Romance Reading is No Longer a Sordid Affair

As a 90’s kid raised on a steady diet of Disney Princess movies, my vision of happily ever after consisted of charming princes, castle libraries and a tiara to suit every occasion. Twenty years later, rationality, and perhaps a bit of cynicism, has grounded my vision more firmly in reality, though I still yearn for the fairytale romance we read about in books and watch unfold on screen. In the same way those Disney movies shaped my view of the world and what it meant to be fulfilled, the media I consume as an adult continues to affect my definition of happiness and success.

Books and films can function as a mirror to our own lives, where we gravitate towards characters going through similar trials and experiences as we are, making the content feel relatable. It can also function on an aspirational level, offering viewers/readers a chance to escape their normal world and indulge in fantasy or escapism. The modern romance novel can oscillate between these two realms with ease, offering relatable, achievable storylines plus the promise of a HEA, therefore delivering a satisfying outcome even when the real world feels a little bleak. So then why do romance novels get such a bad rap?

A Well-Read Woman is a Dangerous Creature

To really get to the root of the issue, let’s take it all the way back to the 18th century, when the fiction novel began to make a name for itself. Seen as frivolous and unnecessary compared to non-fiction publications, novels were also deemed to be too fantastical for certain people (i.e. WOMEN) to handle, as they “were considered to be in danger of not being able to differentiate between fiction and life,” says Margaret Cohen, a professor of French language, literature and civilization. And yet, they continued to gain traction and popularity because they filled a need for the general public: entertainment. Fast forward to the present day, where reading novels is not only seen as a mark of higher intelligence and elevated taste, but fiction novels are part of the core curriculum for secondary education across the world.

As the popularity and variety of fiction has evolved, subgenres were created to further organize and group books, from historical fiction to sci-fi and fantasy. One of the most popular subgenres is romance, and yet despite being one of the highest-earning genres in the publishing market, it is still considered a ‘lesser’ class of literature when it comes to public perception. In a society historically dominated by the voices and opinions of men, we have ingrained notions as to the romance novel’s perceived value. For starters, romance is typically marketed towards women between the ages of 18-64, chronicling the trials and experiences of the female protagonist on her quest for love. That is a HUGE target market to contend with, and so subgenres of romance literature were created to further attract different age groups like Young Adult (teens, up to 18 years old) and New Adult romance (18-30 years old).

Like any piece of literature, Romance novels are influenced by the world and stigmas of the time. In Jane Austen’s day, when a woman had close to no rights to her own body or property, the primary goal of many heroines was marriage, if not for love, then for security. As the rights and roles of women expanded, so have the motivations of literary protagonists. But for much of this genre’s history, the motivation for many female protagonists was marriage or self-fulfillment through a romantic relationship with a man.

Since the dawn of time, women have been conditioned to base their worth on their ability to secure a husband and have children. This is not to say there is anything wrong with finding one’s purpose in supporting their family in this way, but it is not the only path for the modern woman. However, this patriarchal view of women’s roles in society informed the storylines and motivations for romantic literature, reinforcing the idea that women need only find a man to achieve her happily ever after. So on the one hand, we are told that a woman needs only to find love to be happy, but at the same time, these concepts are deemed frivolous and vapid when viewed against other topics. Either way, women lose, and it’s an absolute - pardon my French - mindfuck.

Sex (And Fabio) Sells

Now, publishers are no fools. They understand that sex sells, and as romance novels began to push the bounds of propriety into erotic fiction, the marketing wizards were hard at work to stoke further interest of their target demographic. Enter Fabio, the famous Italian model who became synonymous with the romance genre throughout the 1980s and 90s. He was all long hair and chiseled abs, clutching swords or swooning women. In a word, it was pure smolder.

This marketing, while extremely effective at the time, has not aged well for the current generation of romance readers, namely millennials and Gen Z. For many of us, these Fabio paperbacks were a common staple in our homes, and we came to associate them as the reading material for “women of a certain age” - think Ms. Perky from 10 Things I Hate About You, a stereotypical 2000s-era spinster complete with cat mugs and cardigans, writing about “Reginald’s quivering member” when she should be counseling angsty teenagers.

For millennial women, these books became synonymous with “trashy romance” and guilty pleasure reading. So, the patriarchy strikes again, leaving multiple generations of readers to feel shame for reading about love and relationships, for reading about sex, for choosing romance over more “meaningful” content. It was for this reason that I started my experiment. I wanted to know if the preconceptions I had against the romance genre held up now that I was part of the target demographic. I also wanted to see if the romance novels written in the last twenty years reflected the vast array of desires and dreams of the modern woman.

