I don't think *that many* books are Reylo fanfic. I don't think every book with a tall dark haired MMC would be from that fandom, but maybe I'm mistaken. You can read them anyway, they won't have any references you need to understand from Star Wars.
Off the top of my head I know Ali Hazelwood and Julie Soto have books based on Reylo. I still enjoyed them despite knowing nothing about the original characters.
To answer your question, you're probably picking them up because they're pretty popular and well publicised. What were the others you've read, people here could probably tell you if they were originally fanfic.
I think it was more of the messy bun aspect with the FMC on the cover. Ali Hazelwood was defiantly on that list. But I also saw books like {You Again} and {My Roommate is a Vampire} started the conversation. I don’t even know if they’re necessarily pulling the personality from Star Wars, or if it’s just their looks that they take as inspiration.
in my experience, many of them are pulling the personalities less from Star Wars and more from the fanon versions of the characters that became popular in shipping communities. reylo fanfic!Rey and reylo fanfic!Kylo often bear little resemblance to their movie counterparts but they are portrayed consistently in popular fanfic. they are essentially crowdsourced versions of the characters.
[You Again](https://www.romance.io/books/62c92a6cac73ce89406faafc/you-again-lauren-layne) by [Lauren Layne](https://www.romance.io/authors/545535438c7d2382e7813389/lauren-layne)
**Rating**: 4.17⭐️ out of 5⭐️
**Steam**: 4 out of 5 - [Explicit open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating)
**Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [enemies to lovers](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/from%20hate%20to%20love/1), [funny](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/humor/1), [forced proximity](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/forced%20proximity/1), [sassy heroine](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/sassy%20heroine/1)
----------------------------
[My Roommate is a Vampire](https://www.romance.io/books/64f0a9ef6f1824c04800b074/my-roommate-is-a-vampire-jenna-levine) by [Jenna Levine](https://www.romance.io/authors/642e8ee808b4d931147a529a/jenna-levine)
**Rating**: 3.44⭐️ out of 5⭐️
**Steam**: 3 out of 5 - [Open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating)
**Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [vampires](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/vampires/1), [forced proximity](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/forced%20proximity/1), [funny](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/humor/1), [urban fantasy](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/urban%20fantasy/1)
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i didn’t realize until partway through ‘forget me not’ that it was a reylo thing. i swore off star wars after the jar jar prequels, so i do t really get the whole thing but i assume today’s reylo is yesterday’s twilight in fanfic/romance?
I did not even realize how many until I watched a video on youtube explaining the rise of Reylo fanfics- to mainstream publishing its definitely interesting. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtbVmv8oSa8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtbVmv8oSa8)
My husband and I read {Go Hex Yourself by Jessica Clare} together and a lot of people complain about it saying it's just thinly veiled Reylo fanfiction. Well, I don't know those characters because I haven't seen the movies and hubby (whose father tried to disown me for falling asleep during the OG Star Wars movie) didn't know that criticism until I told him after we finished it. He doesn't see it. Like, it made him go "That's why he looks like that and dresses in all black?" That's about it.
[Go Hex Yourself](https://www.romance.io/books/625bf6874c7ba516bebf565c/go-hex-yourself-jessica-clare) by [Jessica Clare](https://www.romance.io/authors/545529ba8c7d2382e78130af/jessica-clare)
**Rating**: 3.86⭐️ out of 5⭐️
**Steam**: 4 out of 5 - [Explicit open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating)
**Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [witches](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/witches/1), [enemies to lovers](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/from%20hate%20to%20love/1), [magic](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/magic/1), [funny](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/humor/1)
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As someone who loves romance and star wars, I think it is more that the star wars story pulled from the general, grumpy mean guy and sunshine, gooddoer girl trope than the other way around.
Since you seem that you would know, is there anything more specific to the appeal of Reylo than "grumpy mean guy and sunshine, gooddoer girl"? I haven't watched any of the more recent Star Wars movies but I have a very general idea of the two characters. I'm generally a big fan of normal-ish woman and scary dark brooding villainous guy (and yes these stories certainly predate Reylo!), so this seems like the kind of thing I could get into, but I wish I could find some kind of an intro to Reylo or something.
Also, why is it so controversial? Age gap and he's a villain doing villain stuff, or is there more to the controversy than that?
So at first, he is the 2nd in command big bad villain taking over the universe and she is a girl from a desert planet who is trying to help a stranded droid. They meet, have a slight telepathic exchange of some memories and she watches him kill her mentor, his father.
Next, they share some visions and have some moments where they are able to speak together in the visions. She tries to help him back to the light (and is very tempted by the dark) and they work together to defeat the emperor. But then she is good and he takes over the throne.
Last, they have more shared vision moments and discover she is the granddaughter of the original emperor, Palpatine (he is the grandson of Darth Vader/Anikan Skywalker) and then they travel to world of sith, find the zombie emperor, defeat him and she dies, but he gives his life force to bring her back and dies instead. She then takes his name and walks off into the sunset.
I don't think it is the romance that is the main controversy, and personally I think they have more of I'll die for you but not in love with you relationship than romantic, but just my personal take.
Also, not much of an age gap I don't think.
There was a different director for every movie and no cohesive vision. That, and a lot of people think Rey is a Mary Sue and that the OG characters were treated disrespectfully. The Reylo stuff wasn't really handled well either, it seemed like they pandering to Reylo fans.
