{"id":660007,"date":"2026-10-28T22:28:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T22:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/660007\/"},"modified":"2026-10-28T22:28:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T22:28:08","slug":"we-sold-out-tickets-within-13-minutes-new-novel-from-romantasy-author-sarah-j-maas-sparks-fan-mania-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/660007\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We sold out tickets within 13 minutes\u2019: new novel from romantasy author Sarah J Maas sparks fan mania | Books"},"content":{"rendered":"

When The Spicy Librarian, a romance bookshop in Leamington Spa, announced a masquerade ball to celebrate the new Sarah J Maas<\/a> novel, 6,000 people tried to buy 220 tickets. \u201cWe sold out within 13 minutes,\u201d says the shop\u2019s co-founder Ali Maynard James. \u201cAs soon as tickets went on sale, our website crashed\u201d.<\/p>\n

The shop was one of many across the UK marking the release of A Court of Splintered Harmony, the first instalment of Maas\u2019s A Court of Thorns and Roses series in more than five years. On Monday night, bookshops threw parties and opened past midnight \u2013 and The Spicy Librarian hired a stately home to mark the occasion.<\/p>\n

The book, the sixth in the series known to fans as Acotar, went on sale at 12.01am on Tuesday. Few releases carry as much commercial weight \u2013 the first book, a dark retelling of Beauty and the Beast, was published in 2015, with later books following the adventures of Feyre across the faerie lands of Prythian. By 2021 the series had sold 13m copies, and across her three interlinked fantasy series, Maas has now sold more than 75 m books <\/a>in 40 languages.<\/p>\n

Maas\u2019s A Court of Thorns and Roses. Photograph: Main Character Books<\/p>\n

The Spicy Librarian, which bills itself as Europe\u2019s largest independent romance bookshop, held its ball at Ragley Hall in Warwickshire, where riders dressed as \u201cfae warriors\u201d carried torches on horseback. Tickets were \u00a3149 \u2013 the shop ran the event again the following night, which also sold out, and ordered about 750 copies to cover both balls and its pre-orders.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe gave everyone the books at midnight, and people started reading them immediately,\u201d says Maynard James. \u201cSome people stayed up and devoured the whole thing in a few hours.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maas is the biggest name in romantasy, a genre combining fantasy and romance which has grown from an online niche<\/a> into one of publishing\u2019s most lucrative categories. Last year, Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros \u2013 another romantasy star \u2013 had the biggest first week<\/a> for a hardback novel in the UK since Harper Lee\u2019s Go Set a Watchman in 2015. In 2024, booming sales of romance and fantasy helped push UK fiction revenue above \u00a31bn for the first time<\/a>. The genre\u2019s readers are largely young women, and much of its growth has played out on TikTok.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been such a long wait for this book, people are just itching to get their hands on it,\u201d says Starlin Marot, owner of Bad Girl Books in Oxford, the UK\u2019s first romantasy-only bookshop.<\/a> \u201cFor so many of us, the series has been like a gateway drug into the genre, or into reading itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Oxford, Marot had only planned to open Bad Girl Books for half an hour after midnight, for a couple of readers who had asked on Instagram. Instead, a queue formed outside. \u201cIt was just crazy, like a flurry of people came in,\u201d she says. \u201cI was honestly not expecting that many people just for half an hour. But it shows how popular these books are!\u201d<\/p>\n

Faerie wine and \u201cTamlin\u2019s Tears\u201d blueberry lemonade. Photograph: Bad Girl Books<\/p>\n

Her midnight release doubled as a pyjama party. \u201cIt was cute and cosy vibes,\u201d Marot says. \u201cWe had Acotar-themed cakes and drinks.\u201d<\/p>\n

In London, romance bookshop Main Character Books decided against a midnight opening, serving breakfast to readers collecting pre-orders instead and holding an evening party for 45 people. \u201cWe decorated the entire store,\u201d says owner Cassie Simmons. \u201cIn early October we had more pre-orders than we expected \u2026 we doubled our order at the publisher.\u201d After Tuesday\u2019s sales, the shop ordered again. \u201cWe\u2019re going through stock even faster than we expected.\u201d<\/p>\n

The latest book is the first part of a four-part story. A Court of Forgotten Melody, out on 12 January, contains the next two parts, and the last is still being written.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s definitely the five-year wait and the hype that\u2019s been going up online,\u201d says Simmons.<\/p>\n

Maynard James, who says Acotar got her reading for pleasure again after becoming a mother, believes its heroines are a big part of the draw for its largely female fanbase. \u201cThey aren\u2019t women that are damsels in distress that need rescuing or saving,\u201d she says. \u201cThey almost prioritise themselves before they prioritise love. We want the women to be the centre of their own story.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the specialist shops, the boom is showing up in the till. \u201cSales are so much higher than I even anticipated for the year already,\u201d says Marot. \u201cIt\u2019s so exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

While a Hulu adaptation of Acotar was announced in 2021, Maas has now bought back rights<\/a>. \u201cI want to see everything adapted the way I envision it, and the way I know fans want it\u201d, she said in March.<\/p>\n