Romantasy obsessed!
Hi! My name is Starlin and I have Sarah J Maas to thank for my obsession with the Romantasy genre. Once I started ACOTAR, I couldn't stop and I have loved every second of reading new romantasy books, both widely known traditionally published titles, as well as hidden gems from independent authors - some of which have been my top 5 reads of all time!
The romantasy community online has honestly been amazing to me, I've loved chatting with other romantasy lovers on Reddit, TikTok and Instagram, and I feel like this community is so huge online, but I was struggling to find IRL places that we could all go and celebrate the genre properly.
About Bad Girl Books
Many bookshops simply don't have the space to explore the Romantasy genre properly, or they choose to focus on traditionally popular sub-genres instead. When I went looking for special editions of ACOTAR in Oxford bookshops in 2025, the only bookshop that even stocked her book was the comic book store, and they didn't have any Romantasy special editions. How can one of the largest literary capitals in the world not celebrate a trail-blazing author who has sold over 75 million books?! Additionally, many academic readers tend to disregard the genre and contribute to creating a stigma around these books being 'inappropriate' or not being considered as real books, despite it being the fastest growing sub-genre in the past 3 years. I decided that this needs to change, and the genre is brilliant enought to deserve a space all of it's own and enjoyed without shame or embarrassment. So Bad Girl Books was born!
Bad Girl Books embraces the spice, the "naughty" reputation the genre garners, and is empowered by it. There is nothing wrong with bad girl books, and this Romantasy bookshop will celebrate them. The spicier the book, the better! Monster smut? We've got it. Looking for more niche, kinkier Romantasy books? There are plenty to explore, especially by indie authors. YA / no smut but with yearning romance that will make you giggle and kick your feet? We've got that too.
There is so much diversity and so many different incredible authors and stories to read, my TBR list has never been longer! It has been such a whirlwind planning for the opening of this permanent bookshop, and hosting temporary pop-ups as a way to test and scale the business has been so much fun.
I am so excited to bring the community together, talk about our favourite books, shop from small bookish brands and support our favourite authors! Thank you all who have been there for me and who are supporting me in my dream to make the UK's FIRST Romantasy-only bookshop a reality.
"There is nothing wrong with 'bad girl' books, and I have found the romantasy genre to be the most empowering and most fun genre I have ever read."