Reading Books Makes You Hot and Smart, Especially the Spicy Fantasy Ones

As an English major, I feel very passionately about the lack of reading for pleasure this generation does. TikTok brain rot is on the rise, and intellectual stimulation is nearly nonexistent. 

Now listen — I’m not pointing fingers. I’m also notorious for spending too much time on my phone, and I have the attention span of a puppy. But I feel the need to assert that reading does so much for you that you probably don’t even realize. 

First of all, reading is sexy. Who doesn’t love to see someone caught up in a book with their glasses on and their hair tied back? I’m kidding; it’s rarely ever like that. But it’s hot to be educated! And reading does just that. 

I’d argue reading makes you smarter. Studies have shown that reading expands your vocabulary and makes you more aware of the world. I’m not talking about the boring classics you’re forced to read in tenth-grade English class; I’m talking about books you want to read, like the spicy fairy books. The 700-page dragon book with the hot, broody, damaged male love interest has taught me more than Charles Dickens ever could. 

These kinds of books are written mostly by women for women, which is already a bonus. Women know what we as a collective want, making their male characters swoon-worthy. I typically avoid romance novels written by a man because I know his characters won’t hit the same.

The spicy scenes in books like A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR) by Sarah J. Maas will have you pulling out a dictionary. Quite frankly, the prose in these scenes makes you feel like you’re reading a classic novel (in the best way possible!), simply from the expansive word choice (not the content, LOL).

ACOTAR follows 19-year-old Feyre, who finds herself thrown into the scary and mystifying faerie realm of Prytian by the half-human, half-beast Tamlin. Feyre must embark on a journey of love, power, and imminent death to either save Tamlin and his world or doom them forever. I love this book and the rest of this series for its combined elements of epic journey, sexy men, and the fight for female strength and autonomy.

Maas’ scenes are literary art. The spicy moments are described tastefully, make your heart race, and are articulated in ways you wouldn’t think would fit in their context but just really do. The book’s fantastical element has you deeply immersed in the plot and characters, having you imagine each scene like a movie in your head. Maas’ writing style and prose are so gorgeous that it has you in touch with the characters’ feelings and the tribulations they face. 

For me, reading has opened up a whole new vocabulary I didn’t even know I was learning. Just by reading a few books a year, I’ve found myself engaging more thoughtfully in conversations and my writing simply because I’ve picked up random words and phrases from books like ACOTAR. 

My point is that a lot of us need to take reading for pleasure more seriously. Reading helps to mend your short attention span, which is an annoying reality for many of us because of excessive social media use and screen time. I also believe that reading makes you more empathetic, allowing you to dive into so many different lives and experiences, providing a narrative you may not always consider or think about. 

So pick up a damn book before 2024 ends. The extra special part about reading is that you can escape to your sexy fictional fantasy men anytime your real-life love life sucks.

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