Booksology 
In 2023, romance novels experienced a sales boom by experts, due to both the popularity of television shows. Bridgeton And the taste of reading was curated by book influencers on Tiktok via the tag #Booktok. In 2024, the romance genre remains very well sold, earning around 30 million print sales. And in 2025, the hit novel Onyx Storm Rebecca Jaros has become the best-selling adult novel of 20 years. And no matter how you feel about her writing, Colleen Hoover’s romance novels are also a huge force of romance. Readers may now be looking for escapism.
These sales numbers are just part of the story. The romance renaissance that is happening now is a combination of fandom and market forces. Not only are they loudly proud about what their fans love, they have also heard the publishers listen to them, writers are getting more attention, and romance bookstores provide a space for fans and readers.
What writers and fans feel about romance
I don’t have a Tiktok account, but I know which books are popular on #Booktok. This is because this concept is integrated into the entire book-like internet and brick-and-mortar stores. My local Barnes & Noble has a #Booktok table. Although the table usually contains literary novels that are popular in the app ( My year of rest and relaxation), most books are romance. Many of these romance novels combine genres, just like they do with romantic, paranormal romance or sports romance.
The cultural power of romance has always been there, but now it is very public. In an interview that reflected her career, romance novelist Beverly Jenkins has seen romance become more diverse. The diversity we can see in romance speaks of what romance fans want to read.
The successful outrage of LA-based bookstores led Ripped Bodice to open More Romance Bookstores. You can find 43 in this directory in the US. Claire Mazur, one of the founders of 831 Story, sees fans and bookstores working together.
Romance Skepticism
The history of romance as a successful genre is inevitable from the history of those who make fun of romance or declare it a form of culture. Even George Elliott dismissed many fellow female writers as writing “silly novels by female novelists.” The popularity of romance, especially Smatti Romance, has always caused a bit of agitation.
