A few months ago, Slate wondered if billionaire heroes were finally out in romance. Regular romance heroes could have told them, duh, yes. Other than Annika Martin’s Billionaires of Manhattan series, AAR hasn’t reviewed a romance with Billionaire in the title in five years. I occasionally run across them in contemporary romances but, even there, they are thin on the ground–now we just see leads that are wildly wealthy but insanely so. There also appear to be fewer football players–the last romance we reviewed with a football hero was in 2022. (I’m getting these from our Power Search which is only as good as our tags so I could be wrong.)
As for what’s in, I’m definitely seeing more male leads who are plus-sized, who struggle with depression, and who are happy to have their partner be in charge between the sheets. There also seem to be a lot of men who cook and bake!
What are you seeing? What do you think is out for heroes? What’s in? Do you like these trends? And, just for fun, who’s a recent hero you love?
I reviewed a romance with a footballer lead a few months back, although it’s actual football (not American) and the player is a trans woman (Oyster by Fearne Hill). I probably missed the tag. I have to say that the types of male leads you’re talking about – larger, with health issues,likes to cook etc. – have been present in m/m romance for many years.
Still seeing soccer/football heros in the US as well. Just not NFL/college football leads as much.
I think the hockey players have taken over in m/m… there are still quite a lot of them around.
They’re all over m/f, too. (I read the first book in a series recently.) It seems they’re getting promoted in the “new releases” section no matter what the season.
I would like more books about basketball players. I used to think they’d be challenging because of the height differences. But if people can accept a romance about an eight-foot-tall alien hero, why not a seven-foot-tall basketball player? (I realize there’s another reason some women aren’t willing to read about basketball players. :()
I think one of the issues with billionaires, at least for me, (I mostly read historical but I visited contemporary land to read the Billionaires of Manhattan series) is that your average romance author most likely doesn’t know any and isn’t that familiar with the lifestyle. I have this issue with Hallmark movies too; the homes, or the clothes or the experiences are not rich enough. Part of what made Succession work is it looked really rich, not just upper class but crazy levels of wealth. Annika Martin did a reasonably good job at it. Yes, a billionaire might own a huge apartment in the Zaha Hadid building, or have a car and driver always available, or vacation on a megayacht.
And readers might be craving something that seems more relatable or actually possible. Manhattan may have a lot of billionaires but few of them are single, hot and in their 30s and they aren’t all going to partner up with women from one magical building in Hell’s Kitchen. But maybe you could meet a sweet carpenter or a nice guy with a dad bod. Maybe nowadays that’s all the fantasy people need.
Also, I read the Slate piece and TIL that there is a such a thing as a romance historian.
Sports heroes are definitely the wave of the present, and especially in contemporaries we’re getting a wider variety of occupations, but we’ve also had a lot of mafia heroes becoming a thing, lately.
So I’ve come to the conclusion that no I don’t like the recent trends. I feel like dealing with mental health problems on the page of a romance novel is hard to do effectively and a lot of authors unfortunately fail. An exception to this is Penny Reid’s Bananapants. I also just find a lot of current heroes just boring and the worst thing a book can be is boring. It feels like authors are so worried about offending readers that male heroes have lost their metaphorical bite.
For this reason I’m finding that I’m not reading a lot of romance currently. I read Eloisa James, Julie Ann Long, Cate C Wells, Penny Reid and some Ali Hazlewood (didn’t enjoy the last one of hers at all) and there’s basically no one else on the autobuy list anymore.
I don’t want or need a billionaire hero. I do want a hero with flaws who has to grow and adapt. I also want that in a heroine. And I want to see them do that together – this last part seems to also be really missing in a lot of books at the moment.
Very well said, Bronte. I agree with you. I most certainly dislike reading about mental health issues in romance reading; flawed heroes, yes, as long as they aren’t boring prigs. These days mental health issues seem to dominate far too much in life to the point that one begins to think that saying you don’t have mental health struggles confirms that you do. I also think you are right that the whole #metoo schtick has ruined many things in modern life including all kinds of fiction. I’ve been reading less and less romance over the past year or so and find myself reading more thrillers, court room dramas, police procedurals, etc. That’s where I can find more satisfying heroes like Jack Reacher. As Lucy Mangan says in her “inside-the-cover comment”: “I am very much in love with Jack Reacher – as a man and a role model. If I can’t shag him, I want to be him.” Exactly.
I think the basic character formula that works for me in a romance – and perhaps all of my favorite fiction – is some form of basic intelligence or common sense, and ultimately a sense of fair play. If the lead characters have those qualities, a good writer can make almost anything else interesting. Alpha, beta, cinnamon roll . . . steamy or sweet . . . rich or middle class . . . whatever setting or time period or career, I’m up for any of it.
What I don’t care for in my CONTEMPORARY romance reading are LEAD characters who are mean, careless or inconsiderate of their friends, or each other. IMO, too many writers at the top of several “best” lists think those qualities can be mined as sources of humor, and those authors/titles don’t work for me at all.
What troubles me is that a lot of these heroes live fear of money worries. So they are middle class without concerns about paying the bills. The heroines, too, have a remarkable amount of free time. Everybody always has some friend with an empty apartment, lives in a small town that supports a cute independent bookstore/bakery, runs a restaurant/bar and yet has plenty of social time/free time. It’s more far-fetched than if he were a billionaire!
did you mean “free”?
Yes! Free is exactly what I meant, LOL. Changes the meaning to have fear in there. . . . Just goes to show you should never post in a hurry.
I read something not too long ago where the early 30-something heroine had just bought a bar in a small town. Completely renovated the bar–including re-roofing and wiring, hired several employees, had a brand new large truck, owned her own home, no college debt–all without financing, family money, evidently all this funding coming from a few years at a former job in corporate America. I’m like in what world is this likely?!? (Not mine.) Had to suspend disbelief SO HARD.
I used to think of the fantasy as always finding a parking space in Brooklyn or Manhattan. I guess they’ve upped the fantasy.
giggles