Two years ago last week, I shifted my reading preferences to #RomanceBooks.
In that time, I started 498 books, finishing 473 (~95%). Most were audiobooks, for ~4200 hours.
I rated ~11% at 5/5⭐️.
~90% were queer, which, on average, I rated ~½⭐️ higher than straight romances. About half of those queer books were written by authors who explicitly identify as queer.
Vibes: no matter the winding path, most are centered on hope.
Empathy: most are about people trying to connect with each other.
Identity: growth and introspection are almost always core themes.
(But also: even the books with 🙄 moments, like when the characters pick fights just for the drama, as annoying as they are, also help to widen your tolerance when IRL peers do the same thing.)
Specifically for my :infinity_autistic: people, #RomanceBooks can be hugely educational: the vast diversity of human experience is on display, and it's all explicitly coded with inner monologue, rationale, causes and effects, etc. All the social stuff we might struggle with is right there, on the page.
For my :pride_asexual: peers: not all #RomanceBooks have sex! Around 10% of the romances I've read don't have any, or only allude to it happening off-page. Another 5-10% have depictions of sex, but it's not a driving point in the story.
Some romances even center asexual / a-spec main characters. I've even read a few romances with explicitly :pride_aromantic: main characters.
If that sounds like a contradiction, that's a great reason to pick up a romance and expand your boundaries.
Not all #RomanceBooks are awesome or healthy. Some books are, frankly, super toxic.
But there are so many healthy romance books which will absolutely ruin you with how much they will make you feel — not necessarily in a good or bad way, just in raw emotion. And those really impactful books aren't all in one subgenre — if you have a favorite flavor in your stories, odds are there's a solid 5⭐️ gateway romance book waiting for you.
Add comment