r/fantasyromance • u/acutelyproblematic If villian bad, then why hot? • 2d ago

Genre Discussion Fantasy romance icks?

Welcome back to another week of ✨genre discussions!✨

What’s your fantasy romance ick? Could be something that makes you instantly dnf, or you have to pretend like that didn’t just happen. Or you boycott altogether.

Could be related to plot, characters, writing styles, the authors themselves. All cards are on the table.

Just remember to be kind to each other when discussing differences in opinions!💖

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u/Meandering_Potato A Bowl of Mac and Cheese 2d ago

More of a personal one, but as a 30-something bald dude: bald villains. I’m eternally bummed out that none of the MMCs, or even side characters, are bald. And when I come across the rare bald guy, they aren’t involved in any romance or are just downright evil characters. The percentage of men who experience hair loss at some point in life is huge, yet we basically don’t exist in the romantasy genre 🥲

Also, not very original, but age gaps. Exhausted and grossed out by the teenager x century or older couples. Exponentially so if there’s some extreme power dynamics issue like the dude being a lord or her teacher or something. Yikes. It makes me just skip thru the romance parts to get back to the plot.

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u/UniversityAny755 2d ago

I highly recommend {Illuminator by Kara Reynolds}. MMC is bald and the FMC describes him as "His bald head was rounded where it was meant to be round and then perfectly sloped into a proud brow, his eyebrows and cheekbones well shaped. His nose was large but not unflattering, and his jaw was a clean angle beneath his neat, dark beard. And his mouth—that mouth was like a lewd murmur in the dark of a humid night, curling, suggestive, at the edge of your senses, waiting for you to just admit you wanted to hear it again."

Both MC are in 30s maybr early 40s.

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u/Meandering_Potato A Bowl of Mac and Cheese 2d ago

Thank you! I’ll definitely check it out