What romance readers want (and don’t want) in 2020

We’re living in strange, scary times. Now more than ever, we need great books to comfort us. And while we’ve made our likes and dislikes super clear over the years, we never really gave our readers a voice until now. We asked our loyal friends on Facebook what they wanted to see more—and less—of in their romance novels this year. Their answers might surprise you. (Authors, take note!)

Diversity

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Our readers want to see more diversity in romance in a BIG way. We’re all a little tired of only seeing young, white, straight heroines and heroes everywhere we go. Especially in sci fi/urban fantasy/paranormal romance.

But for some examples of diverse romances that we loved, try these:

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Imaginative fairy tale retellings

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I think this one speaks for itself, yes?
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For some of our favorite fairy tale retellings, you’ll want to check out this list.

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Geeks, weirdos, and quirky folks

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“Normal” is so boring, isn’t it? We want to see real people with real flaws and quirks. We all have a little geeky/weirdo side, and we want to see more of “us” reflected in romance novels. Is that too much to ask?
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For some of our favorite geeks, weirdos, and otherwise quirky folk, you'll want to check out this list and this one too.

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Amicable breakups

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So often in romance novels, exes are awful, horrible people who won’t stop until the hero/heroine’s life is ruined. What about heroes and heroines who had decent past relationships, but broke up under friendly terms? Maybe they just grew apart, you know? It happens in real life. Why not in our romance novels?

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Blue-collar workers

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Enough with all the billionaires and moguls. What about regular heroes with regular jobs? Guys who work with their hands?
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We do have a list of our favorite romance heroes who fix stuff. We just want more... 

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Curvy women

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And when we say “curvy”, we’re not talking about the size eight heroine who desperately wishes she was a size two. We’re talking about REALISTIC sizes—and here in the US, the average size for women these days is 14-16.
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There are plenty of authors writing great curvy heroines. Hopefully more will follow their example in 2020.

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3rd person

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Some of us are really sick of 1st person story telling. We want 3rd person, dual point of view romance (i.e.: seeing both the hero and heroine’s POV). There’s just something about 3rd person storytelling that really lets you get to know the characters, and that’s what we want more of. 

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Wealthy heroines 

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You can’t swing a dead cat in Romancelandia without hitting an alpha billionaire hero. But where are all the billionaire heroines? We want more of them, please!
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An example of billionaire heroines done right is the Bluewater Billionaires series. If you haven’t read it, you should get your 1-clicking finger ready, because it’s all kinds of awesome. You’ll thank me later. 

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No more step brothers, please 

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Look, no offense intended on this one. It’s a trope that has been badly at times, and it’s a trope that’s been done exceedingly well at times. But we’re over it now. Can we retire the step brother romances? They had a good run. Isn’t that enough?

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Mature characters

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Some romance readers (ok, when I say “some” I mean me) are grumpy older folks who aged out of new adult romance years (or decades) ago. Where are all the over 40 heroes and heroines in Romancelandia for us to relate to? 
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We have a few favorite mature romances, but they are few and far between, I’m afraid. 

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Younger man/older woman 

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Enough with the manwhore, 40-year-old heroes falling for their 20-year-old virgin nannies. How about more younger man/older woman romances like these?

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But that’s just us. What about y’all? What are you hoping to see more (and less) of in Romancelandia in 2020?