Free Toronto library asks people to chill on donating spicy content

Romance novels, especially those of the 'spicy' variety, are some of the most popular on the market right now, thanks in no small part to BookTok, but the owner of one Free Library in Toronto wants nothing to do with it.

A post circulating in a Toronto Facebook group shows a handwritten note taped to the door of a Free Library in the city, insisting that people stop donating so many spicy romance novels.

It's almost Valentine's Day, but this Free Librarian is not in the mood for lobe. By Elizabeth D.

"We are grateful for your offer of romance novels," the note reads, "but we need educational books and magazines," suggesting "Time-Life Books, Life World Library, National Geographic, Readers Digest, etc."

While the request for educational reading material rather than that of the erotic variety is a valid one — it was made by the property owner, after all — some folks aren't standing for the spicy novel slander.

"Look, think before you knock romance novels," comments one member of the group. "They're the most heavily circulated type of book demanded by readers in most libraries. If people need an escape, let them have it."

Not to mention, I would add, romance novels have educational value of their own... in their own special way.

With the Toronto Public Library still in recovery mode following a cyber attack in October, romance novel fans (and fans of all novels, for that matter) have been seriously starved for new books, and this Free Library owner's refusal to accommodate romance lovers has clearly struck a chord.

blogTO was unable to confirm the location of the strictly academic Free Library at the time of publication, but there is a live map of all Little Free Libraries in the city that you can check out — most of them are, in fact, romance novel-friendly.