Study reveals men bigger fans of romance than women

Men are bigger romance fans than women, according to a recent survey.

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

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

Commissioned by ThriftBooks and conducted by Talker Research, the survey also uncovered who readers are imagining when reading romance, their must-haves for the perfect reading session, misconceptions about the genre and their favorite and least favorite plot tropes.

Seventeen percent of married readers typically picture their spouse when imagining the love interest in a novel, 21% of respondents admitted to having envisioned their celebrity crush and 7% of readers even revealed they typically imagine their ex.

For respondents who imagine 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 the love interest is a man, the celebrity most commonly pictured among Gen Z readers was Timothée Chalamet (25%). For both millennials (34%) and Gen X (26%) it turns out to be Channing Tatum while the top answer for baby boomers was Brad Pitt (25%).

Before becoming romance junkies, readers said they had a few misconceptions about the category. 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 find that romance novels are often very well written (54%), contain spicy content (46%) and frequently have surprising plot twists (37%).

Examining their best-loved tropes, the survey found that romance readers most enjoy forbidden romance (45%), friends-to-lovers (44%) and enemies-to-lovers (42%) plots and dislike reading about love triangles (23%), office romances (22%) and fake dating scenarios (21%) the most.

“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.”

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%).

In fact, 44% prefer to read in perfect silence, while 17% typically enjoy the sound of rainfall and 12% will turn on 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.

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.

However, Gen Z will 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 if it’s suggested to them based on the author (50%).

Popular romance novel recommendations from the survey include modern reads such as “The Notebook,” “It Ends with Us” and “Fifty Shades of Grey” as well as classic titles like “Gone with the Wind,” “Pride and Prejudice” and “Wuthering Heights.”

“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.”

TOP CELEBRITIES PICTURED WHEN READING A ROMANCE NOVEL

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%

READING IN A YEAR SNAPSHOT

Average romance books read per year - 36

Average hours reading romance per year - 312

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.