Romance Revealed

Our newest survey uncovers the secret lives of romance fans

We love love! As Valentine's Day approaches, we're indulging in our favorite guilty pleasure—romance novels. We even commissioned a hot-off-the-press survey about it.  Conducted by Talker Research, our poll looks at the traits, tendencies, and tastes of romance fans like us. Read on for all the juicy details!  

Men are bigger romance fans than women!  

The survey of 2,000 American romance readers revealed that 63 percent of men surveyed consider themselves die-hard romance enthusiasts compared to 60 percent of women.

Men also spend more time reading romance: On average, the study found that men spend 364 hours immersed in the genre per year while women only reported 312 hours.

Our love interests may vary

Seventeen percent of married readers typically picture their spouse when imagining the love interest in a novel, while 21 percent of respondents said that they envision their celebrity crush, and 7 percent of readers confessed that they typically imagine their ex.

For respondents imagining celebrities when the love interest in a romance novel is a woman, Gen Z pictures Zendaya most often (39%), both millennials (26%) and Gen X (26%) imagine Angelina Jolie, and baby boomers said they’ll most commonly think of Halle Berry (19%).

When it comes to male celebrities, the most commonly pictured among Gen Z readers was Timothée Chalamet (25%). Both millennials (34%) and Gen X (26%) named Channing Tatum as their fantasy man, while the top answer for baby boomers was Brad Pitt (25%).

Top celebrities pictured when reading romance novels

Women

• Angelina Jolie—26%
• Megan Fox—21%
• Zendaya—20%
• Selena Gomez—19%
• Scarlett Johansson—19%

Men

• Channing Tatum—26%
• Brad Pitt—22%
• Chris Hemsworth—20%
• Ryan Reynolds—19%
• Chris Evans—17%

The romance genre has depth.

Before becoming romance junkies, readers said they had a few misconceptions about the genre. A few common misbeliefs were that romance books all have predictable/happy endings (38%), all follow the same formulaic plot (27%) and are all about fairy tale romance without enough physical romance (19%).

But after digging into the genre, they were surprised to be able to find romances that are well written (54%), contain some serious spice (46%) and frequently have surprising plot twists (37%).

Sometimes romance tropes happen IRL!

From forbidden romance to office flirtation to fake dating scenarios, there are a lot of popular tropes—commonly used plot devices—found in the romance genre. Why do these plot points keep showing up in books? Because they happen in real life too!

"The study found that romance tropes aren’t limited to books,” said Barbara Hagen, vice president of marketing at ThriftBooks. “Seventy-eight percent said a romance trope has happened in their real life. More than a few had love-at-first-sight encounters, with one respondent saying they married a man after knowing him for just five days."

Other tropes that readers commonly reported happening in real life included:

• Falling in love with coworkers
• Love triangles
• Fake relationships that worked out
• Meet-cutes
• Dating the boss
• Rekindling first love after a long time apart
• Marrying a childhood bestie or a high school sweetheart
• Whirlwind romances
• Forbidden love
• Friends-to-lovers

When it comes to tropes, we do pick favorites.

We asked readers which tropes they liked and disliked. According to our survey, these are the most popular tropes, plus some of our recommendations for each:

Forbidden romance (45%)

• How (Not) to Have an Arranged Marriage by Amir Khan—Yousef's Pakistani parents expect him to marry a girl of their choosing. But instead he falls for Jess, a fellow medical student.
• Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman—This dystopian YA novel imagines a romance between star-crossed lovers Sophy and Callum.
• Twisted Games by Ana Huang—An elite bodyguard breaks all his rules when he falls for the princess he's supposed to be protecting.

Friends-to-lovers (44%)

• Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren—They've been friends since college, but Josh and Hazel are polar opposites. Sure they spend a lot of time together, but they're definitely not dating!
• His Grumpy Childhood Friend by Jackie Lau—Charlotte is trying to get back out there five years after a traumatic breakup, so she enlists Mike, her childhood best friend, to take her out on a few practice dates.
• Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert—Career-driven and pragmatic, Dani agrees to fake date her friend Zafir after a video of him "rescuing" her from their office building goes viral.

