A guide to the romance genre's major tropes

A comparative analysis of the romance and horror genres' overlap

Both genres aim to make their readers' hearts pound, albeit in different ways. Romance novelist Trilina Pucci argues that the gap between the two aims is much slimmer than it may seem, with some horror tropes (like a man enraged by the abuse of his wife) and romance tropes (like the subgenre of dark romance) blurring the line.

Why romantasy is so popular on social media

Much of romantasy's success is thanks to social media, especially TikTok, where posts tagged as #BookTok or #Romantasy often propel titles to mainstream popularity. This deep dive into the trend interviews fans and marketers to explain why the genre's steamy content does so well online.

Unpacking the rapid rise of romantasy, the genre that blends fantasy and romance

The subgenre—primarily aimed at female readers and sometimes bordering on erotica—has become a sensation, due in no small part to its popularity on social media platforms like TikTok. Writers like Sarah J. Maas and Rebecca Yarros harken back to early Gothic works, which similarly sought to combine the supernatural and the erotic.

The economics of romance novels

Romance is the publishing industry's most popular genre, with over 44 million units sold in 2025 alone. This episode of "The Economics of Everyday Things" podcast explores how the once-maligned form became the most reliable kind of book in the industry.

Writers like Colleen Hoover and Emily Henry have propelled romance to become the most popular genre in publishing, generating over $1B annually.

A scholarly analysis of romance's enduring popularity

Diane Winston, a media scholar at the University of Southern California, argues that romance novels have remained popular because they've historically offered women shame-free ways to explore their identities and sexualities. She notes that's even more true today, with contemporary romance novels, from romantasy bestsellers to "Heated Rivalry," more willingly explore social dynamics.

A detailed analysis of romance novel covers through history

A lot has changed in the romance genre over time, a fact that's clearest in the way that the books are marketed to consumers. This interactive data visualization surveyed decades of romance book jackets, finding that raunchy, realistic paintings of scantily clad models have largely been replaced by vibrantly colored illustrations, often with the characters drawn as cartoons.

Why the publishing industry is hot for romance

Romance books are currently trending in the publishing industry. That means romance authors are currently seeing greater commercial success than many writers in other genres. This podcast episode dives into what's behind the publishing industry trend from a business perspective. Listen to it here.

A deep dive into the data behind the romance bookstore renaissance

As the literary genre expands, so does the network of romance-specific stores. Romancing the Data keeps track of the rise of romance bookstores across the globe. This article not only shows how quickly the trend is taking off but also explains how brick-and-mortar shops are simply catching up with audience demand.

Listen to some of romance's leading writers discuss the genre

In this interview from 2022, romance novelists Helen Hoang (author of the "Kiss Quotient" series) and Emily Henry ("Beach Read," "People We Meet on Vacation," and more) discuss both loving and subverting the conventions of the genre.

Horror stories often rely on tropes

All literary genres use tropes, a word used to describe established plot devices, character types, and themes. Horror has many of them, like the "Creepy Child" and the "Evil Mask." Some are based on folklore, like the "Deal with the Devil."

Explore the world of fan fiction

This guide to the genre's major platforms breaks down their strengths and weaknesses, offering an excellent primer for the uninitiated newcomers.

Romantasy fans explain why they think the genre is so maligned

Romantasy grows more popular every year, but that doesn't mean it's taken seriously as literature. Hosts from KPBS' "The Finest" attended Comic Con 2025 to get romantasy fans' takes on the genre's unserious reputation.

Breaking down 'clinch covers,' a defining characteristic of '80s romance novels

As romance novels became more popular in the 1980s, publishers leaned into the books' steamier content by advertising it on their covers. Eventually, one specific kind of portrait emerged: the clinch cover, which featured a muscly man, usually shirtless, holding a woman against his chest. This episode from 99% Invisible explores the history of the trend and why it's largely disappeared from modern romance novels.

A medievalist explains how romantic love emerged as a cultural concept

Many long-form stories written in English were originally considered "romances," a term derived from the Old French word for "the speech of the people." But changes in medieval culture, triggered by a number of 12th-century church reforms, led to a new interest in what we now consider romantic love, including a new view of marriage as a pursuit of love rather than a transaction. Those new perspectives were then reflected in the period's popular stories, including stories in Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales."

Hockey romance novels have become an unexpected sensation

The combination was not an obvious hit, but books like "Hockey With Benefits," "Body Check," and "Puck and Prejudice" (a Jane Austen fan fiction) have grown popular thanks to a romance novel boom and an interest on TikTok. Now, HBO and Amazon are taking note with streaming adaptations. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

Why some writers believe there's a new romanticism

Journalist and novelist Ross Barkan argues that a crushing political system and alienating technology have led people to become more interested in the offline, analog world and the beauty of nature and emotion. In this essay, he defines this as "the new romanticism," and predicts it will come to define the culture of the 2020s.

