The supernatural sex books that MILLIONS of middle-class women are reading – and how ‘fairy porn’ is helping them put the magic back in their own bedrooms
Do you remember Orlando Bloom as Legolas the Elf in The Lord of the Rings? Or Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn? Both were fantasy characters, and both had middle-aged women fanning themselves in their cinema seats.
Never had a tightly strung bow and quiver of arrows set so many fifty-somethings, well, aquiver with desire. Oh how we sighed at that muscle-defining chainmail…
Now comes another entry into the world of high fantasy sex, or Romantasy as it’s also called – but this time in novel form. With a passionate following of mid-lifers whose actual lives are sorely lacking in chivalric romance – and a big TikTok fandom too – so-called ‘fairy porn’ is the latest trend in sexy books for women.
And I’m addicted – not only because I love reading them, but because they have saved my otherwise magic-free marriage from the cold, sexless realms of long-term cohabitation.
Sexy fairies – by which I mean chisel-jawed, dragon-slaying supernatural beings, not Tinkerbell with wings – are selling in the millions. Last month Onyx Storm, the latest book from Rebecca Yarros, became the fastest-selling adult novel ever, shifting more than 2.7million copies in its first week. ‘They get to ride dragons and they get to ride each other,’ is how the author described it, which is a fair summary. Basically this is fantasy with sex scenes. Lots of sex scenes.
And frankly, they couldn’t have come at a better time for me. Like many women in their 50s, I’m now solidly in the sandwich years, both a stay-at-home mum of two teenagers – a son of 18 and daughter of 14 – and also a carer for older parents.
When I was single, in my 20s, I was a travel agent and always flying off around the world, living a fabulous, carefree, lifestyle. Then I got married, had children and the glamour disappeared in a puff of smoke.
‘Happily those books have the same effect too, lifting me out of my boring, chore-filled existence, in which I am the one facilitating everyone else’s lives, into a sexy place where at last I can prioritise my own pleasure’
‘My favourites are by American authors Sarah J. Maas (pictured), who has sold 38 million books – her most famous series is called A Court Of Thorns And Roses’
We have a comfortable life thanks to my husband John’s career in property, but we’ve been through some tough times as a family, with cancer scares and school exam stress. If I’m honest, I’ve begun to feel that life is sucking everything from me. Between my parents and children, I’m always in crisis mode and I lost myself a bit along the way.
At the same time, our sex life has fizzled. When we met, we were super passionate and would have sex several times a week. But that petered out over time, and now we only having sex a handful of times a year at best.
Until this new genre of adult fiction arrived to sprinkle some sexy fairy dust over me.
The funniest part? John – who is quite strait-laced, if I’m honest – has no idea why I am suddenly in the mood, even though he questions why I’m reading so much. He teases me, ‘for liking trashy novels’, which is ironic. They’re not trashy, but they are certainly titillating.
I’ve always been an avid reader – before I had my daughter, I was studying for a writing degree – and when I was younger I read a lot of Tolkien. I loved the way those books would take me out of the real world and into something much more exciting and vibrant. But it wasn’t until I saw the Romantasy trend taking off on social media that I thought I’d give it a go.
Happily those books have the same effect too, lifting me out of my boring, chore-filled existence, in which I am the one facilitating everyone else’s lives, into a sexy place where at last I can prioritise my own pleasure.
Quickly, I realised how much I loved them. My favourites are by American authors Sarah J. Maas, who has sold 38 million books – her most famous series is called A Court Of Thorns And Roses – and Jennifer L. Armentrout.
‘A while ago, in fact, I realised I was buying a book a week, which was costing me hundreds of pounds a year, so I’ve begun to re-read them instead.’ Pictured: Angelina Frerk reads romantacy novel Fourth Wing
A Court Of Thorn And Roses series has become a sensation on TikTok. Pictured: Chloe Burrows with the fourth book in the series A Court Of Frost And Starlight
Romantasy books vary, but many of the fairies are really quite dangerous and scary, which is their attraction, plus there are lots of strong female characters. I’ve seen them referred to as, ‘Jilly Cooper with fairies’, but it’s not all sex – the best ones balance the relationship storylines with raunchy bits.
To be honest, they make me feel young again and not just a worn-down servant to everyone else. They’ve given me back a playful side and I’ve become flirtier with John, even initiating sex on a regular basis.
When you’ve been with someone for decades, you forget how you felt at the beginning of the relationship, but because I’ve been reading about the tensions of new relationships and sex, it’s brought back that spark for us.
And yes, if sometimes I picture him in my mind with pointy ears and long flowing hair, possibly ripping off my own fairy bodice, then no one else has to know.
They’re not children’s books – heaven forbid – but they are easy to read. A while ago, in fact, I realised I was buying a book a week, which was costing me hundreds of pounds a year, so I’ve begun to re-read them instead. Now I read Maas’s books over and over, as well as Armentrout’s From Blood And Ash series. It doesn’t matter that I know what happens. That’s not really the point.
I find fairy porn is better at relieving stress than any amount of ‘mindfulness exercises’ such as meditation or walking in the park.
And I’d much rather read fairy sex than watch TV. Pretty much all I do is read in the evenings, I go straight upstairs and get my book out. John has questioned why I don’t sit downstairs with him and keeps teasing me about how much I’ve been reading, though he never bothers to ask which books I’m so buried in.
And I think, ‘Well, if only you knew how important these novels are to you, too’, because while he sits there staring at his phone all evening, ‘fairy porn’ has brought our marriage back to life.
The kids are in their bedrooms anyway – sadly they’re at the age where the last thing they want to do is sit on the sofa and chat with their mum – so I feel perfectly at liberty to invest in my marriage, and my own happiness, by reading away.
Where once our sex life was essentially on hold, waiting to be revived when all our responsibilities with kids and parents were at an end, now we regularly make time to be intimate. It’s made a huge difference to both of us, even if he doesn’t understand why.
It’s also sparked me into action, going solo, so to speak. I fantasise about the characters when I’m on my own in the bedroom, and find it liberating, putting the books down and letting my imagination turn me on. Even though I know I have all the practicalities of life to deal with. It’s great for anxiety too. When I’m finding it hard to concentrate on anything except the latest emergency with my parents’ health, for example, I know I can switch off my spiralling thoughts by reading.
I’ve heard that some fans dress up and role-play during sex, but I’ve never done that. John would think I’d gone mad if I turned up in the bedroom with a pair of wings. I could never tell him the fairies have made me frisky – he’d just laugh.
The truth is sexy fairies give me a break from my usual routine. Some might think that sad, but I don’t. I think it’s fun and exciting and liberating. Romantasy books give me a holiday in my head. All the problems of day-to-day life are still there, but now I just pick a up book in-between times and turn off, to turn on.
I feel better and so does my husband. Now if I could just get him to take up archery…
- As told to Kerry Parnell
- Sarah Pollard is a pseudonym. Names and identifying details have been changed
