As soon as the doors to the author-signing hall opened, Nivea Brookens consulted her self-annotated map and made a beeline for the author she was most excited to meet: Alexis Patton.
“I’ve been following her Instagram and her journey, and I’m absolutely obsessed with all of the reviews that I’ve read on it. I can’t wait to read books one and two,” Brookens gushed. “So she was my first go-to.”
Patton writes dark romances, and her latest series, “Us Dark Few,” includes one of Brookens’ favorite literary tropes: enemies-to-lovers. It’s a popular motif among the growing audience of romance readers.
As interest in reading for pleasure declines in the U.S. overall, romance is one genre that’s been steadily drawing readers in with promises of happily-ever-afters. Print sales for romance books have more than doubled in the last five years, according to data from Circana BookScan. And as interest skyrockets, so do third spaces catering to romance book lovers.
The Romantically Yours Book Convention is a testament to that. Scores of romance book aficionados gathered at Orlando’s Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center in late summer to celebrate the genre of love. The conference is one of several across the country that caters to readers who can’t get enough of the romance genre.
It was the brainchild of romance author Jennifer Chipman. She envisioned the gathering as a way to connect readers with well-known writers in the genre, while also introducing them to new ones.
“There’s always going to be big names that are big draws, but I think it’s really great after you’ve met those unicorns, those bucket list authors, to kind of be able to wander through and find new authors to read,” Chipman said.
Aside from meeting their favorite writers, attendees also had a plethora of panels to choose from that dove into almost every subgenre known to the romance world, from sports-centered romances where hockey players rule to parsing paranormal stories where demons and werewolves are star-fated soulmates.
Chipman even included a pajama party on the itinerary, where popular audiobook narrators theatrically read out scenes from books they’ve voiced, while attendees listened and bedazzled the covers of romance novels.
Robyn-Cherry Siegler was in attendance. Wearing a pink satin dressing gown, she fit right in with the pajama-clad group. The 39-year-old followed along with the narrators while bejeweling her copy of “Roaming Holiday,” a novel that explores a love story between a princess and her bodyguard. It’s written by Marina Hill, one of the authors in attendance.
For Siegler — and many of the convention attendees — romance provides a break from real life.
“I like books as escapism, so I’m generally drawn to fantasy or anything that’s super sci-fi — or even horror or supernatural,” said Siegler. But she typically seeks out a read with a romance element. “I feel as though that’s sort of one of the natural ways that we connect as people is through falling in love.”
Publishers suspect that the desire for escapism is one of the biggest reasons why romance sales are booming.
“I think the world we live in is providing very few, very little of that these days,” said Cindy Hwang, editorial director at Berkley, an imprint of Penguin Random House, the largest book publisher in the U.S.
As the person in charge of Berkley’s romance program, Hwang witnessed romance sales increasing every year for the last 5 years. Some readers attribute that to their longing for connection that peaked during the pandemic. But Hwang said that longing is somewhat satisfied by the often-predictable endings of romance novels.
“Ultimately, if something is called a romance, readers have the certainty of what the journey’s conclusion is going to be,” said Hwang. “So even in a dystopian… the world is still ashes, but at least they’re together.”
Another factor likely driving the surge in the last few years, Hwang noted, is the rise of BookTok, the online community of TikTok influencers who give dramatic book reviews.
Publishers and readers are optimistic that interest in the genre will only grow.
“Romance right now is attracting a lot of younger readers,” said Hwang. “And I think that will be the key to its longevity.”
To take advantage of the craze and cater to this group of readers, last year romance-lover Jane Rodriguez opened The New Romantics, a bookstore in Orlando geared towards the romance genre.
Bookstores like hers that are dedicated to the genre of love — and every subgenre and trope under its umbrella — have been popping up all over the country, much to the delight of romance readers. According to the Associated Press, more than half of the 157 romance-dedicated bookstores in the American Booksellers Association opened within the last two years. Many of the bookstores tout clever names, including Kiss and Tale, That’s What She Read, and Beauty and the Book.
When Rodriguez first brought the idea of a romance-specific bookstore to her family and friends, they were skeptical about how she’d survive against bigger competitors like Amazon and Barnes and Noble. But she wasn’t swayed from her dream.
“My favorite thing is that I’ve proven them wrong,” said Rodriguez. “I know my people. I know my community. And I keep telling people, I just created what I would want to exist.”
The covers lining the shelves at The New Romantics range from raunchy shirtless cowboys to couples clad in regency-era gowns. And they’re meticulously arranged by subgenres to make it easier for readers to find their cup of tea. The bookstore even has a special shelf inspired by Rodriguez’s Cuban mom.
“It’s a full shelf filled with only books that are in Spanish. The reason why that exists is because I wanted my mom to be able to walk into my store and find a book for her,” said Rodriguez. She attributes the shelf to helping her slowly urge her mom into becoming an avid reader.
For Shannon Larmond, a regular at The New Romantics, that thoughtful diversity and store design is exactly what she’s looking for from a bookstore.
“It’s a safe space,” explained Larmond. “There’s no judgment when I’m going to ask for an Omegaverse hockey romance book, while also I need a King Arthur retelling that’s in the YA [young adult] section at the same time.”
Facing judgment is a common concern for romance readers, due to the stigma the genre has faced in the past. Romance novels are largely written for women, by women, and as such, they haven’t gotten much respect in the literary world, typically deemed trashy, poorly written or too sexual.
Rodriguez hopes that building a community through her bookstore will help to further shed the stigma that surrounds romance. Fortunately, she said, attitudes towards the genre have been shifting as of late.
“I think that women have just been more unashamed and more proud to be romance readers,” said Rodriguez. “When there’s so many of us, it makes it so much easier to be louder, and it’s not something that we’re reading silently anymore. Like, we’re not hiding in a closet reading ‘New Moon’; we’re going to read it proudly.”
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Hafsa Quraishi produced and edited this interview for broadcast with Ciku Theuri. Quraishi also adapted it for the web.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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