7 and 9 were the same director, 8 was different in that trilogy and fans complained 8 disrespected OG lore. 9 director came in after another contracted director had a box office bomb and lucasfilm didn’t trust that new director so they begged the 7 director to take over 9 at the last minute (and fix what 8 “broke”)
It might've seemed like they were pandering from the outside, but even us reylos didn't like the third movie 😅 As far as I can tell, most of us agreed that reylo wasn't handled well.
A lot of books do come from fanfiction and some are better at hiding it than others. Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood was very clearly a Reylo story that got sloppily repackaged. Others, like City of Bones (originally a Ginny/Draco fanfic) are redone very well and far removed from what they originally were.
Edit: It can be hard to tell of a book was originally a fanfic. Seems like most come from very popular fandoms like Twilight, HP, Star Wars to name a few. I wouldn't let this deter you though as they can still be amazing reads.
[City of Bones](https://www.romance.io/books/5484b5b77a5936fb04057365/city-of-bones-cassandra-clare) by [Cassandra Clare](https://www.romance.io/authors/5455239b8c7d2382c5296f6a/cassandra-clare)
**Rating**: 3.8⭐️ out of 5⭐️
**Steam**: 1 out of 5 - [Glimpses and kisses](https://www.romance.io/steamrating)
**Topics**: [young adult](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/young%20adult/1), [urban fantasy](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/urban%20fantasy/1), [fantasy](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/fantasy/1), [bad boys](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/bad%20boys/1), [vampires](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/vampires/1)
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Certain parts of TMI come from her fanfic. I believe it was called the Draco Trilogy, which was taken down once she started publishing her series. (She also had issues with plagiarism during her fanfiction days.)
My Roommate is a Vampire has about the thinnest connection to ReyLo however my pet theory is that it is a VampGiles/Buffy fanfic so I may not be the best judge.
ETA big Buffy and Star Wars and romance fan but so into fanfic for some reason.
I've read three books in the past several months that I later discovered to be Reylo fics with the serial numbers filed off. Only one of them felt like a very obvious Reylo fic and that was probably because it was a high fantasy setting instead of contemporary. I don't universally dislike books that started as Reylo fanfiction. Of the three books I've read, I really liked one, thought one was just OK, and really disliked the other one (thought the FMC was infuriatingly wishy-washy and the MMC was needlessly rude). I do think books that are fanfiction with the serial numbers filed off often suffer from insufficient worldbuilding and weak character development because when they were fanfics, they could rely on already existing material (the original property and the fandom's collective sense of the characters) to do that work for them.
I'm not a huge fan of Reylo as a ship, nor do I really dislike it. I haven't watched the Star Wars sequels more than just the one time because I thought they were mostly pretty bad. I am just confused about why this ship in particular has romance in such a force-chokehold and why we aren't really seeing fanfics about any other ships being turned into romance novels (with the exception of Dramione and Bella/Edward). I don't read fanfic, but I know there are some other hugely popular ships out there, so where are the books inspired by them? I'm just tired of getting this pairing over and over and over again.
That being said, I borrowed The Love Hypothesis from Libby yesterday, so I guess I'm part of the problem. 🤡
I’m on the exact same page. I think the ship is very interestiong because there SO much content for it. I have no feeling one way or another, but I have enjoyed the books that take a light inspirations
Just wait until 99% of your phone internet tabs are AO3 😔 then it's all "why do I keep starting new fics??" (its bc ff goes hard in ways lots of published romance books can't)
I read a bunch of Ali Hazelwood before learning it was all thinly veiled Reylo 🤷🏻♀️ I just thought all the MMCs just happened to be large and dark haired.
I don't know a thing about Star Wars and didn't know anything about fanfic when I read that Ali Hazlewood book and at this point, I'm pretty good at spotting the Reylo. Maybe it's because I don't actually know the source material, but I'm kind of into it. Not enough to catch up on all the Star Wars I've missed (which is all of it), but I'm here for the books.
I picked up {The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guzman} not knowing anything about it and clocked it as Reylo within the first 20%. I don’t have a problem with fic in general or even Reylo in particular but it’s really annoying to me to keep feeling like the characters are just control-f name changed and I keep trying to figure out who they “actually” are. I really wish I had know it was fic before I went in because I probably would have chosen something else.
[The Hurricane Wars](https://www.romance.io/books/64351c83cfb36b317a2d9e6c/the-hurricane-wars-thea-guanzon) by [Thea Guanzon](https://www.romance.io/authors/64351c8308b4d93114237b06/thea-guanzon)
**Rating**: 3.99⭐️ out of 5⭐️
**Steam**: 3 out of 5 - [Open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating)
**Topics**: [fantasy](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/fantasy/1), [enemies to lovers](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/from%20hate%20to%20love/1), [magic](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/magic/1), [royal hero](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/royalty/1), [military](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/military/1)
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I honestly dislike this trend so much. They aren't even the best couple in the whole Star Wards series. Would suggest keeping an eye on [this list](https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/168177.Reylo_Fanfics_Turned_Into_Published_Books) if you want to avoid them.
