It's Time for Romantasy to Have its Own Section
Listen, I love that romantasy exists as a genre. As a general rule I'm pro anything that gets people reading. I think the evolution of genres, smashing together of genres, discovery of new genres and all that is great, and I encourage it happening more.
But, of course, not every genre is for everybody, and romantasy (and the broader romance genre in general) is just not for me. Now, I'm not one of those dude-bro's who derides books "written for women" or so callous as to believe there's no romance book out there that I'd enjoy. There probably is, and if there is I'd love to enjoy it, but I have given the genre writ large a fair try and it has never clicked. There's something about the prose, the sweaty brows and heaving breasts and overly-electric everything that exhausts more than compels me. But that's just me. I want to be clear: this is not a dismissal or deriding of the romance or romantasy genres. In fact, quite the opposite.
Somewhere along the way we had the idea to separate romance from fiction, and I think that's to everyone's benefit. Gone are the days where various genres are somehow viewed as "lower" than others (at least in my experience). These days there seems to be a solidarity amongst readers. We know, on some level, we are an endangered species. Seeing a reader peruse a bookstore through some section you'd never touch does not come with judgement. Nerds need not duck their heads in shame at the Sci-fi/Fantasy section, and folks need not concern themselves with the puritanical stares coming from outside the romance section. As such, the separation of genres becomes simply beneficial. The romance reader need not pore through shelves of unrelated fiction to find their desired books. Nor should it be necessary for the romantasy reader to scour through books about eldritch forests and evolving spiders (thanks Tchaikovsky) to find their valiant dragon-knights. (At least I assume there are valiant dragon-knights. If I wrote romantasy I'd write about valiant dragon-knights anyway).
Similarly, with the proliferation of romantasy in Sci-Fi/Fantasy sections now, it becomes more difficult for the reader of the aforementioned eldritch forests and evolving spiders to find their own, new books. I'm ashamed to say that these days I have a sort of book blindness to everything even slightly romantasy-coded, and that has served to nearly make me miss out on books that I have very much enjoyed. In fact, I may have missed out on even more of such books simply from dismissing a book due to its spine.
And I know, I know, we aren't supposed to judge a book by its cover. But I mean, c'mon, that's what covers are for! And there's only so much money in the proverbial wallet to spend on books. I can't test drive them all.
Put simply, I think it's past time to have a romantasy shelf. Let the genre flourish, let it spread, let it continue to become the next big thing - that all sounds great! Sci-fi and fantasy had its time in the limelight, and though I'm sure it will some day come again it is more than fine that it returns back to the shadows for a bit. Let the new hotness have its turn. And let it be easier for those who want it to find it.