My Year in Romance Review
Keeping it spicy in unexpected ways
Hello from windy Ireland! We’ve traveled here for our family Christmas, and while I did haul Lev Grossman’s new Arthurian tome, The Bright Sword, in my carry-on all the way across the Atlantic (and EWR, which, let’s be real, is the emotionally longest leg of the journey), I opted instead to rewatch Red White & Royal Blue on my phone during the flight, because honestly the plane ride is tough and sometimes you just need to watch something definitely nice. Why did I even bother packing the 688 page book about Arthur? Pride? Masochism? I should have known better.
Because, if anything, this was the year of the romance for me. It started with the whole Romantasy trend leaping to everyone’s attention with Fourth Wing. And it’s ended with a bevy of sexy holiday movies on Netflix, most of which I watched the first half of and fell asleep. I’ll admit that Hot Frosty just sounded too goofy to me. A snowman is so hot he melts the snow and becomes a real boy? That’s a good sketch idea, but a whole movie?!?
While romance has been part of the zeitgeist for everyone in 2024, it started for me on a little freelance gig writing for Book of the Month’s podcast. They’d send me a book, I’d read it, and write some questions for them. I read several romance books that I never would have read otherwise, like One Star Romance and How to End a Love Story. I highly recommend both.
I had read romances before here and there, though I’d never sought them out. But these books were both so…readable. And good! Not at all cheesy. I want to say that they were just good books that happened to be by and about women. That’s not quite what I mean though. They are different than, say, some other standout books I read this year that are also by and about women, like Remarkably Bright Creatures or my absolute favorite from this year The Wedding People. The romances are a little bit lighter on theme and observation, a little bit heavier on the saucy stuff. They veer a bit further into predictability, but also have a great potential to surprise when they pull anything off in a new way.
After I realized that I loved these two novels, I devoured romances. I whipped through the entire Emily Henry catalogue, boned up on some romantasy I’d missed, tops of which was probably A Marvellous Light, recommended to me by my friend Mairin via this newsletter. But after I watched Red, White & Royal Blue on a plane and fell in love, I read and fell in love with the book even harder.
I think that what romances are really about is power dynamics. Moreso than in any other genre. As I wrote about when I talked about Elphaba and Glinda in Wicked, great stories are often about one central relationship. And where is that more true than romance? The conflict is generated in many romances via never being quite sure who has the upper hand.
The reason I loved RW&RB so much is because there isn’t a more even power dynamic than between the Prince of England and the FSOTUS. Both are public figures, both have over the top expectations placed on them. Both are men, both have so much power. They are…equals in so many ways. So then to watch the conflict of the story unfold because, truly, being together is such a huge problem for both of them, to me, is just…masterful.
The reason this “conflict coming from outside the power dynamic” is so great can be illustrated, actually, by a sexy Christmas movie! My husband and I recently watched Holidate, and there’s a scene where the main character explains that she hates romcoms because there’s never any real reason why the main characters can’t get together, and then they obviously do. But in RW&RB there are so many reasons that they shouldn’t be together. It’s modern day Jane Austen-level-good in its use of our social conventions to weave a perfect fantasy romance.
I think the reason that romance has grabbed me so much this year is precisely because it’s a well-worn genre that can still surprise with fabulous books like RW&RB. I didn’t just accidentally discover romances this year, at thirty-eight. I thought middle-aged women loved romance because their sex lives were sad. But I think maybe they love it because they’ve been around the block enough to know a good thing when they see it. Pulling off something old in a new way is the sexy thing, not necessarily the sex. There’s so much hope in romance as a genre, and it’s not from where I expected it to be. I certainly never expected to love a story about two princes falling in love so much. It’s where the structure still has ability to surprise me that I love it so.
What I hope for in 2025 is more books that feel like home, that make me laugh, that I can’t wait to read when I curl up in bed. I’m sure you do too, and, to be quite trite, it’s lovely to know people who feel the same way. Happy holidays! I’ll see you next year!