A Happily Ever After for D.C.’s Romance Fans
At East City Bookshop, an independent bookstore on Pennsylvania Ave SE, readers lined up to see if they could find ‘the one’ — a romance novel they hadn’t read yet.
Fans were out to celebrate Bookstore Romance Day, a day of events at bookshops across the country celebrating romance fiction.
The event was so popular the store sold out of the romance books in stock. That comes as no surprise to anyone paying attention to the passionate — and growing — romance fanbase in D.C.
Some bookstores went beyond sales. At Loyalty Bookstores, fresh off an appearance on Good Morning America, programming and marketing manager Christine Bollow moderated a virtual panel featuring top romance writers. Solid State Books offered drinks from their bars — and ended the day with a speed dating mixer. One More Page Books in Arlington hosted a panel featuring three local romance writers.
“Bookstore Romance Day is one of those things that is so special you wish you could do it more often, but you can’t because then it wouldn’t be as special,” said Destine Hodge, the book clubs coordinator at East City Bookshop.
For fans of the genre and its authors, the success of Bookstore Romance Day showed that the greater D.C. area has become a hub of activity for the community. Multiple independent bookstores host romance-specific book clubs (full disclosure: I help run East City’s Really Reading Romance) and regular book signings. Popular authors, including Robin Covington, Jayce Ellis, Taj McCoy and Diana Quincy, all call the DMV home. And, in September, two of the genre’s biggest names — Elena Armas and Jasmine Guillory — will hold events here.
“It’s really fun that [the D.C. area] is an unexpected little hive of the romance community. It’s definitely not what people would stereotypically think of with D.C., but you know what? Romance finds a way,” Avery Flynn, a romance writer who lives in northern Virginia, said.
Authors, Bookstores and More
The DMV wasn’t always a haven for the genre, according to D.C-native Allie Parker, a romance reader and podcaster. Book clubs and events were rare, and it was sometimes even tricky to find romance.
“When I grew up here, independent bookstores didn’t carry romance novels. If you were looking for one, you really had to go to a chain store. They carried them at the library, but you had to go digging and go to different branches. I was always hunting for romance novels,” she said.
Despite being a billion-dollar industry — and accounting for nearly a quarter of all books sold — the literary world has long looked down on the romance genre. The Romance Writers of America says romances must have two elements to fit in the genre: a central love story focused on individuals trying to make a relationship work and a satisfying, hopeful ending. The latter requirement is often called a Happily Ever After or HEA — although some books feature a “Happy for Now” ending.
Within the genre are dozens of subgenres: historical (think “Bridgerton”), romcoms, romantic suspense (books that combine a love story with a thriller), paranormal romance (such as the TikTok famous Ice Planet Barbarian books). Some feature sex on the page, others do not.
And while books published by the big editorial houses still feature overwhelmingly white, straight characters, the genre is growing more diverse. And, self-published books by — and about people of color — are proving popular with fans and lucrative for authors.
“Romance novels today are showing a greater breadth of personalities, personalities, experiences and the way that people love each other,” Parker said.
Still, romances are often derided as trashy “bodice rippers. The readers who love them and the authors who write them, primarily women, are criticized as dumb, silly and frivolous. Independent bookstores often decline to carry romance — even as the books top the charts — choosing to dedicate their shelf-space to other options.
“When you walk into a bookstore and ask, ‘where’s your romance section?’ it’s going to be tiny or nonexistent or you’re going to get a dirty look,” D.C.-based romance writer Andie J. Christopher said.
In contrast, independent bookstores in the D.C. area “are opening their doors to romance fans and writers alike and actually taking it seriously,” she added.
Christopher considers the rise of romance-friendly indies in the area one of the key factors for D.C.’s growing romance scene. Other reasons she points to include the Baltimore Book Festival’s historical acceptance of genre fiction, the former strength of local romance author groups and the presence of Nora Roberts, the genre’s doyenne, in nearby Boonsboro, Maryland.
Roberts, has published more than 225 romance books and a dozen of them have been adapted for the screen. An adaptation of her 1989 novel Brazen Virtue is now streaming on Netflix. The prolific writer was born in Silver Spring and owns a bookstore in Boonsboro, roughly an hour and a half drive from D.C., and regularly hosted romance authors for signings before the pandemic.
“Romance has gotten more play in the literary scene in D.C. … the roots of it are Nora Roberts living in the area and always featuring local writings at her signings,” Christopher added.
Authors Tracey Livesay and Mia Sosa also listed the local chapters of Romance Writers of America as sparking the genre’s popularity in the area. While the organization “imploded” — in the words of all three writers — in early 2020 over its treatment of writers of color, the D.C., Maryland and Virginia chapters were previously powerhouses. It trained new writers in their craft and connected them to agents, editors and each other.
“It was an embarrassment of riches when it came to finding other folks who would be in the trenches with you, so to speak,’ said Mia Sosa, a Maryland romance writer who has set her two most recent books in and around D.C.
Livesay said the combination of authors, fans and bookshops are creating a cycle that strengthens the community.
“If readers and authors feel that the bookstores are going to be supportive, we’re going to show up. That helps bookstores and makes them want to do more events, and it just all sort of creates this community that we’re growing here,” she said.
“It Makes Me Feel Fulfilled”
For readers of an oft-maligned genre, having friends they can meet in-person to discuss their favorite books with is a refreshing change of pace, after years of internet forums and Twitter discussions.
“I don’t knock anybody that likes to read government or politics books or likes to go to book signings for those authors. They are important people doing important work. But I think it’s also important that fans of romance have a space to come and talk about the books that are being published,” said Racquel Nassor, an English lit graduate student at Georgetown.
And, she added, joining a book club is an excellent option for people new to D.C. looking to make friends outside of work — who don’t want to play kickball or softball.
Parker added, “Most people love to have like a sense of community. And when it’s around something that you truly enjoy, and that you find joy in having people that you can celebrate with, especially when they’re close by, is just empowering. It makes me feel fulfilled.”
Sarah Wendell, founder of the popular Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, has had a virtual book community for years, but since moving to Maryland six years ago, she’s been able to join in-person events.
“It’s just lovely. I’m a pretty introverted person, for me, knowing that there are romance readers is a really welcoming because I know that I’m going to have something to talk about with those people,” she said.
Wendell points to one more reason romance is surging in popularity — in D.C. and elsewhere — it makes people happy.
“When you are looking at a very, very bleak world, you want things that will make you feel good,” she said. “People have absorbed this message that genre fiction and romance, in particular, are lowbrow and not for them, but eventually, you’re ability to give a shit breaks down. You’re like, ‘I just want to feel good.’ And that’s what romance provides.
That sense of solace has been a life raft for romance readers — myself included — over the turbulent last two years. Early in quarantine, Destinee and I hosted weekly Zoom author chats for our book club, bringing in writers from all over the world for discussions about HEAs, tropes, and more. They gave our weeks structure, and ensured we’d get a few laughs and smiles regularly.
While none of us found our true loves during those meetings, we did find friendship with each other. And maybe that’s an HEA too.
Romance-Friendly Bookstores
East City Bookshop (D.C.)*
Loyalty Books (D.C.)*
McKay Used Books (Virginia)
Old Town Books (Virginia)*
One More Page (Virginia)*
Politics and Prose (D.C.)*
Solid State Books (D.C.)
The D.C. Public Library also hosts a romance book club.
*indicates the store hosts a book club
Selected DMV Romance Authors
Andie J. Christopher
Robin Covington
Jayce Ellis
Avery Flynn
Tracey Livesay
Taj McCoy
Mary Jo Putney
Diana Quincy
Mia Sosa
Rebecca York
