Once upon a time, romance readers were shamed for reading the genre. Readers concealed the covers and most importantly, hid their love for the most popular-selling genre. The books were called bodice rippers (for the rape trope that populated many novels) or trashy books. New York Times refused to review the books. Such treatment is changing. New readers are finding their way to the romance section of the bookstore. Yet, the exceptions and reality must still be confronted.
A romance novel expectation is that the books are nothing but smut. The genre features many sensual levels. There is clean romance or sweet romance where the bedroom door is firmly shut and locked to the spiciest of reads. Yet whatever the sexual level, this genre is about romance, love, and overcoming conflicts for the characters to obtain their happily ever after.
Another expectation of the romance genre is that it is nothing more than three hundred-plus pages of mindless fluff since it deals with love and relationships. But that notion has no basis in reality. The romance genre, whatever the sub-genre, deals with all the modern issues we struggle against. Books now feature heroes and heroines living with mental health or medical issues such as being neurodivergent, being on the spectrum, or having a chronic illness. The world-building of romances are no longer all white but feature and highlight the true variety of the human species and our cultures. And the external conflict deals with sexism, racism, and all the isms that blight the world.
Romance novels continue to evolve and develop just like the real world and reflect our world in its pages. Please share the title and author of your favorite romance and the reason for it.
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