In 2023, I read 83 novels. Without including the ones I (did not) read for school, that’s a book and a half per week all year.
For some, that number is small potatoes; for others, it’s unimaginable! What’s more, every single one of them was a romance novel. I feel I can finally say that without cringing at the thought of other people knowing that about me. Now, at 20-years-old, I’ve worked myself up to it.
For most of my teenage years, I would read only at home or with the obvious Rom-Com cover hidden on the screen of my phone. I would have a specific book to carry with me in a tote bag if I ever left the house, something like The Bell Jar or The Secret History. Something that seemed pretentious and not at all cheesy. I avoided having people in my bedroom — with almost every surface imaginable holding a book where two characters stare longingly at each other on the cover — I was sure someone would make fun of me.
Like many other female-dominated spheres, the romance genre has a bad image. Part of me will always point fingers at misogyny. In circles dominated by women and feminized by the general public, you’re bound to run into naysayers. There’s nothing wrong with reading about Frodo Baggins, but Edward Cullen is another story. The disregard for these characters and stories is what made me shy away from carrying the book I had been reading in my bag for years.
For many people, what comes to mind when they think about romance is cringey Netflix films and those shirtless men on mass paperbacks. But that idea of romance novels as a generally vapid and shallow pool of R-rated scenes and cheesy lines just isn’t true. Romance author Kennedy Ryan said in an interview with Audible, “I see romance as the best landscape to have difficult conversations … And I don’t think people think about romance that way.”
With most romance novels, happily ever after is promised. This creates so much room between the beginning and end to talk about important subjects. The perfect romance isn’t only a love story between two people but a love letter to the human experience. Some of the biggest life lessons I’ve learned have been hidden in the pages of a romance novel, and some of my favourite stories have taught me great things about people — while thought to be different from me — are not always so unlike myself.
In fiction, characters are often a portrayal of real experiences. With authors like Talia Hibbert, whose characters are endlessly loveable and a reflection of real diversity, or Emily Henry, who always best captures the feeling of being human and in your 20s, there are ways to see elements of your own life and other people’s lives reflected in the stories you read.
So, the next time you’re in a bookstore and thinking about picking up your next read, I urge you to give romance a chance! I promise if you step into the aisle, no one will pop around the corner and point. Trust me, you won’t regret it. You might even enjoy it.