Reading Romance is Political

Even and especially on BookTok

I was going to write about the men of BookTok this week, but we’ll save that for another time. I’m not all that interested in thinking about men at the moment. Instead, I want to talk about the politics of reading romance and what that looks like as we move forward into an uncertain future.

Based on my experience of 2016, I know it’s likely that all of this will sound hopelessly naive sooner rather than later, but I’d rather be earnest than cynical in this particular moment. If that doesn’t resonate for you, feel free to skip.

I set out to write this newsletter to provide insight into a group of powerful readers that often goes ignored and that hasn’t changed. It’s important to know what people are reading, how they are escaping, what their fantasies are, and how they are being presented. In the coming months, I’m also interested in exploring what genre trends this terrible time might create or resurrect. I found this thread about the rise of hockey romance by author Luna Maria Ramirez to be a good reminder of how popular fiction can shed a light on societal change and values, both good and bad.

Will we see a rise in plucky heroines fighting unjust regimes? Probably yes. Will we also see more Amish romances, or trad wife-coded romance, etc.? Probably also yes. The demographic data that has emerged since election night is still imperfect, but as it stands the gender gap among Gen Z suggests that young women are more liberal than their male counterparts. Is it any wonder book boyfriends are so popular? Their real world options are mostly right wing edgelords who don’t respect their right to bodily autonomy.

I can’t entirely divest from Amazon: Kindle Unlimited is where most of these books exist, exclusively (and intentionally). I’d love to see authors building an equitable subscription alternative, but until then, we’re stuck with Bezos (which has been the problem all along). And I don’t blame authors whose entire livelihood exists inside the Amazon ecosystem for continuing to make their livings. I am going to donate all of the funds from my Amazon affiliate links to the American Library Association’s Unite Against Book Bans. I also suggest supporting Authors Against Book Bans.

One of Project 2025’s stated goals is to ban pornography, including any and all LGBTQ+ content. James Folta breaks down what this means for readers in an excellent LitHub piece, The Republicans’ Project 2025 is Disastrous for Books. There is not reason to expect they won’t come for romance, too.

Reading romance is political, especially now when women’s rights are being dragged back into the nineteenth century. Work that centers women’s pleasure and autonomy is important, even as we grapple with making Romancelandia a more inclusive space for BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and marginalized readers and creators.

Algorithms are racist, and BookTok has contributed to the significant dip in diverse romance from traditional publishers over the past few years. As a tool for discoverability and promotion, it is imperfect at best, and damaging at worst. But building passionate communities of readers who are willing to fight for their ability to read freely is vitally important. Some BookTokers are already compiling lists of books to buy physical copies of before more bans take place.

@authormmcmahonBanned books to get before Trump is inaugurated #bannedbooks #bookrecs #bookreccomendations #kamalaharris #project2025

Tiktok failed to load.

Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser

Many romance writers have mobilized and will continue to do so. Sarah MacLean and Jennifer Prokop’s romance podcast, Fated Mates, tackles questions about the politics of reading romance with wit, research, and humor, and their Fated States project has organized weekly phonebanks for democratic candidates and progressive issues. Their list of participating authors would be a great place to find your next read.

Romancing the Vote has raised funds to protect voting rights through auctioning off signed romances, annotated special editions, and more, raising over $1,000,000 since 2020.

I’ve made it my job here to report on things happening online, a project that feels increasingly important as our media environment played such a large role in this election, but I also intend to spend more time actively offline, connecting with people in person. This includes volunteering at my local library, working with activist writers’ groups, and more. I’m considering my Twitter account permanently dead, but I am on Bluesky as @alymor.

Finally, we can’t fight without taking care of ourselves, so I’ve compiled a list of comforting romance reads for this weekend and beyond (all Bookshop.org links).

• Anything by Cat Sebastian, who I will recommend until the end of time. Her books are like a warm hug, and uniformly excellent at showing how love and found families can be created even in circumstances that are hostile to them.

• The Prospects, a romance about the first openly trans player in professional baseball, will make you fall in love with the sport as well as its two main characters.

• I started Out on a Limb, a romance with disability representation, last night and was instantly charmed. Warm and wonderful.

• If you’ve ever wanted to watch a Hallmark movie where they kiss more than once, A Jingle Bell Mingle might be for you!

• Want to read a historical black cowboy romance? Try the legendary Beverly Jenkins’ Forbidden.

• Rebekah Weatherspoon’s Sugar Baby series is a frothy twist on the billionaire romance that deserves a breakout moment on BookTok.

• A few of my all-time comfort reads: Rock Hard by genre queen Nalini Singh, Pretty Face by Lucy Parker (inexplicably unavailable on Bookshop.org), and Devil in Spring by Lisa Kleypas.

• If you haven’t read ACOTAR yet and just want to be fully immersed in something, now might be your moment. It’s already been banned in Utah.

Please let me know what you’re reading and how you’re feeling, if you’d like.