Our romance with romance

With the UK’s very first bricks-and-mortar romance bookshop opening in Edinburgh last month, it feels like the right time to reflect on how much the genre has evolved in recent years.

The current success of romance as a genre is undeniable. Regularly topping sales charts both in the UK and abroad, romance books are among some of the current bestselling titles worldwide. They’re winning awards too – with three of the categories in TikTok’s 2024 Book Awards being won by romance authors and books.

Caden Armstrong, founder of Edinburgh’s aforementioned Book Lovers Bookshop, said: “The aspect of romance fiction that has changed most over the years is not its popularity, but the perception of the genre. Romance has always been popular, and while it has grown more popular in recent years, that’s due to the change in how we view and discuss romance books.

"The new generations of readers that are now reading and participating in romance fiction publishing are actively fighting against the stigma that has been placed on romance books in the past; they are standing up and saying that there is no need to be embarrassed to be reading romance and are embracing the aspects of romance fiction that we have all loved for so long – that it is a women-led genre, that it is a genre that embraces women’s pleasure, and that it is an incredibly diverse genre that highlights so many incredible voices and perspectives.”

Caden’s new romance bookshop is not an isolated venture, and 2016 saw the very first romance bookshop open in the US, aptly named The Ripped Bodice. Launching in LA after a successful kickstarter campaign, the bookshop was then followed by a second shop in Brooklyn just last year. Since 2016, many more romance bookshops have set up shop around the US, including the queer-owned Meet Cute Bookshop that opened in San Diego in 2022.

It’s clear that the industry is changing, and it’s being led by the readers themselves as they champion stories that are meaningful to them

Speaking about how the bookshop has been received, bookshop owner Becka Title said: “Folks have been extremely excited to have a bricks-and-mortar shop that celebrates genre romance, and the San Diego book world has been so welcoming. We’ve really been able to create community locally around book clubs and author events. As a queer-owned shop, it’s particularly important to us to be a welcoming space for queer readers and we feel we’ve really been embraced right back by the local and online queer bookish community."

It’s clear that the industry is changing, and it’s being led by the readers themselves as they champion stories that are meaningful to them. Take the recent movie adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s It Ends with Us as an example. The hugely popular book follows the story of a young woman who’s navigating domestic violence within a romantic relationship.

It might sound bleak, but it’s an important story that’s been a box office hit, driving more than $200m in box office sales globally. Despite that, the film hasn’t been received well by critics, receiving ratings of just 57% from Rotten Tomatoes and 6.7/10 from IMDb.

As a literary influencer and content creator on Instagram @shereadsandtravels, I adore romance books. One of my recent favourite authors is cardiologist Shirlene Obuobi, whose two books feature intelligent Black women who are trained medical doctors.

Addressing how the genre has changed in recent years, Shirlene explained: “When I was in my early twenties working at Borders books, our romance section was largely limited to mass market paperbacks featuring slender white women in the arms of muscular white men, and the stories, while often riveting, didn’t really reflect any part of my lived experience. 

"Now, I can find books about people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds, sexualities and body types who work different jobs. On top of that, there’s more freedom to include the main character’s journeys in their careers, with family, and more. I feel like romance nowadays is allowed to encompass a wider spectrum of humanity, and I find that so gratifying as both an author and a reader.”

It’s been fun to watch the publishing world adapt in response to the consumer’s love of romance books. It’s clear that the narrative around them has changed – I personally can’t remember the last time that a romance book was categorised as "chick lit" – and the Waterstones on Edinburgh’s Princes Street has even added a "romantasy" section (for the uninitiated, that’s the combination of romance and fantasy).

As for where the genre will go from here, I can’t tell, but I’m excited to giggle and kick my feet while I watch it happen.