The Rise of Romantasy – BookTok community helps fantasy fusion become fastest-growing genre of 2026 at TGJones

Rebecca Yarros’ ‘Threshing Day’ has been in TGJones top five online best sellers since its publication on September 29th, whilst pre-order sales of Sarah J. Maas ‘A Court of Splintered Harmony’ have risen by 473% over the last month ahead of its October launch. The book retailer has had a romantasy takeover, and it has been a trend on the rise for some time.

The fantasy fusion has been TGJones’ fast-growing genre of 2026, whilst online searches for popular romantasy authors have had huge spikes across the year, including:

Rebecca Yarros – up by 43%
Sarah J. Maas – up by 39%
Rachel Gillig – up by 26%

Whilst storytelling elements of romantasy have existed for centuries, the hybrid genre has soared in demand over the last few years, with the #BookTok community playing a key role in its rise. There have been over 2,000,000 TikTok posts which feature the hashtag #romantasy.

John Webb, Fiction Buyer at TGJones, shares insight into why romantasy has become one of the biggest book trends:

“A key reason behind the rise of romantasy is its suitability to online ‘fandoms’. Rather than just being seen as a comfort book, romantasy novels often contain elaborate fictional worlds, in-depth characters and high-paced narratives which not only lends itself well to online debates but also character edits, fan art, fanfiction and more.

The popularity of series such as A Court of Thorns and Roses and Fourth Wing demonstrates how reader-led enthusiasm can translate into mainstream success.

The genre also perfectly balances the escapism of fantasy with the real-world emotion of romance. Readers are able to enter into an entirely different world whilst still becoming invested in character relationships, bringing the best of both genres together and allowing people the opportunity to try out something new without steering too far away from what they are familiar with.

The success of romantasy is not simply a passing social media trend, it is one we expect to continue to grow.”

The retailer is currently offering both Threshing Day and A Court of Splintered Harmony at half-price discounts, whilst readers can access a huge range of romantasy novels in-store and online: https://www.tgjonesonline.co.uk/books/fiction/fantasy-romance.