How to Organize Your TBR: A Romantasy Reader's Guide

Your TBR has 847 books. You've read maybe 12 this year. Every time someone recommends something new, you add it to the pile and watch it disappear into the void, never to resurface when you actually need it.

The problem isn't that you have too many books. The problem is that your TBR functions like a graveyard instead of a menu you can actually order from.

Why Most TBR Systems Don't Work

Goodreads gives you one giant "Want to Read" shelf. That's the whole system. No organization, no context, no way to remember why you added something three years ago when you were in a completely different reading phase.

So when you finish a book and want something new, you're staring at a wall of titles with no idea which ones are spicy, which ones are slow burns, which ones will emotionally devastate you. You scroll for twenty minutes, give up, and reread something you've already read twice. We've all been there.

A TBR system that actually works tells you what mood a book fits, what the vibe is (tropes, dynamics, heat level), and why you added it in the first place. Without that context, you're just maintaining a list of guilt.

Organizing by Mood

The most useful way to sort your TBR is by what you'll be in the mood for when you reach for it.

Comfort Reads are for when you need a hug. Low angst, guaranteed happy endings, probably involves cozy settings or found family. You know these will land.

Emotional Devastation is for when you want to feel something. Heavy themes, complex relationships, books that will have you texting your friends "I am NOT okay" at 2am.

Unhinged Energy covers chaotic plots, morally bankrupt characters, books where you keep saying "they can't possibly" and then they absolutely do. Sometimes you need that.

Slow Burn Investment means multi-book series where the payoff is worth the wait. For when you want to fall into a world and stay there for a while.

Quick Hits are standalones or short reads for when you need to finish something fast. Palate cleansers between heavier reads.

Organizing by Spice Level

Nothing worse than being in the mood for something spicy and accidentally picking up a closed-door romance. Or wanting something sweet and getting blindsided by explicit content on page 47.

Tag your TBR books by heat level so you know what you're getting into. No spice or closed door means fade to black. Mild means some heat but it's not the focus. Medium means explicit scenes balanced with plot. High means the spice IS the plot. Scorching means you know exactly what you signed up for.

Organizing by Trope

When you're craving enemies-to-lovers specifically, you don't want to sift through fifty random titles hoping one fits. Tag by the tropes that matter to you: enemies to lovers, forced proximity, only one bed, grumpy/sunshine, forbidden love, second chance, fake dating, found family. Whatever you reach for repeatedly deserves its own category.

The Actual System

Here's a framework that doesn't require a PhD in organization theory.

First, capture everything in one place. Stop splitting your TBR across Goodreads, spreadsheets, random Notes app lists, and screenshots you'll never look at again. Pick one system and commit.

Second, add context when you add books. When you add something new, spend 30 seconds noting the mood category, spice level, main tropes, and why you added it. That last part matters more than you think. Future you will not remember why past you was excited about this book.

Third, keep it under control. A 500-book TBR isn't really a TBR. It's a fantasy about a version of yourself with unlimited reading time. Be ruthless. If you added something two years ago and still haven't picked it up, you're probably never going to.

Fourth, review quarterly. Tastes change. That dark romance you added during your villain era might not hit the same now that you're in a comfort-read phase. Prune regularly.

Books to Add to Your TBR

If you're rebuilding your TBR with intention, here are some romantasy picks to get you started:

Tools That Work

MoodReads tags your TBR with the stuff that actually matters: spice, tropes, vibes, energy level, whether you'll need to recover emotionally afterward. Import your Goodreads shelf and we organize it for you so your TBR becomes searchable by mood.

Notion or Spreadsheets give you full control if you don't mind manual entry. They work, but they require discipline to maintain.

StoryGraph offers general mood and pacing tags for any genre, though it lacks romance-specific metadata like spice levels, trope tagging, and the nuance that romance readers need.

romance.io is excellent for discovery and finding new books, but it's solving a different problem. When you already have 500 books on your TBR and need to pick the right one for tonight, discovery isn't the issue.

The best system is the one you'll actually use. But if you're reading romantasy specifically, you need romance-specific organization. Generic book trackers don't understand what "medium spice with forced proximity and a grumpy MMC" means, and that's the level of specificity you need to find the right book for your mood.

Start Small

Don't try to retroactively organize 800 books. That way lies madness and abandoned projects.

Pick your next 10-20 reads. Organize those properly with full context. When you finish one, add a new one with the same level of detail. Let the old unorganized pile fade into history where it belongs.

Your TBR should be a curated menu of books you're genuinely excited about, not a guilt-inducing monument to every recommendation you've ever received.