Romance novels have been hugely popular for centuries now. Despite this, there can sometimes be a belittling attitude towards the genre (largely by people who’ve never even picked up a romance book!)

However, if there is anything the pandemic and ever-rising popularity of BookTok have proven, it’s that more people than ever are turning to romance for some much-needed escapism. This Valentine’s Day, we wanted to hear more about romance reading habits by the people who know the genre best…romance authors!

Here’s what a selection of Mills & Boon writers think about what romance provides its readers, why they love it, why it can be mislabelled a ‘guilty pleasure’ and the joy that can be found from escaping into a different world for an hour or two.

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To me, reading romance is about getting wrapped up in the lives of two characters, and see their thinking and decisions change as they are confronted with love. There’s so much to be gained from picking up a romance novel, so much to be learned and the opportunity to peek into someone else’s life and understand their experience.

I don’t think a whole genre can be painted as a guilty pleasure — especially not when some of the most nuanced and difficult characters and conflicts I’ve ever encountered have been in romance books.

Luanna DaRosa

It’s a form of escapism covering a whole range of exciting and wonderful emotions. Pleasure and comfort to read about strong and loving feelings between two people, deeply emotional feelings that does not necessarily need to be of a sexual nature. Secretly falling for someone who one thinks is unattainable but loving them in spite of this, even though they are unaware of these guilty, sublimely pleasurable feelings but falling hopelessly in love with them anyway.

Helen Dickson

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I read romance because the world, especially in the last few years, can be a depressing place. Not always of course, but sometimes, just the day to day aspects of working, parenting, juggling money, time and responsibilities can wear a person down. Romance books were a way to decompress and destress. A window into the way I wanted the world to be. Who doesn’t feel better when a story ends happily? When love triumphs over everything? When the characters you’ve been rooting for don’t get the wonderful ending and potential future they deserve? It lifts my mood and feeds my soul. A really good romance is also like a hit of adrenaline.  All the will they, won’t they and the twists and turns of the plot, suspense and humour that go into all the best stories are much better than watching something on the screen because your imagination isn’t confined to what somebody else wants to see, know and experience. I mean, how often do you have to hear someone lament that the book was so much better than the film to know that that is the truth?

[On romance being a guilty pleasure]

Brace yourselves—as I’m about to get on my soapbox as this is one of my major gripes! I personally loathe the idea of any legal pleasure being something you should feel guilty about. Why should anyone feel guilty about reading? Adding it to romance books also feels really disparaging and, dare I say it, misogynistic to me. Nobody is ever told that they should consider a detective novel a guilty pleasure, or playing golf or watching a football game, all well-established pursuits enjoyed by males with no guilt attached. Because they’ve worked hard. Or its their money. Yet that tag gets put on the romance genre as if it’s something shameful romance readers do in a darkened room. When the reality is that romance, in all its forms, from category romances to more literary women’s fiction, that has a love story at its heart, not only makes millions of women happy, but they’re a multibillion dollar industry that contributes to the economy and provides thousands of jobs for people who work in everything from paper factories to bookshops. It also, if publishers coded their books properly without all that nonsensical shame that labelling something as an unabashed love story brings, outsells the crime genre and completely wipes the floor with all those lofty, literary tomes that are considered intelligent reading. Where is the respect for that? I am on the Board of the Romantic Novelists Association and today—Valentine’s Day—we’re working with several publishers to get the #RespectRomFic hashtag trending. I strongly urge every reader who knows that all this ‘guilty’ pleasure stuff is complete nonsense that needs to stop, to take a photo of their current favourite romance novel and to post it on their social media using that hashtag too. What modern, free-thinking, independent, hard-working women choose to do with their free time should never be dismissed as a guilty pleasure! At the very least, you learn more from a book than you ever could whacking a stupid ball about a green.

