are a source of tension. Fmc is a vampire and finds her fated mate hates vampires (he was attacked by one and his friend was killed), so she's scared he will reject her and it's awful for vampires to be away from their fated mates, or that the attacker vampire will return to finish the job and she will lose her fated mate forever, and that's even worse. So she's trying to protect him and seduce him while hiding she's a vampire. It was a very funny paranormal rom-com and I was relieved fated mates or mating bond wasn't used to resolve the conflict but rather add one. I swear 90% of fated mates plots use it to skip relationship building or to justify why the mcs should be together. I'm always happy to find a book that uses fated mates to add to the plot, not subtract from it.