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Love is in the air, as interest in romance books skyrockets

WBUR | By Hafsa Quraishi
Published September 24, 2025 at 11:54 AM EDT
A group of friends bejewel the covers of their favorite romance novels while clad in book-themed pajamas during the Romantically Yours Convention’s pajama party event. (Hafsa Quraishi/Here & Now)
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A group of friends bejewel the covers of their favorite romance novels while clad in book-themed pajamas during the Romantically Yours Convention’s pajama party event. (Hafsa Quraishi/Here & Now)

As interest in reading for pleasure declines in the U.S. overall, there’s one genre that’s been steadily drawing readers in with promises of happily-ever-afters: romance.

Print sales for romance books have more than doubled in the last five years, according to data from Circana BookScan. And as interest skyrockets, so do third spaces catering to romance book lovers.

Bookstores and conferences dedicated to the genre of love — and every subgenre and trope under its umbrella — have been popping up all over the country, and readers are eating it up.

Here & Now’s Hafsa Quraishi recently dove into these spaces to figure out what’s driving this recent boom in romance.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2025 WBUR
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Federal funding is gone.

Congress has eliminated all funding for public media.

That means $2.1 million per year that Connecticut Public relied on to deliver you news, information, and entertainment programs you enjoyed is gone.

The future of public media is in your hands.

All donations are appreciated, but we ask in this moment you consider starting a monthly gift as a Sustainer to help replace what’s been lost.

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