The genre "romance" has been around for a very, very long time. It's also one of the best-selling genres and has been for over a decade. It's proven that love stories and sex (or the promise of it) = money. 
I love the romance genre. Heck, I devour these types of books and I write them. What fascinates me most about this genre is how the trends within it ebs and flows. 
It reminds me of fashion. You remember back in the 60's and 70's and all those other decades with terrible...