Spicy scenes, BookTok boyfriends and masked men. That’s what the classics are battling against to engage today’s readers. Readers used to talk about Wuthering Heights’ Heathcliff and Pride and Prejudice’s Mr. Darcy. Some might have even fallen in love with the darkness and edginess of Edgar Allen Poe.
These classics, some of which are nearly 200 years old, are harder to read. But once you grasp the old English style, you can easily start dreaming about one of the men (or women) in your book of choice. So, what has readers so infatuated with the more modern dark romance section of the local bookstore?
If you are on social media, chances are you’ve seen some kind of reference to BookTok and the dark romance stories capturing the interest of hundreds of thousands around the world. The increase of interest in all things romance has even allowed a specialty store to open in Edmonton — The Book Boudoir is a store entirely dedicated to every sub-genre of romance.
The positivity of sex and the reinforcement of mental health is one possible driving force for this new era of romance. Romance pulls on the hopes of happy endings, and dark romance adds a touch of modernization and “bad boy vibes” to the journey.
I liken this to a common human desire. Many readers tend to crave those happy endings — so badly that maybe we moved on from the classics to stories that are easier for readers to get to that satisfying conclusion.
Dark romance grips at your heart strings and is written in a way that is so effortless to read that it can easily turn a classic-loving, old-English-translator into a BookTok-girlie. It starts with one, just to see what all the hullabaloo is about, and suddenly you’re imagining Mr. Darcy in a leather vest and ripped jeans.
One can argue that the classics have always and will always be there. Pride and Prejudice, Little Women, Wuthering Heights and even poems like The Raven are always there to hold our hand and be the familiar, comforting stories we know and love. But we’re adults now, and it’s okay to love the classics while still exploring new things. As someone who used to read the classics in my downtime, I am the person who now wants to read romance books that are easier to understand. Dark romance now fills my shelves as Heathcliff sits and waits for me to come back to him.
I found happiness in modern dark romance when Wuthering Heights set the tone for isolation and solitude. “A perfect misanthropist’s heaven” is not the life for me, so when users on BookTok blow up a romance novel that is accessible for everyone, I find relief and comfort in knowing that I am not so alone after all. People gravitate towards a relatable language and writing style, even when many OG romance classics also have their fair share of spice. But it’s easier to participate in book communities when you don’t have to decode what is being said. I, for one, will continue to love “thee” and “thy,” but maybe throw in some “yes sirs” to keep things spicy.
Feature image by Elaine Howlin via Unsplash
