Say goodbye to the days of romance novels being a shameful guilty pleasure, and wave hello to the romance renaissance. Bodices will be ripped, enemies will turn into lovers (spoiler alert), there is only one bed, miscommunication will be rife, and there is inexplicably a lot of hockey? Welcome to the golden age of romance books.
In the past five years romance book sales have doubled, there are over 4 million videos on the topic on TikTok, and according to Goodreads the most popular new release of 2024 is Emily Henry’s Funny Story (which unquestionably deserves this accolade in my humble opinion). This inclination for romance is not something that can be purely seen online, with a spate of romance-only book stores having opened their doors in recent years, and Sydney even getting their own in the form of Romancing The Novel in Paddington.
The store is created and run by romance author Scarlett Hopper who strived to create a safe space for female and gender diverse romance readers. Scarlett is happy to say that her shop is not for men, and while she is obviously fine with them shopping in her store if they so please, she created this store with women at the forefront of her mind. From a classic green velvet bisexual couch, to a sticker section, the overflowing queer books section, and the pink staircase, the shop is intended to be a safe space for women, and it reflects how romance novels have historically been a welcoming environment for women.
But why exactly is it that romance is in its heyday?
Well, for one, the current socio political climate and its impact on the dating scene. With a multitude of studies showing that women are becoming more progressive whilst men are becoming more conservative, it’s no wonder that straight women are more inclined to reread Better Than The Movies and daydream about book boyfriend Wes Bennet.
From Scarlett’s perspective, “We love fictional men because they are written by women, and they are so great because a woman is writing what she thinks we want, and we do want it”.
Women do not want to settle for some unclean incel who we feel unsafe with. We yearn for single dad cowboys like Cade Eaton in Elsie Silver’s Heartless. We wish that we could have our own Henry Turner to make an audiobook out of our novels like he did in Hannah Grace’s Daydream. We say “may a love like this find me” in the comment sections of TikTok’s fangirling over a two-line exchange from Picking Daisies On Sunday.
But in my opinion, many real world men are not just unremarkable and uninspired, they are often harmful, filled with hatred for women, and live in a country that does little to stop the epidemic of gender-based violence and femicide with over 100 women dying in Australia this past year at the hands of gender based violence. Fictional men will write their beloved a love letter that says “I love you” 803 times for every day he can’t show her with his actions. Real world men are a danger to your safety.
Romance novels can offer a form of escapism to their readers, but also given these books fall within pretty predictable and strict parameters from HEA (happy ever afters) to specific tropes and archetypes, you know what to expect and are rarely going to be floored by a twist in a book.
But another key and often understated part of the appeal of romance as a genre is how it has been historically looked down upon and maligned. Reading a genre that previous generations viewed as “fluff”, and was deemed a marker of unintelligence due to misogyny and men hating female joy, is an act of feminist resistance. And Scarlett believes that there is nothing “more feminist than a romance novel”.
“The majority of romance is written by women, and that is feminist in and of itself. Women are taking charge of their sexuality, they are choosing what they want to read. Look at all the indie romance authors, the majority of whom are the breadwinners for their family. I think it’s feminist as fuck!,” says Scarlett.
“A lot of people try to weaponise it against us like ‘its not very feminist of you to read books about sex or dark romance’ and like, why isn’t it? We are taking control and not going to let others tell us what’s in and what’s out.”
Romance novels are an act of subversive feminism, they help women build community (with Romancing The Novel doing frequent community events), they provide escapism at a time when women need it most, and simply they make women happy. A lust for happiness should be enough for you to want to dabble in the romance genre. And if you’re looking for somewhere to start, both myself and Scarlett recommend Emily Henry as the gateway drug of the romance community.