Yep, I'm Back On The Ice

Sorry not sorry, but this is a Booktok, sports romance reference and nothing to do with martinis or cold water immersions

Have you found something to fill the hockey player-sized hole in your romance viewing of late? Of course you have! And who cares that Off Campus might be better suited to my punks than my peers… It’s likely in the name – I meannn, should the perimenopausal brigade be kicking their feet because a hockey jock realizes he’s mad about the sparkly-eyed philosophy tutor that he’s fake dating so she can end up snagging the tattooed lead singer of the indie band? Probably not, but also why not?! Nothing smothers a bit of menopausal rage faster than locking into a harmless bit o’ romance and some good old fashioned yearning.

And this, dear friends, is why I – and sooooo many of you - love romance as a genre. Yes, its maligned but boy, is it good for the soul. I got to see it playing out live in action at last weekend’s Franschhoek Literary Festival (arguably the world’s most beautiful book festival, but I am almightily biased on this account!). Amongst my panel-hosting duties was a convo with two local romance authors - Zibu Sithole who is no stranger to the genre thanks to her thoroughly brilliant Love, Zola trilogy and political journ-turned-author Qaanitah Hunter’s talking about her debut Why Am I Like This?

Romance is one of the hottest commodities in publishing, but do you know how hot? Romance and fantasy are consistently the top-performing fiction categories globally – thanks Booktok. According to The Atlantic: ‘Coming out of the pandemic, romance print-book sales more than doubled from 2020 to 2023. In 2024, despite declining sales in other publishing categories, romance fans bought so many books that they helped push total print book sales into the black.’

I am a self-confessed lover of romance – I read a lot. In fact, I bounce between romance and thrillers – one palate cleansed for the other – as my staple diet and then throw in The Other Genres to mix things up - but romance is my bread and butter. My staple diet. As Qaanitah Hunter said in our Fran Lit Fest session: “Why be the journalist with the drinking problem you can be the journalist with the romance problem?” Why indeed, Qaanitah.

I could, and often do, read at least a book a week. And turns out I am not alone. According to Wordsrated.com, there are millions of people just like me – nearly half of contemporary fans of romance fiction also read at least a book a week. I see you… We are voracious readers – and we always have been – which is why we romance readers generate such great profit for publishers. Plus, we’ve taken the book-to-screen adaptations to ferocious new fandoms!

Look at Rachel Reid’s Heated Rivalry – a feral fandom that calls itself Loons. I say this respectfully, I am absolutely, 100 per cent, a card-carrying Loon. Shane and Ilya (apologies Shayla) forever. Sales of Heated Rivalry reportedly increased by nearly 1000 per cent within weeks of the show’s release. It hit the Top 10 in the US despite the first book launching almost a decade ago and editions sold out across markets globally. And not just Heated Rivalry, but Reid’s entire Game Changers series.

Sports romances - especially emotionally intense, fandom-driven romances - are big on TikTok, so Rachel wasn’t the only author tapped for an adaptation of late. Just last week Elle Kennedy’s The Deal hit Amazon Prime as Off Campus and us romance girlies have been swooning ever since. Garrett Graham, Dean Di Laurentis, Tucker Carlson, John Logan, you’re all perfect.

Yep, right now sports romances are in – extra points if that sport is ice hockey (it always is!); romantasy is huge (we know this, thanks Sarah J Maas, Rebecca Yarros and Co) and apparently, but don’t quote me fans, historicals are on the wane; dark romance is potentially on the rise and vampires are just about ready for a comeback!

So what do we love? Jesse Shuman – who is an editor at Ballantine – told The Atlantic: “I’ve come to really value anyone who can make me laugh as much as they can make me cry.” Urgh, I love that. I got some great quotes out of my panel and I am wildly paraphrasing here because I was interviewing them live on stage, not taking notes.

Zibu Sithole who wrote the fantastic Zola trilogy spoke so brilliantly about her characters and how she wanted local romance to feel as fizzy and effervescent and filled with joy and sparkle as the romances we grew up with… That being a township girl didn’t mean that the story had to be one of struggle or hardship and survival, that it could just be fun and emotional and romantic and sexy. And Zola – her titular character – is all that! She is running in heels to catch taxis home. She is hoping her mom doesn’t notice how late it is that she is being dropped off. She is grabbing lunch on a bench in Rosebank. She is sharing a room with her sister. She is hustling to make her job work harder and smarter for her. She is fending off a jealous boss. And it is a joy to be along for the ride with her.

Qaanitah Hunter was also on the panel – yes, you might know her byline better for politics and hard news than romance, but she set herself a dream goal and that was to sit on a beach and write a romance novel…. So, she took herself off to Lamu and she did just that. I’m giving the precis version, but she did it! Why Am I Like This? is as much about family and self love as it is about romance, but that’s what I loved – the man in question in this romance is almost a bystander to Farah’s story.

As Mary Olivers Drunk Cousin wrote: “Sorry, but women will always be more fun and silly than men, it’s called shenanigans not henanigans.” That special alchemy is all ours – and romance of all shapes, whether you read it, write it, watch it or listen to it, is shenanigans aplenty. So, what are you reading? And do you need a list of my favourites? Because winter is surely the perfect season to lean into being someone with a romance problem. With apologies to Miranda Priestly, who surely, as a journalist, knows better.