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All those things, I think, because I’ve had similar thoughts lately. :/ The current authors def play a role because they’ve dragged so many YA tropes into adult romance & the majority of characters act so like teenagers even when they aren’t (ugh), so I’m assuming movies are the same (I very rarely watch new releases anymore). But I’m also older, more cynical, & just plain tired of seeing the same stories paraded around like something new.

Sarah Mac wrote: "All those things, I think, because I’ve had similar thoughts lately. :/ The current authors def play a role because they’ve dragged so many YA tropes into adult romance & the majority of characters..."

I'm in my early thirties now, and a lot of things I enjoyed aren't the same. Maybe I'm more jaded lol. I'm struggling because reading romance was my main hobby, and now what do I have...

The decline of Harlequin is disrupting the universal equilibrium, lol.

I think it may be a little bit of everything. Our tastes change and evolve over time, and sometimes I do think we need to step away from the genre for a while—I’ve done that myself in the past.

But I also honestly think the quality and creativity in romance has declined. So much of what is being published now feels like the same stories and tropes being regurgitated over and over again, and the quality of the writing just isn’t what it used to be. I also think authors and publishers have become so concerned with being politically and culturally “correct”—or, on the flip side, inserting those viewpoints into everything—that sometimes the actual romance and storytelling get lost in the process.

I’ve become much more discerning about what I pick up. I reread older favorites and have really enjoyed discovering older books and authors I somehow missed the first time around. And I definitely read fewer books than I used to because I’d rather read less and enjoy what I’m reading than just read for the sake of reading. And don’t even get me started on Harlequin Presents lately.

Sorry to break into an entire monologue but …

Exhibit A) movies: with the decline of B movies, low and mid budget movies and the rise of “make one season and drop it” streaming capitalism, guess who gets cancelled first? Movies and shows for women. Women protagonists, romance stories etc just don’t deserve a big budget, or if they do, they are redesigned to be gritty enough for a male audience. Outside of Outlander, which is a show I don’t even particularly love, every single project has to appeal to men and boys. It’s frankly exhausting. Movies used to make the big budget action movie and then throw women a bone here and there.

Exhibit B) books: despite the fact that romance is THE bestselling genre in fiction and non-fiction, outperforming literally everything else and despite the fact that THE audience for books in general is women and not men, keep dreaming about romance being taken seriously as a genre! Harlequin discontinuing their historical line is just one symptom of many where we see that not even $$$ can convince Big Publishers to take romance and its readers seriously. Infantilization, tiktok-dumbification, axed big screen or small screen adaptations of the biggest names in the genre – where IS the ACOTAR adaptation?? I think Publishers would absolutely hate being forced to read through the top trending MM fics on AO3 for a month and to see how weirdly deep those stories can be. I am convinced that the big publishers genuinely think romance readers are stupid & also porn addicts and that is why we are getting absolutely swamped with releases that are Dramione X Fourth Wing X Squid Game but the setting is the NHL.

All of the above is the reason why I will forever support and prefer indie authors. Keep writing weird stuff.

Hot Mess Sommelière ~ Caro wrote: "Sorry to break into an entire monologue but …

Exhibit A) movies: with the decline of B movies, low and mid budget movies and the rise of “make one season and drop it” streaming capitalism, guess w..."


Interesting insight about movies and streaming. Plenty of TikTok romance authors' books have been optioned, but where are the releases except for a few?

Indie books have saved my reading so much. The majority of highly rated romance books in the last few years were from indie authors.

Esther wrote: "I think it may be a little bit of everything. Our tastes change and evolve over time, and sometimes I do think we need to step away from the genre for a while—I’ve done that myself in the past.

Bu..."

I think age and quality of books are a big part of it. Romance does follow a formula but I used to get more excited to read it. Now it is reading for the sake of reading and I have to stop myself from picking up a book that will end up being another 2-3 star.

I think Esther nailed it with the decline in quality due to Tropes. Tropes have always existed, they’re not something new & exciting (despite what Tiktok would have people believe 🙄), but now the Trope concept has overtaken the idea of Writing a Real Story. When all these new writers are concerned with is garnering Likes on social via trope checklists & the same recycled plots, forced conflicts, character types, & sex (easy example: hockey romance), the genre suffers & the naysayers have more fuel for their mentality of “lol, romance readers are dumb & don’t need a quality product to spend big bucks on sprayed edges.”