Romance books, as a literary genre, have captivated the imagination of generations of young men and women. Of recent though, there is an increasing popularity in the market for women's fiction books. This is drawing readers away from traditional romance novels. The formulaic romance storybooks with “love-conquers-all” endings are decreasing in popularity among the readers. Publishers of romantic fiction consider this to be bad news for their revenue streams. Traditionally, romance novels have accounted for a dominant part of annual revenues for most publications. The detractors of romance stories have attributed the declining popularity of this literary form to the fact that modern youth consider romance as impractical and formulaic. Strong devotees of romance, however, opine that every genre of fiction is formulaic by definition. In fact, nothing is more formulaic than a mystery and thrillers aren’t that far behind either. Yet for some reason, romances are criticized for being formulaic while other genres are not.

All modern genres of fiction fail or succeed not so much by the "quality" of its writing which means vivid characterizations, graceful use of prose and avoidance of cliché, but by the extent to which it does or does not satisfy its readers’ fantasies”. Novels with pathologists as protagonists contain an insight into forensic science; legal thrillers teach the curious about the law, while political thrillers give them a peek into the inside maneuverings of our government. Romance reading, on the other hand is about satisfying the reader's fantasies. While many people don’t like to admit it, the fact remains that writing today is focused on satisfying the reader for whom, the fantasies have to be easy to spot and relate to. Therefore unless, romantic stories strike a chord with readers as against “ rambling” about the moon and the stars, it is difficult to reverse the trend of declining popularity.

In most romance books, the protagonist, as well as the reader, learns emotional lessons about love. How to tell a good man from a bad one, the importance of honesty in a relationship and the value of trust are just a few of the lessons. Worthy lessons are usually contained within such books.