We’ve come a long way since the days when picking up a romance book was considered scandalous. And while there is certainly still some stigma around these types of novels—mainly that they’re fluffy candy for the brain—it’s hard to deny the fact that this genre is more popular than ever. But it was certainly a bumpy road getting there.

It wasn’t always that way. In fact, from the late nineteenth century to the early twentieth century, romance novels were de rigueur. The gothic romance of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre or Emily Brontë’s brooding Wuthering Heights could be considered early romance, as could D. H. Lawrence’s scandalous (at the time) 1928 Lady Chatterley’s Lover. But the genre really exploded with Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind in 1936 and Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca in 1938.

While many of these twentieth-century novels featured tortured love triangles and tragic figures, they also tended to break away from the “sex equals death” equation that so many—usually male—authors wrote before (Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles, anyone?). But the social revolution of the 1960s saw women tired of the seemingly repressive romantic plots and their accompanying tropes, so publishers largely turned away from them.

That all changed again with the publication of The Flame and the Flower in 1972 in what is widely considered the first “bodice ripper.” Written by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, this novel became the model from which all those grocery store paperbacks featuring people in passionate embraces came. These types of books were marketed to a very specific audience. Sold in grocery stores and at newsstands, romance novels of this era were cheap, convenient, and reliable.

Most romance readers fell solidly into the same group: married women, ranging from midthirties to midfifties, who weren’t drawn to television because of their busy lifestyles. After all, books were portable, had no commercial breaks, and could be read for a minute or two at a time between performing other tasks, whether at work or home.

But now? In a time when the publishing industry largely struggles to sell other genres, romance has hit it big: the average income for a romance writer, in fact, has “tripled in the digital age.” The types of romances being written have changed, although the traditional happily-ever-after ending that is a requirement of the genre has stayed steady.

Many entries in the genre now focus on fully functioning capable women or men who have satisfying lives and steady jobs. They don’t need a romantic partner to make them feel whole. However, the addition of such a person does always lead to undeniable love—and plenty of steamy sex scenes.

The discussion of modern romance novels wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the phenomenon of 2011’s Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James. While extremely divisive as a love-it-or-hate-it book, it did reopen the romance novel discussion and led the way for many authors of the genre. Colleen Hoover, author of 2016’s It Ends with Us (among many others) is having a moment right now, with an upcoming movie adaptation starring Blake Lively.

And it’s not just contemporary romances that have seen a surge in popularity. Fantasy romances, like Sarah J. Maas’s A Court of Thorns and Roses (2015), are very much in, as are historical romances like The Duke and I by Julia Quinn—the basis for Netflix’s wildly popular Bridgerton series (three seasons and counting!).

But the modern romance novel scene is no longer one of white heterosexual women lusting after some nice eye candy. The last twenty years have ushered in an impressive array of inclusive romance featuring and authored by people of color and members of the LGBTQ+ community—including but certainly not limited to Alexandria Bellefleur’s Written in the Stars (2020) and Seven Days in June by Tia Williams (2021). This kind of representation has also opened the eyes of publishers, who now no longer tend to classify romance books so rigidly. A love story is a love story, and the sentiments can cross all barriers.

So why now? Why this sudden renaissance of a predictable (at best) and formulaic (at worst) genre that often plays to one’s most basic fantasy that everything will be all right? Many publishers point to the pandemic, since romance sales spiked during that time. It makes sense: Many people were cooped up in their houses, scared, with not a whole lot to do other than watch TV and read. In times of such uncertainty, reading can be one of the biggest comforts—and there’s nothing more comforting than picking up a book in which you know everyone will, eventually, find love and settle into a life that is happier than they ever could have imagined.

Add to that the emergence of BookTok, a subcommunity of TikTok where contributors read, review, and discuss books, and you’ve got a winning combination on your hands. A lot of BookTok talk just so happens to center on romance novels, bringing the genre to a wider (and younger) audience than ever before. In fact, the usual audience for romances has shifted rather remarkably, with women as young as eighteen years old fueling sales.

So whatever your romance niche—whether it be historical, gothic, fantasy, contemporary, supernatural, erotic, or something else—just know that you are part of a large, diverse community that revels in the happily ever after. And deep down, don’t we all?

Andrea Moran lives outside of Nashville with her husband and two kids. She’s a professional copywriter and editor who loves all things books. Find her on LinkedIn.