Magic raises the stakes, but the heart still does the heavy lifting. Fantasy romance builds a world with its own rules — courts and curses, bargains that bind, enemies who turn out to be far more complicated than they looked — and then lets a love story burn straight through the middle of it. Expect slow-built tension, characters who'd rather draw a blade than admit a feeling, and endings you have to earn. When the otherworldly pull takes hold, readers cross into paranormal romance for immortals closer to home, or follow the fated-mates heat of werewolf romance.