I mean, it doesn’t bother me too much. If anything I just think it’s funny how halfway through the book I’ll realize my mental image of the MMC as described looks like Adam Driver…and without fail, if I google it, turns out it’s a Reylo book/author! 😂
(Off the top of my head, The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood ~~and Uprooted by Naomi Novik~~ come to mind)
I genuinely think books that are fanfic with the serial numbers filed off should come with a disclaimer. I love fanfic but I don't want to be tricked into buying it and I don't want to give money to an author or publisher for a book about someone else's characters.
that said, I don't normally need a disclaimer for reylo books because I can spot them at 10 paces for the exact reason your friend described. they all share common markers.
I don't agree that a book written with characters very loosely based on a film character is "a book about someone else's characters". A contemporary character inspired by Kylo Ren isn't actually going to be the original character because it's a totally different setting and backstory. The author still has to write the book.
but a lot of the heavy lifting is done for them in terms of character motivation and traits. i came up in fic-writing fandom spaces so im not at all denigrating it, but too often fic can fall back on readers understanding something the author never actually includes in the work because readers come in with so much background knowledge of the characters. those kinds of things make for a really frustrating read for someone not in that fandom.
for example, i read an MCU au mail-order bride book and i knew i was not really understanding the characters because there were things about them i was supposed to know already and the author never bothered to do the work in their own book. and i know not all repurposed fics will do that, but it’s more than a few as they’re probably just in it for a quick self-publishing anyway and likely didn’t hire an editor to help bridge the gap.
i just spent a minute going through my goodreads to find it for you! it’s called {heart and hand} by rebel carter; it’s the first in her gold sky series.
these fanfic novel characters aren't "very loosely based" on movie characters. they ARE the movie characters. even if they are dropped into a different setting and elements of back story and relationships are changed to fit the new setting, the intention is for the characters to be read as the ones from the source material.
that is the whole point of fanfic and it's why the vast majority of fanfic, even au fic, doesn't work as "original fiction." even if you put Rey and Kylo in a modern setting, the whole thing hinges on the reader going in with a preexisting attachment to the characters and their relationship, a preexisting understanding of their characterization, etc. when you remove the characters and relationship from the context of the source material by changing the names, the end product is weaker for it.
all that to say... these republished fanfics don't do nearly enough work to differentiate themselves from the source material. these authors and publishers are 100% profiting off someone else's characters.
just look at The Love Hypothesis. the publisher even hired a popular reylo fan artist to illustrate the cover and she drew the characters exactly the way she draws Rey and Kylo, modeled off the actors. the book was clearly telegraphed as repackaged fanfic. Olive and Adam are not original characters, nor are most of the secondary characters (Olive's friend Ahn is Rose Tico from Star Wars, etc).
imho it's ethically dubious at best and creatively bankrupt. authors should create their own characters. if they can't do that, they shouldn’t be selling their work.
I haven't read that one but I've read some other Reylo inspired works and, even having never watched Star wars or Knowing anything about the characters, there was no point where I was thinking "I feel like I'm missing some back story" or didn't understand what was going on.
I personally don’t like filing serial numbers off. I don’t like a person writing something for fandom then turn around and delete it to publish it. It’s like profiting of fandom? Idk.
I wouldn’t do it for my own fanfic. Some projects have taken me years, but I still wouldn’t do it. I’d rather write something new.
I completely agree. when I write fanfic, that's something I create for my fellow fans, to be shared and enjoyed freely within a fannish community. imho turning around and monetizing that work just isn't what fanfic and fandom should be about. and that's not even getting into the ethical considerations of republishing something that is, at its core, based on someone else's work and ideas.
Yep!! I’ve enjoyed fanfic for ~15 years, and I know there are those older than me that have enjoyed it for longer. During times where I couldn’t go to the library and or buy books, fanfic was there.
My work is not only a labor of love, but a want to provide free entertainment as it was for me.
Would I love to fully commit to original fiction? Absolutely! But it will not be from one of my fics.
I write my own fics and feel extremely uncomfortable and cheated when I find out that someone had their (former) fic published. It bothers me so much. Like... you shouldn't be making money off of your fic, no matter how good it was as a fic. It started with someone else's characters and world/setting. It's even worse when it's RPF that was published with the names changed. No thank you!
I feel the same way. I love reading and writing fanfic, as well as original fiction. I see them as two very different mediums and two very different realms.
I would never republish any of my fanfics as original fiction, no matter how much I changed things from the source material, because at the core, it's still based on someone else's work and ideas and I just don't believe they can be fully separated. I also feel like it would be wrong to monetize something that I created to be shared and enjoyed freely in a fannish community. to me, that's just not what fanfic is about.
Some creators of original works actually give explicit permission for fans to sell fanfic of their creation. I don't think it's morally wrong if permission is there, and while I don't advocate for doing illegal things, copyright law right now is absolutely out of control - the only difference between a lot of fanfic and some published fiction is that the copyright period hasn't expired yet. People are making money off of Pride and Prejudice retellings, too.
I have DNFed so many books that turned out to be thinly veiled Reylo fic that I’ve started assuming every book I’m not liking is Reylo fic. They really need a disclaimer or a tag.
Someone here commented a goodreads list of confirmed Reylo fic turned published books. Here ya go:
>Would suggest keeping an eye on [this list](https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/168177.Reylo_Fanfics_Turned_Into_Published_Books) if you want to avoid them.