Fan fiction relies on tropes and subgenres

Fan fiction sites often appear to be littered with inscrutable codewords, with stories labeled as "AU," "drabble," or "PWP." These alert readers to elements of a fan fiction: "AU" is an alternative universe narrative; "drabble" is a very short story; "PWP" stands for "plot? What plot?"

Why so many romance stories take place in Regency-era England

The British Regency era lasted less than a decade, but it remains a popular setting for romance stories, including for Julia Quinn's "The Duke and I," the novel that became Netflix's "Bridgerton." Scholars note that the period's strict social hierarchy, high fashion, and aristocratic traditions are ripe for the romance genre's tropes.

Tips for writing time travel stories

Are you thinking of writing a story that involves time travel? You might want to read this guide first. It offers questions to consider, mistakes to avoid and strategies to employ to ensure you avoid paradoxes, plot holes and implausibilities.

Readers discovered AI prompts in several romantasy books

In 2025, readers discovered AI prompts in three writers' texts, with one even instructing the AI bot to make a passage sound more like another romance writer. This Futurism piece digs into the scandals and how it's contributed to readers' skepticism about the genre's more prolific writers.

A guide to the novels of Jane Austen

Austen wrote six novels, four that were published anonymously while she was alive ("Sense and Sensibility," "Pride and Prejudice," "Mansfield Park," "Emma") and two that were published posthumously, under her own name ("Northanger Abbey" and "Persuasion"). This guide, with annotations from Arizona State University professor Devoney Looser, breaks down each book's story and significance, making it an excellent primer for Jane-curious readers.

Find your new favorite novelists with this literature map, which allows you to see the writers that readers most closely associate with each other.

A pop culture taxonomy of the Byronic hero

The Byronic hero, a moody but ultimately noble archetype credited to Lord Byron, isn’t just a fixture of romanticism: the character type can still be found throughout popular culture. Look no further than this detailed explainer from TV Tropes, which illustrates the Byronic hero’s characteristics and appearances in different media.

How Harlequin became the most famous name in romance fiction

The publisher, which began as a modest family operation in 1949 in Winnipeg, took off when it noticed its bestselling titles were romance novels. That success intensified as it began selling its titles in grocery stores during the 1970s. This deep dive explores its meteoric rise and how that would set the stage for the genre for years to come.

The history of Samuel Richardson's 'Pamela,' which some consider the first romance novel

The 1740 novel will likely strike modern readers as odd, to say the least. Its titular character, a 15-year-old maidservant, is harassed by her boss, who finally changes his ways and asks for her hand in marriage, which is presented as a happy ending. As this analysis of the text makes clear, though, "Pamela" established a template for the romance genre, even if contemporary writers have been happy to break it.

Consumers are buying more books now than they were 20 years ago, thanks to a 2020 boom and a popular literary corner on TikTok.

Soaps often rely on cliffhangers, along with many other tropes

The shows are written to encourage viewers to tune in for the next episode, so they often withhold resolutions for as long as possible. This has become a recognizable trait, or a trope, for the genre. Much like other narrative genres, soap operas intentionally embrace tropes rather than avoid them.

Read a 19th-century guide to writing a Valentine's Day card

Thomas Richardson's "London Fashionable Gentleman's Valentine Writer" offers readers romantic messages they can send to the objects of their eyes—along with some chippy kiss-offs for unwanted suitors. It might be sincere, or it might be satire. Either way, it's an entertaining read. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

Is the love song dying?

This visual essay, compiled using 65 years of industry data, is an entertaining trip through the history of pop music, exploring whether or not music has grown less romantic. But, at its heart, this isn't about the Billboard charts—it's about the many different ways we define romance.

Check out Valentine's Day traditions from around the world

Valentine's Day is a holiday all about romance, but the way that's expressed differs depending on where the celebration takes place. This list breaks down some interesting takes on the holiday from across the globe, including mass weddings in the Philippines and Japan's gender-specific chocolate exchanges.

Diving into 'The Flame and the Flower,' the book that popularized 'bodice ripper' romance

The 1972 Kathleen E. Woodiwiss novel helped create the romance subgenre featuring historical settings and intense, steamy sex scenes. It was an under-the-radar sensation, quietly selling millions of copies while simultaneously courting controversy for its portrayals of rape. In this essay, Jeannette Cooperman revisits the book to see how it reads 50 years after its publication.

Exploring the life of Colleen Hoover, one of romance's most popular authors

The writer is one of the bestselling names in fiction, with her book sales in 2022 surpassing those of the Bible. This profile unpacks her fast rise to fame, including the story behind her first book, which began as a self-published e-book but quickly found its way onto the New York Times bestseller list.

Fabio's romance novel cover career, by the numbers

In the '70s, '80s, and '90s, the mononymous model Fabio could be found in grocery store aisles across the country, often holding a woman close to his bare chest. This list breaks down the numbers behind his rise to romance royalty, counting total appearances on covers (465), the number of times he was portrayed as a ghost (2), and all the way down to the estimated sales increase his appearance could offer a romance novel (50-60%).

