Your Favorite Romantasy Style

So, as we put the final touches on our upcoming epic romantasy series, we thought we'd ask: what's your favorite romantasy style of fiction? Is it:

• The sweet, innocent, young couple that falls in love in a beautiful fantasy world and lives happily ever after?
• The classic Bollywood style "I hate you!" at the beginning, followed by the "I love you" happy ending (whether it's "happy ever after --- HEA --- or HFN --- happy for now --- we're often left to wonder), all of which usually swirls around a rather simplistic plot?
• Or maybe it's the dark, Gothic style, filled with handsome vampires or irresistible devils that seduce their victims into hopeless, lust-filled love affairs from which there's no escape. Doomed and forever enslaved by their passions they're forever bound to their dark lover.
• Perhaps you prefer the lust fueled passions of adult romantasy, with its hot and steamy bedroom scenes, dark passions, and out of control desire?
• In a lighter vein, maybe your favorite romantasy style favors to the immortal elves or faerie folk. Filled with the kind of light, inhuman grace, and sensuality that we mortals can only imagine, the pull of their inhuman passion can be irresistible. Or, how about #adultromantasy cast with elven or faerie lovers? Maybe they seduce a human lover?
• Then there's the Jane Austen style, of course. Its family and social drama, the rogue that must always appear at the beginning, mixed with a love of the honorable man that's always, in some way, unrequited at the beginning, with its HEA at the end, is always a perennial favorite. Though, we must admit, as disconnected as Regency England was from reality, they're technically neither fantasy nor romantasy.
• Or perhaps your taste is a more complex mix of traditional fantasy and romance. Stories with a good romance added to a more complex fantasy plot that stress and test the lovers. So, romantasy with a bit more fantasy built in.

We'd love to hear your views on what makes a good romantasy story. What turns you on and keeps you turning pages? Are you looking for a Jane Austin HEA, or do you like more complex series that end in HFN, each with the hope that there will finally be an HEA at the end? Do you like clear, moral lines in your stories, or do you prefer darker, and more morally gray plots?

For certain, the fantasy, romance, adult romantasy, and romantasy landscape is huge and full of all kinds of variation. That's what makes it fun for us as writers, and hopefully fun and fulfilling for you as readers, too.

So give us your thoughts in the comments. Or, if you prefer, you can hit Michael up on social media.