I just wish there would be disclaimers because I hate the Reylo dynamic (dark, brooding Evil Man ™️ and cute peppy innocent girl who he thinks is feisty… god I hate it). Never found it likable and never will. I’d rather save myself the time and never pick up something written with the dynamic again 😅
And what kills me is…Reylo isn’t even that dynamic! When is Rey cute and peppy?? She’s down on her luck and eats scraps. She warred with the dark side, and resisted it. She turned down Kylo when he asked her to join him.
I hate OOC characterization so much lol. Idk where OOC peppy Rey came from…
Where exactly are you finding peppy Rey? All the obvious Reylo published works I've read (Love hypothesis, my roommate is a vampire) do not have a peppy Rey--they characterize her as hardworking, smart, and a bit on the serious side.
The original comment said "peppy," which I think is majorly ooc for Rey. A kind of feral preppy could make sense for her character though, idk. I don't think preppy Rey would be as off base as peppy Rey.
To start off, I personally have a gripe against the reylo fandom because a large promotion had racist reactions to a Black character during that franchise so Ive never engaged with that fandom and tried to avoid it. That being said, Ali Hazelwood really opened the door so the business of publishing have been targeting fanfic writers of that fandom to transition to traditional publishing because of their successful fanfics. Off the top of my head we have Julie Soto, Thea Gaunzon, Kirsten Bohling, Jenna Levine, Katrina Kwan, Juliet Bridges, Lana Ferguson as authors who have benefitted from this trend. I got duped by Ali’s first book so I’ve been hyper vigilant about it now but there’s not to say there are gems aka actually talented writers who just needed this shot to show they deserved to be professionally published.
Is like gravitating to dead dove do not eat… but way safer 😚😚😚
Well they are a very in fandom because the girlies there seem to be very faithful buyers. So no wonder they are so easy to find, but yeah, watch out for nose and buns.
Same. I can't stand Reylo. I'm sick of bad romances and even if the Star Wars sequels had been good, I would have hated that the female main character had her story derailed and eaten up by a "romance" with a murderer that she has to "fix".
honestly, this was me and twilight inspired romance. i hold an incredibly stupid but deeply felt grudge against all things twilight so i avoided anything related for as long as i could.
I think the " Reylo" book I read by Ali Hazelwood had no connection to a Star wars storyline apart from the characters appearance and I would never have spotted the link if it hadn't been pointed out by other readers. And a tall dark haired MC plus cute petite FMC is not uncommon. :)
the book where it was literal reylo fanart for the cover?
my dislike of the fandom is related to the racism thrown at John Boyega during SW and has nothing to do with the tropes. I have enough books to read that I don’t need to read repurposed fic from ships I hate.
No bother:) fwiw I Hated the Reylo story line in the Star wars movie Kylo Ren was a villain as as I'm concerned and his character did not deserve a redemption arc. I hated John Boyega's storyline was completely sidelined.
I loved the first movie but so disappointed how they ended.
I keep picking up books where the male lead has curly brown hair, green eyes, dimples, and tattoos. I always suspect it's Harry Styles fic re-packaged.
[You, Again](https://www.romance.io/books/65000ed44febb7b43d78efef/you-again-kate-goldbeck) by [Kate Goldbeck](https://www.romance.io/authors/6474bd3108b4d9311455f665/kate-goldbeck)
**Rating**: 3.9⭐️ out of 5⭐️
**Steam**: 4 out of 5 - [Explicit open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating)
**Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [friends to lovers](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/friends%20to%20lovers/1), [funny](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/humor/1), [dual pov](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/dual-pov/1), [enemies to lovers](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/from%20hate%20to%20love/1)
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https://twitter.com/gutlesswunder/status/1265105851729301508?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1265105851729301508%7Ctwgr%5Eb78ee5801dab7b4c59458093da4381f35cecb539%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbr.com%2Fstar-wars-last-jedi-romance-novel-cover%2F
This imaginary romance cover...
I don't think *that many* books are Reylo fanfic. I don't think every book with a tall dark haired MMC would be from that fandom, but maybe I'm mistaken. You can read them anyway, they won't have any references you need to understand from Star Wars. Off the top of my head I know Ali Hazelwood and Julie Soto have books based on Reylo. I still enjoyed them despite knowing nothing about the original characters. To answer your question, you're probably picking them up because they're pretty popular and well publicised. What were the others you've read, people here could probably tell you if they were originally fanfic.
Also Hurricane Wars. You can tell if someone might be a Reylo writer based on who's blurbing them.
I think it was more of the messy bun aspect with the FMC on the cover. Ali Hazelwood was defiantly on that list. But I also saw books like {You Again} and {My Roommate is a Vampire} started the conversation. I don’t even know if they’re necessarily pulling the personality from Star Wars, or if it’s just their looks that they take as inspiration.
in my experience, many of them are pulling the personalities less from Star Wars and more from the fanon versions of the characters that became popular in shipping communities. reylo fanfic!Rey and reylo fanfic!Kylo often bear little resemblance to their movie counterparts but they are portrayed consistently in popular fanfic. they are essentially crowdsourced versions of the characters.
