The Spicy Librarian is the hottest new bookstore in Leamington Spa which had an outstanding opening weekend on Valentine’s Day. It has been deemed Europe’s Largest 18+ Romance Bookstore, which is incredible and speaks to a shift in the culture of reading.
Being judged for reading romance
I will admit that I have been a book snob in the past and turned my nose up at romance books. It’s not my genre and I naively judged it as cheesy. Simple? Formulaic and boring? But just like every other genre, there is bad and good examples of romance. And a plethora of sub-genres within this genre! It is rude, cruel, elitist, classist, sexist, ignorant, judgmental, and reductive.
Sub-genres in romance:
- Fantasy Romance
- New Adult Romance
- Paranormal Romance
- Dark Romance
- Christmas / Holiday Romance
- Wholesome Romance
- Regency Romance
- Contemporary Romance
- Romantic Mystery
- Cozy Romance
- Sci-Fi Romance
- Small-Town Romance
- Fairy-Tale Romance
- Gothic Romance
- Historical Romance
- Young Adult Romance
- Romantic Comedy
- Western Romance
- And so on!
Women shamed for their pleasures
Adding on to the above, we need to address the historic shaming of women for having desires. Sexual pleasure is taboo but more so for females. Men are now saying that they were shamed for watching porn yet women are not for reading smut! Ermmm, what?!
A few thoughts to tackle here. Firstly, watching poorly made, misogynistic porn is NOT the same as smut written by and for women.
Secondly, woman ARE shamed for reading smut and this very comment is part of the shaming!
Thirdly, this is perhaps our reclaiming of our sexuality, our pleasure, our repressed desires. It’s healthy. It’s important. It’s about damn time.
While some books in this genre are, in fact, poorly written! And as I said, I’ve been a snob in the past and I do not read this genre myself. However, I am strongly in favour of a woman’s choice to read this genre and get pleasure from it (double entendre there! wink wink).
Female pleasure is more intellectual and mental than a man’s. This is why so many women go their whole lives (or a significant part of it) without reaching a full orgasm. How sad is that? Through reading these books, women are finally reclaiming their sexuality. They are discovering what makes them feel good. What is out there. What mentally stimulates them.
This is so important for health and happiness.
The birth of Romantasy
Romantasy, if you have been living under a rock, is the blend of Romance and Fantasy in the literary landscape. This isn’t just a fantasy book with some love, but the love story takes a dominant role in the narrative. Since being coined, it has had an incredible surge in new releases and popularity. From Fourth Wing to ACOTAR, you can’t be a reader without having heard of at least one perhaps over-hyped and adored Romantasy book or series.
Why?
I think this is because, again, females are reclaiming or rather carving a space for themselves in the literary landscape. Historically, fantasy was a male-dominated genre. From Tolkien to George R. R. Martin, Patrick Rothfuss and Brandon Sanderson, white men colonised the genre. Now, things are changing. More women (and other non-binary or other genders) are making their mark in fantasy. Queer women, women of colour, and disabled women, finally, we are providing some diversity thus layers to this incredible (my favourite for a time) genre.
Romantasy then, just seems to represent a final cry of “We’re here, get used to it!”. Romance was a genre “for women” (wrongly so) for so long, where boys were brought up to read adventure novels and girls fairy tales and romances. It is no wonder, then, that woman have grown up saying, “nah, I love both!”
The female equivalent of football/team sport?
I’ve always been jealous of boys and men having this natural connection due to football or other team sports! They support a team and bond with others who support that team. They have friendly rivalry in friendship groups over league games. They play the sports sometimes, too, and thus socialise with one another more so from there.
Is this surge in readers and book trends our equivalent as females?
If so, this is revolutionary!
If we women (and other readers and gender identifiers of course) have something like football to connect us, we can completely transform female friendships.
Instead of “what team do you support?” our question of connection is “what books do you read?”
All of my friends are readers. More accurately, all of the friends I see semi-regularly and talk to are readers, and readers of romance, smut, and romantasy. This can’t be a coincidence! As someone who struggled with friendship for most of my life, I value this shift in the landscape.
