Do men read romance novels?

[matt819]

My fiction preferences are police procedurals and thrillers. A friend recently persuaded (dared?) me to read a romance series, in particular a YA series. Doesn't matter which one (it's a little embarrassing to admit, much less to say which one).

Which leads to two questions in a thoroughly unscientific sampling,

One, do men read romance novels?

Two, do adults read YA novels/romance novels.

And, a third question, does any of this have any meaning?

[JimDandy]

1. My father did in his early forties. What is YA? n/t

[SheilaT]

2. Yes, adults read YA (Young Adult) novels.

There are a lot of very good ones out there, many much better than the adult novels in my opinion.

I am sure some men read romance novels. I suspect that the popularity of the various e-readers will only increase the reading of types of literature that people would not want to be seen holding a physical copy of. Such as men and romance novels.

[getting old in mke]

3. Survey of One

I read a quite a few YA novels. I have a particular liking for the plucky boy/plucky girl type, although the high school angst type are entertaining from time to time.

I don't read books that would be classes romance on their own, although I have no problem with strong romantic subplots--things that would probably be classed as */Romance types where * = SF, Mystery, Historical. In other words I'll neither read nor avoid books based on a romance component as long as it's the type of thing I'd read otherwise.

[libodem]

4. I don't think they do very often

I'm female and I can't stand the predictable formula. One series I have loved that is similar to romance is Janet Evonovich's Stephanie Plum series. She is a bounty hunter and her predicaments are hilarious.

I have heard that soap operas and romance novels are semi-equivalent to why men like porn. So men are visual and like the no imagination in your face frank exposure while women like the more subtle situational tease of an opportunity that puts partners together. I don't know if I'm explaining this well? Hope it makes sense.

I think they would bore the average man.

[Curmudgeoness]

5. Female here, and I don't read "romance" novels.

I would have to know what book or series you are reading to know if I would classify it as a romance novel or not.

But I have often read young adult books. Heck, I have even read juvenile books like Carl Hiaasen's Hoot. In my opinion, if it sounds interesting, that is all that matters. (And that answers question three---it doesn't have meaning, since it doesn't matter.)

[mainer]

6. This article says YES

It is a truth universally acknowledged that men do not read or write romance novels... unless they are attempting to "cash in" or use phrases like bodice ripper or burning desire (for example: these two snarky gentlemen). However, according to statistics from Romance Writers of America, 9 percent of romance readers are guys. Who are the real men who read and write romance novels just because they like it? I spoke with a few of them and about the portrayal of men in the genre, how people react to them, and how to make these books more appealing to dudes.

But wait -- what is a romance novel? Most people know them as the trashy books with heaving bosoms often found in back corners of bookstores or racks in the drugstore. The Serious Definition is a novel with a plot that centers around two individuals falling in love with an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending.

Nora Roberts it the queen of romance. Books like 50 Shades of Grey are often an intro to the genre. But one guy romance author, Greg Herren, points out that what really makes a romance novel might not be what we expect -- and guys might be reading them already!
The great irony is men already read books with romance in them -- they just aren't called romance novels. If you take Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Identity, flip it and tell it from the woman's point of view, it would have been published as a romantic suspense novel and would have had a completely different cover, a different marketing plan... but really, Jason Bourne meets a woman, she goes along on his big spy adventure, and they wind up together, with a happily ever after on a Carribbean beach at the end....

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maya-rodale/the-real-men-who-read-rom_b_4713546.html