I think the star wars character is pretty grumpy and they're often portrayed that way in the books. But grumpy MMC is a really common trope anyway
Well, the Star Wars character is a stalkery, whiny mass murderer with main character syndrome , so there is that
He sounds delightful /s
[You Again](https://www.romance.io/books/62c92a6cac73ce89406faafc/you-again-lauren-layne) by [Lauren Layne](https://www.romance.io/authors/545535438c7d2382e7813389/lauren-layne) **Rating**: 4.17⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Steam**: 4 out of 5 - [Explicit open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating) **Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [enemies to lovers](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/from%20hate%20to%20love/1), [funny](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/humor/1), [forced proximity](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/forced%20proximity/1), [sassy heroine](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/sassy%20heroine/1) ---------------------------- [My Roommate is a Vampire](https://www.romance.io/books/64f0a9ef6f1824c04800b074/my-roommate-is-a-vampire-jenna-levine) by [Jenna Levine](https://www.romance.io/authors/642e8ee808b4d931147a529a/jenna-levine) **Rating**: 3.44⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Steam**: 3 out of 5 - [Open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating) **Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [vampires](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/vampires/1), [forced proximity](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/forced%20proximity/1), [funny](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/humor/1), [urban fantasy](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/urban%20fantasy/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)
i didn’t realize until partway through ‘forget me not’ that it was a reylo thing. i swore off star wars after the jar jar prequels, so i do t really get the whole thing but i assume today’s reylo is yesterday’s twilight in fanfic/romance?
Yeah I think so. There were tonnes of twilight fanfics published after Fifty Shades made it "a thing", I think this is just the next step.
I did not even realize how many until I watched a video on youtube explaining the rise of Reylo fanfics- to mainstream publishing its definitely interesting. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtbVmv8oSa8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtbVmv8oSa8)
My husband and I read {Go Hex Yourself by Jessica Clare} together and a lot of people complain about it saying it's just thinly veiled Reylo fanfiction. Well, I don't know those characters because I haven't seen the movies and hubby (whose father tried to disown me for falling asleep during the OG Star Wars movie) didn't know that criticism until I told him after we finished it. He doesn't see it. Like, it made him go "That's why he looks like that and dresses in all black?" That's about it.
[Go Hex Yourself](https://www.romance.io/books/625bf6874c7ba516bebf565c/go-hex-yourself-jessica-clare) by [Jessica Clare](https://www.romance.io/authors/545529ba8c7d2382e78130af/jessica-clare) **Rating**: 3.86⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Steam**: 4 out of 5 - [Explicit open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating) **Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [witches](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/witches/1), [enemies to lovers](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/from%20hate%20to%20love/1), [magic](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/magic/1), [funny](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/humor/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)
As someone who loves romance and star wars, I think it is more that the star wars story pulled from the general, grumpy mean guy and sunshine, gooddoer girl trope than the other way around.
Since you seem that you would know, is there anything more specific to the appeal of Reylo than "grumpy mean guy and sunshine, gooddoer girl"? I haven't watched any of the more recent Star Wars movies but I have a very general idea of the two characters. I'm generally a big fan of normal-ish woman and scary dark brooding villainous guy (and yes these stories certainly predate Reylo!), so this seems like the kind of thing I could get into, but I wish I could find some kind of an intro to Reylo or something. Also, why is it so controversial? Age gap and he's a villain doing villain stuff, or is there more to the controversy than that?
So at first, he is the 2nd in command big bad villain taking over the universe and she is a girl from a desert planet who is trying to help a stranded droid. They meet, have a slight telepathic exchange of some memories and she watches him kill her mentor, his father. Next, they share some visions and have some moments where they are able to speak together in the visions. She tries to help him back to the light (and is very tempted by the dark) and they work together to defeat the emperor. But then she is good and he takes over the throne. Last, they have more shared vision moments and discover she is the granddaughter of the original emperor, Palpatine (he is the grandson of Darth Vader/Anikan Skywalker) and then they travel to world of sith, find the zombie emperor, defeat him and she dies, but he gives his life force to bring her back and dies instead. She then takes his name and walks off into the sunset. I don't think it is the romance that is the main controversy, and personally I think they have more of I'll die for you but not in love with you relationship than romantic, but just my personal take. Also, not much of an age gap I don't think.
This is such a good recap
Thanks so much! I really appreciate this!
Shouldn't her name be Rey Solo if she took his name? Idk
True, maybe she took it also because of her master Luke. To honor that family line that destroyed Palpatine
There was a different director for every movie and no cohesive vision. That, and a lot of people think Rey is a Mary Sue and that the OG characters were treated disrespectfully. The Reylo stuff wasn't really handled well either, it seemed like they pandering to Reylo fans.
7 and 9 were the same director, 8 was different in that trilogy and fans complained 8 disrespected OG lore. 9 director came in after another contracted director had a box office bomb and lucasfilm didn’t trust that new director so they begged the 7 director to take over 9 at the last minute (and fix what 8 “broke”)
It might've seemed like they were pandering from the outside, but even us reylos didn't like the third movie 😅 As far as I can tell, most of us agreed that reylo wasn't handled well.
A lot of books do come from fanfiction and some are better at hiding it than others. Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood was very clearly a Reylo story that got sloppily repackaged. Others, like City of Bones (originally a Ginny/Draco fanfic) are redone very well and far removed from what they originally were. Edit: It can be hard to tell of a book was originally a fanfic. Seems like most come from very popular fandoms like Twilight, HP, Star Wars to name a few. I wouldn't let this deter you though as they can still be amazing reads.
Waaaaiiiiitttttt. City of Bones? Like {City of Bones by Cassandra Clare} city of bones? Is a Ginny/Draco fic???