Virginia Heath

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I like to be swept up in books that have a love story at the centre, around which everything else revolves. It takes me out of the everyday and into the emotional journey of two characters that can have me laughing one minute and crying the next, and rooting for them throughout, despite all the seemingly insurmountable obstacles that stand in the way of their HEA. 

Sadly, all pleasures seem to have the ‘guilty’ tag attached to them and I have no idea why!  What is so shameful about enjoying some time out of our busy lives to relax and get lost in a story where love is at the heart and which has a feel-good and affirming conclusion?

Lissa Morgan

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I read romance because I love it! Romance helps me cope with the bad news and stress of day-to-day life Why should we feel guilty about something that makes us happy?

Elizabeth Beacon

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I love to connect with the characters – those gorgeous heroes and heroines between the covers who feel so real, so tangible and see the how they manage to navigate their way to their own special HEA. I want to lose myself in their love story and even if their path is difficult and bumpy, it’s all about how they get there. And I want to be there every delicious step of the way! I want to be entertained and I can’t think of a better way than to read a wonderful romance that takes me on a sweeping emotional journey, and makes me feel just like the characters. I want to love, laugh and cry with them and the best books really do make you do just that. There’s something fun and naughty about anything that might be deemed a guilty pleasure, but romance books are just a pleasure without any of the guilt. Unless, you have a deadline looming, that is!

Melissa Oliver

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I love the way romance builds deep, complex characters, often thrown together in scenarios that test their beliefs and make them confront their flaws. I find myself getting invested in the couple’s journey more so than in any other genre of book I read. Romance for me is far from a ‘guilty’ pleasure – how can it be when you are reading about women overcoming the obstacles in life to reach out and find a way to make their happy ever after a reality? 

Laura Martin

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I have always loved romance. Particularly Historical Romance, it’s pure escapism, enjoying the drama of another time and place, one very different to our own. It’s fascinating to read about people falling in love, and how this incredible human experience changes and develops us as people. It’s joyous to read about love, and I always want to read about a happily ever after, it leaves me feeling happier and more optimistic.

Romance is a vitamin boost of positivity, no matter the struggles the characters go through there is always happiness at the end of it that makes it worthwhile. I also absolutely adore the foot-kicking excitement and anticipation of reading about people falling in love. The flirting, the sexual tension, the heart-achingly painful conflict, it’s an absolute joy to read.

I absolutely hate the term ‘guilty pleasure’, it suggests there’s something wrong or silly about reading romance and that’s not true. It’s also misogynistic, as no one calls other genres guilty pleasures, only ones predominately enjoyed and written by women. I also don’t understand how just because a book ends happily it somehow lacks quality or intelligence, surely love is a universal emotion that should be celebrated?

I want my books to be a pleasure to read, but I don’t want my readers to feel guilty about them!

Lucy Morris

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Happy Valentine’s Day! So I have no problem admitting how much I love romance novels. They’re fun and comforting, but they’re also so much more than two people falling in love. They’re psychological studies, social commentaries and emotional journeys. They provide empowering role models, they teach us empathy, they support our mental health (because who doesn’t love that warm, fuzzy feeling at the end? It’s the literary equivalent of chocolate cake) and, most importantly, they give us hope. They promote the possibility of a happy ending in a world that’s often dark and scary. Why should we feel guilty about ANY of that? I tell my children they can read whatever they want, so why shouldn’t I?

Jenni Fletcher

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I am fascinated to see how the main characters fight their way through the briars to their HEA. It’s always different! Reading historical romance is magical, transporting you from the present day with an emotional, satisfying story in which love conquers all. I was asked a similar question in 1990 after my first book was published and my response hasn’t changed. I don’t understand why reading and enjoying an historical romance should be a guilty pleasure!

Carol Townend

Happy Valentine’s Day! To celebrate, we’re offering 40% OFF all our romance books.. including the latest titles by all of these wonderful authors.

Use code VDAY23 at the checkout. Offer ends midnight 17.02.23.

By Lauren Gardiner