Gen Z is driving sales of romance books to the top of bestseller lists

Why are they weird?

How does this make them "weird?"

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."There's so many good books by Black authors that get ignored," said Gen Z reader Kariem, who herself is Black and Muslim. "I think a lot of books by white authors are just advertised more, and there's a lot of up and coming authors that don't have the same resources."

Henry also reflected on the issue. "I don't know what we do to help BookTok make space for more authors beyond the white authors who are having this moment," Henry said.

But overall, the romance writers at the top of the bestsellers lists today said they rejoice in Gen Z's openness about loving the romance genre. It's "this embracing of pleasure and sexuality and openness to the things that make you feel good without denigrating those as like a lower form of art," Henry said.

Hazelwood said she, and so many others, grew up embarrassed of reading romance novels. "I just hope that this new generation is growing up without all that stigma that was unjustifiably there to begin with. Now [reading romance] is super cool," she said."