When Shonee Mirchandani returned to Hong Kong from London two decades ago to help run the family bookshop business, Bookazine, the first thing she saw were the romance novels occupying the prime real estate beside store entrances. “The walls were floor to ceiling romance,” she recalls. “No bestsellers, non-fiction or prizewinners – it was all these old-fashioned steamy romance books.
” Charged with reinvigorating the bookselling chain, Mirchandani and sister Arti lost no time in ordering a complete refresh of their stores, not merely relegating the bodice-rippers to a less visible location, but removing them altogether. In time, Mirchandani would meet women at events around Hong Kong who would first compliment her on the reinvigorated stores – then take her aside to complain that they could no longer buy their favourite books. “It gradually dawned on me that these women were all obsessed with buying sexy romance books to spice up their quiet lives,” says Mirchandani, laughing, “even if they would never normally admit to reading them.
” Twenty years on, reading romance is no longer a dirty little secret, and booksellers such as Bookazine are placing the likes of Colleen Hoover, Sarah J. Maas, Emily Henry and Rebecca Yarros proudly front and centre in their stores. The options for a hot and steamy beach read have never been greater, with settings ranging from the cosy to the erotic, from offices to ice-hockey rinks.
Then there is the breakout category romantas.