Enemies-to-lovers (42%)

• Delilah Green Doesn't Care by Ashley Herring Blake—When Delilah returns to her godforsaken hometown to photograph her estranged stepsister's wedding, the last thing she expects is to find love.
• Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal—This charming update of Pride and Prejudice is set in modern-day Pakistan.
• Beach Read by Emily Henry—Romance writer January Andrews is horrified to realize she's spending the summer next door to her nemesis, literary fiction author Augustus Everett.

These tropes came up as respondents' least favorite, but that doesn't mean there aren't great examples of them. Here are some of our recommendations if this is what you're into.

Love triangle (23%)

• One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid—Years after the disappearance of her husband Jesse, Emma gets engaged to Sam, an old friend. Then Jesse is found alive.
• Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez—Florentino Ariza waits more than half a century to declare his undying love to the beautiful Fermina Daza after losing her to another man.
• An American Marriage by Tayari Jones—When her husband, Roy, is sentenced to twelve years for a crime he didn't commit, Celestial turns to her childhood friend Andrew for comfort. Then Roy's conviction is overturned.

Office romance (22%)

• The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood—When a fake relationship between scientists meets the irresistible force of attraction, it throws one woman's carefully calculated theories on love into chaos.
• Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus—Chemist Elizabeth Zott's all-male 1960s research team takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: the brilliant Calvin Evans falls in love with—of all things—her mind.
• Just Like That by Cole McCade—With his mother in trouble, Summer has no choice but to return to his hometown and take teaching residency working directly under the man who made his teenage years miserable.

Fake dating scenarios (21%)

• The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang—Having Asperger's makes it hard for mathematician Stella to figure out how to date. So she hires Michael, a gorgeous escort to help her "practice."
• The Dating Plan by Sara Desai—A marriage of convenience will get Daisy's matchmaking relatives off her back and fulfill the terms of Liam's late grandfather's will.
• Well Matched by Jen DeLuca—A pretend relationship gives two friends more than they bargained for in this Renaissance Faire rom com filled with flower crowns, kilts, corsets, and sword fights.

There's definitely a right way to read romance!

To set up the perfect romance reading session, readers said their top must-haves are a cozy blanket (65%), a snack (46%) and a quiet house all to themselves (41%).

The survey found that 44 percent prefer to read in perfect silence, while 17 percent typically enjoy the sound of rainfall and 12 percent opt for white noise.

Respondents said a typical reading session lasts a little under an hour and a half (81 minutes), on average, but most (85%) admitted that if the book is particularly engrossing, they’ll stay up all night reading to finish it.

It’s no surprise then that of all book types, readers said romance (67%) is the genre most likely to keep them reading all night long.

Just like in our real life romances, we have some standards for our literary love.

Examining the anatomy of the ideal love novel, respondents ranked good character development (49%), realistic dialogue (33%) and ample romance moments (33%) as the most important characteristics.

On average, readers said they can tell if they like or dislike a romance novel 33 pages in. In a surprising twist, we found that Gen Z readers are likely to stick it out the longest of all generations and read 45 pages of a book they don’t like before throwing in the towel.

Gen Z (58%), millennials (51%) and Gen X readers (46%) are most likely to take a romance book recommendation based on the plot while baby boomers are most likely to pick up a book based on the author (50%).

When asked to name their top romance recommendations, respondents named a healthy mix of newer titles alongside classics. Here are some of the top reader recs:

• The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
• Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
• It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
• Fifty Shades of Grey by L. James
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
• Love Story by Erich Segal
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
• Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
• Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
• Anything by Nora Roberts, Danielle Steel, Debbie Macomber, and Karen Kingsbury

"It’s heartwarming to see that readers are still actively reading and recommending classic romance novels as well as contemporary ones," said Hagen. "And while more than a few had misconceptions before getting into the genre, the study found that many readers found romance to be more nuanced than originally thought."

What do you look for in romances? Let us know if you have any favorites to recommend.

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Survey methodology:

Talker Research surveyed 2,000 American adults who read at least 3-4 romance novels per year; the survey was commissioned by ThriftBooks and administered and conducted online by Talker Research between Jan. 2 and Jan. 8, 2025.

Read more by Ashly Moore Sheldon