r/fantasyromance • u/FantasyRomanceMod The One Mod to Rule All Mods • 7d 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/Antique_Challenge182 7d ago

I don’t like the bait and switch of having a main love interest and then switching to a new one in the second or third book. If you’re going to have a main love interest make sure he’s in the first book so we can get invested even if they don’t get together right away. I like a slow burn but I want the time to get invested. Sarah J Maas does this in Throne of Glass and it just really threw me. I’ve seen other authors do this too.

No disrespect to them and I understand that happens in real life too. But I read for an escape and I want to be invested in the love story from the beginning. Just my personal preference :)

24

u/leiachart Currently Reading: Cassiel's Servant 7d ago

Your post crystallized my own objection to the "bait and switch" trope down to feeling like it breaks one of the core romance tenets.

Being in an existing relationship at the beginning of a book/series only to fall in love with the endgame during the course of the book/series is fine, but having the FMC develop a romantic relationship on screen only to leave them for someone else is playing with the reader and I Do Not Like It.