Love stories have an enduring effect on book lovers. Romantic literature traces its origins to ancient civilisations including Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Greece. This is where the cultural fabric was woven with love poems and love stories. These stories served as a cornerstone for the evolution of classic romance novels such as Romeo and Juliet, Great Expectations, Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, Doctor Zhivago and Anna Karenina among others.
Over time, as the popularity of romance novels grew, writers developed romantic tropes and subgenres which depict various lovers’ dynamics and plot devices. Some of the more prominent ones are Enemies to Lovers, Forbidden Love, Soulmates, Opposites Attract and Love Triangles.
Today, people view romance differently than they did in the 18th century. Romance novels of that period depicted love by incorporating improbable events, knights, dukes, dragons, and wigs.
It’s not until the 20th century that romance novels evolved by exploring the theme of sexuality. Independent women also became the main drivers of the story. This is when authors such as D H Lawrence and Virginia Woolf began disrupting expectations of how romance and love should be portrayed in literature.
In modern times in Australia, contemporary romance has grown in popularity with more new authors emerging and driving the genre up the bestseller lists.
The popular social media platform TikTok has elevated this genre even more. But the platform has also opened up the romance genre overall to a whole new range of readers.
Gen-Z has brought a new need for connections and authenticity in romance. They seek representation of diversity and inclusivity. They want to relate to the stories they read and trace it back to their own experiences.
What do we know from what has gone before? That there is much more to come, and romance will never die … •
ROMANCE REVIVAL
In recent years bookstores across Australia have seen an uptick in their stock of romance novels. Today, if you visit a local bookstores, you’re bound to find a romance section that’s brimming with a colourful selection of romance novels and their various sub-genres. From rural romance, fantasy, to enemies to lovers, it’s unlikely that you won’t find what you’re looking for.
This revival can be traced back to 2020 during the COVID lockdown. In times of isolation and despair, people yearn for something comforting, safe and even aspirational. It’s no wonder then that the romance genre began trending on BookTok during the pandemic.
BookTok posts are typically fun, short videos accompanied by popular soundtracks. Passionate readers recommend, review and discuss book in these short-form videos.
Contemporary romance and romantasy appear to be genres that are particularly popular within the community. This has in turn translated into sales with many authors from these sub-genres making bestseller lists for consecutive years.
The name Colleen Hoover is probably familiar. She’s a prolific romance and young adult writer with over 20 books under her belt. In 2022, Hoover took out six of the top 10 spots of The New York Times paperback fiction bestseller list. Incredibly, Colleen Hoover sold more than 8.6 million copies of her books in 2022. She sold more than The Bible, Dr Seuss, and James Patterson and John Grisham combined.
In 2023, Hoover continued to dominate bestseller lists with her novel It Ends with Us. The novel took the top-selling spot on the Publisher Weekly list, followed by her novel It Starts with Us. Colleen Hoover’s Verityclaimed the ninth spot. These three books combined sold a total of around 3.4 million copies at outlets.
Women in their 20s and 30s are the biggest consumers of romance novels so, unsurprisingly, many of the contemporary romance books we’re seeing look at the everyday quirks and joys of young adult life. They typically follow protagonists in their late teens, 20s and 30s who are navigating an unexpected love interest or sometimes even two love interests!
Some fun and popular tropes that we see in these books include: enemies to lovers, friends to lovers, love triangles, second chance love, opposites attract, fake relationship, and right person wrong time.
New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry shot to stardom with her debut bestseller Beach Read in 2020. In her novel Beach Read we see the use of the classic ‘enemies to lovers’ theme. The story follows her character January Andrews, a struggling writer, who reconnects with an old rival from college who’s become an acclaimed literary novelist. As with all romance novels, love follows.
Her novel Happy Place gives her readers not just one, but two classic tropes. Hinged on ‘second chance love’ and ‘fake relationship’, this story follows two exes who pretend to continue dating for a pre-planned holiday with friends. And her highly anticipated new novel, Funny Story, will be centred around an ‘opposites attract’ arc.
According to Neilsen BookScan, in 2023 romance sales were up by 37 per cent. The recent increase in book to screen adaptations has undoubtedly supported the rise in the contemporary romance genre. Notably, books like Alice Osman’s Heartstopper, Jenny Hann’s The Summer I Turned Pretty, Beth O’Leary’s The Flatshare and Bonnie Garmus’s Lessons in Chemistry have received popular series adaptations. These adaptations have further propelled the romance genre into a league of its own.
It’s worth noting that ‘romantasy’ is also on the rise and has boomed in recent years due to the popularity of authors such as Sarah J Maas (read an interview here) whose ACOTAR series regularly trends on BookTok and Rebecca Yarros whose novels Fourth Wing and Iron Flame, sold around 1.2 million and 1 million copies respectively in 2023.
For many, the romance genre offers people a chance to escape their issues and the general burdens of the world. The stories are often humorous and uplifting and give readers a sense of hope. Whether it’s set out in the country, city, in a magical kingdom or in freezing Alaska, the tropes explored are always recognisable. This is what makes the genre so comforting and alluring to readers. It’s clear that this is a new era for romance and there are no signs of the genre’s success going anywhere. •
Read an interview with Rachael Johns about her book, The Other Bridget
AUSTRALIAN RURAL
ROMANCE AUTHORS
Before becoming an author, Fiona Palmer was a speedway driver for seven years.
She now spends her days writing both women’s and young adult fiction, working as a farmhand and caring for her two children in the tiny rural community of Pingaring, 350km from Perth.
Before becoming an author, Karly Lane worked as a pathology collector. Now, after surviving three teenage children and with one more to go, she’s confident she can add referee, hostage negotiator, law enforcer, peacekeeper, ruiner-of-social-lives, driving instructor and ‘expert at silently counting to 10’ to her resume. The One That Got Away is released in May 2024.
Writing is in Jennifer Scoullar’s blood. Her grandfather was editor of the newspaper at Wood’s Point. Jennifer’s mother, Alice, was a great storyteller. Her great aunt, Mary Fullerton, was a novelist and poet, and a friend to Miles Franklin. She lives with her family at Pilyara, on a hill top, overlooking valleys of messmate and mountain ash. A pair of old eagles lives there too. Her new book, The Rivertown Vet will be published in April 2024.
Rachael Treasure uses story to empower women and change mindsets towards healthier food systems. She is co-founder of Ripple Farm Landscape Healing Hub, a 100-acre regenerative farm in Southern Tasmania. She has worked a number of jobs as a jillaroo, professional wool classer, veterinary nurse, rural journalist, stock camp cook, high country cattle drover, truffle sniffer dog handler and family farm manager.
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