Literary Romance Opens Minds and Doors, Off- and Online

For the year 2024 my only goal was to read with the phrase “Down to Clown” in mind; for me, this meant reading only books that I found interesting and brought me joy. 89 books later, I’ve read a ton of smut. 

Despite being self-described as chronically online, I also spend a lot of time reading. I’ve been a big reader ever since I was a child. I loved it so much I read my way into an English Degree (just dropping my credentials). I love the romance genre, and thanks to social media, it’s a bit of a hot-button issue. Booktok, Bookstagram, Bookbook? Whichever platform you’re on, there's a community of readers discussing all kinds of genres; but it’s hard to get away from the conversation of romance if you love it or if you hate it, because that makes you engage. 

A pretty large demographic enjoys reading romance; it makes up a hefty chunk of the publishing industry’s dollar bills, and money talks.

The genre has existed for a long time, even the books that some would deem explicit, for which the current term used is smut. You can tell a romance story without including the details of sex, but it takes a certain skill to be able to tell a story that also features explicitly steamy, on-the-page boot knockin’.

Sex is taboo, but it’s also everywhere and in everything. Women’s sexuality has also been widely debated, denigrated, and (more recently) celebrated. Sex is a part of life for those who are interested and it’s reflected in our media. In a world centered around the male gaze, social media has made it pretty clear that women’s sexuality and the female gaze has the ability to dominate an industry, if given the chance. 

Social media has opened the door to different methods of interacting with literature.

Raegan reading at Cups Espresso & Cafe, Bremerton / The Evergreen Echo

Book: Duke I'd Like to F... A Historical Romance Anthology by Sierra Simone, Joanna Shupe, Eva Leigh, Nicola Davidson, and Adriana Herrera

Scrolling through Instagram, you’ll find women getting their partners to say lines or recreate moments from romance books, men giving other men advice on how to be the perfect “book boyfriend”...even terms like like “book boyfriend” or “man written by a woman” have sprung into the public lexicon. Pages dedicated to book recommendations, rating books on levels of spiciness, authors marketing their own books, and more can be found in the midst of a doom scroll.

For your engagement, there are conversations around whether or not romance books with on-the-page sex are comparable to porn, people complaining that Booktok has “destroyed the reading industry,” and people trying to prove that theory wrong can be found in the next swipe of your finger. Influencers have even created a brand through which they review “bad“ or “cringy” books, showing that there’s no such thing as taking it too far when writing in the spirit of fun (or maybe there is, but we read it anyway just to be sure). 

In the same thread, people are railing against smut as something that has made reading cool or popular, as if something becoming popular is unfair to those who don’t relate to the topic.

Gone are the days of romance readers being embarrassed and reading being only for “nerds”—and that’s a good thing. If adding sex to a romance, fantasy, thriller, or any other genre makes people want to read it, then reading has become more accessible to the people that find sex interesting. Clearly they think that it adds something to the narrative. 

In the outernet—a.k.a. the “real world”—visiting bookstores will show you that there are still plenty of books for pretty much every taste. I visited Barnes & Noble as well as a local bookstore, Ballast Book Co. They both had sections dedicated to romance and various display tables that featured books of all kinds. 

At Barnes & Noble there was a particular table being stocked by an employee, and was casually referred to as the Booktok table. Easily accessible, it featured books commonly seen on social media and The New York Times Bestseller list—books considered popular in the publishing industry. Books that people came in looking for, starting their search with the words “I saw it on social media.” The romance section was pretty large, but the entire store was large, and walking around, there were plenty of books that fit into more than one genre. There was even a display marked “Date Night” near the romance section that featured items and books meant to encourage in-real-life romantic connection. 

At Ballast Book Co., the romance section was smaller, which was reflective of the space. There were some books that might have been seen on social media, but it also appeared to be more curated, featuring stories that highlighted diverse characters and queer narratives. Perhaps a small business can cast a smaller net, really appealing to the people that come in regularly as well as any wanderers.

Stuck to the back of one of the shelves was a sticker that read: “Read Romance because you deserve to be happy.” I think that accurately captures the tone of the romance genre. It’s about happiness at the end of the day. Romance novels are a form of media where good things happen to women, not just in life but also in bed (see also: the orgasm gap), relationships are fun, conflict is resolved, and love is real.  

One of the main genre expectations of romance is that the characters get a Happily Ever After (or “HEA”) and that is what the readers are looking for. Whether the author provides it in a standalone book or series is up to them, but the HEA is pretty non-negotiable. Like any genre, there are different categories by which a reader can tailor their interests. Small Town, Monster, Demon, Dark, Cozy, Billionaire, Sports, and Fantasy, are just a few. There are also tropes through which the readers can anticipate the trajectory of the story: only one bed, enemies to lovers, brother’s best friend/best friend’s brother, forced proximity, and more. There are even a few that stem from social media, such as characters being described as a black cat, golden retriever, or cinnamon roll which tells you a bit about their personality traits. 

Joyful Raegan at Evergreen Rotary Park, Bremerton / The Evergreen Echo

Social Media offers a space for everyone to have an opinion, and when everyone has an opinion it can be difficult to parse out facts. But we forget that while social media allows everyone to share their opinion, it’s not always representative of the world at large. With highly tailored algorithms, platforms show you the facets you interact with and they only get more precise with the more data that’s provided. If you’re among the chronically online (as I am) then it can be hard to keep the microcosmic nature of social media into perspective.

We can be proud that literacy has come so far that people are reading enough to have opinions about books. Even bad books are able to be created. The ability to read and write hasn’t always been accessible and it’s a privilege that enough of us have this skill. Everyone should have the ability to express themselves or create or capture their own thoughts, write their own name. As a Black woman, I’m cognizant of the fact that Black people and women haven’t always been afforded the opportunity to read and write. Women are writing romance stories for other women to read and that’s beautiful. 

In a survey done in 2023, almost half (46%) of the 1,500 people surveyed didn’t read a single book for pleasure. Here I’ve already read 89 books this year, not taking into account that I’ve read some of them multiple times because I enjoyed them so much.

Maybe there's something to be said about reading for pleasure and enjoyment, and in the romance genre there’s certainly plenty of pleasure to be found.