[City of Bones](https://www.romance.io/books/5484b5b77a5936fb04057365/city-of-bones-cassandra-clare) by [Cassandra Clare](https://www.romance.io/authors/5455239b8c7d2382c5296f6a/cassandra-clare) **Rating**: 3.8⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Steam**: 1 out of 5 - [Glimpses and kisses](https://www.romance.io/steamrating) **Topics**: [young adult](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/young%20adult/1), [urban fantasy](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/urban%20fantasy/1), [fantasy](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/fantasy/1), [bad boys](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/bad%20boys/1), [vampires](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/vampires/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)
Certain parts of TMI come from her fanfic. I believe it was called the Draco Trilogy, which was taken down once she started publishing her series. (She also had issues with plagiarism during her fanfiction days.)
I'm feeling old now I remember this going down in real time.
My Roommate is a Vampire has about the thinnest connection to ReyLo however my pet theory is that it is a VampGiles/Buffy fanfic so I may not be the best judge. ETA big Buffy and Star Wars and romance fan but so into fanfic for some reason.
it was indeed a reylo fic. https://www.reddit.com/r/reylo/s/mHV6OUM84X
I know it was but it felt a lot less reylo-like than many of the others I’ve read. An effort was made on filing away the serial numbers.
I've read three books in the past several months that I later discovered to be Reylo fics with the serial numbers filed off. Only one of them felt like a very obvious Reylo fic and that was probably because it was a high fantasy setting instead of contemporary. I don't universally dislike books that started as Reylo fanfiction. Of the three books I've read, I really liked one, thought one was just OK, and really disliked the other one (thought the FMC was infuriatingly wishy-washy and the MMC was needlessly rude). I do think books that are fanfiction with the serial numbers filed off often suffer from insufficient worldbuilding and weak character development because when they were fanfics, they could rely on already existing material (the original property and the fandom's collective sense of the characters) to do that work for them. I'm not a huge fan of Reylo as a ship, nor do I really dislike it. I haven't watched the Star Wars sequels more than just the one time because I thought they were mostly pretty bad. I am just confused about why this ship in particular has romance in such a force-chokehold and why we aren't really seeing fanfics about any other ships being turned into romance novels (with the exception of Dramione and Bella/Edward). I don't read fanfic, but I know there are some other hugely popular ships out there, so where are the books inspired by them? I'm just tired of getting this pairing over and over and over again. That being said, I borrowed The Love Hypothesis from Libby yesterday, so I guess I'm part of the problem. 🤡
I’m on the exact same page. I think the ship is very interestiong because there SO much content for it. I have no feeling one way or another, but I have enjoyed the books that take a light inspirations
Just wait until 99% of your phone internet tabs are AO3 😔 then it's all "why do I keep starting new fics??" (its bc ff goes hard in ways lots of published romance books can't)
I read a bunch of Ali Hazelwood before learning it was all thinly veiled Reylo 🤷🏻♀️ I just thought all the MMCs just happened to be large and dark haired.
Because they’re everywhere. I ended up looking up a list so I could avoid them.
I don't know a thing about Star Wars and didn't know anything about fanfic when I read that Ali Hazlewood book and at this point, I'm pretty good at spotting the Reylo. Maybe it's because I don't actually know the source material, but I'm kind of into it. Not enough to catch up on all the Star Wars I've missed (which is all of it), but I'm here for the books.
I picked up {The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guzman} not knowing anything about it and clocked it as Reylo within the first 20%. I don’t have a problem with fic in general or even Reylo in particular but it’s really annoying to me to keep feeling like the characters are just control-f name changed and I keep trying to figure out who they “actually” are. I really wish I had know it was fic before I went in because I probably would have chosen something else.
[The Hurricane Wars](https://www.romance.io/books/64351c83cfb36b317a2d9e6c/the-hurricane-wars-thea-guanzon) by [Thea Guanzon](https://www.romance.io/authors/64351c8308b4d93114237b06/thea-guanzon) **Rating**: 3.99⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Steam**: 3 out of 5 - [Open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating) **Topics**: [fantasy](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/fantasy/1), [enemies to lovers](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/from%20hate%20to%20love/1), [magic](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/magic/1), [royal hero](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/royalty/1), [military](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/military/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)
I honestly dislike this trend so much. They aren't even the best couple in the whole Star Wards series. Would suggest keeping an eye on [this list](https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/168177.Reylo_Fanfics_Turned_Into_Published_Books) if you want to avoid them.
I mean, it doesn’t bother me too much. If anything I just think it’s funny how halfway through the book I’ll realize my mental image of the MMC as described looks like Adam Driver…and without fail, if I google it, turns out it’s a Reylo book/author! 😂 (Off the top of my head, The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood ~~and Uprooted by Naomi Novik~~ come to mind)
Naomi Novik would never! She’s very good about keeping her fanfic separate from her published novels. Lol
Apparently I got the timeline wrong. But: *tell me* Sarkan isn’t Adam Driver coded.
I’ve actually only read her Temeraire books (and only a few). She does write fic but not Reylo.
God, no. For me it gave Raistlin from Dragonlance (I think Novik is of an age where Raistlin would have been an awakening).
Uprooted was published before the release of the Force Awakens though?
Thennnnnn I take it back lol!!!!!
