Browsing all articles tagged with romance.
Witchmark by C. L. Polk
“Help me, Starred One. I am murdered.” Witchmark, the debut novel of C. L. Polk and the first in The Kingston Cycle, quickly bicycle-raced its way to my favourite book of 2018. A murder mystery novel set in a world alike to Edwardian England post-WWI, the fast-paced tale is quick to hook and doesn’t let […]
Blade & Rose by Miranda Honfleur
An R-Rated Kushiel’s Dart. For Miranda Honfleur’s fantasy romance, Blade & Rose, I originally considered using the tagline, Versailles meets Empire Strikes Back. Set in a second world French royal court, with plenty of intrigue, it initially appears as if the bad guys are using the heroine’s best friend as bait—just like Darth Vader tortures […]
A Toast To Fantasy Romance – Guest Blog by Anna Kashina
Fantasy-Faction is delighted to announce that Angry Robot is due to publish Ironbloods, a new fantasy romance series from Anna Kashina, next year! The first novel in the series, Shadowblade, will be released in May 2019. Naia dreams of becoming a Jaihar Blademaster, but after assaulting a teacher, her future seems ruined. The timely intervention […]
A Fantasy Romance Lover’s Most-Anticipated Releases of 2018
When people say fantasy, most tend to think of titles like The Hobbit or Harry Potter. Likewise, when people say romance, most think of titles like Pride and Prejudice or Fifty Shades of Grey. And if you ask people what books are in the middle, in that sweet spot where fantasy meets romance, they’ll almost […]
Romance in Fantasy – Part One
I’ve said it before: I write romantic fantasy. I never start out a story intending to write romance, but somehow, romantic threads always show up. I used to fight this phenomenon, but I’ve grown to realize that I just like romantic storylines. Not romances, mind—I don’t read much romance that’s just romance for romance’s sake. […]
Monthly Short Story Winner: Young Love
This month’s stories are about people experiencing true love (or what they believe to be love) for the first time. I know that writing about feelings – and especially love – is quite hard too but since love is an integral part of life, it was about time to try writing about it. If you […]
Ravenmarked by Amy Rose Davis – SPFBO Review: And Then There Were Two
The SPFBO team have completed their search for a finalist! Today, only one book remains, as we say farewell to Amy Rose Davis and Ravenmarked. You can read our review of our first place winner for part one here. G. R. Matthews: Well, here we are. Our final two. We’ve read a lot of books […]
Song of Blood & Stone by L. Penelope – SPFBO Review: And Then There Were Three
The SPFBO team are making steady progress in our search for a finalist. To avoid cruelly stretching things out, we’ll be posting (in no particular order) individual reviews for those who don’t make it as and when we eliminate them. Now, only three books remain as we say farewell to L. Penelope and Song of […]
Yseult by Ruth Nestvold – SPFBO Review: And Then There Were Five
The SPFBO team are making steady progress in our search for a finalist. To avoid cruelly stretching things out, we’ll be posting individual reviews for those who don’t make it as we eliminate them rather than waiting till we’ve picked our winner. Please note that we’re not reading (or eliminating) these in any particular order […]
Why Are The Worlds of Fantasy Romances So Grim?
The genre of high fantasy romance (sometimes simply called fantasy romance), offers what its title suggests. You can expect elements of epic high fantasy: invented worlds, fantasy creatures, magic, royalty, great forces of evil to defeat. You can also expect a focus on romance, love, sex and sexual attraction. However, if you read a lot […]
The Winner’s Kiss by Marie Rutkoski
A roller coaster of emotions in the conclusion to the Winner’s trilogy, The Winner’s Kiss is one of the few books I’ve read this year that made it difficult to part with in exchange for sleep. Reading late into the night, only to stay awake thinking about it, and then counting the hours the next […]
In The Mix: Fantasy and Other Genres
Fantasy is a genre that assimilates elements of other genres, whilst still remaining, for the most part, a genre not often thought of as having a great number of “crossovers” and hybrids. Strictly speaking, this is changing with the natural evolution of the genre. SFF as a whole is growing more diverse and this results […]
