A never-ending love affair: why romance fiction will always endure

Why is it that the most commercially successful genre in publishing is also the least culturally respected one?

It’s a conundrum that has haunted romance writers like Cathy haunted Heathcliff; since Darcy met Lizzy. (BTW, I know that Wuthering Heights is not a romance novel. Please don’t write in.)

Romance fiction has, for many decades, been a quietly thriving genre, turning over roughly £20 million a year in sales in the UK alone. This exploded during and after the pandemic and continues to grow exponentially – thanks, in part, to the early democracy of the BookTok community on social media platform TikTok, and the unashamed devotion of a new generation of readers.

Romantasy – love stories set in fantasy worlds that are loaded with magic as well as sexual tension – has swept through fevered imaginations like magical wildfire. Onyx Storm, the third in Rebbeca Yarros’s Empyrean series is the fastest selling adult novel to be published in the last twenty years. Hot and spicy forbidden encounters, like the viral TikTok sensation Twisted Love by Ana Huang, have also thrilled readers around the world.

Elsewhere, high concept romantic comedies starring smart women with brilliant minds, like Ali Hazelwood’s The Love Hypothesis, have made us laugh, aspire and fall in love with the meet cute all over again. In the UK, authors like Jessica Stanley, (Consider Yourself Kissed) Beth O’Leary (Swept Away) and Saara El-Arifi (Cleopatra) are helping shape this revival, alongside the authors who have been giving us beautifully crafted, quality loves stories for decades: the likes of JoJo Moyes, Jenny Colgan, Katie Fford and Veronica Henry. (Oh, and me!)

Suddenly, what publishing has long considered a bit niche and low prestige has become an engine with many moving parts – and it’s keeping the publishing and bookselling industry going, virtually single handed.

We who love to read and write romance have good reason to be thankful for Gen Z’s unashamed adoration of the genre. But underneath all the bells, whistles and dragons, we know one thing is fundamentally true…

We love to fall in love on the page.

We need to escape reality (which is increasingly unappealing) and explore our own feelings, hopes and desires through the safe harbour of romance fiction.

So why is reading romance so often referred to as a ‘guilty pleasure’? What is there to be embarrassed about? The answer, of course, is NOTHING.

The power of love, including romantic love, is central to the human condition. Since Plato considered the intrinsic need for humans to find their other half, the subject of falling in love has fascinated philosophers, writers and artists. So when did exploring these ideas become something to be looked down on, joked about and sneered at? I could write a long essay on reasons that might have something to do with the patriarchy… Instead, I’m just going to celebrate the many reasons why the perception of romantic fiction is changing, as well as why it matters now more than ever.

Romance is the most inclusive and diverse genre I know. All stories, your love stories, are welcome here. Yes, romance give us swoon-worthy book boyfriends/girlfriends/elves – but it also gives us a space where hope is in action. Where self-discovery is pro-active, and where people of all identities can foster agency and innovation.

Romance fiction is, so often, activism too. It shows the way to break down hate with love – to see the humanity in all people, even people you think you detest (see the ‘enemies to lovers’ trope!) Romance allows us to imagine a world that has a happy ever after. Twenty-first century romance in particular is about empowering readers to make decisive choices that often require great courage and empathy. It’s a genre that fully deserves the increasing levels of respect it is garnering.

In short, reader, I do believe that romance can save the world.

So… If you’ve ever thought about writing romantic fiction, or are in the middle of writing the kind of love stories that you long to read, now is the time to seize the day. Add your story to the wonderfully happy and delightful army of romance novels that are lighting up the globe with love.

Let’s save the world together.

Feeling fired up? Join Rowan on our inaugural Writing Romance Novels course, starting 11 May 2026.