• Preconception #1: Romance books are cheesy and outdated.

• Preconception #2: Romance books are predictable.

• Preconception #3: Romance books are poorly written.

  
  

I did not go into this experiment completely green. I was already an avid reader of Jane Austen way before Bridgerton made regency romance cool, and I have dipped my toe - ok, more like cannonballed - into the universe of steamy Romantasy (fantasy romance) thanks to the immersive world building and swoonworthy love stories of Sarah J. Maas, Cassandra Clare, & Rebecca Yarros. Even though I usually prefer my love stories with a dash of magic, I wanted to see if a romance written by a contemporary author and set squarely in the ‘real world’ (a.k.a no immortal fae warriors) could still light my fire.

Taking full advantage of my new Kindle Unlimited membership and access to my local library’s Libby app, I started off in my comfort zone with historical romance series, including Evie Dunmore’s League of Extraordinary Women and Martha Water’s Regency Vows. I explored Gilded Age America with Joanna Shupe before shifting gears to contemporary romance with Emily Henry, Tessa Bailey and Elsie Silver. I found that I naturally gravitated towards New Adult Romance since I could relate more to the characters and their struggles with work, relationships and big life questions.

Re-Evaluating My Preconceptions

Since starting this experiment, I have read over 70 books a variety of authors in the New Adult Contemporary and Historical Romance categories, and here are my key takeaways.

• Preconceptions #1 & 2: Romance books are cheesy and predictable.

  Read enough romance novels and you are bound to come across the same tropes - enemies to lovers, fake engagements, marriages of necessity to avoid scandal, et cetera, et cetera. There aren’t too many alternate endings in this genre, but there is always room to break the mold in how the protagonists end up at their happily ever after. Most of the cheesiness came from absurd situations designed to test characters that everyone knows are endgame, a feat in itself to combat predictability in a well-trod plot structure. I came to realize that a certain level of cheesiness comes with the territory of romance novels, and that I could overlook some cringey moments if the characters had depth, the story was well-paced and the conflict was interesting and believable.

  
  

• Preconception #3: Romance books are poorly written.

  Most people are not reading romance novels with the expectations of Pulitzer Prize winning prose. Nor are they looking for overly complicated messaging that gets labeled as “deep and introspective” by pretentious editors. From the books I’ve read over the course of this experiment, I’ve found that many romance novels are not literary masterpieces, and that’s ok because these books serve a simple purpose: entertainment. They are here to tell a love story, one of the most sought-after experiences known to humanity, in an accessible and engaging way. Sometimes, when the HEA is proving hard to achieve in real life, it’s nice to escape to these fictional worlds where it is almost always guaranteed.

To Judge a Book by Its Cover

Unfortunately, the way that romance novels are marketed plays a large role in the negative perception of this genre. This is where the whole judging a book by its cover thing really comes into play - talk about cliches holding true! One of the first things I noticed when starting this experiment was how cover art affected which books I chose to read, at least at first. I was more willing to pick up a book if it didn’t look like a typical romance book I had seen throughout my childhood (ex. two models kissing in a field or splayed in bed, you get the gist). I much preferred the books with some sort of illustrated cover, not just because it was more visually appealing, but also because it didn’t feel so obvious that “EGADS, SHE’S READING SMUT!”

While the trends in cover art are helping entice more readers to give romance a chance, the rise of Booktok has brought conversations regarding romance and erotic fiction more out of the shadows. This corner of social media is leading the charge in tearing down decades of shame heaped upon smutty romance novels and “chick lit” for being supposedly inferior literature. Women are reclaiming a genre written for and about them, and these themes show up in the plots of modern romance writing.

The female protagonists are becoming more independent. They have more wit and grit and backbone. They are pursuing careers and passions, facing the same demons women must fight in real life. The relationship dynamics are changing with the times as well, focusing on equal partnerships and communication. Romance novels are always evolving, and its time our perception of this genre evolve as well.

I started this experiment to broaden my horizons and explore a section of literature I had overlooked. What I found in the process is a genre that takes me back to what made me fall in love with reading in the first place; reading books for the sake of just enjoying a story. These books are fun to read, the characters often feel relatable and their romantic relationships feel way more attainable than waiting around for an immortal high lord to realize I’m his mate. Romance novels may be flawed, but they never claim to be anything they are not. You know exactly what you are getting with a romance novel, but the journey to reach the happy ending can still surprise and delight if you allow yourself to be open to the experience.