Would you like a book that smells like garlic? Didn’t think so. But that didn’t stop author Jennifer L Armentrout from using garlic-infused ink to print 1,000 copies of her new novel The Primal of Blood and Bone.
Seem strange? Maybe less so if I explain that the book is the latest instalment in a “romantasy” series that features Vampry (vampires) and Craven (sort of zombie vampires). Even then, this garlic business doesn’t quite add up. In Armentrout’s six-book saga (not including its four-book prequel), there is literally no mention of garlic repelling vampires. It’s only when you open TikTok that the special edition makes sense – it’s a “partnership” with the mayonnaise brand Hellmann’s. A quick search and my screen is full of excited readers opening coffin-shaped packages that contain the special smelly book and a free bottle of Hellmann’s garlic aioli. This is a stunt targeted at the army of romantasy readers on BookTok, the corner of TikTok devoted to books and reading.
Like garlic itself, this stunt has left some people queasy. On this very website, author David Barnett has denounced the use of “gimmicks” to sell books, with publishers dedicating huge marketing budgets to authors who are successful and don’t need the hype. That may be true in general but I don’t think that’s what’s happening here.
I’m an unashamed fan of romantasy. I picked up a copy of A Court of Thorns and Roses around the time we learned Trump was returning to the White House, and devoured all five books and another Sarah J Maas series (Throne of Glass) within weeks. Part of the joy of these slightly silly books is finding other people that enjoy them. And because romantasy is a genre people can be sniffy about, word of mouth ends up being one of the best ways to find new authors.
A friend recommended Armentrout via social media to help with my Sarah J Maas “book hangover” – the period when you’ve finished a book/series and feel bereft without the characters. Her Blood and Ash books are incredibly long and not always well written but they had the heady, pacy plot and “enemies to lovers” trope that I was craving. So, while I will not be ordering a garlic-scented book, maybe a weird and slightly incoherent gimmick is OK if it gets people excited about reading.
• Carys Afoko is a communications strategist, writer and host of the Over the Top, Under the Radar podcast
