Valentine’s Day has just recently passed (or, as I like to call it, Chocolate Day) and that often brings romance to the minds of many. Which, for me, immediately leads to thoughts of romance novels and other such stories. I always seem to surprise people when I mention that the romance genre is the most lucrative genre out there. They say, “surely not!” (Okay, they say the modern equivalent of that, because my language is, apparently, stuck in last century. Anyways.) In 2023, romance novels brought in $1.44 billion dollars, which trounced other genres neatly.

(For more romance novel statistics, go here)

Now, even if you’re not a fan of romance, then you have to acknowledge that it does quite well as a genre. The fact that this surprises a lot of people surprises me. The question that they always ask is, “Why?”

First off, let me get something out of the way. I do, indeed, love a good romance novel. However, I am a heteroromantic asexual, which means that while I am romantically interested in men, I experience no sexual attraction. At all. So when I read a romance novel, I read it for the romance, not the spicy bits. I don’t care beans about erotica and, frankly, I usually skip the sex scenes because I get bored. That being said, I have no doubt that loads of people love romance novels for the spice and such. But I am going to group that under the broader title of escapism.

Actually, I think escapism is probably one of the biggest reasons for romance novel popularity. In a world where lots of people have a difficult time either finding a relationship or keeping a relationship alive, reading a book about a woman meeting the man of her dreams (or man meeting the man of his dreams, or woman of her dreams, or whatever combination is out there. Don’t even get me started on alien smut.) can be a way for people to escape their own relationship woes. 

Romance novels have many different types, but they must, must have a happily ever after (HEA), whether that be at the end of the book or the end of the series if it’s a longer story. Knowing that you’re going to read a story with a happy ending is enough to bring comfort to a lot of people, myself included. No matter what drama happens between the beginning and the end, our love interests will end up together and people will be happy. That is such a rare thing in real life that it becomes a valuable thing in fiction.

And, yes, romance novels can be predictable. But again, that is a comforting thing for readers who deal with stress of all sorts in their own life. It can soothe anxiety to know how a story is going to play out. It can bring a bit of peace to a chaotic day. And if the MCs’ life is a little too perfect, if they don’t have to worry about taxes like the rest of us do, then, well, all the better!

Romance novels don’t have to be exclusively predictable montages of aesthetically pleasing people making eyes at each other. I have read many, many romance novels that actually do a better job of dealing with such things as racism, abuse, childhood trauma, disability, mental illness, financial ruin, and more than pieces dedicated specifically about those topics. By couching difficult topics that people deal with on a daily basis in the arms of a story about love, authors can deal with some serious issues while still promising their readers a happy ending.

It is immensely powerful, being able to present issues that are sometimes literally tearing our society apart in such a way that it ends well. Not to mention the fact that there are huge amounts of representation in these books.

I love reading about people with disabilities finding love, not because their love interest is magically able to fix the problem, or they have a disability fetish (ew), but because they see past it. It’s heartwarming. 

I even recently read a book about an ace woman falling in love (not sexually) with her best friend and it was charming and a great read.

And, yes, I imagine that people read a lot of these books for the sex, because that fulfils a different sort of need for escapism, though don’t ask me to explain, because it’s not my area.

Above all, I think the reason that romance novels are so popular is that they just make people happy. In this world full of doom-and-gloom news stories and war and famine and general cruelty to people, finding something that makes people happy is to be celebrated. I guess that’s why Valentine’s day is so popular, too, because it celebrates the idea of a good thing. Though, I do admit, I’m in it for the chocolate.

So to all you romance lovers out there, I say read your books! Swoon over your love interests! Find a story that makes you happy and run with it. And if you don’t like romance much? Well, there is always fantasy. They have dragons in fantasy!

The post Word Nerdery: Romance – Why so Popular? Why so Sneered At? first appeared on Tarney Brae Creative Endeavours.