Several bestsellers began as fan fiction

Ali Hazlewood's "The Love Hypothesis" began as "Star Wars" fan fiction. Cassandra Clare's "Mortal Instruments" series was about "Harry Potter" characters Draco Malfoy and Ginny Weasley. Anna Todd's "After" series was an example of "real life fiction," or fan fiction that is about real people rather than fictional ones (the books were originally based on the boy band One Direction).

Fanfic can provide fans with wish fulfillment

Rather than complaining about a writer's decisions, fan fiction is interactive, providing the fandom with the opportunity to tell the story in the way they see fit. That's especially evident in "shipping," a popular fan fiction trope that's focused on the romantic pairing of characters who are not romantically involved in the source material.

A quick guide to rosé wine

What is a rosé? Rosé wines are technically reds, though they’re typically served cold and have more flavor characteristics in common with white wines. This primer explains the basics of the fastest-growing wine category in the US. It covers production and rosé-making regions and styles, along with some common tasting notes for each bottle.

Long, happy marriages have these important traits

It may not be rocket science, but a lifetime partnership could still use some study. This quick list of smart traits gets into key traits that typically help a marriage remain happy ever after. Using studies from trained therapists and researchers, the article explains how really knowing each other, accepting bids for attention, seeking resolution to conflict, and more are essential to durable marriages. Read it here.

Fantasy is a genre that relies on the supernatural

Fantasy is a literary genre that embraces supernatural and magical elements. While the stories often follow common narrative archetypes, like a quest, they frequently take place in elaborately constructed worlds, which sometimes have their own complex physics, lifeforms, and societies.

Criticism, contempt, defensiveness, and stonewalling are very likely to lead to relationships failing

The Gottmans, both psychologists and long-time relationship counselors with dozens of books and articles between them, are renowned for their approach to fostering healthy relationships. This video outlines negative relational attitudes—what the Gottmans call “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse”—that are correlated with relationship failure, and how to avoid them.

Romanticism continues to influence culture

The breadth and impact of Romanticism and its emphasis on individualism, embracing emotion, and the power of nature outlived the formal boundaries of the movement’s popularity and continue to linger in the public consciousness.

Eight ways literature can make us happier

Novels are often characterized as a form of cultural escape, but psychologists argue there are health benefits to the many elements comprising fiction. The Greek philosopher Aristotle explored this in his "Poetics," asking if literature was something meant to make us happier. This article highlights eight different innovations common to literature that provide psychological benefits, including the plot twist and more.

Explore a list of the best novels of all time, including works by Jane Austen, Cormac McCarthy, and many others.

Romanticism was an 18th and 19th century creative movement

The movement emphasized the beauty of nature and human feeling. It was inspired by reactions against classical traditions, social injustices, technological change, and the philosophy of the Enlightenment. Although the movement spanned literature, visual art, music, poetry, and architecture, some of its most recognizable works are paintings.

Love is a more recent part of marriage

Love matches are incredibly late to the marriage game. For most of our history, marriage has been about alliance, wealth, property, power, and, as an occasional afterthought, the couple liking each other. All that changed when Enlightenment thinkers were inspired in their pursuit of personal happiness, including in their choice of mate.

A scientific analysis of famous time travel stories

This 8-minute video explores how time travel influences the narrative arc of several movies, books and video games, from Harry Potter to A Christmas Carol. (Warning: it contains spoilers!) J.K. Rowling and Charles Dickens set myriad parameters as they’re worldbuilding to avoid paradoxes and create quasi-logical timelines. By drawing diagrams as he’s speaking, the video breaks down how time works in some of popular culture’s most beloved fictional universes.

The novel broke new ground by offering realistic stories

In this brief interview, Terry Castle, an English professor at Stanford, explains the origins of the early British novel. Castle details how the novel was produced for a newly literate middle class interested in recognizable characters and stories “about life as they knew it” rather than Greek and Roman myths or medieval romances. She also explains why a newly enfranchised female demographic was attracted to the fiction of writers like Jane Austen and Virginia Woolf.

A beginner's guide to Toni Morrison

The legendary American writer died in 2019, but her fiction is still as relevant as ever. This primer walks aspiring Morrison fans through her body of work, outlining the ideal starting point for several different kinds of readers. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

Browse and explore dozens of major psychology theories

There are a ton of different psych theories—so here's a breakdown of some of the major ones according to the general psychological focus.

Romanticism changed the norms of the artworld

Romanticism’s expressiveness led to a change in the norms of portrait painting, favoring emotion, nuance, and less conventional subjects. One such example is Géricault’s portraits of mental illness, depicting patients, including a kleptomaniac and a “child snatcher,” in states of expressive emotion.