I love that our question at work is “what are you reading right now?” which leads to a deep dive into new books, trends, recommendations and controversy in the industry. I love that my ragtag group of introverted readers come over to my house and discuss books, perhaps read one on their e-reader, and swap books around. They are also writers! Because more women are realising they wish to add to the space.
Without books, and perhaps this trendy shift for reading, I wouldn’t have this group.
Rise of female rage and cannibalism novels
I want to also address the birth of female rage, unhinged females, and cannibalism novels centred around women. One of my favourite reads of last year was Girl Dinner by Olivie Blake which I think nicely sums up the impossibility of being a happy woman, and so, you turn to cannibalism to succeed!
Why are women angry in these novels? Why are we unhinged? Why do we desire human flesh?
Again, I think this speaks to repressed desires. That while we have come a long way as a gender, we are still boxed in. That the rise in far-right ideology is trying to send us back to the kitchen, suffocated by our apron strings. As a rebellion, women are writing their rage. They are no longer afraid to bring to life a woman who has had enough. A woman turned bestial in her grief, her pain, her lack of voice.
Cannibalism has a strong symbolism/connotation of sexual pleasure. Naturally and rightly taboo and illegal, cannibalism represents a person’s unmet needs, their suppressed desires, their inhibitions. An wild animal finally let out of its cage who begins to feed. Or, perhaps, that we can never truly be satisfied. We will always be hungry for more in a world that has left us malnourished (sexually, spiritually, mentally, physically, medically, socially etc) for so long.
Books I’ve enjoyed in this vain:
- Girl Dinner, by Olivie Blake
- Nightbitch, by Rachel Yoder
- Bunny, by Mona Awad
- Weyward, by Emilia Hart
One’s on my radar:
- A Certain Hunger
- The Lamb (own it)
- Boy Parts
- Tender is the Flesh (own it)
- Her Body and Other Parties
- The Eyes Are the Best Part
- My Sister, The Serial Killer (own it)
- When Women Were Dragons (own it)
- My Dark Vanessa (own it)
- Maeve Fly
- All’s Well, by Mona Awad
- Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead (own it)
- Discontent, by Beatriz Serrano
There’s something for everyone
Romance and the many sub-genres (not just those listed above) house so much variety. It then seems ignorant to write off the genre altogether. I for one have enjoyed Book Lovers by Emily Henry because it was about bookish people and it was a fun, quick read. One of my favourite books of last year was Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid and that was essentially a romance too.
Some tropes for your radar:
- He falls first
- Golden retriever and black cat
- Grumpy-Sunshine
- Small town
- Returning home
- City Girl, small town boy
- Enemies to lovers
- Friends to lovers
- Childhood sweetheart
- Second chance
- Forced proximity
- Polyamory
- Touch her and die
- One bed
- Mafia, ice hockey, western, holiday/beach, mountains, space, city
- And more because these are just the ones I’ve heard of as a non-romance reader!
Final thoughts
I may have said earlier than we are being “forced back into the kitchen” but to be clear, there’s nothing wrong with cooking as a woman! I love cooking and I’m the primary cook. But there’s a HUGE difference between being forced or expected to do something versus having the choice and privilege to do so.
As they say in the book community, don’t yuck someone’s yum! Just because a woman chooses to love differently, that doesn’t mean we judge or shun them. Support other females! And don’t get it twisted: non-white, disabled, queer, trans, and non-English speaking females have it harder so elevate their voices in the book space.
I am so happy for the owners and creators of The Spicy Librarian. If you’re local to Leamington Spa, take a look, support indie authors whose books are sold there. Have a chat with your fellow readers and sink your teeth into something new. Even if you don’t consider yourself a reader of the genre, like myself, still visit! As I’ve discussed above, this bookstore represents something important for females, regardless of the genre and debates within it. Something that could mean we have a safe space to express ourselves, find ourselves, and enjoy ourselves without judgement.
Read more books and be kind to one another.
(Watch this video for a balanced and fair review of the romantasy genre and politics)
Sincerely,
S. xx
S. R. Crawford 
I read your article and it’s much better than the posts I have. But my Sapphic Romantic Mystery Thriller is something I would love to swap. If you have any literature you need read for review.
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