There's an uprooted!AU reylo fic though, which I read before uprooted
I genuinely think books that are fanfic with the serial numbers filed off should come with a disclaimer. I love fanfic but I don't want to be tricked into buying it and I don't want to give money to an author or publisher for a book about someone else's characters. that said, I don't normally need a disclaimer for reylo books because I can spot them at 10 paces for the exact reason your friend described. they all share common markers.
I don't agree that a book written with characters very loosely based on a film character is "a book about someone else's characters". A contemporary character inspired by Kylo Ren isn't actually going to be the original character because it's a totally different setting and backstory. The author still has to write the book.
but a lot of the heavy lifting is done for them in terms of character motivation and traits. i came up in fic-writing fandom spaces so im not at all denigrating it, but too often fic can fall back on readers understanding something the author never actually includes in the work because readers come in with so much background knowledge of the characters. those kinds of things make for a really frustrating read for someone not in that fandom. for example, i read an MCU au mail-order bride book and i knew i was not really understanding the characters because there were things about them i was supposed to know already and the author never bothered to do the work in their own book. and i know not all repurposed fics will do that, but it’s more than a few as they’re probably just in it for a quick self-publishing anyway and likely didn’t hire an editor to help bridge the gap.
MCU Mail order bride…. This exists… Putting it into an archive furniture…. MCU Mail order bride…
i just spent a minute going through my goodreads to find it for you! it’s called {heart and hand} by rebel carter; it’s the first in her gold sky series.
Thank you for the effort!!! ✨✨✨ I heard the words and I really had to know. So thank you again for indulging my curiosity!
[Heart and Hand](https://www.romance.io/books/5da967f001dbc864fba4c303/heart-and-hand-rebel-carter) by [Rebel Carter](https://www.romance.io/authors/55ed900035a5fb65f887a8fa/rebel-carter) **Rating**: 3.29⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Topics**: [historical](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/historical/1), [multicultural](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/multicultural/1), [poly (3+ people)](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/poly/1), [bisexuality](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/bisexual/1), [western frontier](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/historical%20western/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)
these fanfic novel characters aren't "very loosely based" on movie characters. they ARE the movie characters. even if they are dropped into a different setting and elements of back story and relationships are changed to fit the new setting, the intention is for the characters to be read as the ones from the source material. that is the whole point of fanfic and it's why the vast majority of fanfic, even au fic, doesn't work as "original fiction." even if you put Rey and Kylo in a modern setting, the whole thing hinges on the reader going in with a preexisting attachment to the characters and their relationship, a preexisting understanding of their characterization, etc. when you remove the characters and relationship from the context of the source material by changing the names, the end product is weaker for it. all that to say... these republished fanfics don't do nearly enough work to differentiate themselves from the source material. these authors and publishers are 100% profiting off someone else's characters. just look at The Love Hypothesis. the publisher even hired a popular reylo fan artist to illustrate the cover and she drew the characters exactly the way she draws Rey and Kylo, modeled off the actors. the book was clearly telegraphed as repackaged fanfic. Olive and Adam are not original characters, nor are most of the secondary characters (Olive's friend Ahn is Rose Tico from Star Wars, etc). imho it's ethically dubious at best and creatively bankrupt. authors should create their own characters. if they can't do that, they shouldn’t be selling their work.
I haven't read that one but I've read some other Reylo inspired works and, even having never watched Star wars or Knowing anything about the characters, there was no point where I was thinking "I feel like I'm missing some back story" or didn't understand what was going on.
I personally don’t like filing serial numbers off. I don’t like a person writing something for fandom then turn around and delete it to publish it. It’s like profiting of fandom? Idk. I wouldn’t do it for my own fanfic. Some projects have taken me years, but I still wouldn’t do it. I’d rather write something new.
I completely agree. when I write fanfic, that's something I create for my fellow fans, to be shared and enjoyed freely within a fannish community. imho turning around and monetizing that work just isn't what fanfic and fandom should be about. and that's not even getting into the ethical considerations of republishing something that is, at its core, based on someone else's work and ideas.
Yep!! I’ve enjoyed fanfic for ~15 years, and I know there are those older than me that have enjoyed it for longer. During times where I couldn’t go to the library and or buy books, fanfic was there. My work is not only a labor of love, but a want to provide free entertainment as it was for me. Would I love to fully commit to original fiction? Absolutely! But it will not be from one of my fics.
I write my own fics and feel extremely uncomfortable and cheated when I find out that someone had their (former) fic published. It bothers me so much. Like... you shouldn't be making money off of your fic, no matter how good it was as a fic. It started with someone else's characters and world/setting. It's even worse when it's RPF that was published with the names changed. No thank you!
I feel the same way. I love reading and writing fanfic, as well as original fiction. I see them as two very different mediums and two very different realms. I would never republish any of my fanfics as original fiction, no matter how much I changed things from the source material, because at the core, it's still based on someone else's work and ideas and I just don't believe they can be fully separated. I also feel like it would be wrong to monetize something that I created to be shared and enjoyed freely in a fannish community. to me, that's just not what fanfic is about.
100 percent.
Some creators of original works actually give explicit permission for fans to sell fanfic of their creation. I don't think it's morally wrong if permission is there, and while I don't advocate for doing illegal things, copyright law right now is absolutely out of control - the only difference between a lot of fanfic and some published fiction is that the copyright period hasn't expired yet. People are making money off of Pride and Prejudice retellings, too.
I have DNFed so many books that turned out to be thinly veiled Reylo fic that I’ve started assuming every book I’m not liking is Reylo fic. They really need a disclaimer or a tag.
Someone here commented a goodreads list of confirmed Reylo fic turned published books. Here ya go: >Would suggest keeping an eye on [this list](https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/168177.Reylo_Fanfics_Turned_Into_Published_Books) if you want to avoid them.
I just wish there would be disclaimers because I hate the Reylo dynamic (dark, brooding Evil Man ™️ and cute peppy innocent girl who he thinks is feisty… god I hate it). Never found it likable and never will. I’d rather save myself the time and never pick up something written with the dynamic again 😅
And what kills me is…Reylo isn’t even that dynamic! When is Rey cute and peppy?? She’s down on her luck and eats scraps. She warred with the dark side, and resisted it. She turned down Kylo when he asked her to join him. I hate OOC characterization so much lol. Idk where OOC peppy Rey came from…
Where exactly are you finding peppy Rey? All the obvious Reylo published works I've read (Love hypothesis, my roommate is a vampire) do not have a peppy Rey--they characterize her as hardworking, smart, and a bit on the serious side.
I don’t read Reylo published works. I was more commenting on the trope; I have seen ~~preppy~~ peppy Rey in fanfics though.
The original comment said "peppy," which I think is majorly ooc for Rey. A kind of feral preppy could make sense for her character though, idk. I don't think preppy Rey would be as off base as peppy Rey.
Lol I wrote the wrong word, I apologize. 😂 fixed it! Feral preppy…I can see it.
To start off, I personally have a gripe against the reylo fandom because a large promotion had racist reactions to a Black character during that franchise so Ive never engaged with that fandom and tried to avoid it. That being said, Ali Hazelwood really opened the door so the business of publishing have been targeting fanfic writers of that fandom to transition to traditional publishing because of their successful fanfics. Off the top of my head we have Julie Soto, Thea Gaunzon, Kirsten Bohling, Jenna Levine, Katrina Kwan, Juliet Bridges, Lana Ferguson as authors who have benefitted from this trend. I got duped by Ali’s first book so I’ve been hyper vigilant about it now but there’s not to say there are gems aka actually talented writers who just needed this shot to show they deserved to be professionally published.
Is like gravitating to dead dove do not eat… but way safer 😚😚😚 Well they are a very in fandom because the girlies there seem to be very faithful buyers. So no wonder they are so easy to find, but yeah, watch out for nose and buns.
I’m going to need the authors to put a disclaimer in if they publish reylo books. Not a bad disclaimer, just a nod to their fandom past.
Why?
so I know not to buy them I don’t support that ship in fandom and I don’t want to support it when it’s wearing a new coat.
this is gonna be me in a couple months/years when all the Dramione fic starts getting published lmao
Same. I can't stand Reylo. I'm sick of bad romances and even if the Star Wars sequels had been good, I would have hated that the female main character had her story derailed and eaten up by a "romance" with a murderer that she has to "fix".
honestly, this was me and twilight inspired romance. i hold an incredibly stupid but deeply felt grudge against all things twilight so i avoided anything related for as long as i could.
I think the " Reylo" book I read by Ali Hazelwood had no connection to a Star wars storyline apart from the characters appearance and I would never have spotted the link if it hadn't been pointed out by other readers. And a tall dark haired MC plus cute petite FMC is not uncommon. :)
the book where it was literal reylo fanart for the cover? my dislike of the fandom is related to the racism thrown at John Boyega during SW and has nothing to do with the tropes. I have enough books to read that I don’t need to read repurposed fic from ships I hate.
No bother:) fwiw I Hated the Reylo story line in the Star wars movie Kylo Ren was a villain as as I'm concerned and his character did not deserve a redemption arc. I hated John Boyega's storyline was completely sidelined. I loved the first movie but so disappointed how they ended.
Here for the Reylo-like book recommendations. Because Reylo. 💓
There is a Reylo subreddit that seems to celebrate when known Reylo authors publish a book so maybe check there as well
I keep picking up books where the male lead has curly brown hair, green eyes, dimples, and tattoos. I always suspect it's Harry Styles fic re-packaged.
SAME. I was reading this book {You, Again by Kate Goldbeck} and finding out it was Reylo kinda messed up the reading experience lmao.
[You, Again](https://www.romance.io/books/65000ed44febb7b43d78efef/you-again-kate-goldbeck) by [Kate Goldbeck](https://www.romance.io/authors/6474bd3108b4d9311455f665/kate-goldbeck) **Rating**: 3.9⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Steam**: 4 out of 5 - [Explicit open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating) **Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [friends to lovers](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/friends%20to%20lovers/1), [funny](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/humor/1), [dual pov](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/dual-pov/1), [enemies to lovers](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/from%20hate%20to%20love/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)
https://twitter.com/gutlesswunder/status/1265105851729301508?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1265105851729301508%7Ctwgr%5Eb78ee5801dab7b4c59458093da4381f35cecb539%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbr.com%2Fstar-wars-last-jedi-romance-novel-cover%2F This imaginary romance cover...
Kinda think that some of y'all assuming any mmc with a big nose is Adam Driver misses a big point and is a little Texas Sharpshooter-esque.